Jan 30, 2007, 05:50 PM ET
Trades are an agreement between two teams to exchange one or more players or draft picks (See Below). Trades can be processed with an uneven number of players as long as they do not violate any roster settings. They can be the most enjoyable part of the game, but can also be a source of frustration for owners who don't understand certain policies. Here is a brief overview of the art of trading.
Propose a trade
To propose a trade, go to another person's main Team page and select the player(s) you wish to receive. You will then be asked which of your player(s) you want to trade and be asked how long you wish the trade offer to be active for. You will be given the option of sending the player an email notifying them of your interest in conjunction with the deal, -OR- offering the trade without sending a corresponding email. After the trade offer is submitted the system will display a pending move on your Team Page, as well as on the other owner's page. In addition, the owner may receive an email informing them of the proposal had you selected that option during the trade offer process. That team owner can then go to his/her Team page to review the deal, and either accept or decline it. If no action is taken within the specified number of days, the system will automatically cancel the trade offer. The pending move will then disappear on both Team pages.
If the trade is rejected, you will receive an email notifying you of that result. If the offer is accepted, your entire league will be notified via email and the other team owners can review it based on your league settings. Custom League Note: If a team has multiple owners either of them can individually accept (or decline) the trade offer.
Trade Limits-(Customizable Leagues Only)
Your league may have a trade limit which sets the system to only allow a specific number of trades per team. See your League Settings page to view the configuration of your league. Most leagues use "No Limit" but if a specific number of trades is your league rule (ie, 5,10,etc.), and if that number has been reached, you will not be allowed to make any more trade offers. Likewise, you will not be allowed to have trades offered to you.
Trade Deadline
Your league may have a trading deadline. Customizable League players should view your League Settings page to view the configuration of your league. If a deadline is set once that day passes the system will not allow any more trades to be offered. For Standard League players, the trade deadline is as follows:
ALL Trades must be accepted before Friday, Aug. 10 at 12 p.m. ET.
Note that the trade deadline is only for trade transactions between teams. Owners are free to add and drop players via free agency and waivers throughout the entire season (including Fantasy Baseball playoffs).
Trade Review Types
Your league may have a trade review period, whose duration in time varies depending on your league type (in hours), in which the league manager and/or other team owners can review the trade to prevent collusion. See the options for each league type.
Customizable Leagues: No trade review, league manager veto only, team owners vote
Standard Leagues/Premium: team owners vote, ESPN trade review
Standard Leagues/Free: team owners vote
No trade review - If your league does not have a trade review period, all accepted trades automatically process.
League manager veto only - The league manager reviews each deal and can veto if they feel the move is not sufficiently balanced. Please note that if the league manager does not allow or veto the trade manually, the system will automatically allow the trade once the review period ends.
Team owners vote - In Standard Leagues, 4 out of ten team owners must vote to veto a trade in order to have it cancelled. A link on the main league page will allow you to view accepted trades, and submit your veto vote should you so choose. In Custom Leagues, the league manager will determine the number of team votes required to veto a deal. This number should be displayed in your league settings.
ESPN trade review - A panel of ESPN experts reviews trades that have been accepted by two owners. They then consider all information pertaining to the deal and determine whether the move is even and will benefit both teams. This Trade Panel then determines whether a trade is upheld and processes or is vetoed.
Trade Processing Timetable
Once a trade has been accepted by the team who had received the offer, the trade review period used by your league begins. The timetable for each settings is as follows.
No trade review - deal automatically processes
League manager veto only - the league manager adjusts the league settings in order to specify the length of the review period (24 hr, 48 hr, etc.)
ESPN trade review - After the trade acceptance, other league owners have a 48 hr period to review the deal, and should they feel the move is not fair or balanced, submit a formal protest to the ESPN trade panel using the link accessible within their league. Within 12 hours following the 36 hr period, the final decision registered by the ESPN experts will cause the deal to either process or be vetoed. Whether a deal is protested or not, the total process time is the same and takes 48 hours.
If your league uses a trade review period -- and a trade is accepted and not vetoed -- it will process within the hour (not the exact minute) when the period expires. To this point it is important to consider the time window when accepting trades offered to you, as shown in this example.
"48 hours" example: In Week 3 you accept a one-for-one trade at 4:27pm ET on Friday and your league has a 48-hour trade review period. If the trade is not vetoed, it will process within the hour after 4:27pm ET time on Sunday (no later than 5:27pm ET). However, both players' teams involved in the trade started their game at 1pm ET on Sunday. In this case the player you're trading will be on your roster for the Week 3 game, and the player will appear on your Team page for the proceeding week (Week 4). Note for Customizable Leagues: The league manager has the ability to manually move players from one team to another at anytime during the season.
Draft Pick Trading-Customizable Leagues Only
Trades can now be made involving draft picks. These types of transactions can only take place prior to the keeper deadline for Customizable League (CL) players. Trades can be made involving exchanges of draft picks only, -OR-trading some combination of player(s) and draft picks. It is important to note that you are trading for an owner's pick in a given round, and there is no assurance that the overall slot will remain the same. For example, you trade your first round pick (5th overall for Team A) for another owner's first round pick (3rd overall for Team B) and fifth round pick (Team B) . Following processing of the trade, if the league manager manipulates the initial draft order and Team B now has the 8th pick overall, that is the pick that you will end up receiving (not the 3rd overall pick). It would then be your responsibility to discuss this matter with your league manager. If you trade and receive a net total of draft picks greater than the number of rounds in the draft (example: you have 12 draft picks after trading and the draft runs for 10 rounds), then the draft will end and you will not acquire any players following the pick in which you complete your roster maximum. For this example, after 10 picks (no matter what round) your draft would end. You will be able to watch the draft process but when it reaches your selection you will be skipped over and no players will be added to your team.
