Fantasy Baseball Trade Advice
Trading is the best way to make your Fantasy Baseball team better each year. Face it, after the draft/auction, there isn’t a lot left in free agency if you are in an A.L. Only or N.L. Only type of league. With that in mind, here are five tips I have for you:
Don’t Send Insulting Trade Offers
Remember, the Fantasy Baseball season is a very long one. You want to be able to trade with every single team in your league at some point in the season. With that in mind, you can’t send awful trade offers to opposing owners and try to insult their intelligence. Before hitting send, think to yourself about whether or not you would consider taking the deal if it were offered to you. So, offering Chase Headley (who is red hot with the bat right now) straight up for Manny Machado (who is ice cold right now) will get you the cold shoulder from another team for a while. Fair trades that could help both teams is the way to go. So if you are offering Chase Headley for Manny Machado, you better have another quality player or two heading to the other team.
Target Slumping Players
[the_ad id=”384″]No one is likely going to trade a cornerstone type of player this early in the season, but you can probably get a discount on solid player off to rough starts. What you need to do is target slumping players with no chance of losing their starting job or rotation spot in the near future. Remember, most players usually wind up with the usual numbers (barring injury) that they have produced on the back of their baseball card. Remember, just because someone is hitting .100 or has a 6.50 ERA right now, you are not getting those stats. Projecting a player to get better as the season goes along is the way to trade for guys. With that in mind, I would target guys in the American League like Masahiro Tanaka (Yankees), Brad Miller (Rays), Devon Travis (Blue Jays), Victor Martinez (Tigers), Jose Abreu (White Sox), Jose Quintana (White Sox), Albert Pujols (Angels), Matt Shoemaker (Angels) and Rajai Davis (A’s). In the National League I would target guys like Anthony Rendon (Nationals), Maikel Franco (Phillies), Dexter Fowler (Cardinals), Adam Wainwright (Cardinals), Trevor Story (Rockies), Kenta Maeda (Dodgers) and Jeff Samardzija (Giants).
Offer Players That Are Red Hot
A lot of Fantasy Baseball owners look for the right here and now instead of playing the long game (which champions do). With that in mind, it’s good for you to offer up players that are so hot right now that they can’t possibly keep up the current rate of production. It’s what you call selling high and that is the best way to fix what is hurting your overall roster. Unlike with slumping players (which some teams might not be willing to talk about), everyone likes a red hot player!
In the American League, I would be looking to move Avisail Garcia (White Sox), Starlin Castro (Yankees), Chase Headley (Yankees), C.C. Sabathia (Yankees), Ervin Santana (Twins), Hector Santiago (Twins), Jason Vargas (Royals) and Logan Morrison (Rays).
In the National League I would consider moving Marcell Ozuna (Marlins), Brandon Phillips (Braves), Zack Cozart (Reds), Eugenio Suarez (Reds), Eric Thames (Brewers), Chase Anderson (Brewers), Jason Heyward (Cubs), Jeremy Hellickson (Phillies), Mark Reynolds (Rockies), Mike Leake (Cardinals), Scott Feldman (Reds), Yasiel Puig (Dodgers), Brandon McCarthy (Dodgers) and Clayton Richard (Padres).
Look To See Who Needs What You Have To Offer
Before you make a trade offer, you should look at every roster in the league and see which team could use the player(s) you are offering so that you can get the maximum return. A team that already has Billy Hamilton is not going to be the best team to try to trade Dee Gordon too. I know that this takes time, but it’s the best way to get a deal done that can help you in the long run!
Don’t Leave Trade Offers Out There After Games Start
You shouldn’t leave trades on after the games start for the day. You could easily go to the movies that night and wind up having traded one of your better players for a guy that was injured in the game that night while you were out and is out for the season (or at least a large chunk of it). A lot has changed about fantasy baseball in the information age, so never leave a deal outstanding after the games start for the day/night!