The Art of Trading

One of the most popular fantasy questions I get on a regular basis pertains to trading. "So-and-so offered me this trade, should I take it?" "Would you do this trade...?" and so on, and so forth. I love these questions, and I love being able to help you and your team out in any way that I can! But I have mastered the art of trading, its a science really and I can teach you, so with this posting I will go over the do's and don'ts and the guidelines to making the trade you want.

The first rule of thumb when it comes to trading is know your league members. If you're in a free public league where you don't know anyone, that obviously makes it more difficult, but if you know your league members then you can properly asses how they value players, but more importantly how inclined they are to trading.

You also need to know that everyone has their own perspective of fantasy football. Some are really into it and think they should be getting paid to analyze fantasy players. Others just play for fun and enjoy being able to stay in touch with their friends. Knowing this and knowing the interest level of your league members is crucial when making trades. You can issue a trade, but if that person just logs in on Sunday morning to set their lineups and never looks at it again, you're probably not going to be able to strike a deal with that person.

Once you know the psychology of your league members and where they stand on trading players and how they value players, you need to look at your team and figure out what position you would like to strengthen in. Or where is your biggest weakness in your lineup. This is fairly easy for someone who is an avid player of fantasy football.

Once you have figured out the desired player you're looking for you need to take a step back and REMEMBER THIS if you're not willing to give up anything, odds are, they aren't either. What I mean is go into a trade with a realistic value of the player you're offering up for, but also be realistic as to what you can get in return for said player. There are 4 types of traders out there:
-The Trade Raper: this person is clueless or just doesn't care about making a fair deal. They will never offer you a reasonable trade and will on occasion find one or two victims a season. But the only kind of trade they know how to make is a one-sided one where they come out on top.
-The Clueless Trader: this person has no realistic value of players they have or players they want. They may even be the rookie in your league. They reject the most reasonable of trades and accept the most outrageous trades when you least expect it.
-The Wheel N' Dealer: this person loves trading and will issue out trades on a weekly basis, may not ever get anything, but half of the fun in fantasy football lies in trading for them. They're usually pretty good at offering fair deals.
-The Nobody's Home Trader- This person has 0 care in the world to trade their players. They drafted their team and they're sticking with them! This person probably doesn't do a whole lot in your league anyways. They don't trade, they don't counter, they don't reject. They just leave the trades out there in space. These guys/girls are the most hated group of people in their league and usually get the boot after one season of non-responsiveness.

I hate trade evaluators because they're evaluating based on projections and projections... well are just educated guesses. However, a lot of people use them in the decision making process when making a trade. When you want a player you got to be willing to give that person a player that they could use and be excited about, but make sure you're getting someone you want and are excited about as well. No one is going to make a trade if they aren't going to be a little psyched about it. So make it worth their while and you'll have a better shot of getting who it is you're wanting.

Don't send your trade with a message or paragraph of reasons why this person should make this deal. That will only hurt your chances of getting a trade done. Nobody wants to read your opinion about the deal... obviously you want the trade to happen because you came to them with it, there's no point in trying to lay out some facts or knowledge for them to be like "Oh! Ok well in that case, you got yourself a deal!" This never happens! Messages are a waste of time!

In good fantasy football etiquette, PLEASE do not be the person that just lets trades sit out there. If you do this, you should know everyone in your league talks trash about you. Its just common courtesy to counter with what you would want, or simply reject the offer. Leaving the trade out to expire is just rude.

These are just some of the guidelines to making the ideal trade you want. It seems pretty straight forward, but you'd be surprised how many people completely lose touch with reality when it comes to trading. I hope this helps in some small way. If you have anymore to add or have any questions going forward you can comment below or ask on twitter @ff_freaks