The Fantasy League Guru already started to pray that Brad Penny
stays in the NL for very selfish reasons. Send e-mails to sports@media.ucla.edu.
Baseball can be really stupid sometimes.
Disregard my bitterness over what is likely going to be a rough
offseason for us fantasy owners, with work stoppage just around the
corner and all.
What I want to concentrate on is all of this contraction talk.
On that matter you can disregard my bitterness over ignoring a
useless franchise like the Devil Rays for disbandment, while a
storied franchise like the Twins is persecuted for having a
wrestler as a governor.
There’s one key fantasy issue to address when it comes to
contraction ““ the impact on keeper leagues. To be more
specific, the AL- or NL-only variety.
If teams like the Expos and Twins get split around the majors,
undoubtedly a lot of players will shift leagues. I can see it now.
Some disgruntled fantasy owner, begging for mercy from the league
commissioner because of the ramifications that a move by either Joe
Mays or Eric Milton from the Twin Cities to Cincinnati will have on
his team’s title hopes.
Now, this may not sound serious to you, but this whole
contraction thing could ruin someone’s two or three years of
hard work.
In keeper leagues, it’s always important to build a
nucleus of young, cheap players so that you’re in a position
to overpay for the veteran talent.
Players like Mays and Milton were acquired by their respective
AL-only owners because there’s no way a struggling franchise
like the Twins can afford to trade away it’s inexpensive
pitching core, which is still years away from free agency.
There’s no worse feeling in fantasy land than creating a
contender and then seeing it fall apart during the offseason
because of free agency. Or, I should say, there wasn’t one
until now.
There was little to no warning that contraction was around the
corner. I had heard rumors prior to all of the talk during the
World Series, but nothing concrete. It may still not happen,
considering lawyers will be called upon to try and protect the
Twins. No one really cares about the Expos.
So the way I see it, commissioners and keeper leagues alike are
going to have to discuss alternatives, taking contraction into
account.
The hardcore leagues are likely to say “Too bad,
it’s part of the game.” That’s because these
leagues stress the fact that active players only count as long as
they’re in the same league. There’s no flexibility, and
I doubt the late notice on contraction will change anyone’s
mind ““ except that of the guy losing his prized
possession.
The bigger question is, what will leagues that allow stats of
players traded in midseason do? Would they grant a one-season
waiver period for players who change leagues because of
contraction? There are valid points to this theory, and it even
sounds fair. But then again, I’m hardcore.
If Barry Bonds was traded from the Giants to the Yankees after
hitting 40 home runs last season, the fact he went from the NL to
the AL would have meant that if Bonds hit 31 home runs with the
Yankees the record would not count. Separate records are kept in
both leagues, and that’s the way that it should be in NL- or
AL-specific keeper leagues.
Bending the rules to appease those owners who get screwed by Bud
Selig and MLB wouldn’t solve anything, but rather taint the
2002 season, if there ever is one.