KingFish
01-25-2002, 01:50 AM
I'm posting my article on trading since I'm not getting any response on how one goes about getting articles posted on this site. For you old Sleeperheads you may want to check this out once again as I have cleaned it up some and added a pinch here and there. This is about the third revision of this and I still learn something everytime I go back over it
Rotisserie Trading
“The Art of the Deal”
by Kingfish
Trade; trading as defined in Webster’s
1 archaic: to do business with 2: to give in exchange for another commodity <traded places> b: to engage in the exchange of (as stocks or commodities) usually in search of quick profits.
In all of our, “Game of Games”, whether it be, Fantasy, Rotisserie, Sand-Lot, ESPN, 5 X 5, Head to Head, 4X4, Al-NL only or combined, whatever flavor is to your liking, trading can be the very best or the very worst part of the entire fantasy/Roto baseball gaming experience. Negotiating a deal between owners is an exercise in understanding human nature. If you’re into day trading, Las Vegas, the lottery or just a friendly hand of poker, trading can provide the same sense of gratification. No, we are not talking gambling, although there is inherent risk in every trade. The heart of trading in Roto-ball is in the art of negotiating and reaching an understanding between two or more human beings, each with their own unique perspective and the free will to act upon their feelings in a competitive setting. The following will describe some of the various types of trades, owners and tactics that I have come in contact with and experienced first hand over the last thirteen years.
This is the part of the Rotisserie that I most enjoy. I’ll refer to it as trading, wheeling, the “Deal” so forth but it all means one thing to me, one heck of a lot of fun. I think it is one of the unforeseen side effects introduced when the original founding fathers brought Rotisserie baseball into being. My sincere thanks go out to them.
The Blockbuster
Definition: When owners make a trade involving multiple All Star or Hall of Fame caliber players.
The Blockbuster Trade is very unique in that the owners for whatever reason are willing to deal away their studs, their early round draft picks or the cornerstone player of their franchise. A recent deal comes to mind that describes one scenario leading up to the Blockbuster Deal. Owner A with two solid Closers, Wagner and Mantei in hand has determined that his year is all but over. He’s heading down in the standings despite owning two Stud Closers, with no quality free agents available to replace weak spots in his lineup, long-term injuries mounting up faster than his reserve/farm team can handle. Owner A looks around for likely candidates for the Deal. Owner B on the other hand believes that owner A is still amongst his competition especially with those two Closers he has but B has quietly built a comfortable lead in HR’s and RBI’s. He also has only one closer and a few mid relief pitching in a save now and then.
So now we have the perfect scenario for a possible trade. Neither owner may be aware of the potential as in a lot of cases they are focused solely on their team. It will take one of these two owners to wake up and realize that what they need is available if they are willing to identify where it is available.
As in all trades, two or more owners enter into negotiations with an understanding that they both want something out of the deal. In this case Owner A sees that B is struggling in the middle of the pack and building a cushion of offensive stats. Owner B has offensive powerhouse Vladimir Guerrero anchoring his team.
A trade of Vladimir for Wagner would help both owners. While this may be apparent looking in from the outside, it can be difficult for most owners to even consider trading away their prized possessions. A trade of this type could also be known as a Positional or Statistical trade. The difference here is only the extremely high caliber of the players involved. As a side note, I was the owner of Wagner in this example and yes I made the trade!
There are owners types that will under no circumstance, deal their stud. This owner is similar in many ways to the Home Boy owner described below. This owner has developed a strong emotional bond to a particular player and getting a stud out of them would be like trying to take a leather chew toy from a pit bull. It ain’t going to happen. If you happen to own a player that he considers a stud, be prepared to hear him out and expect that he will make multiple offers to get him away from you.
Dumping
Definition: When on owner has thrown in the towel for the season and trades with another in preparation for next year or...
Typically this type of trade is proposed by an owner that has determined that for whatever reason they are no longer in the running to finish near the top of the standings in the current season and has identified needs he/she would want to address in the following season. Problems begin when the trade is of an unbalanced nature. Perhaps the owner doing the dumping is trading away some of his few remaining high priced good performance super stars to get low priced keepers or prospects or players in positions that the “Dumping” owner has determined will be in scarce supply in the next draft.
