August 15, 2003

SpoFi Fantasy Baseball League Update. This week's leader is jerseygirl. [complete standings and trash talk inside]

posted by corpse to navel gazing at 08:25 AM - 27 comments

RankTeamSpoFi NamePointsRank +/-Pts +/-Notes
1 Springfield Isotopesjerseygirl186.5+1+11.5Leads in AVG
2*catfish181.5-1-2.5Leads in R, RBI, CG
3Rockport Rassafrasswfrazerjr172--+8.5Leads in HR, IP, W, K
4Creative Punch 165--+1.5Leads in SV, K/9
5London Monarchsgrum@work158.5--+4.5Leads in ERA, WHIP
6BlackTable.comwilliamfleitch145---8 
6The Bash BumsBag Man145+1-4.5 
8Albequerque Isotopesdjacobs122.5---3 
8ATL Crackhouse Gangtrox122.5+1-0.5 
10Spacemenjasonspaceman120.5+2+10.5 
11the showjbou116.5-1-4 
12Pedros PummelersPeteyStock109.5-1-5Leads in OPS, K/BB
13Da Hecklerzjmd8287.5+1+1 
1437 Push Upscorpse83-1-5 
15The Revs Levitestherev66.5---- 
16JackBootedThugsdjspicerack61--+1.5Leads in SB

posted by corpse at 08:25 AM on August 15, 2003

In a suck ass turn of events, the artist formally known as catfish has benched all of his players, I assume in protest of the veto'ed trade.

posted by corpse at 08:29 AM on August 15, 2003

Wow, it's like a bleeding soap opera in here.

posted by squealy at 09:26 AM on August 15, 2003

we're a great big dysfunctional family. :/ but nice work last night frazer, 4 points!

posted by jerseygirl at 09:32 AM on August 15, 2003

second place is protesting? sounds like this story has only just begun.

posted by garfield at 09:51 AM on August 15, 2003

Excuse me, but catfish has now decided to tank the rest of the season? Bwahahahahaha!

posted by grum@work at 09:53 AM on August 15, 2003

I wonder why they don't outlaw trades and just let the anyone buy what players they want (as long as they have the fantasy money to afford them). Players would be valued on a demand basis. Is there a baseball fantasy league that works that way? What's that called? (I'm asking as someone who knows nothing about how the transactional system works for football or baseball.)

posted by worldcup2002 at 10:01 AM on August 15, 2003

Frankly, that would take a lot of the fun out of it. Fantasy baseball is totally a stat geek's game, part of the joy is looking at the numbers and trying to predict if the player you have will perform, or if you should try an unload him for someone else. I traded Kevin Brown this year, basically when he was at his hottest. I thought he might get injured (he has a history) and there was no way he could keep up his hot streak. Plus I needed hitting, so I was able to get Gary Sheffield. Unfortuatly this didn't help my standings any, since the rest of my team sucks ass. Plus I hate dealing with cap restrictions.

posted by corpse at 10:26 AM on August 15, 2003

Cap restrictions seems to beat the ass off public cat-fighting over trading virtual players. Either way, you're restricted, and I'd rather it be by the "invisible hand of the market" than one or a group of people doing it out of spite or erm, naturally hidden agendas. I mean look at where it's gotten you guys. But I'm just saying.

posted by worldcup2002 at 11:42 AM on August 15, 2003

I think, and this is just my observation, the problem with the baseball league is we didn't begin the season with an agreed set of rules, so it let a lot of interpretation for the commish in the beginning. I like the stats aspect, I think it's fun. I learned a lot this year. Admittedly, I didn't realize you were drafting to stats in the beginning so my draft didn't really help me out. I think if we decide to do a league next year, we just make sure the rules are set beforehand, make sure the 2004 commish is on the same page and things should be fine.

posted by jerseygirl at 12:30 PM on August 15, 2003

yeah, and it's usually not this bad. most of the time, all the leagues i've been in, including last year's spofi, was great.

posted by corpse at 12:47 PM on August 15, 2003

I've never commished a fantasy league sport... But if I did (and I emphasize if!), I would allow any and all trades to go through so long as the parties agreed to it. So what if it is lopsided? We never learn if we never fail. Sometimes big risk yields big rewards. Then again, I've seen some lopsided trades go the other way.

