Trades

Trading players can be hectic, some owners may set up a trade that takes days. This is just some things to watch out for about trades as we don't want new owners to get taken advantage of.

When setting up a trade, be aware of salary caps for current and future seasons, quite a few get nullified because they exceed budgets.

A lot of the problems resulting in bad trades with new owners is the fact the advanced scouting is maxed at $14M. That makes projected ratings pretty fuzzy sometimes especially with prospects.

Also, owners like to dump high salary players with bad contracts. That doesn't mean the player wasn't worth it at the time, but age and injuries can debilitate a player along with a low training budget. Normally a salary dump is sent with a decent prospect.

Sometimes a bad contract results from a previous owner giving more money than what an organization can handle in future years (the win now mindset). They are actually very good players but the contract is debilitating to the rest of the organization.

Some things to look out for:

A veteran player that is regressing in ratings.
A veteran player with low health, for that matter any player.
A veteran player with high salary whose ratings do not match his on field performance.
A pitcher whose control is under 50.
A player with a high overall that is actually over-rated, these can be hard to detect for a new owner. A very high Stamina and other not so great ratings is a clue for a pitcher. A very high Power and other not so great ratings is a clue for hitters.
A player with a relatively low overall that is under-rated, these can be hard to detect for a new owner also. These are usually relief pitchers and defensive position players. For relief pitchers check durability. Always check for makeup, patience and health. Low Power for hitters or low hitting abilities period with high defensive ratings.

Other things to know:
A player with a real high overall is not a dime a dozen.
A real good starting pitcher is the hardest to come by.
A good hitting PC catcher can be more valuable than one thinks.
A pen pitcher rated in the 60's can also be a valuable commodity.
A defensive power hitting infielders and CF don't grow on trees except 1B.
A power hitting corner OF does grow on trees unless you don't have one.
A highly defensive SS can make a good bench player whether he can hit well or not.
A big DH is useless to a NL team, but getting good trade value is difficult.

What to look for in trade reviews.
A GM should look at each trade and vote correspondingly. Veto should be used when the trade doesn't look kosher. All trades usually have a winner and a loser one way or the other and is not uncommon. A detailed look at each player should be made in all cases. A high overall player for seemingly low end players should raise a red flag quickly, but doesn't mean the trade is bad. Money being sent should be looked at closely when a high salary player is not involved or money exceeds player salary, I am not saying that buying players is wrong, but should be completely discouraged. There is an allowable exception to this rule to sign draft picks but care should have been taken to not let that happen.

Inevitably every season an argument gets started over a trade that doesn't seem right. I don't mind an owner calling into question what looks like a bad trade in world chat. To start an argument that lasts for days is another story.