ROTISSERIE: Trade talks as "intel"

Federal authorities, we have learned in recent weeks, have any number of ways of figuring out where our heads are at. They can gather phone records, monitor Internet traffic and the like.

The humble fantasy owner, however, has no such police power, no supercomputers, listening devices or other technological wizardry at his disposal. Instead, fantasy owners must engage in a more old-fashioned form of intelligence gathering to know where their competitors stand. Luckily, owners do have a powerful tool to utilize in this endeavor: the trade offer.

If you believe the only reason for initiating trade talks is to attempt to secure an asset to help your team, you are not only setting yourself up for frustration—factors like risk aversion and...

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