You’ve drafted your team, and in the heat of battle, you now realize you left some holes that can’t be filled with free agent pickups. Now is the time to explore trading with your fellow managers. But how do you deal successfully? Let me try to help.

1. Identify your needs. Are you set in the outfield, but need another starting pitcher or two? Or maybe you drafted enough pitchers for a team and a half. In any event, your team probably has something that some other team needs. Look at the rosters on your league page and figure out who would want your riches.

2. Pay attention at the draft. As a corollary to point one, watch what other owners did during the draft. Did anyone complain when one of their proposed picks went off the board? Does any team telegraph a preference for a particular team or player (i.e. Phillyrules, Pujolsrocks, etc.). These owners will probably make unwise decisions just to pick up the players they covet.

3. Tailor your offers. Once you’ve identified needs on other teams, see what you have to offer to fill that void. Plus, determine what the other team has that you need. This seems basic, but you’d be surprised how often I see trades made just to move players, not improving either team. Your goal is to improve your team, but it helps if you can at least offer the illusion of improving your trading partner’s team, too.

4. Study. It is important to keep up to date regarding call ups from the minors, injuries, slumps, hot streaks, anything that affects value. Remember when Ryan Braun was called up last year, and some lucky owner just happened to pick him up? It wasn’t luck it was preparation. Same thing goes for trading.

5. Time your offers. Knowing when to make the offer is as important as making the offer. You need to time your trade proposition for when the player you want is at his lowest value, due to a slump or minor injury. Even though the fantasy baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint, many owners will become frustrated a month in when their 3^rd OF is not producing. That’s the time to strike. Offer a replacement that you believe is riding a short term hot streak and savor the production from the player you receive all season long when he heals or comes out of the slump.

6. Communicate. Don’t be shy. Get to know the other owners in the league. Most sites allow you to e-mail the other owners, so take advantage. Discuss how the league is operating, congratulate them on a good week of performance. Any goodwill you engender now will help you when you offer to make a trade.

7. Be respectful. Don’t be obnoxious. Sending a follow-up e-mail to a trade offer is allowed. Sending 20 messages of increasing hostility is not going to make you a favored trading partner.

8. Don’t make ridiculous offers. It’s perfectly fine to get a steal of a deal, but if your trade offers are all obviously one-sided, no one will want to do business with you. Do not be obvious with your attempt to better your team at the other owner’s expense. While I embrace the idea of caveat emptor wholeheartedly, the key to successful trading is drawing in the other owner with the thought that he is the one getting the steal.

9. Emphasize the positive. Don’t just toss out the trade offer. Talk it up and make it look like a great swap. Stress the benefits your player(s) will provide to the other owner. Play up the downside of the players you want subtly. Make it seem like the other owner would be terribly remiss if he didn’t agree to the trade.

10. Don’t be afraid to counteroffer. If someone offers you a trade, don’t immediately dismiss it out of hand. See if there is some player involved that you want. Then look at the other team, and determine if you can offer some other players that would help him, but won’t hamstring your squad. Most deals that I complete evolve from the original offer to something both teams desire.

11. Use all the resources at your disposal. If you belong to sites with trade advice message boards, by all means post your trade offers for comments. Then incorporate any positive opinions into your offers as you attempt to sway the other owner to make the deal. If you don’t know of a site that offers advice, do a Google search for fantasy baseball trade advice-you’ll get plenty of results, trust me. Or e-mail me at this site and I’ll be glad to help out.

Good luck with improving your team.

Also, if you haven’t drafted yet, I’m offering my personal tiered cheat sheet which I created in Excel and have posted to Google docs here: Two Tier cheatsheet.