Copy from Paydirt B League Forum.
SPECIAL EDITION: Trading
By greyghost1225
9/10/2019 12:31 am
Alright…here we go the final edition of the 1979 season. I would like to congratulate El Cajon for winning the championship and Bellingham for winning the Belichick conference. A fantastic job this season, by both Hectorg93 and birn. Our final edition covers trading. This will be the most important article for some going into the 1980 season.
I can going to outline a few things I look at when trading, then turn it over to our guest correspondent jouameng. I have said this many times and probably will say it a few more. I doubt there has been anyone in MFN that has taken over more mismanaged teams than me. I look for the worst in talent, salary cap, etc. and that is the team I want to build. When I build a team I look at the talent level, salary cap, and what talent I can TRADE. There are a few things I look at.
1. Team Strength- Where is my strength? Is it in youth or can I win right now. If I have a strong on the side of youth and won’t win for a few seasons, then any player that is age 27+ can be traded. I don’t want a player on the down side when I put the pieces together. If I have a team that is strong and can win today. I may be willing to part with that young player or draft picks to get that final piece of the puzzle for the winning season. Every situation is different and must fall within the philosophy that you as an owner are developing. The one thing I recommend is develop your team building philosophy and stick with it, don’t change back and forth., the same with trades.
2. Trade Meter- This has been a battle since the beginning of time. I don’t believe in it, jouameng will share a different opinion. The trade meter is based off of general default attributes and not personal modification of weights. The trade meter does not adjust for individual team weights. If a team sets their own weights, then the trade meter does not apply. The default setting is useless in this case. If the default weights set the trade value of a player rated an 85 at 1800, but once I apply my weights and that player is rated a 70, but the trade meter is still at 1800. This is of no value to me. You will find varying opinions on this, so judge carefully.
3. Salary Cap Hit- The only team that takes the hit is the team that holds the contract to that s-specific player. So when you look at trading for a player just look at the salary that is the only thing you will be responsible for, not the bonus. Now with that being said if a team wants a player from me that I will have to take a 5-10-20 mil cap hit on. They should be willing to give up a little more for me to take that hit.
4. Trade Fair- This is not fantasy football, many of us have been playing this game and have dealt with each other occasionally. The one thing that I do no matter what is try to work out deals that are best for both teams. I don’t go into the trade with I am going to win and you are going to lose in this deal. I look and say we are both going to get what we want in this deal and we are both going to walk away winners.
Now here is the true trade master jouameng
Besides winning, there’s no other excitement in MFN than being able to successfully work out a trade. Trades are a beautiful yet delicate transactional process. They allow you to go out and get virtually any player you truly want to add to your team. With free agency you’re bidding against other teams, with the draft, you have to sit and wait your turn, but with trades, it’s just you and another owner. The thing with trading though, is that it truly could make or break your team.
Trading is a delicate process. It’s time consuming and may take a while to finally even get to a point where the negotiations can truly begin. Here’s the inside scoop on the process I go through to work out a trade.
There are many things you should do before even starting the trading process, first of which is knowing your team. By that, I mean knowing where your positional strengths and weaknesses. From there you plan a course of action on how you’d like to improve your team. Another thing you should do before you start trading is understanding which attributes are valuable to each position. Without those 2 hand in hand, it’s trading blindly, and that could lead to years of rebuilding.
Once you figure out where your strengths and weaknesses are, create a mental (or physical) note of just HOW much you’re willing to give up on those strengths to improve your weaknesses.
Dead Cap
In trading there’s generally a dead cap hit you’ll take when dealing players. While I don’t really factor in the dead cap hit I take in any of my deals, it’s important to keep track. Overall, it’d be wise to not trade away players you’ve just signed to large extensions as that dead cap hit could cripple your team for the future in FA’s and the Draft but if you do, make sure you account for that in the package you’d be receiving and ask for a little extra value.
Trade Partners
So when I look for a trading partner, if I’m honest (like REALLY honest), I tend to avoid trading with top tier teams/owners if at all possible. My mindset in this is, “Unless the trade greatly benefits me, why would I want to help load up a team/owner with talent that I may have to compete with in the future?” After I eliminate teams I would rather not trade with, I go through the rest of the league. If your strengths are QB then look for teams that are on the cusp of winning but lack that QB talent. Offensive Line? Then check out the stats to see which teams give up the most sacks. Defensive Line? Look for teams that rank near the bottom in sacks or rushing yards gave up. For the rest of the positions RB, WR, LB, and DB those are the hot positions. They’re virtually needed by all teams unless they’re just completely stacked at one of those positions. Don’t be the team that offers a QB to a team with 2 possible starting QB’s on their roster (Unless they’re old and about to retire). It’s a waste of time to trade your strengths to a team that has no need for them either.
