Comparative Advantage: How to Make a Fantasy Baseball Trade
When making a fantasy baseball trade, you need to think back to your Economics 101 class and the lesson on comparative advantage.
The very simple example of comparative advantage is this: you have two nations, Nation A and Nation B.
Let’s say that Nation A makes two products, homer hankies and rally monkies. Every year, Nation A makes 10 homer hankies and 6 rally monkies (in millions). Nation B, on the other hand, can make 4 homer hankies and 8 rally monkies (also in millions).
If each country specialized in just one product, they would increase their output of the item. If Nation A specialized in homer hankies, they could double their production and make 20. If Nation B specialized in rally monkies, they could double their production and make 16.
Now, if each country traded half of its products for half of the other countries, each country would have 10 homer hankies and 8 rally monkies, a better output than if each country did not trade. (This is the argument for free trade between countries. The argument against free trade would be made by all the homer hanky and rally monkey makers who are losing their jobs in each country. But since nobody in fantasy baseball is losing his or her job, we can be pro-free trade.)
How does this correlate to fantasy baseball? Easily. Instead of homer hankies and rally monkies, we just look at two statistics like saves and home runs. You have Adam Dunn, Prince Fielder, and Alex Rodriguez in your lineup? And you’re leading the league in home runs by 50, but you’re stuck in the middle in saves? Why not trade a power source for a reliever, preferably on a team stacked with closers but in need of some power?
This argument can apply to just about any two categories. Also, when you're drafting your team, if you find your lineup getting heavy in one particular category, you can rest assured that you'll probably be able to trade some of your stockpile away and get fair value for it.
So, with comparative advantage, we've got home runs and saves aplenty. Everyone's a winner. Homer hankies and rally monkeys everywhere.
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