|
Trades on the hardest setting, of course. That's still too easy, so here are my house rules on trades:
1) I can only shop a player once a year, and I can't shop players until a full year has passed since I traded for them or signed them to a major-league contract as a free agent. That doesn't mean I can't trade players outside of those parameters, just that the other team has to ask for them. For purposes of this rule the new year starts the day after the trading deadline. I make one exception -- a guy who is DFAed and is about to be released can be shopped one extra time during the DFA period.
2) I keep a record of each team that made an offer for a shopped player. When dickering on a trade offer, I can only add players that team has made an offer for when I shopped them. It doesn't have to be a sincere offer -- it can be that guy they offer any time you shop anybody -- but they have to have made an offer. You'd be surprised at the differences in style. Some teams almost never respond to shopped players, some teams almost always respond.
3) When negotiating on an opposing team's trade offer, at least one of the players they asked for and one of the players they offered has to stay in the deal. If it's the classic one-for-one offer for a shopped player, they both have to stay in, but other guys can be added. If it's an offer that was not in response to a player I shopped, it's just one on each side.
4) Some of my house rules are just to keep me from spending all of my time noodling around on trades and never playing any games. For example, if I shop a player and there's more than one screenful of players offered in response, I'm only allowed to look at the ones with at least 2.5-star potential ratings. This applies even if I shopped a guy I would gladly unload for a reserve ballboy, just to get rid of his contract.
5) I don't make direct offers, I just shop. And I can only put a player on the trading block if he asks to be traded.
These are arbitrary rules and some of them are just to get me to get on with the game, or to avoid damaging morale. But I find they provide some structure and keep me from feeling that I made it too easy on myself.
|