Making Moves Early

By now, just about everyone who plays Rotisserie Baseball has already auctioned, in some cases as long as two weeks ago. Two weeks of statistics have been logged, but that doesn't tell you much about your team that you didn't already know.

It never fails, though, that every year even the most experienced owners get antsy and want to go to herculean lengths to improve their teams.

There's nothing wrong with making a trade in April, especially if you fell short at your auction. But you also must realistically review the landscape before getting too aggressive. In most leagues I've ever been in, an April trade reeks of desperation, and owners are going to offer you 75 cents on the dollar for your wares.

One reason that April trades are difficult is that most owners come out of their auctions loving or at least liking their teams/auctions. Yes, there might be one or two players an owner isn't thrilled about having, but he's more likely to tinker with his FAAB budget and/or waiver wire than he is by trying to make a splash in the trade market.

If you're light in a category, it's hard to wait and fall further behind, but a bold move often does more to rob Peter to pay Paul than it does to fundamentally fix your team. April is when everyone wants to see how the categories begin shaking out before they start making moves.

Nothing has changed much from your auction last week or two weeks ago. Joe Crede isn't worth dropping in favor of Carlos Pena because Joe's had a slow start. You're not in a mixed league where a better option than Crede is just sitting on the free agent pool. Hang tight.

If you have to make a trade in April, due to a category shortfall or an excess that you don't want to move later when everyone notices it, try to find a logical trading partner. It might actually be better not to broadcast your intentions to the entire league, as this is the equivalent to putting a big, flashing, neon HELP sign outside your window. Instead, try to work with two or three teams to work out a deal.

Don't overpay. You're better off eventually dropping the category or making up the points later when the market changes than overpaying now. You won't get the stats back you throw away in April if you insist on paying too much.

The most important thing to remember is that excess in April can disappear easily if your slumping or injured hitter slumps or stays hurt longer than you expect. Don't assume anything - even the most renowned experts in the world are going to get some projections wrong. You will too. I'm not saying never to trade in April. Just remember that the confidence you had walking out of your auction shouldn't disappear because you're in 11th on April 15.