Ridiculous trade offers, just tick me off!

The term ridiculous can be interpretive. But, we’re all likely too familiar with an infamous few who, on more than one occasion, have offered up deals seemingly more moronic than Matt Millen’s draft board!!! 

PLEASE, I’m begging you—Don’t make the mistake of offering 2 or 3 borderline fantasy players for 1 stud player! You are wasting everyone’s collective souls, and insulting their intelligence at the same time!

I understand a smart owner has every right to begin the bargaining regiment by offering up a little less than he’s actually willing to part with.  FINE. I get that.  But if you are going to continuously bombard manager’s inboxes with countless asinine offers right out of left field, expect them to grow tired of your extreme low-ball tactics, and eventually in many cases…word will spread that you are an insane fantasy manager to deal with! (Well, golly shucks ya sayin’ that can actually happen sometimes on that thar intranet thang?) Yes.

Worse yet, sometimes a trickle effect can occur. Whereby if your offers are insultingly bad, some abolishing alliances can form against you, risking any future consideration by other managers to make deals with you all season, and perhaps in keeper leagues, for years to come! Sound familiar? I hope for your sake it doesn’t.  

Also, don’t be the #’s guy. He’s the type that feels by tossing up several zany offers to each manager in the league, by sheer volume of trade offers, someone is bound to eventually bite. He even has the gall to get mad when no one does. “I offered all sorts of trades, and no one wants to make deals in this league!” If you’re in a relatively competitive league, all managers will see crap for what it is…CRAP!

Instead, concentrate on some well thought out, and fair trade offers.  In my experience, I’ve found that before I make an offer, I have some inhibitions, and will even say to myself: “I’m not certain this is fair to ME?” Chances are, you’re getting a bit closer to a potential deal if this thought crosses your mind. 

One common, but great tip is to try concentrating on dealing your strengths, while catering offers to managers whose team has weaknesses in the areas/positions you own a lot of.  

Another ‘Duh’ guideline is that a manager is far more likely to close a deal with you if it HELPS him! Otherwise, why the heck’s he going to make the trade? By the way, don’t toss in an extra mediocre player if it actually forces the manager you’re trading with to drop a more valuable player than the one you’re ‘tossing in’! This is a surefire way to sour a potential exchange~! 

Last ‘Duh’: Usually, trades are made when a WIN-WIN situation exists, whereas both parties view the trade as advantageous to their respective teams! The fantasy sports world has changed from years ago. With the advent of numerous fantasy websites created to assist you with knowledgeable decision making, the days of the fantasy ‘chump’ have all but disappeared! 

So keep that in mind, the next time you conjure up your next ‘humdinger’. My final advice: Offer trades, not insults! And leave the Screwter to me!

Imagine if there existed a Don Cherry in the Fantasy Baseball realm… Create a mental image of what he’d look like, talk like, and most of all, what he’d have to say about various subjects in the world of Fantasy Baseball. Hmmm…Got him in mind? Okay. Now, picture him with a baseball’s skin, and you’ve got - Screwter!

This is the embodiment of a WaiverSharks exclusive we hope you’ll embrace during the upcoming 2008 Fantasy Season and beyond. That’s not to say you will always agree with his miscellaneous ramblings…after all, a guy named ‘Screwter’ is bound to have his share of opposition!

But, whether you enjoy his comments, simply tolerate them, or whole heartedly disagree with them, it’s our hope he can help muster up some viewpoints of your own! Feedback or questions are always welcomed via comments, our forums section, or our contact page.

Now, without further ado, WaiverSharks presents to you: Screwter’s Hard-Line

Seriously. Let’s get right down to the nitty-gritty! No more sugar coated, line dancing or soft-spoken fence squatting. Let’s delve into some crap that irks the living heck out of me! Incidentally, I’ll be referring to your typical Head-to-Head, regular fantasy season stuff today. I figure I might as well start with some basic training, so listen up fantasy soldiers, and you might actually learn a thing or two! Today we bust out of the gate with “Don’t be “That Guy” “.

Don’t Be “THAT GUY”!

Last season some classless clown joined a supposed ‘for serious players only’ public baseball league I had the displeasure of being involved with. Our hero then proceeded to draft twenty-five San Francisco Giants!? Just terrific, I thought…another clueless wonder who has decided to waste everyone’s time!

By the end of April he stopped putting his players in on many days, and then abandoned the league completely by Mid-May. Uggg! Listen. Obviously, right from his ‘Down by the Bay Draft Day’ one could tell this loop de loop wasn’t serious about the league he’d joined. But, what I want to touch on is something a little less extreme, but unfortunately more prevalent—The all too casual player who can’t even muster up the minutes to put his darn players in each day! Double Uggg!

I understand that the rigors of a 162 game Major League Baseball- Fantasy Baseball season can be tough when the supposed ‘break out’ players you drafted are not panning out the way your spring cheat sheets promised. But, if the team you’re managing is seemingly out of contention even prior to a Washington National’s bad boy getting booked on a *3-1-1, don’t let that be reason to maliciously ruin the entire leagues enjoyment by neglecting to, at the very least, insert your players!!!

Sure, in most cases, your season may not do a complete 180 degree turn around if your first couple months are utterly putrid. But, if you hang in there, make some wise waiver wire pick-ups, and maybe finagle a timely trade or two, you just might have a prototypical Oakland A’s type of 2^nd half run, and create a potential play-off run. And as we all know, once in the play-offs, anybody can take the crown!

Obviously, open public leagues are more susceptible to this kind of tom foolery, but c’mon…just because nobody knows you personally…don’t make it right! First place, or last place in May? Doesn’t matter, see it to the end. By the way, if you can’t run ten leagues appropriately, don’t join ten leagues! You may not consider all your leagues equal, but they all deserve to be respectfully played out to the end. If you can’t do this, please do us all a favor, and choose another game, preferably one that’s easier, and ends quicker, like Kerplunk perhaps, or maybe lawn darts! Joining a league and NOT having the courtesy to insert your players is like keying another man’s vehicle. You just don’t do it!