Roto Reality: The Drama Begins

     Just like the regular baseball season, in every fantasy baseball season, a little rain must fall.  In fantasy though, the stormy weather usually comes from drama and internal strife within the league.  This guy is unhappy with that guy, that guy is upset about another guy’s trade, it goes on and on.  Every fantasy baseball league has its issues.  But it’s human nature.  Get any group of guys together in a competitive situation, whether it’s for money, a trophy, or just bragging rights, and you’re always going to have some sort of flare up on someone’s end.  Well, the Gentlemen’s Game League is no different as these last 2 weeks have been filled with testy message posts, aggravated emails, a vetoed trade, and I’m sure a few uppity phone calls as well.  I’m sure your league has experienced a few cantankerous moments as well, so let’s see what’s going on here…

     When last we left the Gentlemen’s Game League, all was quiet on the home front.  The season had just begun, roster adjustments were being made, and there was a bit of friendly banter going back and forth.  Again, it’s a category based head to head league, so as they square off each week, some trash talk is to be expected.  The first week went by, seemingly business as usual, and the race was on.  Who Dat’s smacked around the One Man Wolf Pack, Rock n Roll beat up on Pine Tar, Just a Little Outside edged the Move Maestro and the Masterbatters played Poo Holes to a 6-6- tie.  It was a solid week all around as owners were able to see their teams in action finally and from there, could make the determination of what changes they needed to make.  Standard fantasy baseball stuff, right?

     Well, then the second week began and as the days moved on, Just a Little Outside (JALO from here on in) decided to employ a strategy that we’ve all seen a million times in fantasy baseball, and apparently a strategy that’s already been seen in the Gentlemen”s Game league, though apparently only in the playoffs.  The rules of the league state that each team is allotted 6 roster moves (add/drops) and JALO, with his patchwork pitching staff, decided to use the old “revolving door” strategy and use his roster moves up by dropping pitchers after a start and adding in new ones that had yet to pitch for the week.  The strategy is usually employed in an attempt to win categories like innings pitched, wins, Ks, quality starts, etc, while potentially sacrificing categories like ERA and WHIP.  In this case, the attempt was to win QS, wins, and Ks, while sacrificing the ratios.  Each team has their closers/relief pitchers, so saves really isn’t a factor here.

     The strategy, in itself, is not necessairly a bad one, especially if you’ve got a potent offense;  sacrifice a pair of pitching categories to dominate in others and then win the offensive ones with a strong group of hitters.  You’ll see it quite often in leagues that don’t have a limit on roster moves as there are always a couple of owners in every league that can’t help themselves or their itchy trigger fingers.  Usually you see it with teams that had poor drafts in the pitching department.

     So while JALO employed this strategy in Week 2, his opponent and eventual victim, Pine Tar was upset.  Was he upset because he is vehemently opposed to such a barrage of roster moves each week or was he upset at the final outcome of their matchup?  From an outsiders perspective, I’m going to have to go with the latter since the only pitching categories won by JALO that week were Ks and saves.  They tied in WHIP, but regardless, the employment of the strategy did not work as it was intended and JALO won the contest based on his domination of the offensive categories.

     When the Move Maestro pointed out on the league message board that JALO was employing the “playoff strategy” for his pitching, all hell broke loose.  Pine Tar immediately chimed in with his displeasure, and together they bashed JALO for his strategy and accusations of poor sportsmanship and “bush league” practices ensued.  There was talk of limiting the number of roster moves each week, but more importantrly, the character of one of the players was being held in question.  Really?  That’s sort of the anti-Gentlemen’s Game, isn’t it?

     After that, JALO, through a barrage of messages, defended his character and quickly turned it around on his accusers.  He took them down, post by post, addressing each comment made against him.  JALO pointed out that nothing he did was against the rules laid out to the league and that the strategy for which he was being ripped for, was the same strategy employed by the Move Maestro in previous seasons.  JALO was clearly upset, and rightfully so, in my opinion.  

     While Pine Tar and the Move Maestro have every right to be against a particular strategy, there is really nothing they can do about it when a fellow league member employs said strategy, so long as it doesn’t violate the established rules of the league.  You may not like it, but every GM is different and can run his/her team in any way they see fit.  I’ve been in leagues where guys have made 20 moves in a week’s time.  It drives me nuts and makes it impossible to pick up players in time to use for this week or the next, but if there’s nothing in the rules that says it is illegal, then there is nothing you can do about it until the following season.  Attempting to impose rules changes after the season starts should not be allowed in any league under any circumstances.  If I read the rules, formulate a strategy, and draft a team based on those rules,then I am being put at a disadvantage with an in-season rules change.  Then, it really starts to get personal as the owner affected by the change will undoubtedly have lingering animosity towards those that lobbied against him.

     Meanwhile, to make matters worse, JALO and Rock n Roll had a trade on the table that was quickly voted down by the rest of the league.  If I’m reading the league rules correctly, then it looks like it only takes two no votes to veto a deal.  I don’t know how many peopleactually voted no, but I saw the deal propsed and it didn’t take long for it to be nixed. 

     The deal in question was JALO trading Justin Verlander to Rock n Roll for Jake Peavy — two normally high end pitchers who are both struggling to start the season.  Now personally, I think Verlander is the more valuable player and is known to start the season off slowly, while Peavy seems to be struggling with his adjustment to American League hitters.  But is the trade unfair?  Does it warrant a verto?  I’m not so sure.  You can speculate that Verlander will right the ship and Peavy will continue to struggle, but how certain of that are we?  There are certainly no guarantees that either will happen?  What if Verlander regresses to his craptastic 2008 totals?  What if Peavy starts to pitch like he did back in September when he first came over to the White Sox?  What if they both turn it around and tear it up the rest of the way?  What if neither of them do?

     Trade voting in a league is obviously necessary as a way to impose checks and balances on all owners, but you also have to be realistic when it comes to your votes.  I’m definitely not in favor of teams “yessing” every deal through without giving proper thought, but unless a trade is so egregiously lopsided or if collusion is suspected, then I have a hard time voting no.  Now everyone has their own opinions regarding a player’s value, so an analysis of a deal  is obviously a subjective thing, but in a case like this, a Peavy for Verlander trade does not seem so incredibly lopsided nor potentially collusive.  I wouldn’t have made the deal for Peavy, personally, but perhaps JALO was expecting some form of an upswing.

     Now after reading the last few posts made, written by all three parties involved, it appears that the situation has dissipated a bit.  The Move Maestro made his apology, Pine Tar followed suit by trying to make light of it all, and JALO asked the league to drop it and just disregard his previous email onslaught.  Tempers have subsided and I’m sure everyone has hugged it out and are ready to move forward.  But when the group is as close knit as this one appears to be, with family, friends, neighbors and co-workers, the fire might be out right now, I’m sure it’s just a matter of time (and a few losses) before the flames are fanned again.  Meanwhile, here’s a look at the current standings after three weeks…

     I can definitely understand some early season frustration,as some of my teams have started off much slower than I had hoped and I find myself having to dig my way out.  No one ever wants to start their fantasy season that way.  But remember, boys….it’s just a game.  No need to lose sleep….or a friend….over it.

Tagged as: closers, fantasy baseball, fantasy baseball head to head leagues, fantasy baseball leagues, fantasy baseball season, fantasy baseball strategies, head to head leagues, Jake Peavy, justin verlander, relief pitchers, Roto Reality, starting pitchers, trade veto, trade voting