posted by lilnemo at 07:39 PM on August 15, 2003

The reason you don't let lopsided trades through (and I mean REALLY stupid trades) is that it throws off the competitive balance of the league. Trading Estaban Loaiza for Derek Lowe at mid-season wouldn't be a lopsided trade: it could be thought that Loaiza is playing WAY above his head and Lowe is WELL below his talent, so sell high/buy low. But trading, hmmm...Barry Bonds for hmmm...say Cliff Politte would be considered a lopsided and vetoable trade. [if you don't know who the players are that I'm talking about, just move on to the next topic or comment :) ]

posted by grum@work at 08:29 PM on August 15, 2003

You mean I could have gotten Politte all this time? Thanks alot grum.

posted by corpse at 09:15 AM on August 16, 2003

Perhaps a polite e-mail to the Prospective trader on the low end of the trade asking the impetus behind the move. For example: Why do you want this trade? How does this benefit you? Are you aware of your players rating? Is there a strategy here? Are you merely tanking rather than quitting the league? etc, etc...

Your mileage may vary.

posted by lilnemo at 12:45 PM on August 16, 2003

One thing that has worked in my first league where there was a clear difference between the vets and the rookies was to institute a mandatory 2 day counter-offer period. All trades had to be declared by Friday midnight, then all owners had carte blanche to counteroffer either owner by the Sunday midnight deadline (or 2 days, whichever comes first). If no counteroffers were accepted, then the trade stood. If the counteroffer was taken, then the counteroffer stood. In this case, with the contentious trade being Vlad for Shiggy (if I read that right), then you bet I would have countered with Everyday Eddie G. for Vlad, but the Vlad owner would have been free to tell me to sod off, and then take the Shiggy offer. No harm, no foul.

posted by avogadro at 04:12 PM on August 16, 2003

The problem with the Vlad/Shiggy deal was that there seemed to be a hint of, well, revenge in the deal. The player GIVING Vlad had previously been in an online tiff with the owner of the team TIED with the player GETTING Vlad, and there were whispers/concerns that he was throwing the other guy Vlad as a way of making sure his antagonist didn't win. That was the undercurrent of complaint about the Vlad/Shiggy deal.

posted by grum@work at 06:09 PM on August 16, 2003

Statistically it didn't make sense. Someone mentioned the gentleman giving up Vlad didn't 'shop around'. Another manager pretty much counter-offered a package deal for Vlad. The revenge stuff was floating around too. Everyone who vetoed had their own reasons.

posted by jerseygirl at 07:31 PM on August 16, 2003

*rolls eyes* Good lord. Clearly there are other issues here. It's supposed to be a fun game. Thanks for the info.

posted by avogadro at 10:04 PM on August 16, 2003

I think it clearly had a lot to do with the commish being a knob. I can't wait for football.

posted by wfrazerjr at 08:46 PM on August 17, 2003

Whoa! Just learning about this whole fantasy baseball soap opera... Add in the SF-rcade matchup in yet another Kournikova thread, and we're starting to get a pretty tense place around here. Will we need a Penalty Box or something like that? Who's the arbiter of Sportsfilter? My .02$ on fantasy sports: the best commish are those who keep quiet. The only reason for intervention is when there is a suspicion of collusion. Even then, consultation with all managers is essential. In my hockey league of last year, we had a guy and his "father" playing, and they did trade between each other quite a few times, which raised some eyebrows. But in the end, non-intervention was the best policy, and the league's winner was even more happy to have beaten possible collusion. In related news, it's just a stats game. Go out and throw and hit the baseball. You'll feel real good afterwards. Thanks!

posted by qbert72 at 08:46 PM on August 17, 2003

what qbert said.

posted by garfield at 08:50 AM on August 18, 2003

So let me get this straight: jbou and jerseygirl are enemies SF and rcade are enemies Any other SpoFi wars going on for which I need to keep track? Any really good sports-related enemies? Some Liverpool/ManU, Maple Leafs/Canadiens, Yankees/Red Sox, Lakers/Rest of NBA nastiness? It should be some sort of sidebar thing we can keep track of...

posted by grum@work at 10:09 AM on August 18, 2003

I'd add Duke-UNC to the list, but I'm afraid it would be one-sided. I'm sure the UNC fans will turn up once Roy wins a few meaningless games in December though.

posted by mbd1 at 10:12 AM on August 18, 2003

and to make it fun, the following tidbit should be noted: jbou = yankees fan jerseygirl = red sox fan my first squabble with a yankees fan ever! oh the memories.

posted by jerseygirl at 10:47 AM on August 18, 2003

you thought I'd forgotten grum, didn't you??? Muahahahaha.

posted by Ufez Jones at 10:48 AM on August 18, 2003

Hahahah...I forgot about that UJ. I'll have to remember to stalk your gaming posts to further confound you.

posted by grum@work at 01:16 PM on August 18, 2003

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