Trading draft picks

[bases loaded]

We are a 6x6 roto, 13 team, 8 player lifetime keepers. Its been brought up to be able to trade draft picks this year. Either when trimming our rosters to the 8 keepers or during the draft. Whats the best way to incorporate this into our league.

[AllstonRockCity]

In a league with the lifetime keepers (or any league where you can keep guys long enough to build a dynasty) I have found that the best thing to do is to count draft picks as keepers. So you have 8 keepers, lets say the draft is 24 rounds (24 - 8 = 16) so you guys all start out with 8 keepers and 16 picks. Any picks over 16 knock a keeper out of the equation, that way every one is always at 24.

[da_big_kid_94]

I am intrigued by this idea and I must admit, have a few questions about it:

• When you say trade draft picks - what do you envision a draft pick being traded for? A player? Another draft pick?
• If it were a player, does the trade have to occur before keepers are declared? If the trade is player for draft pick, is there some mechanism you envision as to how to keep the deal "fair" (I.e. Johan Santana for a 23rd round pick might raise a few eyebrows)? Also, assuming that the player traded for has to be kept, the trade would have to be completed before keepers are submitted, no? Can't have someone go into the draft with more than 8 keepers, correct?
• If you are thinking draft pick for draft pick, how would that work? All of the scenarios I envision in such an environment can not produce equal value for both sides. For example, Team A trades their 3rd round pick to Team B for their 5th round pick - what's the benefit for Team A? Or they swap picks in the fourth and sixth round - whoever gets to pick first in the fourth gets the benefit of the bargain.

I would say you have a few kinks to work out first as to how you might envision this. I would recommend that under NO circumstances you allow trading of draft picks during the draft - people have made preparations based on information entering the draft. It's not fair to change that information mid-draft based on two teams making a trade.

[bases loaded]

One team thinks he has a few too many keepers so instead of dropping them, in this case Jeter, he brought up the idea of trading him for a draft pick. Which got some other teams involved who thought the idea was good enough to vote on.

The vote out there now is does the draft pick become part of your 8 keepers then draft or do you get the 8 keepers plus the draft pick which stands to reason would be a 9th rounder and then draft. In the latter scenario yes someone could go into the draft with more than 8 players (incl. a pick). If voted on that way by owners. All questions that you guys asked.

So the team trading Jeter would have 2 picks in the 9th round and the team getting Jeter would have none. he would be a player behind and what pick it up in the final round?? I dont know...

I agree with youon no trading picks during the draft.

[cwk1963]

I've never played trading draft picks in baseball but do in football. Basically, each team gets 5 keepers. Then there's a 13 round draft. Team A can trade a player and a draft pick - let's say round 6 - to team B for a better player and a lesser draft pick - say round 9. It always has to be even with the draft picks so every team has the right amount of players at the end.

[da_big_kid_94]

One team thinks he has a few too many keepers so instead of dropping them, in this case Jeter, he brought up the idea of trading him for a draft pick. Which got some other teams involved who thought the idea was good enough to vote on.

This sort of thing is NEVER a good idea. Putting this in context from an outsider's view - ONE team feels it has just TOO much value to give up without a fight. So - how does he leverage it? Let's change the league set up affecting all 13 teams to suit this ONE owner, for this ONE season. This makes the league better how?

The vote out there now is does the draft pick become part of your 8 keepers then draft or do you get the 8 keepers plus the draft pick which stands to reason would be a 9th rounder and then draft. In the latter scenario yes someone could go into the draft with more than 8 players (incl. a pick). If voted on that way by owners. All questions that you guys asked.

A keeper should not be equal to a draft pick - one is an actual body, the other merely potential. The problem with trading draft picks is you all start out even and it encourages EVERYONE to keep a maximum of 8 players. There's no benefit for keeping less ..in fact, it's a detriment. If you keep less than 8? You'll still be drafting players from a shallower availabliity pool when everyone else is done.

So the team trading Jeter would have 2 picks in the 9th round and the team getting Jeter would have none. he would be a player behind and what pick it up in the final round?? I dont know...

