auctioning for value screwing me over?

[Cooner]

[rant]

In one of my main leagues (10 team, $200), we switched to an auction format this year. Most of the owners have never done an auction draft before (myself included). This led to some serious overpaying early in the draft, and thanks to some oversights and good planning on my part, I managed to get some good deals early. Then I started saving cash, and started pulling out a few ignored players later in the draft when people didn't have the money to spend on them. This left me stacked at RB, but very short on cash with no WRs. I ended up with (yes, in a 10 teamer... with experienced owners in a 5 year running league)

Peyton Manning $32
Sean Alexander $68
Rudi $26 (steal of the draft)
Gore $38 (steal number two)
Benson $20
Morris $1

My WRs ended up being:
Randy Moss $8
Devery Henderson $1
Mike Furrey $1
Antwaan Randle El $1

I was thrilled... I didn't care that my WRs were largely useless, surely I could trade from my RB strength for WRs. So the first thing I do is start floating deals... and no takers. Not a one. Everyone is giving me the classic "I'm pretty happy with my team." It just seems that I ended up the only person auctioning to get the best player for the dollar, whereas everyone else was drafting to fill up a team.

Ok, so this isn't the worst thing that has happened... I'll have to wait a week or two until someone loses a RB to injury, and then look to make a deal. I don't think I've screwed over my season yet.

Then I do my next draft, where I ended up having to autodraft. Ok, poor timing on my part. I ended up fairly happy with my team, but severly lacking in RB depth (thanks to Yahoo taking a kicker, defense, backup TE and backup WR before going for... Kevin Jones as my #3 RB). But my WRs are strong, and I have both Todd Heap and Chris Cooley. Surely I can deal a WR and Heap for an acceptable platoon RB. But, no. Again, noone wants to deal til they get a feel for where they're at.

Am I just playing in bush leagues? I've had trouble dealing before, but never quite like this, where literally everyone -- even people who would win in value on the trade -- wants to see the first few weeks before even considering trades. Or is this simply the classic case of people drafting a team and getting attached to their players' upsides? Ugh. Why doesn't anyone draft for pure value anymore?!?!?

[BrutallyHuge]

You should never assume that you'll make a deal. Do you think others are saying, "Let me draft not for my team...but for someone else's team."?

After the draft, you should have a team ready for battle. If you drafted well, you should have a good team and reserves you might trade down the line. Never draft players and expect to trade them.

[Peacesells]

Exactly what he said. Plus, most everyone feels they had a good draft...it's natural. They will want to see how it turns out before doing alot of trades. Wait a week or 2 and target the o'fer teams and you'll see some willing to deal.

peace

[Cooner]

I guess maybe I'm thinking of this too much from a baseball standpoint. In baseball (especially keeper leagues, and especially cafe keeper leagues *cough cough*) people are pretty willing to deal at any point. They're in it for the long run, and there are so many games that value pays off in the long run, not performance now. In football, maybe since there are fewer games it matters as much to get individual performances?

[venus]

It's hard to be really down on a drafted player before the season starts, unless the draft was in June, July or earlier etc. If they were really down on that player, they wouldn't have picked(redraft) or bid(auction) for them. When I look at both of my leagues teams they look pretty solid, but I know within a few weeks, you can tell who the decent and bad teams are, then the trading can begin

QB's Palmer, Kitna
RB's SA, Henry, Edge, Chester Taylor,
WR's Lee Evans, Branch, RBrown, Coles, Glenn, BMarshall
TE's Shockey
K's Nedney
D NE

[dgan]

I guess it depends on how many WRs you start, but I wouldn't be too anxious to make a trade. With Manning, Alexander, and Rudi/Gore, you should be more than making up for your deficiency at WR. Your WRs may get outscored by 10 points, but your QB and RBs should be outscoring most other teams by 15 - 20. You're definately strong enough to make the playoffs, so I would just wait it out the first few weeks and look for a deal down the road that will set you up for the playoff run.

[eaglesrule]

Baseball isn't really instructive here, because more positions are used, and more stats are taken into consideration. There are a finite amount of backs in football, but baseball has the same type of dynamic with closers. Then you factor in scarce spots like catcher, scare stats like steals, etc., and there is a lot more reason to trade, there are finite amounts of certain resources. And, honestly, its easier to pull of an assymetrical trade anyway. 2 for 1s are generally bad in football and baseball, but in baseball if someone needs a stat, they will downgrade.

In football, I don't feel nearly as compelled to trade unless I am bit by an injury, or have an "extra" asset because someone exploded so bad that I didn't count on.