Let them Pick em Move One of the tactics that I have employed over the years has paid handsome dividends. When you have a potential trade that you want to propose to another owner typically the conversation might include who you are offering and what you would like in return. Of course some justification to convince the other owner is also included. Now that may be enough to get the trade talks started but you may be selling yourself short on what you can really get for your offer.
Try this for a change, make the typical offer and perhaps explain the reasoning for you wanting to make the trade. After that just wait. Usually after a short pause the other owner will of course will ask what you would want in return. Instead of going straight to the point be a bit vague. Say there are several different possibilities on his team that would satisfy one or more of your needs. Don’t name, names. If you want to narrow it down from his full roster suggest one or more positions that perhaps you could use help in. Still do not name specific names. Ask the other owner what he thinks he might be able to offer. At this point there are really only three potential possibilities;
1) The owner names a player or player that under no circumstance you would accept in the deal.
2) The owner names someone as good as who you really wanted in the 1st place, maybe he’ll name the exact guy. It’s entirely possible.
3) The owner names a player so good that you cannot possibly believe he just offered him.
Note that two of the three above responses are at least as good as or better than what you wanted back in the trade anyway. If accepted, it makes it his trade and if it doesn’t pan out in his favor and turns out he made a huge mistake he will not hold it entirely against you. It was his idea anyway wasn’t it? If he does pick a name that you absolutely can’t do the trade for, politely thank him and say that you’re going to check around the league for a bit before making this trade because the guy you are offering is important to you. If the conversation ends there don’t fret. Hopefully you prepared well and know the other owner could use what the stats/players you offer can bring him. You may be getting a call from the other owner in a few minutes, hours or days with a counter proposal. Again, if this happens let him do the selecting. Your role is only to approve the trade when he names the right guy or guys. If the trade works well for both you and the other owner, he will remember that you made the offer.
This tactic even works when the other owner is fully aware of what you are doing. Remember you are the one that studied this to death and you already know who you will or won’t be acceptable to you. He doesn’t have a clue what you are really planning and may just name a name that you want badly. Two bits of caution at this point;
1) If the other owner is aware of what you are doing and names a name you can’t stand and you back away from the trade, he’ll know you were “Fishing” for a name and not really seriously considering a trade. This is not a thing that you want to try repeatedly and once the other owners figure it out it will not be as effective.
2) Be leery if a name is named that just seems to be too good to be true. If you prepared properly you would know up to the minute everything there is to know about every player on his team. That can be difficult as typically most owners spend a majority of time knowing everything there is to know about their own teams. Once you understand this, you not only see the value of preparation but you realize that the other owner probably will always know a little bit more about his players than you do. After a moments reflection on how well you really prepared, you should admit to the other owner that this just might work if he were willing to do the deal. Don’t rush it, don’t jump the gun, just approach is as ok that’ll work for me how about you?
It takes all Kinds
Like everything else on our wonderful little world it takes all kinds. Your league is probably no different than mine or any of countless others. You have guys/gals from different backgrounds, education, lifestyles, environments, jobs, schools, friends, lovers, colors, areas of the country, religious and racial affiliations and on and on. It is a strength of our country that this is so and we should be proud of it despite what John Rocker might have said. Our country is a literal melting pot of the rest of the world and when you’re dealing you have to a good handle on this reality. Every owner will approach a trade differently even if they are twin brothers of another owner in the same league. We are all individuals that live in a society where we get to practice our free wills on a daily basis.
There is of course always a minimum of two owners involved in every trade. It’s best that you take a good look at the way you approach life or trading before you look at the other owner. Owners, like yourself, can all be described with simple descriptions but do not let this put you or them in a restrictive box of thinking. Think outside the box, take the other owners position before you make the offer. Do you know the other owner well enough to get a feel of how they will approach a trade? If you do not, that’s where I suggest you start before a trade is thrown out on the table. Believe me when I say, you will be able to pull more and better deals when you know the other owner.
