From Greg (Commish/O'Men):
I want to clarify something about the free agent pick-up process. In the past, when it came time to pick up free agents, we tried to do it in the order in which the trades were made, since the only way to pick-up a free agent was when one of your players was traded to the AL. Now with the new free agent system in place, those rules are out the window. Now, it's a first come first served basis meaning that if one of your players is traded to the AL and you would rather pick-up a free agent instead of the player coming back, you have to be the first person to claim that player. If someone else has a bid on that free agent before you, he gets first dibs on him even though you get the player for free as a result of the trade. For example, Doug lost Paul Byrd in a trade to the AL and he wanted to replace him with Masato Yoshii, but two other owners had already bid on Yoshii, so I notified Doug that he had to replace Byrd with someone else or put a bid on Yoshii. He opted to pick-up Beirbrodt instead and drop Byrd. If Doug had made his selection of Yoshii before the other two owners, he would have gotten Yoshii and I would have notified the other two owners that Yoshii was no longer a free agent and that their bids were voided. Does that make sense? If not, let me know and I'll try to phrase it differently.
From Greg (Commish/O'Men):
There has been a first in the No Fehr League. A trade that was made last week has been reversed. The Wharf Rats and Branca's Revenge have recinded the trade that sent Gary Sheffield to the Wharf Rats for Todd Walker, Orlando Cabrera and Paul LoDuca. This was done because it was believed that Sheffield was injured before the trade was made, although both sides had no idea. It was discovered after the fact that he was hurt. As commish, I allowed this, against my better judgement, because there is no precedent set that I could use to back up a ruling. Both sides willingly agreed to this recinsion of the trade, otherwise it wouldn't have been allowed. After going through this process, it has become apparent to me that we need some more specific language about trade procedures in the rulebook. Here's what I think should be added:
All trades become final as soon as both sides agree to the principals involved. Trades must then be announced to the rest of the league via league-wide e-mail ASAP. A trade can be voided only when there was clear deception involved on the part of one owner or if the trade is deemed too lopsided by the commish or a majority of the other owners of the league. There is no "cooling off" period when it comes to trades.
We've never had a situation like this before that I can recall. Usually, when a player you traded for gets hurt right after the trade, you just chalked it up to bad luck and you moved on. That's been the assumption in the past, but there was never any documentation of such an assumption. That is why I think we need to add the clause above to the rulebook. If any of you want to add anything to that or have any comments, let me know and I'll definitely look into it.
From Greg (Commish/O'Men):
Thanks to those of you who responded and submitted other ideas on how to handle this issue. There were some good ideas from people, but I think the best way to go is to have Bill delete Hundley from his roster, and delete the stats he has accrued so far. I think this is the best solution because it takes care of the problem now and since Hundley was the player the mistake had been made on, then he is the perfect player to remove. Even though the rest of us didn't catch the mistake, I still think there should be some penalty, since I think there are quite a few of us who would have loved to have a few extra dollars to bid with. Sit and think for a minute about who you could have gotten if you just had another couple of dollars. Then think about the times you were bidding with Bill on a player and he had just enough cash to get that player over you. Of course, Bill had no idea at the time he had the extra money, but nevertheless, he did benefit from it. There were a couple people who suggested that having Bill keep Hundley would be penalty enough...well, as an owner who can't get a HR or an RBI to save his life, 4 HR's and 16 RBI's would be a welcome addition despite the .207 average. So, Bill, go ahead and delete Hundley and erase the stats he has accrued so far.
From Greg (Commish/O'Men):
Bill C. brought a pretty major error to my attention. After some addition, he determined that he had $7 more than everyone else to spend at the draft. He figures when he was adding up everyone's total cash spent for the keeper lists, he left out Todd Hundley's $7 salary. He has volunteered to be banned from making any trades or banned from receiving any winnings should he finish in the money, or he has gone so far as to say he would be willing to erase his team to make up for the error. I think all of those are to harsh. First off, I think it is everyone's responsibility to check those keeper list dollar values to make sure they are right. I feel I am most responsible because as commish, I definitely should have checked those. Secondly, I don't think any of us realized the mistake...it was pretty honest of Bill to even bring the error to everyone's attention. Finally, knowing Bill, as I have for about 12 years now, I don't think he would intentionally try to dupe the rest of us. I just wish, like Bill does, that we had caught the error earlier. The solution I would suggest would be to delete Hundley as an available rotisserie player, since it appears he was the $7 glitch, and erase the stats he has accrued for Bill's team. Bill wouldn't be able to replace him with a free agent and Hundley would not be able to be picked up by anyone else, since technically, he wasn't available anyway.
That is my suggestion to resolve this. Obviously, this is a unique situation, so I really don't know the best way to handle this and I don't know how the rest of you will feel about this. So, if anyone has any other suggestions or comments, go ahead and let us ALL know what they are.
From Bill C. (TMFC):
There has been at least three different owners that have had problems with transactions. The moves are input and show up on the transaction list, but the moves are not actually made by the website. I have gone in and made the moves retroactive to this past Monday. EVERY OWNER SHOULD CHECK THEIR CURRENT LINEUP TO MAKE SURE IT REFLECTS THE DESIRED MOVES. Let me know if corrections are needed.
