Etiquette Question

I am in a new league and there is the regular preseason trading going on. Now, here is the situation, and this is going to seem vague because I am trying to avoid using any real names here.

I have 2 or 3 players that I am looking to market, and of course I have holes to fill in. I am talking to manager A about one of his players, but he needs to fill in a position that I can't help him with, and he has no need for the player I am looking to sell off. Manager B then sends me an offer for one of the players I am ready to trade, but the player he is offering to me doesn't help me. However, that player I am being offered is exactly the position that manager A was looking for. I could

1. Accept the offer, and then try to flip him to manager A, knowing that it might not be enough and then being stuck with a player I don't need and having sold off one of my good pieces.

2. Not accept the offer and keep looking around.

3. (this is the controversial one). Go to manager A and say that I can get this player he might be interested in, and ask him if I do, then would you make the deal for the player I want. Of course, this one violates any confidentiality about who is moving who.

Option 3 is what I wanted to do, but I chose not to because I didn't think it was right to share what other people are up to. I guess I could have gone to B and asked if he was ok with me discussing it, but in the end, I chose option 2.

What would others do in this situation?

nothing wrong with plan 3 except there's nothing to prevent the other 2 from trading without you in the mix. i.e., they think they get a better deal between each other without including your players. happens in MLB all the time. this is predicated on the fact you have to reveal the player you want to acquire then trade? what is the cap on the league?

It is a 200 mil cap, so very trade heavy stuff. And you are absolutely right that they could bypass me and work the trade themselves. I just happened to have the one piece that manager B really wanted.

I realize that this happens all the time in MLB, three way trades are pretty common. Personally, it would not bother me at all to be included in the discussion, but there are some sensitive souls here.

In the end, I was able to work out a trade for what I need, and what another manager needed, so alls well that ends well. I just wanted to know what to think for next time.

I play 200mil often and would have no problem with your option three. I'd ask another manager if he would be interested in a guy if I got him in another trade. Kind of like a three team trade that happens in real baseball.

Quite some time back I was in a similar situation. I was talking with a manager who wanted a player I had. I told him to get me the player I wanted and I would give him the player he wanted. Next thing I knew he had done so and and I had a deal.

So say you have Aaron, you want Gehrig from team A but he needs a third baseman and says he wants Schmidt. Team B will give you Schmidt for Aaron.

Send a message to team B and tell him you get me Gehrig and you can have Aaron. That puts the pressure on him to make the Schmidt for Gehrig trade. Of course he might prefer Gehrig but odds are if team A and team B were willing to make that Gehrig for Schmidt trade neither would be talking to you.

So why not just send a message to both and say "hey guys, it is clear we each have a player the other wants. How about we orchestrate a couple trades to implement a 3-way trade". Then propose the 2 trades that would accomplish the end result all 3 say they are wanting.

These are all very good comments and I appreciate the feedback. I think the takehome message from this is that I should approach both managers, and see if they are open to the discussions amongst the three of us. Give me a nicer desk, and a good looking administrative assistant, and I am ready to GM in the majors!

reason i asked for the cap is talent pool left. in 200 mil leagues with all the platooning the talent pool gets real thin. so i guess it makes your trade more important to the makeup of your team. good luck

and a good looking administrative assistant

Not sure I remember this being in money ball movie. Heck, for most of it I got the impression Beane looked in the mirror and thought a good looking assistant was not needed as much as more mirrors.

so were you able to work the deal?