This ought to tell you how bad an idea this could get for your league. Again, from an outsider's perspective - I have a team good enough to have 9 potential keepers - I can only keep 8. So, what I'll do is TRADE one guy I CAN'T keep, stay with my other 8 keepers and get the benefit of picking TWICE in the first round of the draft - and it's quite possible I'll have selected BOTH my players before half the league get's it's first pick.

Besides the team with too many keepers, where is the groundswell support for this idea coming from?

[JP Kastner]

As I play Strat-O-Matic, which uses a draft and commonly has perpetual contracts, I have much experience in this area. The problem with the unregulated trading of picks is that you can cause an imbalance. There is nothing worst than trying to find an owner for a team that has neither players or draft picks to rebuild with. Here are some ideas on how to limit trading picks.

Limit the Time
To limit the potential damage, set a specific time limit. No team can trade draft picks beyond the next upcoming year. So, teams can trade 2010 picks until the draft. Once the draft happens, they can trade 2011 picks, but not 2012.

Limit the Number
Another idea is to set limited on how many picks can be traded. For example, in my league you must keep at least one of your first three picks. Even if you have acquired four first round picks, you must keep one of your first three.

Roster Freezes
You will need to impose a time limit on trades to handle the additional logistics of trading picks. Not only you have to track rosters, but you also have to track what picks each team has. Set a roster freeze limit of two weeks before the draft. From that point forward, no trades. You can tell people that they can agree to trade picks, but the League Office doesn't want to hear about them. Transactions beyond that point would be listed as player-for-player trades.

Allow for the Potential for Supplemental Picks
In the case where a team does go hog wild and then leaves, allow for supplemental picks between rounds in an emergency. It will make the franchise easier to give to someone else.

I hope this helps.

[da_big_kid_94]

As I play Strat-O-Matic, which uses a draft and commonly has perpetual contracts, I have much experience in this area. The problem with the unregulated trading of picks is that you can cause an imbalance. There is nothing worst than trying to find an owner for a team that has neither players or draft picks to rebuild with. Here are some ideas on how to limit trading picks.

Limit the Time
To limit the potential damage, set a specific time limit. No team can trade draft picks beyond the next upcoming year. So, teams can trade 2010 picks until the draft. Once the draft happens, they can trade 2011 picks, but not 2012.

Limit the Number
Another idea is to set limited on how many picks can be traded. For example, in my league you must keep at least one of your first three picks. Even if you have acquired four first round picks, you must keep one of your first three.

Roster Freezes
You will need to impose a time limit on trades to handle the additional logistics of trading picks. Not only you have to track rosters, but you also have to track what picks each team has. Set a roster freeze limit of two weeks before the draft. From that point forward, no trades. You can tell people that they can agree to trade picks, but the League Office doesn't want to hear about them. Transactions beyond that point would be listed as player-for-player trades.

Allow for the Potential for Supplemental Picks
In the case where a team does go hog wild and then leaves, allow for supplemental picks between rounds in an emergency. It will make the franchise easier to give to someone else.

I hope this helps.

There is much wisdom to be garnered from this viewpoint. Nicely done, J.P.

[bases loaded]

Well said everyone thank you all...that team owner trying for this is a real hump anyways. Besides this is all too complicated for our league to work out before March 1 keeper deadline.

The groundswell is comming from the commish who thinks he can get Jeter for a pick so he puts it out to vote...yea the commish is a hump also.. haha.

[maxdad007]

We had this come up as well a couple of years ago, at first the trading of draft picks went unchecked, and I (having a monster team the year before) made a bunch of trades and ended up with like 12 picks in the first 4 rounds on top of the three keepers. It was not beneficial for the league to have any one going in with that kind of advantage (btw I finished something like 4th as I did really did not take advantage of the extra picks). We ended up changing to where you could only trade after your keepers were set and all the players involved had to be kept. This has really curtailed alot of the trading of picks since each team only has 3 players to work trades with. Hope this helps,

Nick