I think overall the UNM Trade has worked OK. Its a helpful system, and I think Mike has done a fine job with it.

However I've suggested before that it makes more sense to assign a PB owner to each team (or league) to make the trades than have Mike B do it for two reasons.

1 - Mike has a bias towards youth. This may or not make be a good bias - I'm not saying that it is wrong for these teams to focus on youth, but I think Mike tends to overvalues youth and potential and treats all UNM teams as "rebuilding". Which is why star players on the plus side of 30 often get traded off of UNM teams for less than current value, or for players that do not fit on the team in terms of team need. This is where I disagree with Mike on some of the deals that get made (and some of the deals in general that get approved) - Mike will trade a guy who is better now and quite possibly will be better for the next 5 years for a guy who is not as good now, could be better the next five years is he reaches potential, and then should be around 5 years after that. In other words the value in the trade is in years down the road and is contingent on a lot. Once again, I don't think that is a bad strategy, but its a risky one, and it tends to let teams who already are solid improve immediately and leaves the UNM team to possibly be worse the next season.

2 - The trades are based too much on talent compared to need. Its hard for a single person to have a strategy that fits each team, but the best traders focus on improving a problem area - so if all you have are INN 2B - getting a 35 year old 2B who has an OPS of .750 may help more than getting that stud young OF with an OPS of .900 - if your already have 3 OFs at about that level. Many owners reject good offers (in terms of talent) that do not help the whole picture. My point is UNM trades rarely seem to be getting that 35 year old who adds .200 OPS to the end of the lineup for a player who may be better but is blocked from playing time, or is expected to be better two years from now.

These comments are not meant to be critical - I think any one person making so many deals would eventually show bias towards certain things (pitching over hitting, slugging vs OBP, defense over age, ie something) and would also tend to make deals that are good player by player but are not good in terms of team need.