Thursday, May 8, 2008

An Abbreviated Declaration of Trading Rights for GMs

It is that time of year again. You know what I am talking about. The time of year when panicky GMs start throwing out trade offers in the hopes of lifting their team off the bottom or out of the middle.

But just a little word of advice to GMs. While everyone in your league should always be open to trades, please only make fair trade offers.

That means, before you send off several crappy trade offers, consider the possibility that your league mates are as knowledgeable about baseball as you think you are yourself. If you wouldn't accept a trade offer or would immediately recognize it for the crap that it is, then don't bother someone else with it. I know everyone wants to be on the winning side of a totally lopsided trade, but that rarely happens. Heck, few trades even help the teams involved.

Thus, with a even basis established: If you want a trade to happen, then offer fair value (and by fair, I mean value your players realistically compared to the guys you are trying to pick up. I don't care about ratings. They change daily and have no meaning this early in the season because they reflect a very small set of data--as in, less than 100IP and less than 150AB. The small subset is why a batting average can fluctuate 100 points from one day to the next or ERA jump from 1.12 to 6.56 with one bad outing).

Keeping these things in mind, I offer two last points

1) Don’t offer waiver wire fodder you just picked up for a solid player someone took the time to scout and draft.

2) Even more important, don't offer a crappy trade which includes your worst players& tell your trading partner that you are doing them a favor. I doubt they are stupid, but if you think these tactics will work, you clearly are.

No comments: