Advice on SOM League Trading Practices

By Thomas Fischer
01/05/2006

It is fine to dispute questionable transactions in your Strat-O-Matic Leagues. It helps makes SOM Leagues better. With that in mind though, one needs to put forward some logical reasons why a transaction is not a fair or equitable trade when questioning the transaction with their League's front office. Additionally, a trade should have a huge imbalance for league owners to become concerned about it.

Owners are aware of what their team needs and if they make a trade in good faith, they should not be told that their decision to make a particular move is good or bad but should be given the benefit of the doubt that they know what they're doing. This should be taken into consideration before any owner in any league protests a trade made by someone else. Protests should not be based on issues like:

• "I would have given him something better for that player," or

• "The player he received isn't equal in value to the player he gave up"

No one but the two owners involved can tell the true value they place on the players they are trading away or receiving. These are not reasons to protest a trade.

The doubt comes from trading patterns that seem illogical. For example, it did not make a lot of sense to some owners in a league I was in that I was making some apparently odd trades several years ago. People we're questioning if I actually knew what I was doing, if I was intending to ruin my team and bail on the league, or I was trying to help out a buddy before leaving the league. That is where the doubt comes from and that is when the League should intervene in trades between owners. Not necessarily to overturn them but to question the owner making what seems like an odd or illogical transaction and finding out what their intentions are.

The case should be made not to intervene when two owners, who have been in a league for a long time, make a trade one player for one player. It would be more appropriate to be concerned about trades made by newer owners who don't have a long tenure in the league and who may not stick it out through the rebuilding process to make their team better over the course of time.

If you see someone making a deal like Barry Bonds for Todd Walker, Justin Morneau, and a 3rd round draft pick (this is just an example) you would raise an eyebrow to something like that and consider the following:

1. Who are the owners making this trade?

2. Why would they be making this trade?

3. How does it benefit each team?

4. How does it hurt each team?

5. What is the real value of each player involved in the transaction and or the draft picks?

The final question is perhaps the most pertinent, and also the most difficult one of these questions to answer. League officials should go through this process when they are reviewing trades that may be in dispute.

A trade should only be overturned if the League Office feels it is in the best interest of the team and the league to overturn the transaction. Sure it is fine to question trades but after the Commissioner or Moderator of a league has reached a decision the issue should end right there so the league can move forward.