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I have a confession to make: I used to veto trades.<\/p>\n
If some deal popped up needing my vote, I pulled up the rankings, checked out the standings, and came to some half-assed judgment on whether or not the deal was a fair and allowable trade.<\/p>\n
There were plenty of times when I would click the \u201cVote Against\u201d button, convinced that there was no way the deal before me wasn\u2019t some kind of back-alley pact designed to help one team improve, because \u2014 you know \u2014 complete strangers playing in a Yahoo! public league do that kind of stuff all the time.<\/p>\n
Winning standard leagues where the only prizes are bragging rights and a new trophy for your fantasy profile often compels people to cheat and try to screw everyone else in the league. This is honestly how my brain works some times. Thankfully, I know I\u2019m not alone, because it takes more than my single vote to kill a trade, and more often than naught, trades get shot down.<\/p>\n
But why the hell do I care if someone else wants to make a trade I would never make in a million years? I think you\u2019d be crazy to trade Matt Ryan and Danny Amendola for Joe Flacco and Eddie Lacy, but if that\u2019s the deal you want to make, why should I put a stop to it?<\/p>\n
The answer is that I shouldn\u2019t, and I don\u2019t any more. I\u2019m a changed man. Two people in a league come to an agreement \u2014 drive on you trading fools; don\u2019t let me stop you.<\/p>\n
No one ever wants to admit this, but one of the reasons we all have vetoed trades in the past is because we want one of the players involved.<\/p>\n
No one ever wants to admit this, but one of the reasons we all have vetoed trades in the past is because we want one of the players involved.<\/p>\n
You see his name sitting there, in a deal you think isn\u2019t as good as the one you would have offered if you knew he was on the block, so you click that button, hoping others follow suit, and prepare your \u201cIf you\u2019re interested in trading Steven Jackson, have I got a deal for you\u201d proposal. It doesn\u2019t matter that two of the other owners in your league already came to an agreement, and are ready to move forward; you\u2019re only thinking about your team, and how this deal impacts you.<\/p>\n
Your team doesn\u2019t matter, at least not in this trade.<\/p>\n
If you wanted that player, you should have been pursuing him earlier, not killing someone else\u2019s trade just to see if you can get something done amidst the potential wreckage of a shot-down deal. You need to be proactive, not reactive, and definitely not reactive to the detriment of other owners.<\/p>\n
Because here\u2019s the thing: none of us know how that trade is going to work out. We think we do, but there are no certainties. Guys get hurt all the time. They underwhelm and exceed expectations all the time.<\/p>\n
At the start of last football season, a LeSean McCoy-for-Alfred Morris, one-for-one deal would have been panned. No way do you give up a proven Top 10 back like \u201cShady\u201d for a sixth-round draft pick who was probably taken in the middle to late rounds of your fantasy draft and plays for the running back assassin that is Mike Shanahan.<\/p>\n
If you were the owner getting Morris, you hate everyone in your league right about now. I\u2019m pretty sure the 95-point difference between the two backs would have changed the outcome of a couple games, maybe even playoff seeding.<\/p>\n
If you were the owner getting Morris, you hate everyone in your league right about now. I\u2019m pretty sure the 95-point difference between the two backs would have changed the outcome of a couple games, maybe even playoff seeding.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why I won\u2019t veto trade any more, and implore you to do the same.<\/p>\n
A lot of fantasy sports comes down to playing hunches. Sure, there is a bunch of research and analysis that goes into it as well, but when you\u2019re deciding between two players that are pretty evenly matched, you go with the one you think will have the better season. You don\u2019t know that he will, but you think he will, and that\u2019s reason enough to draft him.<\/p>\n
The same goes for trades.<\/p>\n
It may look like a crazy deal, but McCoy for Morris looked kind of nuts at the start of last season, and ended up being crazy the other way by the end of the year.<\/p>\n
Manage your team, and your team alone. As long as owners aren\u2019t trying to pass off \u201cDrew Brees for Blaine Gabbert\u201d deals as being legit, let people make whatever trades they feel improves their team, especially in the preseason.<\/p>\n
If someone beat you to the punch on acquiring a guy you had your eye on, applaud them, don\u2019t try to torpedo their deal so you can stop sitting on your hands and try to work something out yourself.<\/p>\n
If another owner wants to give up their first-round pick for a fifth-round selection, let them; it\u2019s their team.<\/p>\n
Being an absentee owner ranks at the top of my fantasy sports pet peeves list, but vetoing trades is making a charge towards the top spot.<\/p>\n
Think about it this way: would you like a bunch of people shooting down your deals left, right, and center just because they don\u2019t like the trade?<\/p>\n
Of course not, so don\u2019t be that guy yourself.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t veto trades.<\/p>\n