Trade Dispute: Derrick Anderson for Antwaan Randle El

Q: What are your thoughts on this trade? Derrick Anderson for Antwaan Randle El. Based on our league scoring (which includes 6 points per passing td and point per catch), Anderson is the #3 QB with 137 points and Randle El is the #37 WR with 56 points. Obviously, Anderson doesn ‘t have much of a track record to predict what his future performance may be, but at this point, there’s no reason to think he will falter too much. On the other hand, with Randle El, there’s no reason to think he will finish much better than he has every other year in his career, which is average at best. The owner giving up Anderson has Manning, so he said he was just helping out the other owner, who may be forced to play Pennington. It’s not collusion but the Anderson owner isn’t concerned with his QB position and didn’t worry about getting equal value for him. To me, this trade goes beyond uneven and tips the scales to the unfair side.

A: Actually, I would consider this collusion. There are many definitions on the web for collusion but based on this example, from wikipedia, I think it is applicable to this trade:

Collusion is a term to refer to acts of cooperation or collaboration among rival entities.

If you allow this trade, you are setting a precedent by which any owner in your league can perform unfair trades because they are “helping out the other owner”.

As you pointed out, based on your league scoring system the trade is not even remotely fair. I also agree with your assessment that there is no strong evidence as to why either of these players will stray much from their current paces of production. The trade should be rejected, but more importantly you should firmly establish that your league will not tolerate trades made out of charity as it severely disrupts the balance of the league.