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RT- · 08-30-2011, 06:03 PM

I need a bit of help trying to understand what a 'fair' trade is, in the modern MLB. I've only been following the MLB for a year or so in real life, so I have a hard time knowing what's fair and what's not.

I'm playing an ML league setup as the Toronto Blue Jays, and trying to stick to a salary cap of < $70m per season. I typically let go any player who gets to free agency (after offering arb and collecting the draft pick if they're Type A/B) and occasionally have to lose a few players who've reached arbitration if the overall salary gets too high.

With the latter, I usually try and trade them for pre-arb prospects.

I've got the AI trading difficulty set to normal, because I found hard/hardest to be impossible to make any trades. Instead, I'm trying to rely on common sense and typically only making 1-for-1 or 2-for-2 swaps.

Two trades I've made recently, for instance:

1) I traded away my #1 pitcher (#13 in the top players list), who had just reached arbitration (3 yrs service, due about $7.5m) to the 'win now' Red Sox, in exchange for their #1 pitching prospect (the #3 overall prospect on the BA prospects list), who had been pitching well at the AAA level.

2) I traded away my best OF player (OPS of over .900 for 3 seasons running) in his second year of arbitration (due about $9m) for another outfielder with 1 year ML experience (an .900 OPS rookie season from 500 odd ABs, but rated as an 'average hitter' by my scout), both with similar defensive abilities.

I know there's a whole load of factors that need considering when evaluating what makes a fair trade, but do the two above seem realistic?

Do teams in real life trade away consensus top 3 prospect players for top 15 current players, if they can afford it? Do teams swap established arbitration players for young guys who look set to be just as good?

08-30-2011, 06:03 PM	#1
RT- Bat Boy Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 13	Trading ground rules I need a bit of help trying to understand what a 'fair' trade is, in the modern MLB. I've only been following the MLB for a year or so in real life, so I have a hard time knowing what's fair and what's not. I'm playing an ML league setup as the Toronto Blue Jays, and trying to stick to a salary cap of < $70m per season. I typically let go any player who gets to free agency (after offering arb and collecting the draft pick if they're Type A/B) and occasionally have to lose a few players who've reached arbitration if the overall salary gets too high. With the latter, I usually try and trade them for pre-arb prospects. I've got the AI trading difficulty set to normal, because I found hard/hardest to be impossible to make any trades. Instead, I'm trying to rely on common sense and typically only making 1-for-1 or 2-for-2 swaps. Two trades I've made recently, for instance: 1) I traded away my #1 pitcher (#13 in the top players list), who had just reached arbitration (3 yrs service, due about $7.5m) to the 'win now' Red Sox, in exchange for their #1 pitching prospect (the #3 overall prospect on the BA prospects list), who had been pitching well at the AAA level. 2) I traded away my best OF player (OPS of over .900 for 3 seasons running) in his second year of arbitration (due about $9m) for another outfielder with 1 year ML experience (an .900 OPS rookie season from 500 odd ABs, but rated as an 'average hitter' by my scout), both with similar defensive abilities. I know there's a whole load of factors that need considering when evaluating what makes a fair trade, but do the two above seem realistic? Do teams in real life trade away consensus top 3 prospect players for top 15 current players, if they can afford it? Do teams swap established arbitration players for young guys who look set to be just as good?