Trades

It is the first week of May and you've had a chance to see your hitters have around 100AB's and your pitchers having 5-7 starts. This is a great chance to look at your team, with an HONEST eye, to see what you need to compete for the championship. The season is still very early and some hitter like Ryan Howard will start to mash the ball and bring in the 40HR's you drafted him for.

After taking a subjective look at your team it is time to send out some trade offers. Trading is one of the hardest things to do in any fantasy league that has owners who know what they are doing. People never want to send a struggling player in a trade and then watch him hit .350, 25HR's, and another 90+RBI's. So, be careful on trading because most people will decline your offer or send you offers that are absolutely absurd.

What I am trying to get at is, make sure to make value trades. Look at the categories you are strong in and of course weak in. My bottom line is, trade for and with value. If you are in need of saves and you have an abundant amount of starters, send a starter for a closer. But make sure the other team needs a starter in return. This is where trading is difficult, trying to meet the needs of both teams.

Please don't ever offer trades like A-Rod for Pujols. This is a challenge trade and it does nothing but add a number to your transaction number.

To conclude, look at your team with a subjective eye and see what you have and what you need. Then go out and send out some fair value trades, don't go out and try to rip someone off. Would you like someone sending you Fred Lewis for A-Rod? I didn't think so.

Early Season Trades

Please do not go out and make dramatic changes to your team just because your star players went 0-4 or had one bad outing on the mound. This is game ONE of 162. The season is extremely long, filled with ups and downs. Yes, I understand that starting a year with a 4-4 with a HR and 3RBI's would be great but this isn't the time to jump overboard.

Don't take this as, "DO NOT TRADE" but instead take this as trade only if it is going to make your team better by filling holes that you need. Remember, you must always look at your team with a subjective view and provide no bias towards any players. This is fantasy baseball and nothing speaks louder than NUMBERS. On my teams, I will trade anyone that will benefit my team, yes, this includes A-Rod.

But...if there is an owner out there that is panicking early in the season don't be afraid to take advantage. It is his/her fault for jumping overboard and trying to unload players because of a bad game, week, or even opening month. At all times keep your eyes open for players on the waiver wire and also for people who keep offering trade proposals.

Trade for value not for the sake of changing names on your fantasy roster.

Categories

After watching the catcher from Oakland, Kurt Suzuki, steal his first base in his major league career I thought about the two categories that are always in need during the fantasy season...steals and saves.

If you were unable to draft Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez, or Chone Figgins you will need to take a look for base stealers before it's too late. If you don't have a guy on your team that can steal 50+ bags try and get people at every position who steal 5-10 bags a year. What makes a player like Carlos Lee a fantasy stud is the fact he contributes in all categories...10SB's in 2007. A few players in this category that can help with 10-15 steals a year include Russell Martin-C, Alex Rios-RF, Ryan Braun-3B, Alex Gordon-3B, Hunter Pence-OF, and what makes this next person a top 5 pick in any draft Matt Holliday-OF.

After looking over your team, subjectively, make note of how many steals you have and take a look at the waiver wire. Individuals like Juan Pierre, Dave Roberts, and Jerry Owens are one category studs. They do one thing and one thing only, STEAL. So, if you have a deep bench or have absolutely nothing in the steals category, go out and grab one of these individuals.

The second category I mentioned was saves. There is only a limited amount of saves out there and it falls into the hands of one pitcher per game. Take note, EVERY closer in baseball should be drafted because they offer something special and that's saves. Of course, the elite closers, Jonathan Papelbon, Joe Nathan, Trevor Hoffman, and Francisco Rodriguez give you more than saves. Looking at the above and their stats, you will notice they provide a high K's/9 rate. A rate of 9K's/9 and higher is great. The elite closers will help in saves, ERA, K's, WHIP, and the occasional vulture win too. These players, as mentioned in my draft strategy, go for a premium in drafts and you will see these names fall in the first 7 rounds.

As the season progresses make sure to keep an eye on the closer battles throughout the league. Closers come and go so keeping a close eye on all the teams is a great way to pick up a newly crowned closer that might put you over the top for saves. A great example was in the 2006 season where I picked up Jonathan Papelbon straight off the FA list because I kept an eye on the closer situation around the league. This gave me a nice boost in saves and I turned around and traded him for Carlos Lee later in the year.

Which brings me to my next point. As the season progresses and if you were lucky to accumulate tons of saves, make sure to trade and gather players to boost your other categories which you need help in. You want to win your saves category, and every other category by ONE, so if you are leading by 50 at the end of the season but lost the stolen base and HR categories by ONE you just wasted a chance to win your league. EVERY POINT COUNTS.

It is only the second day of the season so don't panic. Remember, it's a long road and there are many storms and bumps along the way, just relax and enjoy the ride. If you need help in a category just look for a value trade or on the FA list. But don't do something stupid just because your players go 0-4 in their first game.