Not to be confused with Owl City, US synthpop group.

So, there was 600 comments in the last post, and about 500 of them are about the forward rookies. I think its time to put my own thoughts down on the subject.

Before looking at the trade, what I want you want to do, is go back to your original plan. Most people right now, would have spent 2 trades on re-jigging and 1 trade on an LTI.

How many trades do you need to upgrade your team?
How many trades do you need for LTI?

Look at that original plan, and think - do you have enough cash cows to go through with it? Or are you going to struggle to free up enough cash.

Remember what we said in an earlier post, a good trade should score you 300 points over the season and net you $100k

So, taking all that in mind, should you be looking to pick up Pods/Rockliff? Well, lets examine the three main options.
(For the purpose of this analysis, Ill be taking Pods, with an average of 75 - which honestly, I see as the utter maximum of a rookies range. Im also assuming that hell be in your team for 5 weeks, since thats approaching the end of upgrade time.)
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The Straight swap.
So, youve got The Commentators Dream, Relton, and youre sick of him stinking up your bench. Lets see what youll get with a trade.
OUT - $83400 - 14ppg
IN - $83400 - 75ppg

The darkness is obviously stinking up the place, so if youve got him on the field, its a no-brainer. Upgrade. Its 60 points per week (300). If youre fielding an other rookie though, say, Hitchcock, youll be scoring an addtional 25ppg over the next 5 weeks (125).

So in that case, youre looking at about 125 points and an extra *earnings* of $200k.

The Rookie downgrade.
Youre not a fan of your cashcows- so perhaps its time to put them down. first up, youre looking at a $70k injection into the kitty. After that though, its much the same as above. 125 point (provided they are on the field) and in total, an extra $70k and an extra *earnings* of $200k. However, because Hitchcock would also be improving naturally, we gotta take that off about $50k of that cash "earned".

So all in all, trading out either of those players is roughly the same equation.

The failing Improver.
Perhaps youve got Yarran. Youre worried because you see him averaging 70 points for the rest of the year. Which is less than what youd be getting from Pods. So lets do the math. The points gained is a paultry 5ppg, or 25 overall- while the cash made from the sale would generate roughly 187k, while generating the roughly the same amount in *earnings*

So youre probably thinking, Walesy- why have you put the word *earnings* everywhere? The simple reason is. To free up that cash, youre going to require another trade. So when working out the value of your trades, that *earnings* amount would be attributed to the other trade. Not this one.

The implications of that is that trading a rookie out suddenly loses a lot of its shine. Of course, if your other cows arent earning you the money youll need- then definitely pick up pods.

The failing improver on the other hand, just about scrapes by, as it generates almost enough cash for a downgrade, but also adds points and a whole swag of earning. It does sacrafice a little job security though. But Ive heard through the grapevine that for the next few weeks, his spot is safe as houses.