Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

I’m new to playing Back to the 80s (will be starting my 2nd team shortly), and I have a question. Since no one knows what the mystery card is during preseason, any trades conducted then are done on an equal basis, meaning neither party should have an advantage of knowing whether a particular card is good or bad. After the season starts though, especially when enough info has been accumulated via splits or injury reveal for you to know (or have a good idea) about which particular card a player has, what is the protocol for disseminating this information is you want to trade that player? Plainly put, is there an understood courtesy that if you know, or think you know, which card you have, you should spell this out in a trade offer or do you keep quiet if you know you have Puckett’s bad card when offering it up in a trade?

Any comments are appreciated. Thanks.

I tell people up front if there is an injury reveal. It saves them from going through 50 games to see if he went down for a period of time. If not it is purely an educated guess and I don't tell them what I think.

In my trade offers, I explain whether I know which card it is, and in some cases have gone as far as stating what game I had the reveal in case they want to validate.

I alos try to explain what I'm thinking behind the trade... and my thinking when I turn down a trade offer. Too many times I get a trade offer with no comment, and get rejections with no explanation.. that's not helpful and to me also not polite. Just some more "two cents".

I have been in a league or two that a manager(s) will take advantage of a newbie manager that is not up to snuff on injury reveals and such....

but the majority(99%) of managers here are on the up and up .

slug

[quote:3e2d404b37="wjanssen"]
I also try to explain what I'm thinking behind the trade... and my thinking when I turn down a trade offer. Too many times I get a trade offer with no comment, and get rejections with no explanation.. that's not helpful and to me also not polite. Just some more "two cents".[/quote:3e2d404b37]

I agree with what wjanssen says. I think it's a good policy to explain why you're rejecting a trade. If you explain this precisely and reasonably, but also firmly--that is, make clear by polite implication that you're not about to be conned by a trade of Ripken in a good year for Concepcion in a bad one. Not only is this polite, but it often opens a dialogue that leads to a solid trade for both sides. I also think it's good policy to avoid proposing ridiculously one-sided trades. Nobody's going to accept a trade unless they get reasonable value, so it's better not to waste somebody's time with an unreasonable offers.

I like preseason trades the best myself. The mystery card heightens the experience in my opinion. It's hard to find a good trading partner though.

Just like the ettiquette discussed here, I prefer to receive an offer with some verbage attached. I want to know what that other person's needs are. Usually, I can work something out with someone who I can develop a dialogue with, especially if I am trading from a strength.

Besides the lack of communication thing, my other pet peeves are:

Lopsided offers in preseason: Would anyone here really do a George Hendrick and Bob Boone for Oscar Gamble in preseason before waivers are run when your home field is Wrigley? That's just silly in my opinion. No way I'm forking over 4.87 million [i:9925ab8d60]and[/i:9925ab8d60] Gamble for two perenially available schmos.

Trade offers within the first 3-33 games: I see this from people that leave their lineup cards blank and let HAL do the work. 6 games will go by and HAL might have benched a star player for whatever reason. They panic or they think that HAL gave them a reveal - one or the other - and so they quickly offer the guy off for someone on my team that has been tearing it up for 6 games.

If I trade during the season, I'm going to have to see some data first...no matter who it is. That's the whole reason why people play the mystery game....to discern the mystery by reading the stats. At least play the guy to find out what you got. Believe me, in no way do I believe that you can get any [u:9925ab8d60]reliable[/u:9925ab8d60] read on a guy from the way HAL plays or benches a player. The game engine isn't going to do your homework for you. Knowing that comes from experience.

That being said, I'll end it on a good note. I think that it is always worthy to mention by name 80's managers that make good trade partners:

Jablowmi, UglyJerry, Chief78, Crossingroads, YountFan.

Jablowmi is creative and trades from strength and tries to fill your weakness from the very first offer. It comes at a price but I've never had an unfair offer from him. He's quick to respond too.

UglyJerry is a wheeler and a dealer. He can make your head spin with some offers. He's flexible and you can usually work a deal to a win/win type.

Chief78 isn't as active as he used to be but he was really good at mid-season trading. Very aggressive. Willing to give up good cards to make his team better as a whole. Good communicator.

Crossingroads is a good communicator and he'll work with you via several counters until all roads are exhausted.

YountFan holds his cards to his chest. He's good with communication and timely responses though. He knows what he wants in a deal so if the counters aren't going well, at least you'll know in a short period of time.

That's just what I see.

I made a trade for Remy and Gibson's best card (as revealed through inhjury, info courteously given to me by the trader. along with game ref where it occured). Gave up Herr's best card, basically (forgot who else got thrown in). Gibson is not performing for me, unfortunately, as I am in the Astrodome, and he loses HR's. On top of that, I have to have a RH bat for Remy versus LHP's. I ended up getting Phillips, who now starts at 2B full time. Net result -- a loss of def in the middle IF, marginal power gain, loss of prductivity -- all this, even though I knew what I was getting. Blech! I suck!

Would you have made the deal is you hadn't been chasing for top spot in your division?