With real games not all that far away, let’s take a targeting shot right at the helmet earhole of a fantasy football problem: ridiculous trade offers.
I play in a lot of leagues – looking like about 25 this year. The vast majority of those are dynasty leagues. Just when I keep hoping that trade offers will begin to get more equitable, I sometimes get the feeling it’s going the other way.
The Problem With Trying to “Win” Every Trade
The volume of absurd trade offers I have gotten this offseason is staggering. Increasingly, we seem to have too many managers whose great desire is to get over on a fellow manager. The number of trades needing to be reviewed seems to be increasing, so there clearly are folks who are falling victim to dynasty managers who are the fantasy football equivalent of scammers.
A dead giveaway is the number of offers that fly around where it’s obvious that a manager is trying to get someone else to take out their trash. The proliferation of offers containing players who aren’t keepers is maddening.
It’s a sad state of affairs. Sure, we’re playing for a cash prize, but fantasy football is a fun-as-all-get-out hobby, especially for old folks like me. Why be a manager who tries to take the fun out of it for others by sending ridiculous trade offers?
Why be a “win the trade” guy? I see it as an epidemic of epic proportions in fantasy football. Maybe the disease has been there for a long time. Maybe it has been there from the outset. But it seems to be a cancer for which there is no cure.
Fantasy football message boards are infested with this “win the trade” garbage, and whenever it started, wherever it started, whoever started it, it needs to stop.
A Good Fantasy Football Trade Helps Both Teams
There does not need to be a winner in a trade. A trade should benefit both sides. A trade should help both teams be better, either now or in the future.
If you’re one of those fantasy managers who approaches every trade offer with that “win the trade” mentality, shame on you.
In pretty much every league, there are fantasy managers who are great trade partners. You peck away at a deal until both sides are happy, and both sides come away with something that makes both teams better.
In many leagues, there seem to be managers who take the stance that they have to win the trade. I absolutely dislike dealing with those sorts of fantasy managers. They take the fun out of trading. They show that the more they can screw someone over, the happier they are. To them, I say screw you. I’d use a different word, but it would get edited out.
It’s so annoying to go on a fantasy football message board and see people posting screen shots of their trades and asking if they won the trade. One person sees that post, then there’s another screen shot, then another, and on and on. Yuck.
It’s an epidemic.
Winning the trade should not be the goal. If that’s your goal, the heck with you. If we’re going to negotiate a trade, and your motivation is to assure that you won the trade, and I lost it, I’ll sniff that out. I don’t want to trade with you. I’ll remember who you are. I don’t want to be in the same league with you. I’ll hit that Avoid button that DataForce offers.
“Win the trade” fantasy managers are bad for fantasy football. They alienate others in the league. Over time, no one wants to deal with those people. You learn who they are. You don’t even make offers to them anymore because you know what they’re going to counter with – some stupid offer that is clearly substantially in their favor.
This “win the trade” mentality is why leagues need commissioners and a process to overturn trades. DataForce does a tremendous job with that.
One last thought about trades: When you list someone in your Trade Bait, that doesn’t mean you’re willing to give him away. At least I don’t mean that. What Trade Bait means to me is these are guys I’m willing to trade. Too often, offers come in for Trade Bait players that are way below market value. As in stupid below market value. The title of that is Trade Bait, not Salvation Army Fire Sale.
Enough for the rant of the day – let’s move on to the fun stuff.
10 players I like a lot this season:
10 players I’m avoiding this season:
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Fantasy Granddaddy
Fantasy Sports Writer
Good Day Sir,
Great article on trading….was dead on!
The biggest thing in my opinion that would facilitate more trading and more equitable trade offers…..is when posting “Trade Bait” with a list of players…tell us what you are looking for! I usually ignore the post if the owner does not give an indication as to what he/she is looking for. If they do post what they want…I am 10X more likely to send and offer and start a conversation.
If you tell me what you want …I can decide in seconds if we are a potential match…many of us play in many leagues…so making me guess?…I might just not have the time.
Looking forward to another fun year!
Paul
Thanks, and I couldn’t agree more on giving an indication of what a Trade Bait poster is looking for. Often, you’ll see a guy on someone’s Trade Bait, and you’ll send an offer, and the offer gets rejected — with no comment. So the same applies to rejecting trades. Give me a clue about what was wrong with the offer. Being a good trader is like being good at life — communicate, be a good communicator. Communication is often what it’s all about.
Fantasy Granddaddy,
Long overdue thanks for a really great post. I had initial skepticism over an NC State alum (arghh, the humanity!) as a columnist (you would expect such a reaction from a Tarheel (lol)). But like the others, this post was excellent.
Following proper protocol, I try to respond to every trade offer – even the absurd ones (weeks ago I got an offer of Aiyuk for a third round pick next year). The number of trade offers I received was ridiculous – and the quality of offers moreso. Having my day punctured by such absurd interruptions has led me to block more players than I would have chosen. But it doesn’t stop there. After rejecting an outrageous offer of a group of leftover about-to-be-cut trash for a fourth rounder and blocking the player, he wanted to question/discuss why I would ever block him and continued the conversation with the group. He then sent me an insulting message. I’d had enough. Out of character, I blew him out – with quality that would make Don Rickles proud. I don’t want to have to do that again.
A corollary to your examples above about winning trades is the “lets-see-if-I-can-find-a-big-enough-dumbass-to-accept-this-trade” offer. Kind of like the Aiyuk offer above. It’s more insidious and insulting than the win-the-trade mindset. Collectively, these actions crush the spirit of playing in leagues with active trading. I’ll just get over it or move on.
Thanks again for putting a spotlight on issues that are truly relevant to our fantasy leagues – and me in particular.
All the best!
Robert