Fantasy Reflections: Trade Ethics

August 11, 2018

Kyle Bishop considers the ethics of making trades with contenders once a fantasy baseball owner's team has fallen out of the race.

At this point in the season, your situation should have a fair amount of clarity. Either you’re contending or you’re not. There are exceptions to this rule, of course. Sometimes the standings are such that your team could catch fire and shoot upward, taking advantage of concurrent collapse by one or more of the rivals ahead of you. This is also more applicable to rotisserie leagues, since all one needs to do in head-to-head formats is squeak into the playoffs to have a shot at the title. In general, though, the writing is likely on the wall.

In dynasty and keeper leagues, the way forward for also-rans is clear: Sell off anything that doesn’t hold value beyond the current season to those still in the race for future assets. Redraft formats are trickier, since there’s in theory nothing to be directly gained for the team out of contention by making a trade. For that reason, some owners feel it’s unsporting for a cellar dweller to make deals with contenders, particularly when there’s money at stake.

With trade deadlines approaching in many leagues, let’s consider the ethics involved here.

All's Fair in Fantasy

If you’re the unfortunate owner in this scenario, let me first direct some kudos your way. You could easily have bailed on your ownership responsibilities when it became clear you wouldn’t be bringing home the gold this year. Instead of abdicating, however, you’ve honored your commitment to the league and remained engaged. Vacations, the impending arrival of fantasy football (a vastly inferior but more popular game, I am not currently and never will be accepting @’s on the subject), or even just taking advantage of the outdoor opportunities that summer affords – none of these distractions has kept you from playing out the string. This is commendable.

In return for your steadfast refusal to quit, you may receive scorn from your league mates if you continue to make trades. My take? Thumb your nose at them and keep making offers, if that’s what you wish. You owe them nothing beyond good faith efforts to ensure that the deals you make are not outright collusion. No one can, in good conscience, defend a trade that is a blatant effort to enrich a particular contender without getting commensurate value back. And it should go without saying that any shady handshake agreements to cut a doormat in on a portion of the winning in return for such a trade is verboten. Keep your negotiations clean and above board, and your integrity remains intact.

You may not have a chance of winning at this point, but you do still have valid reasons to be involved in the trade market:

Entitlement

You paid your entry fee just like everyone else. You’re perfectly within your rights to continue pursuing all avenues to improve your team’s performance without regard for the fact that failure is inevitable.

Pride

Maybe you can’t win the league, but you can at least feel like you did your best. And when you look back on your performance, finishing strong and moving up a few spots might take a bit of the sting out of losing.

Spite

Depending on the standings, you may have the power to influence who does emerge victorious. If you see an opportunity to boost one rival whom you’d prefer to see win the league at the expense of another you wouldn’t, this is completely acceptable provided you aren’t crossing the line into collusion.

The bottom line: If someone in your league is salty about you making trades after falling out of the race, helpfully remind them that there’s no crying in (fantasy) baseball and go about your business. They’ll just have to manage their team better if they want to win.