What tempts me to make an APBA league trade

Trade season is open in our league now.  I just got my first trade offer for the 2011 season.

Oh, I’ve gotten inquiries and the “I’ve got this guy, what do need?” talk before.  Today though, I got my first firm offer.  Two players for two players.  To protect the guilty innocent, I won’t specify the details but I will say this… Manager X is serious about making a trade. 

And by that, he’s done a few things that make a successful trade a real possibility:

1. He’s done his homework.  He looked at my roster and established what my needs were and addressed them in the trade.
2. He’s framed the trade as a trade where the key player on both sides are extraneous players for their current teams (i.e. they won’t play a big role for our teams next year).  Since we won’t need them next year, making this trade should be a net gain for both teams.
3. He’s giving me a choice of two players for the second player in the deal.  This is an old trick used by parents with children to get them to do something they may not do if asked outright (“Ok honey, you can either empty the dishwasher or fill it”).  They always choose the most desirable option thinking they’ve won the battle.   In this case, I’m given the choice of a particular pitcher or position player.  Given a choice always makes the deal more sweeter.
4. Most importantly, he’s proposing a deal that is helpful to both teams.  I sort of alluded to this in point # 2 but it’s worth emphasizing.  Maybe he must have read my 10 Tips for trading in an APBA League post earlier this year.  That tip shows up at #4.  Making trade offers that only consider your own team or proposing trades “just for the sake of making trades” (yes, I’ve seen it done), serve no purpose.

I honestly don’t know if I’ll take Manager X up on his offer but it is tempting.  It might be a few weeks or maybe even the draft weekend in March when I make my decision.

Trade Season is open!