Trading Principles for Fantasy Football－yiyuanle

http://www.liverpoolfchk.com

It is easy to envy the owner who traded away Brady before the season started or the owner who ended up with a backfield of Marshawn Lynch and Brian Westbrook through some well timed trades.It's not easy to be that owner.Trading is a tough game of chess, we all want to sacrifice our pawn for a queen but the moves aren't so obvious.The golden rule of trading is information. The more information you have the better deal you will get.

Well what kind of information do I need Gujupike Here are the questions that should be answered before you accept or offer any trade. The three most obvious questions, which I will NOT address, are: where does my team need improvement (you should know how to spot that), who has players that can improve my team (basic skill), and how can this trade be beneficial for me.If you don't know those three before going into trade than you are bound to get outclassed.

Master these next few steps and watch your ranking improve.

What does my opponent want for his player It’s not so important what they need it is more important what they want! That is a key that many players forget. They offer up trades that are, by all means, fair trades and do improve both teams but if your opponent doesn’t believe in Kurt Warner, or is a Raiders fan and can’t stand Jay Cutler there is no point in offering that trade. You will not get the value you deserve. It is important to talk to your fellow owners. If you are in a league with people you know than talk football with them as much as you can. Don’t probe for information because they will notice that and mislead you. Just simply talk football. The most honest conversations will reveal the most information. Do not be afraid to give information to get it. Just make sure you get more information than you give.

Research Research, Research. For the players that you want and for the ones you are giving up know as much about them as possible. Know their schedule, their bye weeks, there strengths. As much research as you put into drafting player should be done into trading him away or trading for him. I wouldn’t say its important to know the nuances of each player but take a glance at their stat sheet. Here is what you are looking for: Did your player got most of his points from one game or was it evenly spread throughout the last two weeks Example: Hank Baskett, a lot of owners mistakenly jumped all over him after week one because they saw that he had over 100 yards receiving and a touchdown. However, those owners failed to realize that 90 of his yards came on one play and those owners were severely punished on week 2. Also another player that can be deceiving is Santana Moss. He has over 200 yards receiving in two games but 146 came from one game. If a running back ran for 95 yards make sure it wasn’t one long run for 80 and then 10 runs for 15 yards. Know thy players Know thy opponent.

Don’t be afraid to move your blue chips. If the draft was in your favor and you made some good sleeper picks (Chris Johnson, Matt Forte, DeSean Jackson) don’t be surprised if you don’t get value for them. You have to trade the blue chips you drafted early (Brandon Marshall, Terrell Owens) in order to get some players. Your depth comes in handy because you can replace the blue chip you traded from your bench. For example in one of my leagues my quarterbacks were David Garrard and Matt Schaub so I obviously needed help. I traded Marshawn Lynch for Drew Brees and moved Matt Forte from the bench to my starting. I never expected to trade Forte for a quarterback. Too often I see owners trying to move two or three bench players for a blue chip. An opponent accepting a trade with your sleeper picks is the same as him admitting you made better moves than him in the draft, most don't want to do that.If you move a blue chip the way I explain below you will come out ahead and make him feel like he cheated you.

Expect to feel like you are overpaying. When you try to trade for a top ten player you will always feel like you are overpaying, even if said player is underachieving. A lot of owners are trying to pick up Braylon Edwards cheap and they are finding out that owners aren’t willing to trade him for Santana Moss. Don’t be surprised, it’s early in the season and they still remember which round they drafted their player in and want some value for him. Remember overachieving players will never garner you underachieving players. Stop trying to trade DeSean Jackson for TJ Houshmandzadeh, it’s not going to happen. “The Godfather” said it best; give them an offer they can’t refuse. Overpay if you have to, as long as your team improves overall that’s all that matters. If they refuse an offer that’s clearly in their favor then move on.

Don’t forget the negotiation part of trading. A lot of players play the spectrum of trading wrong. On one end there is the trade that the other owner will never accept and on the other, an offer you will never accept. You have to know these ends. If you offer a trade that is too one-sided in your favor they might feel insulted and not trade with you no matter the offer; or they might get upset and demand more value from you to prove their “intelligence”. However, it is necessary to not offer your best offer first. Propose a trade that is seemingly fair and slightly in your favor (again not too much) just enough to wet the appetite of the other owners so the trade talks can open. Once the trade talks open then keep wetting the appetite of the other owner and then be like well I don’t know and watch him squirm. At this point the other owner has imagined your blue chip player on his team and his mouth is watering. Now we can try to extract more information from him. The key is this, offer a non-blue chip player in your first offer. Trade talks move up not down. Know that you are willing to trade your blue chip player but not unless he asks. When you say “hey I want Drew Brees” he is going to say “well I want Brandon Marshall” and that’s when you’ve got your information. Too often I see and hear of trades that are fair and balanced getting rejected because it was the first offer on the table. Play the game right and you will win.

So keep in mind the subtleties of trading and remember trading is an important part of building a championship team but it’s not the only way to win. Picking up key players off the Waiver Wire is extremely important. The last few things I want to mention are timing issues. Maintaining cordial relations with owners is crucial for future practices, don't berate players if they offer you one-sided trades just simply message them politely on who you are willing to give up and who you want.Keep the communication open. Make sure you offer trades up early in the week, give time for negotiations to work, Sunday night is a great time to put up your first offer. If an owner doesn’t respond in a day or two take your offer down and move on. Before you offer or accept a trade read your starting lineup out loud to yourself with/without the traded players. Compare and contrast lineups before the trade and after. Also, don’t panic if you are 0-3. If you were the unlucky guy who drafted Brady, Braylon Edwards, TJ Housh, Larry Johnson, Chad Johnson (ocho cinco) all at once then maybe you should panic but if you only have one or two players underachieving, relax. Stars are stars for a reason they usually find a way to pull out decent stats. Remember trading is negotiation and negotiation is all about information and psychology. As Sun Tzu said in the “The Art of War” If you know thy opponent you need not fear the outcome of a thousand battles.