TRADE APPROVAL FAQ (OPINION)

In response to the Trade Approval bulletin posted by the commishioner in a recent ORG bulletin I offer the following opinions.

Q: Is Trade Approval (Review) necessary in Purebaseball?

A: Yes. With no trade approval process in place it is possible for the league integrity to be greatly compromised which is detrimental to the long term success of the league and the hobby.

Q: Is the present system perfect?

A: Absolutely not. But its probably the best system I have seen.

Q: Would a system which allows league members to vote on the approval of each trade be better?

A: Absolutely not. This would be a horrible idea because:
(1) Contending teams could potentially block their rivals from making any trades that improve their teams by voting against any trade regardless of merit.
(2) Trade negotiations should be conducted in private. By allowing all owners to see proposed trades it would make player valuation opinions public. This could in turn encourage teams to vote down a trade so that they can make an offer on the same player.
(3) Everyone has different player valuations and by forcing a voting system it would eliminate each individual's ability to trade for players based on their own opinion of player valuation.

Q: Does the current system impede the completion of trades that are truly even?

A: Not really. I am only aware of a couple examples where the trade review process eliminated a trade that should have been a slam dunk approval. And I believe that in those situations the teams were able to work out a slightly modified deal. (No doubt the process was very frustrating to the owners involved -- but the veto of fair trades is very rare).

Q: Does the current system allow lopsided trades to be approved?

A: Yes. Trade review does not eliminate lopsided trades but it (hopefully) keeps them to the point where league integrity is not greatly compromised.

Q: Why are lopsided trades approved under the current system?

A: Because the definition of what constitutes a lopsided trade varies from person to person based on their own player valuations. So what one person thinks is a really lopsided trade may to another person seem like a fair trade. If everyone were forced to adhere to the same valuation system then there would hardly be any point to the game. The game is all about taking risks and the person who takes the best risks in their particular situation is more likely to achieve their goal.

For example in some cases one party in a trade is a contender for the current year and the other party is a rebuilder. A trade that may seem lopsided in favor of the contender this
year may seem lopsided in favor of the rebuilder in a couple years. This is part of life in baseball (Jeff Bagwell for Larry Anderson ring a bell?)

Q: Is the commishioner reasonable when making trade decisions?

A: Yes. Usually when presented with a controversial trade he will ask both teams for their motivation behind the trade. Often when presented with reasonable arguments from both teams he will either approve the trade as originally submitted or with small modifications. Rarely will he totally throw out a trade and usually those are situations where the deal is pretty lopsided or the managers make no attempt to rationally and civilly express their thoughts on the trade. Occasionally he is rather beligerant about his opinion on how great a particular player is -- but noone is perfect -- and his intentions are good.

Q: Is there a conflict of interest problem in leagues where the commishioner owns a team?

A: Maybe, although I think he has enough integrity that it shouldn't be a major issue. Nevertheless for appearance s