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6/20/00
Email Commish
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Before getting to far along in this article I want to thank the
all of you that took time to write a nice note to me last week and
especially to thank you guys that didn't write because you thought
my article stunk!
This week's topic is the trading
psychology. We'll get into some tips for trading today as well.
One of the items that you want to remember about fantasy football
or any other sport is a saying that one of my fantasy baseball friends
coined for our league "They are just names on a paper". This saying
is so true. Before you can realistically get into the fantasy football
scene you have to check reality at the door. Is it possible to trade
Terrell Davis for Cris Carter? One would think, no probably not.
However, anything is possible when trading fantasy football players.
I am going to take you through some famous football trades that
I have made and tell you what I was thinking. I am also going to
give you some tips that will allow you to be successful in every
trade that you attempt from this day forward. Shall I continue?
I'm glad you said yes or this would have been one boring freakin'
article. Lets look first at three trades I made last year and determine
how they turned out.
Trade number one, this trade was done in my CCL dynasty league.
If you don't know what I am talking about go back and read last
week's article or visit the CCL
Online
I chose Terrell Davis with the first overall pick last year and
was mighty disappointed in his performance. Normally with a player
of his magnitude I would wait it out and see if he would come out
of his funk. Two factors played into my decision to trade him. First
of all, I could tell that the main reason he was struggling was
the poor quarterbacking that Denver was getting. He wasn't going
to run the ball any better until the quarterback situation got a
whole lot better in Denver and that didn't look like that was going
to happen for a while. Secondly, after four weeks into the season
I was virtually out of the running for the play-offs since only
the three division winners and a wild card make the upper tournament.
Even though I knew this, I wasn't extremely excited about trading
Terrell Davis, you know? Anyhow, I sent out a mass e-mail to see
what kind of takers I had. One offer was "more" than any other was
so I took it. There was a great deal of haggling I demanded 5 players
for TD hoping to get three quality players. I ended up getting Duce
Staley, Gary Brown, and a first round pick in this years draft for
him. That was real quality I think now because Duce is a upper echelon
back (top ten) and I now have an extra first round pick to either
deal or draft Terrell's rookie replacement (Travis Prentice?). Unfortunately
the guy I traded with won the division and got a high draft pick.
I traded away my first round pick and which ended up being the second
overall. So final analysis was I screwed this deal up badly. The
only thing going for me in the deal was that Terrell blew out his
knee a week or two after I traded him.
Trade number two, was done in the same league after the season.
Looking back at season after it's completion I decided that my weakest
position (it was hard to choose since Kordell was my starter and
Duce was my only real running back) was receiver. Lucky for me in
the CCL we can start 2 running backs or 3 wide receivers plus a
tight end. I had Tony Gonzalez and I put him up for trade bait.
This time I was a little smarter. I traded with a guy who hates
to trade and told him that I wasn't going to do a deal that he wasn't
comfortable with. On top of that he was the league champ from the
just completed season so he was feeling pretty good about himself.
I told him I would trade him Tony Gonzalez and Kevin Johnson (he
is a monstrous Syracuse Orangemen fan) but I needed a butt-load
of receivers and a draft pick. I didn't mind trading Gonzalez because
of the tight end heavy college class coming out, Becht, Franks,
and others. Here is what we settled on…I got Carl Pickens, Wayne
Chrebet, Reidel Anthony and his first round pick for this years
draft for Gonzalez and Johnson. There are some mixed reviews on
this trade but I love it. Especially if/when Pickens and the Jets
hook up. I got three guys that can play for me (I also have Curtis
Conway, Tony Martin, and Jake Reed) plus I now have 3 of 4 picks
at the end of round one and the start of round two. I hated to lose
Johnson but now I have guys that I can start each week.
The final trade took place in my MFFL league, which for those that
don't remember is my friendly "beer" league. We don't go for the
throat but it's friendly competition. In that league we can trade
at only two times during the season. They are at the trade sessions
when everyone gets together to watch football and as the name says…trade.
We like these sessions because we do have some guys that live out
of town and they feel kind of left out when they get the newsletter
and read that I traded player x with my dad. It seems underhanded
even when its not. I digress, the last trade session takes place
with about three weeks left before the play-offs so it's really
the last chance to load up for the play-offs. What I did was a stroke
of genius…I thought. I was neck and neck with another owner (he
couldn't show up to the draft because his wife was giving birth
so I drafted his team for him….remember last weeks article about
honesty) he had a really good team and he was in my division. I
saw my chance. I had drafted Stephen Davis and made sure that everyone
knew it. I knew that with Washington locking up their play-off spot
he was going to be sitting before too much longer. I took my shot.
I offered up Stephen Davis for Duce Staley and Doug Flutie. As you
can tell I do like Duce Staley, I had him in every league (5) last
year. What made this move so brilliant was that I moved into first
place and then to the championship before Bum's son decided "to
be a coach" and let freaking Rob Johnson play. I lost by 6 points
in the championship.
As we look at these three trades I want to show you three strategies
that you can use to either help yourself or be suckered into someone
else's ploy. First of all no one trades unless they think they are
getting a good deal. So make sure you look for the fine print before
doing any deal and don't be rushed. If they can't take one extra
hour, day, or whatever then something is up and you need to check
it out. Now on to example one… I made a major faux pas. Instead
of waiting to see what was going to happen with Terrell I moved
for basically nothing. I got a low first round pick and Duce Staley.
Adding Gary Brown was basically like adding nothing. I took my friends
saying to heart, "they are only names on a paper". I like the saying
but don't be stupid. Unless the first round pick was in the top
five there was no way I should be doing that deal. I really made
three errors 1. I rushed myself I tried to hurry up and move him
before he had any more bad games 2. I didn't think about the consequences
of what his first round pick might be so I got stuck with the equivalent
of a fourth round pick in a regular non-dynasty draft and 3. I didn't
do the research on other teams to see if I could propose a deal…I
just took the first thing that came to me.
In example two I did a better job. I canvassed the entire league
and found players on each team that I liked. I then looked at owners
that needed a tight end, after doing that I offered the best tight
end last year Tony Gonzalez. Some things you can take from this
trade…always do your research. See what your team needs and see
which teams can fill your need. After you find a player or two that
can fill your holes make an offer. Your first offer should be just
outrageous enough that there is no way that they would accept it
but not so outrageous that you make them mad. In this case I knew
the guy was tentative in trading so I needed a little different
approach. I needed him to make the first offer so he felt comfortable
and then I kept negotiating up till we reached and agreement. I
didn't want to trade KJ but I had to in order to receive three players
and a first round pick. Don't be afraid to pull the trigger…if it
looks like a duck, smells like a duck, and sounds like a duck…it's
probably a duck. The same holds true for trades…if it looks like
a good deal and after researching it sounds like a good deal it's
probably a good deal.
In the final example I was the wily negotiator. I inventoried my
team looked at it's needs saw a competitor that didn't fit the bill
completely but had enough players that while I wasn't strengthening
my team tremendously I was hurting his team more. Know what you
want and ask for it…you just might get it.
The two most important things to remember from this article are
1. Do your research and 2. "They are only names on a paper". Don't
be afraid to trade…just make a good deal but say no if your getting
hosed.
Next week we look at the mock draft that I ran for FF Today and
what you can learn from it.
:: comments to the
commish
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