Trading for Value vs. Trading for Players
While trading may seem like its one dimension, it’s not. In trading, you can either trade for a player you have your eyes set out on, or you could simply be trading for a player you may not even need, but you may get a good deal on. Generally, when I feel like I need to improve at a position, I go to Player Search>All players>Download CSV. From there I simply go through the excel sheet search for players with high attributes in those positions. Simply go through and fine-tune the numbers to what you feel is desirable in those positions. You may even find some gems in Free Agency if you’re lucky! Then find which teams those players are on a simply by gauging the player’s place on the depth chart, their game usage, and the owner of the team it usually helps you figure out what you’d need to give up for the player. A player that’s getting no playing time? Probably easy to get, a player that’s started 7/7 games? Probably much harder. This is generally the steps I go through when searching for players I want to add on my team.
Players of value, that’s where the trade block comes in handy. Players that are on the trade block generally are being traded at a discount, although don’t take my word for it. That’s not to say low ball the owner, but when negotiating, it’s usually much easier than it is when you’re trading for a specific player. For me, I usually once in a while take a glance in the trade block and filter the age. I look for younger players that have useful attributes and are also improving. If you can find one, trade for them, even if you may not have any use for them. Having this player on your team does 3 things for you. Gives you useful depth on your team, gives you positional flexibility in which you could trade the starter and let the younger acquisition start, and lastly gives you ammunition for future trades that may involve the player.
Another way to trade for value isn’t searching for it, but giving up value. If you’re absolutely stacked at a position with talent from top to bottom, don’t post that you’re shopping them but try sending offers out for those players. Even if you don’t have any positions you want to improve at, you can always trade for draft picks.
Draft Picks
My favorite currency in trading is draft picks. You can trade them or for them without any cap hit and they will always have value (granted with the lack of talent in drafts now a little less), but no matter what, teams will always have a need for them. Accrue as many as you can as they’re valuable trade pieces.
Trade Score
The trade meter/score is an important tool in the trading process, while I hear MANY complain about the trade score/meter, I’m personally like that it helps to visualize the range of players worth… I’m not saying it doesn’t have flaws, as a 32 y/o OL shouldn’t have a 1200 trade score or an RB/WR with great attributes but tagged with a 9 trade score is worthless, but most of the time it does help give you a gauge of player’s worth. There are MANY exceptions but for the most part when I make deals, I try to get the trade score as evenly as possible.
Always Try to Get Extra Value
That may be self-explanatory but always look for value. When you’re close to completing a deal, maybe ask for that extra low round draft pick. Maybe try to ask for a promising, yet low trade score player. Always look for additional pieces you can add to your team, even if you don’t need them value builds up and eventually you’ll be able to use those small accumulations of value to make a bigger move.
Understand Positional Switches
This is probably what I feel like most GM’s struggle within trading. Always be on the lookout for players with the ability to switch positions. Whether it be a Defensive End who has great cover skills which would translate well to a Defensive Back position or a Running Back that has great blocking attributes who could be moved to the Offensive Line. While logic would tell you, “In the NFL it doesn’t matter if JJ Watt is a great cover DLineman, he’d never work out at CB.” I’m here to tell you that in MFN, he’d be a great CB. He’ll lose the weight needed to become a CB and gain speed to match as well. Another way about this is trading for older LB/DB’s and transitioning them to the DL. We all know DL play well into their mid-30 while LB’s and DB’s paly up until their early 30’s. If they have the strength and good run/pass defense, why not move them to the DL and extend their careers. Most teams are willing to trade their older players for much cheaper and moving them could help you create an effective DL for cheap. The same goes for moving TE’s who are hitting their retirement age to OL. This will extend their careers and provide you good value. One thing to note though is that all players may not ever hit the weight of the intended positional switch.
To wrap it up, trading is exciting and has so many different concepts that go into it. While it’s a great way to build your team, it could also be dangerous if you don’t understand the fundamentals. Once you understand player attributes, what makes them great, and the direction you want to take your team, trading can really be a fun part of building your team. Have fun and trade smart!
So there it is the official close to the 1979 season. What a great one it has been. The shared knowledge should make all the new owners even better next season and it will be awesome to see. Good Luck!
