Keeper Leagues & Offseason Trading

[kpholmes]

I'm the commish of a keeper league with many Huddler's in it and we decided when the league founded last offseason that there would be a no-trade rule in the offseason. It simply didn't make much sense with the layout we were going (3 keepers, Keep 1 Player; Give up first round pick, Keep 2 Players; Give up first and second etc...) With the keeper deadline being a week before the next year's draft.

 

The current controversy we have with trading is this;

1. If someone trades a first round pick, they keep no one at all. So trading picks 1-3 is highly unlikely to happen.

2. If a team did aquire someone threw trade, they would then have to give up another pick simply to keep him.

3. 17/20 players on rosters are worthless, but for the teams with stacked rosters, they would have an advantage by having trade options to improve their team with more draft picks. Defeating the advantage point of keeper leagues.

 

In recent discussion though, we have found that the majority of the league would like to find a fair way to do offseason trading, we simply can't come up with a logical way of doing it so it would be fair for everyone.

 

Do any other keeper leagues out there trade in the offseason, and if so; how?

Thanks!

Edited December 28, 2006 by kpholmes

[Big Country]

In my all my keeper leagues, we allow offseason trading.

 

To your points,

1. True, but, as teams do not need to keep 3 players, they may choose to include a higher pick if it lands them a highly valued keeper. Unlikely but possible.

 

2. Yes, and that is all to be considered when evaluating the deal.

 

3. 17/20 on a particular teams roster are worthless, not to say they don't hold value for another owner. The point is those teams that did well can have a chance to improve themselves by dealing a player they otherwise would have tossed back for nothing in exchange for something of value, like a pick for instance, maybe a 6th or 7th, which is better than nothing. A team would give that up for a player that would otherwise be tossed back, with the knowledge they must also give up a top 3 pick to protect said player to ensure that they get said player rather than risking them be taken ahead of them in the draft, much the way NFL teams will give a low pick for a player to ensure they get them rather than having the other team waive the player and risk a different team claiming them.

 

You will find trades will generall be at a minumum based on your keeper rules, as we found out in my keeper league in its early stages, but soon as we switched to a flat number of keepers with no pick given up, it opened up a lot more offseason trade strategy and maneuvering.

[Tford]

Why not trade 3rd and 4th round picks? In my original keeper league, we have a setup similar to yours in that we have a max 3 keepers and keeping those players forfeits your 1st, 2nd or 3rd pick.

 

The Tiki owner in my leauge traded me his 4th and 7th round pick for Jacobs and my 11th round pick last week, and similar instances occur alot in this league. The fact of the matter is that until redraft; those players belong to your team. One might say it circumvents the system but the advantage goes both ways.

 

You have 4 or 5 top 3 rounders and can only protect 3. You shouldn't be punished for good drafting the previous year and keen WW sense. It makes sense that you would want to salvage some of that value into picks. Similarly, bad luck strikes you and your best RB retires. If you could trade away a 4th round pick to obtain a 3rd round guy without gambling in the draft, why wouldn't you?

 

The only disadvantage is the remainder of the league that has only 3 top 3 round guys; no more and no less. But arguing against an offseason trade on those grounds is like arguing against a trade during the season because a trade between two other teams doesn't help yours. And that's just ridiculous.