Finally, after a long and painful slog through Verizon's bureaucracy, I'm back.
This second dump profile is also for an American League team. Unlike the first profile, this team could have been a contender this year, but got off to a slow and sluggish start. Roy Halladay then went on the shelf, and this team decided to play for 2008.
Very quickly, he made two significant trades with the first and second place teams in the league. He moved:
1) Mike Cuddyer, Dan Haren, Todd Jones and David Ortiz for Billy Butler ($10), Huston Street ($11) and Evan Longoria (farm), and
2) A.J. Burnett, Halladay, Troy Glaus, Hideki Matsui and Mark Teixeira for James Shields ($3) and Mark Teahen ($12).
The league was unhappy for many reasons, but primarily because they felt that this team dumped too early, given the talent it had, but also because Street was the only truly undervalued and proven player that he received back in the deal. Mark Teahen had only been great in 2006 for four months, Shields had only been great for six weeks, and Butler and Longoria hadn't proven anything in the majors.
On the other hand, it's worth remembering that Glaus's bone spur was already bothering him, Teixeira was already considered an N.L. trade risk, Halladay was an unknown in terms of his health, and Haren was pitching over his head. It's also worth knowing that another owner, who had a cheap B.J. Upton and Chien-Ming Wang, refused to move them for the package that netted Shields/Teahen.
Unlike the first profile, this owner continued to be aggressive - both in the free agent market and through trades - and improved his team right up to the deadline. He flipped Teahen for Brandon Wood at $10. He rolled the dice on Francisco Liriano at $14, only giving up Dan Johnson ($2), J.D. Drew and Cliff Lee in the process. Liriano might not be worth freezing at $14, but if he is healthy it's a terrific risk to take.
This strategy is a high-risk, high-reward tactic that might or might not work. However, I give it a thumbs-up on the whole because dumping, as a rule, involves a significant amount of risk. Guys like Street are necessary to build around. But you do need to get lucky and hit the jackpot on players like Wood and Liriano as well.
Or trade them in March to someone willing to give you more than they should.
2 comments:
Hey Mike--
I know you've addressed this in part recently, but any tips on rule changes to prevent lopsided dumps in a league? We've got some shenanigans going on, and any protests get shouted down as sour grapes--mainly because the teams most affected by the deals are also the most vocal about their shadiness. This is a 12-team league where the owners have all known each other for almost 15-20 years, so no punches are pulled.
In a recent post you stated, "In these cases, you need some sort of mechanism to overturn trades." Any specifics on how to do that?
Thanks.
Tom, there are a couple of ways you can go with this. Perhaps we should do an expanded commentary on this topic.
An initial solution is a salary cap, of course. I think my AL started with a $400 cap (or maybe slightly more), but it is now down to $375. The lower the cap, the less room for shananigans.
Another tool is the asterisk rule. It has different appearances, but, generally, all players who are in the final year of a contract ("O" and "L1") and any player with a salary over $25 is assigned an asterisk. In any trade, you must trade asterisk players one for one (some leagues make an exception for one imbalanced trade per year, and only imbalanced by one player).
Other leagues try a variety of things. I read about a league where they have a deal-posting system - Team A and B commit to a deal. They post it and can no longer back out. Team C then comes in and posts a counter to that deal. Team A may then accept that deal instead. It is almost like an auction trade system.
You could also amend your league rules to include a protest/league vote policy, picking some majority number to overrule a trade. If as many people know each other as you say, that might not be effective.
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