Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2001

Taking a flying leap

How to handle and analyze those blockbuster-trade offers

By Andy Hanacek, Associate editor

1. Play it cool — The first mistake you can make is to get caught up in the wheel-and-deal mindframe. No one’s perfect, I’ve done it myself. If you get excited, you run the risk of killing the deal or worse, killing your team by adding more and more players until you actually lose.
   
2. Don’t play favorites — I had a tough time this offseason trading away Titans QB Steve McNair in the league I run. I’ve had him (protected) for all four years in my league. I finally realized that my team really lived and died by McNair’s rushing success. Of the four years of my league, only in McNair’s Super Bowl season did my team finish over .500. That’s why you can’t play favorites. Blind devotion will kill your fantasy team (of course, I may not have learned, as I’m having difficulty parting with George, a hot commodity on my team right now and probably my favorite player).
   
3. Ask for more — Chances are, the owner who is trying to make the big trade with you just wants to shake things up a bit. If that owner is caught up in the excitement, which No. 1 of this program alerts you to avoid, you might be able to take the owner for a bit of a ride, or at least squeak out a bonus player.
   
4. Give it some thought, or at least pretend — If you’re clearly getting the raw deal or an unbelievable trade in your favor, you should always pretend to think it over. If you’re getting the raw deal, you won’t "offend" the owner, which could come back to haunt you later if you need to wheel and deal. He might not want to talk trade with you. Telling him you’ll think it over shows respect, even if you know you’re going to flat-out reject it. The same goes for if you’re ripping the owner off with a deal he proposed. Pretend to think it over so that he doesn’t suddenly have second thoughts and pull the deal because you jumped all over it. If it’s a fairly even deal, think about it, but don’t overthink it.
   
5. No one’s untouchable — I don’t care if it’s Marshall Faulk and he is untouchable. You don’t tell fellow owners that. It’s like running a store. You put the expensive, highly coveted stuff in the window, but you don’t put the price on it. You want the owner to step in and ask about Marshall Faulk, then politely name your price. Theoretically, he won’t be able to meet it. But while he’s here, he’ll look around, and then you can talk about other players and possibly swing a lesser deal to improve your squad.
   

If you follow these steps, I’m not saying you’ll be able to swing every trade in your favor. That all depends on the talent being offered and the talent on your roster as well. But, at the very least, these tips should keep you from getting 15 ulcers over whether to trade Peyton Manning for six guys or not. Happy roster shuffling!

"In Our Opinion" fantasy columns have now resumed for the 2001 season. Columns will appear daily, Tuesday through Friday, throughout the regular season. The Fantasy Doctor has returned with your pigskin prescriptions, so send your fantasy questions to the Doc's attention at fantasydoctor@pfwa.com

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