We may be doing something wrong, I will research it. If anyone knows the correct procedure, please speak up.
From Bill E./Chris:
CARMICHAEL, CA - In an effort to motivate their flailing team, Chris Farrell and Bill Enos, owners of Janet Reno’s Elianators, announced their new team name yesterday at a press conference held in Del Dayo. From here on out, they will be known as the Afghan Buddha Sculptors.
“Watching our new kid Shinjo hit his first home run on Monday gave us some inspiration, although if he continues with that bat flick thing, his life may be in danger”, warned Enos. “The name Afghan Buddha Sculptors has global significance, and if you need a foreign affairs brush-up, call us and we’ll fill you in. But we don’t want anyone to think Shinjo is a sculptor-he is certainly no sculptor in any sense of the word. He is a wristband wearing warrior with serious pop(or at least some pop)in his bat”, Farrell explained.
“For those who like to dissect team names and try to de-code their significance, don’t waste your time”, stated Enos. Farrell further added, “We just want to be unique. For those who think our team is weak, we pity you for your short sightedness. For those who have a first baseman with power(or even with a recognizable name), we envy you.”
Welcome to the world of Afghan Buddha Sculptors-leave your historic art masterpieces at the door, or they will be blown up.
From Greg (O'Men):
Keith e-mailed me today and mentioned another rulebook snafu that I think needs to be addressed. It still mentions in the rulebook that expansion owners draft at the end of each reserve draft round. That would be true if we had new owners not assuming control of existing teams, but since we do, the new owners will draft based on the results of last year. So, Branca's Revenge (Dogs of War) will have the #1 pick in each round and The Wharf Rats (Cruisin Mustangs) will draft #8 in each round. In fact, here is the complete order of the reserve draft based on descinding order from last years final stats and after innings requirement adjustments:
1. Branca's Revenge
2. Fighting Irish
3. BatBold
4. Elianators
5. Oriole Connection
6. Opportunistic Infections
7. Chico Wildcats
8. Wharf Rats
9. Flodin's Floaters
10. Cactus League Peelers
11. Harry Careys
12. Winning O'Men
From Greg (O'Men):
The keeper list deadline will be Sunday March 18th. E-mail your lists to Bill Counts before midnight on the 18th. For the new guys, we usually submit those lists two weeks before Opening Day, hence the 18th. As usual, you must keep at least 7, but no more than 15 players off your final roster from last year. Remember to keep in mind that players that were C players last year must be resigned at $5 more and if you choose to keep B players from last year, they will have to be signed for two years guaranteed at $5 increases each year. I know we all know this, but this is more for the benefit of the new guys.
Finally, has it been decided how we are doing stats? From the little input I got from people, most of you were in favor of the internet transactions once a week. If no one has a problem with that, then we should go ahead and get that set-up if we haven't already. I'll defer to Bill C. on that.
From Bill E. (Janet Reno's Elianators):
Okay guys, we are set for the game. We can have up to 23 seats, but we can opt down to 20 if needed. The seats are grouped together, and located behind the plate, but up on the 28th row. For those who have not been to the park, these are still great seats. I put the deposit on my Visa, but everyone can take care of the payment at the draft. Please start getting your group together and let me know how many seats you want by the end of this week so I can finalize the ticket number. Seats cost $13.00 each.
Previous message: I can get us 20 tickets to the Saturday night RiverCats game in a good section. It's a group ticket package which includes a raffle prize for one of our members, our group name up on the scoreboard, AND it's Tecate night so Tecate beer is on special all night! The catch is we must have 20 guys.They would allow us to put 25% down in advance and the balance would be due on arrival.
From Paul (Cruisin' Mustangs): I realize that this may be late in the game to do this, but unfortunately I've got to make this decision. I'm not going to be a part of the upcoming Fantasy Baseball season. I liked being a part of it last year, but due to the classes I'm taking, coupled with work and new wife, I feel I won't be able to spend as much time that I want to in order to have a season that I can be proud of. I hope you all can find a replacement owner, and hope you understand my situation. It was a tough decision to make, and I'm really sorry if this causes any problems. Thanks, and hope you guys have a good year.
Paul Kurian, Former Owner/GM
Cruisin' Mustangs
From Kirk (Dogs of War): With unofficial reports that Dan Snyder wants to break into MLB, The Dogs of War franchise has chosen to dissolve rather san suffer the anguish of an owner run club. The Dogs of War will not be the MLB Redskins. Actually I have grown rather disillusioned with baseball as of late. I don't think I am the only one. A quarter of a billion (that's with a "B") dollars for one man to playa game. I will not be returning. I am going to focus my baseball hours on triple A and little league. There is a kid in the Fulton-El Camino League that looks promising. And so with a disillusioned heart I walk away and you guys are rid of me. Thanks for the memories and farewell.
Kirk W. Geary
Former Owner/Ambassador of Love
Dogs of War Baseball Inc.