Fantasy Baseball Trades

Too often, fantasy baseball owners make a trade with the thought of what they can gain in the trade. However, there are several more things you need to look at:

In which categories could you drop in the standings?

In which categories could the other owners gain?

What is the domino effect that could occur because of this deal?

Let's look at a specific example. Let's say it's right after the all-star break and you are first place overall. You are 5th in stolen bases and you have the chance to pick up the top stolen base guy from the leader in the SB category. You give him a pitcher on pace for 18 wins.

The good news: You will finish 3rd in Stolen bases.

The bad news: The guy who was in 2nd place overall when you made the trade was 4th in stolen bases. He moved all the way up to first by picking up some speedy scrub on the free agent wire.

The owner who was second overall also was behind you in wins. He passes you the last 2 weeks of the season in that category.

The owner you traded the pitcher to also passes you up in wins towards the end of the season.

So as you can see from this scenario, while you gained a few points in stolen bases, your closest competitors also benefited from the deal to the point where you lost ground overall.

The point of this confusing exercise is simply this: When making a fantasy baseball trade, consider all the consequences of the move. Think about how it will effect other owners and how the stand in particular categories. Don't just focus on what the immediate effect is on your team.

The good news about this is that you can often make deals with owners who aren't thinking with this logic. You can offer a deal that looks better on paper for the other owner, but has a domino effect that works in your favor. Usually, the other owner isn't considering this. He only sees a deal to good to pass up and jumps on it.

Obviously, studying the domino effect takes a lot of time and energy, but the benefits of the extra research involved can turn a season around.