We’re at a very critical point in the fantasy baseball season. Your league standings should offer a fairly clear picture as to who’s going to be making a run at a championship and who isn’t. Those who are in contention will be active on the waiver wire, pushing hard on the trade front and biting their fingernails right down to the very end. Those who aren’t will either spend their time making trades to set themselves up for next year in their keeper leagues or start their fantasy football prep work.

Regardless of on which side of the fence you reside, there are certain do’s and don’ts you need to follow moving forward in order to achieve your ultimate goal. Yes, even if you’re turning your attention to football, there are still some fantasy baseball guideline to which you should follow. Proper etiquette, if you will. Whether you’re a have or a have not, you should follow these helpful tips so you don’t become THAT guy.

Waiver Pick-Ups

If you’re in contention…

Be smart with your remaining budget. Always keep in mind that you’re going to want to make a number of pick-ups once rosters expand in September, so there’s no sense in blowing your FAAB dollars on a move that isn’t necessary or could be deemed as “spinning your wheels.” If it’s waiver priority, then who cares? Half the teams won’t be making pick-ups, so even if you use your No. 1 priority today, you could end up first in line sooner than later. But for FAAB budgeting, you have to be sensible and hold some back. If you don’t, those who have are going to stream you to death over the final month.

If you’re not in contention…

Stay the hell out if it’s a re-draft league. If it’s a keeper league and you can acquire someone you can protect for next year, then by all means. Make your moves. But while your participation is appreciated, there’s a fine line between picking up someone you truly believe to be a potential keeper and being the asshole who just keeps adding and dropping people for the sake of screwing with your league mates. Even if you say you’re doing it because you believe someone to be a potential keeper, everyone in your league can see right through you based on your moves and behavior, so in the spirit of good sportsmanship, a good rule of thumb is to stay off waivers if you’re conceding the season and have no shot at winning.

Rookies

This sort of falls in-line with the waiver pick-ups, so consider this an addendum.

If you’re in contention…

Do not blow your FAAB budget on every friggin’ rookie who earns a call-up. As we’ve seen in a number of cases, for every one Cody Bellinger waiver wire success story, there are countless Lewis Brinsons. Fantasy owners get so caught up in being the first to “discover” a player that now they just throw everything against the wall to see what sticks. There’s no rhyme or reason to the selections; just the fact that the player is a rookie and he’s getting a crack at a big league job. I’m not saying avoid the rookies. I’m just saying be selective with whom you bid on. Be sure to study the player, the situation to which he is entering and what the team circumstances are surrounding his call-up. Few players are going to be called up without some sort of pedigree, so opportunity is going to be key.

Bellinger hit well out of the gate but it was more the opportunity that created such value. When he cooled off, the Dodgers were dealing with a number of injuries still, so the likelihood of him returning was fairly low. He was afforded the opportunity to work his way out of that slump he fell into in early May. But look at Derek Fisher of the Astros. Great pedigree and was called up to replace Josh Reddick who landed on the 7-day concussion DL, but once Reddick returned, the Astros were forced to decide between a veteran like Nori Aoki who is being paid $5.5M or Fisher who is controlled by the team for a very reasonable cost. Perhaps if there were multiple injuries, Fisher could have stayed, but just the one made him expendable despite playing well. Keep that in mind when presented with the new flavor of the week.

If you’re not in contention…

If it’s a re-draft league, again, stay the hell out. If it’s a keeper league, see the above section on waiver wire etiquette.

Trading

If you’re in contention…

Go get ‘em, tiger! Trade away. Do what you can to improve your team and make a run for the title. If it’s a keeper league, maybe deal away a big gun or two to fill in any roster holes or add to your depth prior to the trade deadline, if you feel it’s necessary. I usually designate one or two on my roster who I feel I can comfortably part with, but I’m not dealing someone who I expect to be a perennial keeper for years to come. I’ll trade a Joey Votto or Robinson Cano, but I’d be very hesitant to deal away someone like Nolan Arenado or even an Aaron Judge. Just make sure you’re not upsetting the integrity of the league by trying to pull off some egregious deal that even gives the illusion of potential malfeasance. There’s a difference between getting back fair value for the keeper aspect and making some 4-for-1 deal that looks ridiculously shady.  

If it’s a re-draft league, it’s a little trickier as you want to pick off the carcasses of the dead teams in the bottom half of the standings. You’re well within your right to make any deal you wish, but similarly to the above situation, you can’t be pulling off some egregious bullshit simply because the other team doesn’t give a crap about what they get in return for their players. If there’s prize money attached to the league and you try shit like that, you’re going to be one lonely owner who no one wants in the league anymore.

If you’re not in contention…

It’s your team and you can do whatever you want with it. If you want to sell it off to any and all comers, by all means. Go right ahead. However, you cannot just blindly accept every deal that comes your way. I know you don’t care. I know you’ve mentally checked out for the duration of the season, but you can’t just give away your top players for nothing. Owners in contention, whether it’s a keeper league or not, are going to offer you junk in return for your best players. You need to discriminate. If it’s a 4-for-4 trade and you’re getting back one decent guy and three useless pieces of crap, you can’t be giving up four full-time, quality players. It may sound silly to discuss the integrity of the league, but it’s true. Think about what it will be like next year when you’re sitting atop your standings and the second place team turns a pile of junk into fantasy gold because the team he’s trading with doesn’t give a damn about what he gives up. We’re not asking you to haggle over small differences, but don’t just blindly accept whatever comes your way.

Roster Moves

If you’re in contention…

Do whatever you have to do. Stream starters, micromanage your roster, whatever it takes. Make every move you need to make.

If you’re not in contention…

You’ve got two choices here, really. No. 1, you can check in with your roster once a week and just make sure you don’t have any DL’d or minor league players in your active lineup. Or, you can go with no. 2 and not make any moves at all. If you’ve checked out, then check out in full. Your lineup should never change unless it’s a keeper league and you’ve picked up a rookie on the waiver wire and someone in your active roster is dropped. The worst thing you can do is make some random roster moves that have no business being made. If you haven’t made a single move in August, you better not be making roster moves in September. It looks shady, especially when one of the contending teams benefits simply because you made a move that shouldn’t be made. And if anyone ever asks you to make a roster move, the answer is an immediate no. A team in contention asking you to make a roster move is only doing it because they will gain points. That’s collusion, brutha.

There may be a few more do’s and don’ts we’ll discuss in the future, but for now, make sure you follow these guidelines. We all want to win a championship, but you don’t want to look like some shady guy doing it. Yes, all’s fair in love and war and fantasy baseball is a war, but there’s a fine line between being competitive and being unethical.