The owner on the receiving end of this type of trade is typically in a battle with one or more owners, in one or more of the scoring categories. Receiving a high performance stud that produces significant numbers in these categories will give him a huge advantage over his competition. Many leagues using different formats have various approaches to stop this type of trade before it effects the balance of power amongst the owners. It certainly looks on the surface to be unfair trading practice but I believe that this is because there are so many leagues with so many owners that are just not proactive enough when it comes to trading. They do not want to take the initiative to make a deal themselves, therefore any trade made by other owners must be unfair and thereby needs to be legislated against. This just goes against the entire philosophy of trading as an important and fun part of the game but it is a fact of life that the conservative/passive owner types will more times than not win the arguments concerning dumping.
Dumping is also not only a result of one owner hanging it up and trying to get ready for next year. It could also be the result of owners/teams with close ties. Different teams owned by husband and wife, brothers or sisters, close friends, the teams with common enemies/competition are all potential “Dumpers”. This type of the “Dump”, as it’s not to affectionately known as, really creates a very bad situation. Not only does it make it patently unfair to the rest of the owners in the league; it smells up the entire league. Dumping of this type, if not guarded against, has been known to break up a league. It is because of this that I believe antidumping rules will always be with us. Human nature hasn’t changed all that much after all I guess and that can be a sad comment.
Trading Commandment #1, repeat after me “THOU SHALL NOT DUMP!”
The Thank You very much trade
Definition: When an owner makes a trade to establish good will with another owner.
This type of trade usually does not involve key players. Usually the, “Thank You” trade is proposed by a more experienced veteran owner to a new or less experienced owner. The basis for making this type of trade is to not so much help another team but as a way of two owners beginning to feel each other out on how they view their teams and how they go about the negotiation process. Establishing trust and learning how each owner goes about making a trade is a very important piece of information for the shrewd trader. Giving up a Joe Average middle infielder for whatever the other owner is willing to give back starts this learning process. If handled correctly, it can be the first step towards a long and profitable relationship for both owners.
Sorry about the short length but this article will have to be broken into 5 or 6 seperate installments in order to fit at 10,000 characters maximum per post. I'd really like to give you the whole thing in one shot but I just do not know how on this site, yet We'll see.
So Sayeth the Fish!
Rotisserie Trading
“The Art of the Deal”
by Kingfish
Trade; trading as defined in Webster’s
1 archaic: to do business with 2: to give in exchange for another commodity <traded places> b: to engage in the exchange of (as stocks or commodities) usually in search of quick profits.
In all of our, “Game of Games”, whether it be, Fantasy, Rotisserie, Sand-Lot, ESPN, 5 X 5, Head to Head, 4X4, Al-NL only or combined, whatever flavor is to your liking, trading can be the very best or the very worst part of the entire fantasy/Roto baseball gaming experience. Negotiating a deal between owners is an exercise in understanding human nature. If you’re into day trading, Las Vegas, the lottery or just a friendly hand of poker, trading can provide the same sense of gratification. No, we are not talking gambling, although there is inherent risk in every trade. The heart of trading in Roto-ball is in the art of negotiating and reaching an understanding between two or more human beings, each with their own unique perspective and the free will to act upon their feelings in a competitive setting. The following will describe some of the various types of trades, owners and tactics that I have come in contact with and experienced first hand over the last thirteen years.
This is the part of the Rotisserie that I most enjoy. I’ll refer to it as trading, wheeling, the “Deal” so forth but it all means one thing to me, one heck of a lot of fun. I think it is one of the unforeseen side effects introduced when the original founding fathers brought Rotisserie baseball into being. My sincere thanks go out to them.
The Blockbuster
Definition: When owners make a trade involving multiple All Star or Hall of Fame caliber players.
The Blockbuster Trade is very unique in that the owners for whatever reason are willing to deal away their studs, their early round draft picks or the cornerstone player of their franchise. A recent deal comes to mind that describes one scenario leading up to the Blockbuster Deal. Owner A with two solid Closers, Wagner and Mantei in hand has determined that his year is all but over. He’s heading down in the standings despite owning two Stud Closers, with no quality free agents available to replace weak spots in his lineup, long-term injuries mounting up faster than his reserve/farm team can handle. Owner A looks around for likely candidates for the Deal. Owner B on the other hand believes that owner A is still amongst his competition especially with those two Closers he has but B has quietly built a comfortable lead in HR’s and RBI’s. He also has only one closer and a few mid relief pitching in a save now and then.