It’s a good thing to know what type of owner you are dealing with. I myself am considered very impulsive. I realize this about myself and use it to my advantage. I have made so many trades over the years in our league that I’m somewhat affectionately known as the “Monty Hall” of the Roto trading world. I will make a trade, and have, at a ML baseball game during the 7th inning stretch, in a delivery room waiting for a new prospect to be brought into the world, at church during a particularly boring sermon, on a fishing trip, at a poker game, at a gentle-men’s club, in an airplane which also gives new meaning to the mile high club. The point being that the other owners know that I am not shy at all about pulling the trigger on a deal. It takes a lot of work to have a reputation like this but it can be a heck of a lot of fun. You only get one guess who they think of first when they start looking to make a deal.
Other owners may want to analyze every single detail of a prospective deal. Don’t push this type of owner. It may take days before they reach a conclusion and strong arm tactics won’t get the deal done no matter how bad you want it to. There are owners that will play the trading game with a singular purpose in mind and that is to get as much out of every trade that they possibly can. They always want a throw in to seal the deal and I even recommend that you do the same. It’s really the way they go about it. Even when a trade is somewhat lopsided in their favor they want a throw in. If it doesn’t bother you and you need to do the trade go ahead and give him the throw in. Caution though, R. Mendes originally came into our leagues spotlight as just a throw in, just like Bagwell.
Another type of owner may want to say no to a deal but they just can’t bring themselves to do it to your face and will put you off for as long as they can without giving an answer. In a way this method of just not following up to a trade offer can be made to work in their favor and to your ultimate loss. If you keep going back and offering more and more and more you may be surprised to hear ok to one of your multiple proposals made out of your frustration. That can be very costly for you and very beneficial for them.
There are patient owners that simply want to see how things work out over the winter, during spring training, after the 1st two weeks of the season etc. These owners are not impulsive and in fact can be counted on to repeat this behavior but they will eventually pull the trigger if it’s good for them to.
With all that said I think I have made my point, “It takes all kinds” and how you handle them will determine how well you do in your negotiations with them.
Trade Preparation
Everything that we have discussed concerning trades so far relies on you being informed. Someone popped a very appropriate quote on me not long ago, “Know thy friends but keep your enemy close”. The off-season is the perfect time to formulate strategy and prepare for the upcoming season. Off-season activities of the major league teams and the other owners in your league will have a direct bearing on your performance in the coming season. To those owners that basically close up shop for a few months to get away from it all, I can understand and support their feelings. At the same time they are setting themselves up for last minute hurried preparation and that cannot be a good thing.
It’s important to spend most of your time studying the other owner’s team. This is true during and after the season. Yes, you have to keep track of how your guys are performing but how other players perform dictate how their owner will handle them. What might they keep in the coming draft? Who might become available? Who will be available to pick up in the free agent pool? Who is the new hot prospect?
Who do the other owners like and dislike? What do the other owners think their weaknesses are?, their strengths?, your weaknesses?, your strengths? What reserve or injured players do the other owners have that I might be interested in? When will an injured player come back off the DL? Will they be effective when they do? What are the depth charts of every position for every major league team? How about the depth charts for your fellow owners in you league? Do they have the right reserves? Can you help them? Can they help you? What are the salaries for every player on every team in your league? What is the contract status of every player on every team in your league? Who might get traded out of or into the league you are playing in? What are your values of all players?
All of these questions and more must be answered before the “Art of the Deal” can be practiced with a sure confidence that you are doing the right thing to improve your team. Even after all of that though it’s normal to wonder if you did the right thing. There are multiple resources on the Internet where countless people willingly provide their advice. Listen to them. If five out of six say you made a bum trade then maybe you did or maybe you made a trade where those 5 owners are not aware of all the facts. I recently made a trade giving a $1 starting pitcher for a $10 catcher coming off an ACL injury. Was it good for me? Well my preparation says if was. Several of the advice givers say it wasn’t. That’s ok, but how well I prepared means a lot more to me than someone else’s opinion. How well you prepare will directly affect the performance of your team and the effectiveness of your trades. Now go out there and prepare to trade!!!!!
Trade Commandment #10, repeat after me, “THOU SHALL PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE!”
So Sayeth the Fish!
