Three Trade Mistakes To Avoid, Continued…

By: brockforbriglio.com

Greener On The Other Side also contributed to yesterdays roundtable with some great advice. I made a mistake by not including their response in yesterdays article. Without further ado…

Making trades is an intricate part of fantasy baseball.  While we all draft teams we love, injuries and down seasons always prompt us to look around the league towards acquiring players we think would improve our teams.  However, there are some common mistakes made by us all that, if avoided, could lead to landing the player(s) you covet.

Mistake #1: Don’t over sell the player you are trying to trade.  By continuously promoting a certain player to an owner he will inevitably ask you “If he’s so good, then why don’t you want him to stay on your team?”  To avoid this problem, try the “beat around the bush” tactic.  If you are trying to trade Pat Burrell, don’t let the owner know that.  Instead of saying “What will you give me for Pat Burrell” or “I’d give you Pat Burrell for,” beat around the bush.  Simply tell the owner that “I have a surplus of power in my outfield and am looking to trade someone.”

This gives the owner an opportunity to choose Burrell himself, making it far more likely that a deal gets done and the player you want to move gets moved.  A key to making any trade is not to shove a player in someone’s face, but rather to make them think they got all the players they wanted and not who you wanted to give them.

Mistake #2: Never ask for the player you really want first.  In looking at my leagues standings, I noticed a team was first in strikeouts by a large margin.  I looked at their roster and found out why.  Their staff included Peavy, Harang, Lincecum, Cain, and Jonathan Sanchez.  They also had Edinson Volquez, who I wanted.  Oftentimes people go right after the guy they want and then the owner becomes defensive because he doesn’t want to give you what you want.  Remember, he wants you to lose.  Again, in an effort to make the owner feel good about his team and make him choose the player to give you, I said this” “I see you’ve got a ton of strikeout pitchers on your team.  Very Impressive.  I could use some on my team.  I don’t want to be like _____________ (insert your league’s idiot) and ask for your top notch guys like Peavy, Harang or Lincecum, but are there any other pitchers that might be available?”

Now, I’ve complimented his team, told him I’m not like the league’s idiot who always bothers him with ridiculous trade offers, and further mentioned that I don’t want to ask for his best players.  He should take that as a compliment and be willing to think something over.

His response was “I have guys like Sanchez, Volquez and Garland available.”

I’ve hit the jackpot when the owner let’s me know that the player I want is available before I’ve let him know that he’s offered me the player I want.

Mistake #3: Don’t tell an owner what categories he needs help in.  The last thing we want to be reminded of his how poorly we are doing in stolen base category.  All that does is make the owner want to jab back at you and tell you how poorly your team is doing in home runs.

To prevent a bad introduction to our conversation and the owner from wanting to further discuss his team, I stud his team’s standing and see what is weaker: his hitting or pitching.

By determining which is weaker, I know that eventually I want to be offering help in those areas, as opposed to his team’s areas of strength.

Let’s say the owner is ranked highly in all hitting categories but is in the bottom 3 in ERA, WHIP and S.  That makes me believe that his current weakness is pitching.

I say “Tell me about your pitching staff.”  His response in analyzing his own team should be something along the lines of “I’m pretty solid in K’s and wins but I’m not doing so well in the ratio categories.  My closers are Cordero and Jones so I’ve been lacking in the saves department.”

Again, I’ve made him be the one to tell me his weakness.  Now, without seeming like the one who brought it up, I can reply by saying “do you think adding a 3rd closer would help you out?”

He’s already told me that he could use help in those areas, so by letting him be the bearer of bad news, I’m off the hook and I can proceed in making offers of players that I know he needs and wants.

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The idea behind Brock for Broglio is a fantasy baseball resource first; general MLB commentary second. In my opinion, there’s a lot of cross over between the strategy in the real game, and the game we emulate as general managers through our monitors. You can read more about the idea behind Brock for Broglio here. For now, I’d like to Thank You in advance for your attention; it is my hope I can earn it long term. I look forward to sharing future baseball dialogue with you.

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