Trading Etiquette, Part II

May 11, 2009

As follow up to my column last week about trading etiquette (where, I might add, everyone agreed that I had no right to be angry at the other managers not making the deal), the following happened to me today:

In my AL-only league, I made an offer of closer Scott Downs and Marlon Byrd for John Danks and Juan Rivera. The other owner responded to me and said “if you make that Papelbon, its on.” After some back and forth, I said I’d do Papelbon and someone for Danks and someone, he said “lets drop [the offensive side of the deal] and do it straight up, baby.”

An hour later, I told him I was waiting on one more offer, but would probably deal with him, and asked him to propose it. He responded “lets wait until you’re good to go, then I’ll propose.”   Three minutes later, I wrote back, “Do it.” To which he responded, “Oh man, let me confer with my advisors first.”

When I expressed my dismay, he then told me that all the offers were just negotiations, and that there is no deal until he proposed it on Yahoo, or says “you’ve got a deal.”

Tonight, not surprisingly, he backed out of the deal.  I think he backed out of a firm deal; he says he didn’t.

What do y’all think?

Honestly, though, I should have known better – this is the guy who wouldn’t throw Daric Barton into a deal because he liked his moxie.  And no, I’m not making that up.

Written by Jesse Mendelson · Filed Under Blog | 12 Comments 

Conquering the Auto-draft: A Real Experiment in Fantasy (Part IV)

May 11, 2009

Remember my opening day autodrafted lineup in the mixed-league, 5×5 format? Here it was if you don’t:

C. Matt Wieters

1B. Prince Fielder

2B. Kelly Johnson

SS. Troy Tulowitzki

3B. David Wright

OF. Curtis Granderson

OF. Corey Hart

OF. Shane Victorino

UT. Lance Berkman

 

SP. Cliff Lee

SP. Matt Cain

SP. John Lackey

SP. John Maine

SP. Brett Myers

SP. Clay Kershaw

SP. Andy Pettitte

RP. Chris Ray

RP. Brandon Lyon

RP. Brian Wilson

Bench – Rick Ankiel, Ryan Theriot, Adam LaRoche, Justin Upton

Now after a few transactions (NO trades, yet):

C. Ivan Rodriguez

1B. Prince Fielder

2B. Kelly Johnson

SS. Troy Tulowitzki

3B. David Wright

OF. Curtis Granderson

OF. Corey Hart

OF. Shane Victorino

UT. Lance Berkman

 

SP. Cliff Lee

SP. Matt Cain

SP. John Lackey (DL)

SP. David Price

SP. Brett Myers

SP. Clay Kershaw

RP. Scott Downs

SP. Scott Baker 

RP. Chris Ray

RP. Fernando Rodney

RP. Brian Wilson

Bench – Randy Johnson, Jered Weaver, and Wieters

Analysis:

I think I now have a contending team.  There are still weaknesses, and no one is under the impression that Kelly Johnson or IRod/Wieters are the best at their respective positions, but the tranformation of our autodrafted team is nearly complete. 

Most of my league competitors have ignored the inning pitched limit that the league rules stipulates, and are on pace to far exceed it.  That fact will help our experimental team in the end.  Our pitching staff, however, is poised to end the year 30-40 IP below.  The next step will be to craft a few trade proposals to bolster my offense where it needs the shot, but once Berkman, Wright, and Johnson get going and Wieters is in the Bigs I expect to rise further.  Stay tuned for more updates on conquering your league’s autodraft!

Written by Russell Sandman · Filed Under Blog | 2 Comments