Trading ground rules

RT- · 08-30-2011, 07:03 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?

Chicagofan76 · 08-30-2011, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RT-

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?

Bagwell was selected in the fourth round of the 1989 draft by the Boston Red Sox. On August 30, 1990 the Red Sox traded him to the Houston Astros for 36-year old relief pitcher Larry Andersen to gear up for their playoff run.
The trade is now considered one of the most one-sided trades in baseball history; indeed, in 2002 ESPN's readers named it the second-worst trade in sports history, behind only the Red Sox shipping Babe Ruth to the Yankees.[1] Although Andersen pitched well down the stretch in 1990 (allowing three runs in 22 innings of relief), and helped the Red Sox win the AL East division title on the last day of the season, Boston was swept in the American League Championship Series and then lost Andersen to free agency (in part because of a collusion settlement).
However, from the Red Sox' perspective, the trade made some sense at the time. Though Bagwell was considered a top prospect, he faced a logjam in the organization at third base. Veteran Wade Boggs started for the major league club, and the Sox farm system had two other top prospects at the position, Tim Naehring and Scott Cooper. Neither player was really able to establish himself at the position, and both were out of baseball by 1997.

08-30-2011, 07:03 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?