Re: BFFFL #1 - Part 3
To take this a little further, if I was the recipient of the trade that Cassius mentions above...that is, Maroney etc for 5-7th rounders I could play it out like this....
- as per league rule I would keep the three players traded from Cassius.
- since I've already traded the picks I would then give up picks in rounds 8-10 as assigned keepers.
- I then traded messrs Forte, Williams, Romo, Cassell, Moss for a mess of 1st through 3rd round picks.
- I now have all my own high round picks plus 3 or 4 additional high picks. As most players forfeit at least one 1st or 2nd round pick for their own keepers I essentially could have 7 or 8 of the first 20 actual selections in the draft which I would use to take the best player available at each position.
There are really only two ways to stop this, being 1) players particularly taking care not to allow outher players to get too strong through the draft and 2) commissioner intervention.
Just my thoughts.
Well, firstly, you wouldnt want to trade for those three players anyway as keepers. Secondly, youd have to find someone who's willing to trade for Cassel, Moss, etc. Thirdly, if you did find suitors, trading them away basically means you just gave away good talent to other teams, rather than keeping them yourself. One would presume you believe in those players as fantasy studs so youd want to keep them not see them go to other people. And lastly, Im not sure there is even an advantage for you in that scenario. You end up with 1-4 picks, have used 5-7 picks on Addai etc as keepers, but is your team stronger after it all? LM could let you do all that because you only mucked up your team.
But ultimately, you're right, which is the part Ive been vocal about. That LM has the power vested in him to put a fine-tooth comb thru all trade proposals and ensure people play to the spirit of the game. The reason this rule was brought in to help facilitate fairer trades and keeper forfeiting rules. LM could therefore....
1. Reject trades outright.
2. Tell managers to re-do the trade as 1 pick for 1 keeper, rather than 3 picks for 1 keeper.
3. Allow trades thru, but right before the keeper deadline/draft, go over everyone's roster and penalize as he sees fit. Eg, I have Eddie Royal costing a 10th, but i trade away my 10,11,12,13 to get an extra 9th rounder, and so Royal ends up costing me a 14 to keep. LM can go back and make Royal cost my 9th, so I just blew 4 picks for no advantage. Or LM could allow Royal to be kept at 14 because I just threw away 4 picks to get 1 back.