A new observation!

I think I see more and more offers that might look good in a silo, but taken into the context of team make-up make no sense.

Example: Offering a quality 1b for a quality SP, when I already have better options at 1b or DH on my team....offering me right-handed platoon player for a full time player when I need a platoon from the other side, etc.

I'll typically respond on why I do not want to make the trade, unless it's so utterly ridiculous it doesn't even warrant a response.

In-season trades tend to be more of an aggravation than a help, from my experience. Let myself get burned by a trade offer I forgot about and then found was accepted...days after the offer was made and immediately after the player I wanted picked up an 8-game injury. So now I feel I have to delete an offer not accepted by 10 PM Eastern, wait for results, then re-post if the players of note made it through un-dinged.

Pre-season trading is a lot more viable. Almost everyone gets players they didn't have on their draft list....but then the problem is, no one else had them on a draft list either!! Sure, maybe I can swap unwanted A for unwanted B, but unless the draft went wildly wrong and I am scrambling to put together a different kind of team, I typically would want to keep the guys I wanted in the first place.

So if I understand your waiver suggestion if the player waived is not picked up by any team the dropping team still gets hit with the cap penalty just like it is now. But if picked up no penalty. And worst team having first shot would help increase league balance and competitiveness. I may like this idea.

That is exactly the way I was thinking.

I have made trades that have turned teams around, but I have never been able to drop/add my way to success. A couple times I've held status quo, but usually it causes my team to crater; most recently in the 2014 Strat Tournament League Five, where I was holding tough, six games off the WC, made three key moves and ended up 20+ back.

I find there is usually only 1 or 2 other managers you can reasonably trade with. Most want something for nothing and way over value their players.