So now we have the perfect scenario for a possible trade. Neither owner may be aware of the potential as in a lot of cases they are focused solely on their team. It will take one of these two owners to wake up and realize that what they need is available if they are willing to identify where it is available.
As in all trades, two or more owners enter into negotiations with an understanding that they both want something out of the deal. In this case Owner A sees that B is struggling in the middle of the pack and building a cushion of offensive stats. Owner B has offensive powerhouse Vladimir Guerrero anchoring his team.
A trade of Vladimir for Wagner would help both owners. While this may be apparent looking in from the outside, it can be difficult for most owners to even consider trading away their prized possessions. A trade of this type could also be known as a Positional or Statistical trade. The difference here is only the extremely high caliber of the players involved. As a side note, I was the owner of Wagner in this example and yes I made the trade!
There are owners types that will under no circumstance, deal their stud. This owner is similar in many ways to the Home Boy owner described below. This owner has developed a strong emotional bond to a particular player and getting a stud out of them would be like trying to take a leather chew toy from a pit bull. It ain’t going to happen. If you happen to own a player that he considers a stud, be prepared to hear him out and expect that he will make multiple offers to get him away from you.
Dumping
Definition: When on owner has thrown in the towel for the season and trades with another in preparation for next year or...
Typically this type of trade is proposed by an owner that has determined that for whatever reason they are no longer in the running to finish near the top of the standings in the current season and has identified needs he/she would want to address in the following season. Problems begin when the trade is of an unbalanced nature. Perhaps the owner doing the dumping is trading away some of his few remaining high priced good performance super stars to get low priced keepers or prospects or players in positions that the “Dumping” owner has determined will be in scarce supply in the next draft.
The owner on the receiving end of this type of trade is typically in a battle with one or more owners, in one or more of the scoring categories. Receiving a high performance stud that produces significant numbers in these categories will give him a huge advantage over his competition. Many leagues using different formats have various approaches to stop this type of trade before it effects the balance of power amongst the owners. It certainly looks on the surface to be unfair trading practice but I believe that this is because there are so many leagues with so many owners that are just not proactive enough when it comes to trading. They do not want to take the initiative to make a deal themselves, therefore any trade made by other owners must be unfair and thereby needs to be legislated against. This just goes against the entire philosophy of trading as an important and fun part of the game but it is a fact of life that the conservative/passive owner types will more times than not win the arguments concerning dumping.
Dumping is also not only a result of one owner hanging it up and trying to get ready for next year. It could also be the result of owners/teams with close ties. Different teams owned by husband and wife, brothers or sisters, close friends, the teams with common enemies/competition are all potential “Dumpers”. This type of the “Dump”, as it’s not to affectionately known as, really creates a very bad situation. Not only does it make it patently unfair to the rest of the owners in the league; it smells up the entire league. Dumping of this type, if not guarded against, has been known to break up a league. It is because of this that I believe antidumping rules will always be with us. Human nature hasn’t changed all that much after all I guess and that can be a sad comment.
Trading Commandment #1, repeat after me “THOU SHALL NOT DUMP!”
The Thank You very much trade
Definition: When an owner makes a trade to establish good will with another owner.
This type of trade usually does not involve key players. Usually the, “Thank You” trade is proposed by a more experienced veteran owner to a new or less experienced owner. The basis for making this type of trade is to not so much help another team but as a way of two owners beginning to feel each other out on how they view their teams and how they go about the negotiation process. Establishing trust and learning how each owner goes about making a trade is a very important piece of information for the shrewd trader. Giving up a Joe Average middle infielder for whatever the other owner is willing to give back starts this learning process. If handled correctly, it can be the first step towards a long and profitable relationship for both owners.
Sorry about the short length but this article will have to be broken into 5 or 6 seperate installments in order to fit at 10,000 characters maximum per post. I'd really like to give you the whole thing in one shot but I just do not know how on this site, yet We'll see.
So Sayeth the Fish!