It can be tough to navigate your way through a potential trade. Don’t know where to start or how to go about getting the player you’ve had your eye on? We have some insights that could help you with your next trade offer.
All fantasy team owners have the natural desire to better their team. In order to win you have to set yourself up for the best chance of success. So we hit the waiver wire and scout potential trade prospects. Whether you are new or a veteran of the fantasy game, finding the right trade can sometimes be a hassle. In this 2022 dynasty trade guide, we will cover some useful tools and give some basic insight into the trading game.
Use Available Resources And Tools
It can be exhausting to search through stats and develop some sort of value for players. Luckily enough, there are resources (both free and subscription required) that have already done the heavy lifting and given a numerical value to them for you. Check out these dynasty trade calculators.
Free Tool: keeptradecut.com
This website is excellent for testing potential offensive-minded trades. There are filters to shape the data based on your league and scoring setup to get the most accurate analysis. It will recommend players to fill a gap and let you know when you have a fair trade, in addition to assigning a ‘trade variance’ when one side is stacked with multiple players. This helps users avoid one-sided trades.
Sub-Required Tool: dynastytradecalculator.com
This is another good resource to use when looking to set up a trade. Like the free tool, this website has filters to tailor the data to your league. The big difference with this tool is that there are values also assigned to IDP players. What’s better yet, your very own IDP Guys run the data for the IDP values! This tool has a very affordable subscription rate at no more than three dollars per month or $15 for the year.
These calculators are very useful when exploring potential trades. They give you a pretty accurate idea of the value you would be getting vs giving up. This allows for easy identification of fair or one-sided trade offers and makes for much easier decision-making.
Take Note of Weaknesses and Offer Players That Will Help
To best set yourself up for success, it is important to be mindful of you and your potential trade partner’s needs. Trades are more likely to be declined if the players involved are not immediately useful to the owner. Note the weak spots in their lineup and cater to your side of the offer to suit the recipient’s needs.
Teams already heavy at the running back position are probably not interested in stocking more, for example. Unless, of course, they are lacking in replacements. In which case you hate to see a starter sit the bench. So be mindful of your league’s roster setup and what the other party has when you make your offer. Just one less thing you have to worry about as a cause for them to decline.
Ideally, a fair trade would involve similar value on both ends. Though if a player is desirable enough, a trading party may throw in an extra pick or player to sweeten the pot. Depending on the roster setup of your league, a deeper bench can sometimes help you get the edge in a trade deal. If you can spare the extra player or a later-round pick for an upgrade to your lineup, do it.
Bargaining For High-End Players
Looking to make a major boost to your starting lineup? Don’t expect to receive a top-tier player in return for a couple of your backups and a late-round pick. Be prepared to give up a stud to get one back. Unless of course, you have a couple of highly-desirable flex players to make your offer more appealing. In which case you may get lucky.
Do some research to get an idea of where your potential trading assets rank amongst your target asset(s) and the rest of the league. Both of the tools above have in-depth lists of the league’s players and where they rank in the dynasty value spectrum.
You’ll want to start your offer with the closest tier player you have to your target player. After which you can re-evaluate any differences in value and plug-and-chug different players and picks into the equation to get an idea of what would be most attractive to get your offer accepted. Don’t be discouraged with declined offers though. It can take persistence and multiple offers or counters with several owners to get the right trade.
2022 Dynasty Trade Guide: Starter Pack Summary
Use the tools available to you in combination with your own research and knowledge of the game to set yourself up in the best position possible. In addition to the tools I listed previously, there are many other resources available to help your trade endeavors.
Analyze the team needs of you and your potential trading partner and address them accordingly with your offer(s). Keep in mind the setup of your league’s rosters and avoid offers leaving them short or with too many players of the same position. Fair trades are ideal but don’t be afraid to throw in a pick or a younger flex player to sweeten a deal if you can afford it.
When looking to obtain top-tier players, prepare to let a major asset go yourself. Whether it be a veteran in their prime or an up-and-coming young stud, it is going to hurt a little every time. That’s why we do our research and analysis to justify and make the trades that better our team.
This article was intended more for those dynasty owners who may not have much experience in the realm of trading. These minor tips and tools resemble the basics and foundation of a proper trading strategy. In later articles, we will dig into more complex and particular aspects of making dynasty trades, so stay tuned!
Thank you for reading! You can read all of my articles on my IDP Guys author page. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Harding_3 and follow @IDPGuys to keep up to date.
