A couple weeks ago, I lamented the state of trading in my dynasty league, The Devil’s Rejects. I run a team with Chad Young in this 20-owner, 45-player roster, keep-28 league. At the time of my last piece, Chad and I had run into a snag. When we tried to trade good veterans for prospects we were told to take a hike. When we tried to trade prospects for good veterans, we were told to take a hike. Frustrating…

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It was a busy Tuesday at the Winter Meetings. Starlin Castro and Shelby Miller were traded, Ben Zobrist signed with the Cubs, previous signings were officially announced, and other talks progressed closer to the finish line. So, here’s the question, what can the hot stove teach us fantasy baseball aficionados?

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At some point in the next few days, or perhaps in the hours between when I wrote this and when it will be posted, you’ll be treated to an article about Billy Hamilton. Said post will come courtesy of my colleague Alex Chamberlain. Alex always offers a few nuggets of analytical gold. I’m looking forward to what he digs up regarding the preeminent burner in the league.

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One of the things I love most about ottoneu is the robust user community on Slack. Contrary to more widely used platforms like Yahoo or CBS, ottoneu is just small enough to bring all of its users together on one forum. This leads to helpful services like leagues wanted, trade reviews, and freely available analysis tools.

If you play ottoneu and would like to join the Slack community, please say so in the comments. I’ve asked one of the admins to come collect anybody who wants to sign up. If you’re not in an ottoneu league but want to join one, the community is a good place to find the right group of players. Now, onto the bounty.

A couple days ago, community member Justin released a Surplus Value Calculator into the wild. The purpose of the tool is to help you determine which players are valuable keepers and which might be overrated. Expected dollar values for every rostered player are compared against their actual price. The tool uses Steamer projections to form the expected values.

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Here at RotoGraphs, we’re deep into the heart of player profile season. Right now, we’re reviewing outfielders. Part of our analysis is geared towards our expectations for next season. Often, you’ll see us juxtapose our own impressions with Steamer’s projections.

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The Blue Jays played a different game than everybody else last season. While most contenders focused on elite relievers and athleticism, Toronto resurrected the PED-era quality offense. The team scored 891 runs. That’s not historically significant, but they did outscore the second place Yankees by 127 runs.  Yep, the Jays scored 17 percent more than the next best team.

The offense was carried by MVP Josh Donaldson and a couple familiar faces. Donaldson, Jose Bautista, and Edwin Encarnacion will draw early draft attention next season. However, a couple solid contributors may slip under the radar, and they’ll benefit from their elite counterparts.

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I had a conversation on Twitter the other day in relation to the latest DraftKings “scandal.” Don’t worry, this one is actually pretty bland. DraftKings pays some people to write about DFS and make recommendations. These same people also play and make money on DraftKings.

It’s the same thing a thousand writers do (including me on RotoGraphs). The affiliated writers don’t receive any inside information. The only difference between what I do and what they do is that DraftKings profits directly from their content. Also, one of their writers has made millions of dollars. I’ve made a few thousand. I suppose that’s a noticeable difference too.

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Once upon a time, I was a Phillies fan. I grew up in a mostly empty Veteran’s Stadium watching Doug Glanville and Wendell Magee and Rico Brogna. Occasionally, my past links to Philadelphia help my fantasy rosters. That happened this year with Odubel Herrera and Aaron Altherr.

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Tell me if this sounds familiar. You try to acquire a top prospect using a high quality established veteran – say J.D. Martinez or Charlie Blackmon. You’re quickly rebuffed. Sensing the possibility of market distortion, you try to sell your top prospects – like Nomar Mazara. You’re offered piles of dross.

Or how about this? You try to sell an over-30 core player. Crickets. You try to buy an over-30 core player. You’re told, and I quote “there’s no one on your roster that would get Robinson Cano.” Said roster still includes Martinez, Blackmon, Mazara, and many other quality keepers.

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It’s the day after Thanksgiving, and we’re all still digesting yesterday’s dinner. You may be wondering why you went back for that third helping of pie. In retrospect, two was enough, wasn’t it.

Let’s keep things light and easy to digest today by celebrating our most hilarious negotiations of the year. I’ll get things started with a scenario from yesterday. The rest of you should share in the comments.

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