League rules...looking to tweak

[njdupre]

Morning all, looking for a little help from my "online" freinds

One of my local money leagues, entering our 12th year. 5 x 5 mixed, 14 teams auction. 8 man keeper
The problem, as I see it, is that the timeline for dump trades has gotten earlier and earlier in the season. We have owners dumping by the end of April. The leagues attitiude toward trading has always been the more the merrier, and that is not something we want to stifle at all. However I feel we need to do something. How do you guys handle this in your leagues?
I've thrown out the suggestion that we would not allow dump trades till May 31st or so, but the reception to that idea has been lukewarm at best.

[JP Kastner]

Personally, I hate dump trades. I was dead last in Tout Wars on May 15th yet ended up fifth at the end of the year and I didn't have to revamp the team, just make some adjustments. The most frustrating leagues have been those that had teams that dumped players.

As your league has a laze-fair attitude towards dump trades, I'm not sure what you can do other than start a political campaign to change the rules. You have to change the minds of your league to change the rules.

[kjduke]

One change we implemented last year was to change the rookie draft order.
Formerly it was worst to first in standings from the prior year: 12-11-10-....1
Now it starts with the best team that missed the prize pool: 5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-4-3-2-1
A small change to reward teams for staying competitive while early dumpers, presumably bringing up the standings rear, lose a shot at the top minor lge talent.

Other ideas we've discussed:
- changing minimum and maximum active salary caps to have stricter limits early in the season (making it harder to dump early), looser limits after the all-star break
- season category prizes (i.e. HR contest) or 2nd half prize
- scheduled head-to-head weekly side bets/contests after the all-star break (losers pay winners after the season)

[da_big_kid_94]

The thread below this one ("The Changing Face of Fantasy") brings up several of the points you are making. I don't think your league's problem is when - I think it's two fold:

• How can I make so many dump trades? What are the league rules regarding dump trades?
• Are you sure you are dealing with a dump trade problem? I don't know about others, but I'm not ready to airmail my hard earned dough to the Bishop's Relief Fund after 30 days in a 180 day season - unless, of course, there's something more going on there.

It may be cynical, but I really can't see anyone just willing to donate their fees at the end of April. I like the attitude of the more the merrier ...but for trades, not dump trades. I'd review the parameters you have for dump trades and look towards modifying them - and I would not be shocked if, should you attempt this, the loudest complaints come from those who have garnered the most benefit of this system over the years.

[njdupre]

One of the things I'm looking at is a salary cap of some sort in season. If any of you guys use this, what are the ramifications? My thought process is this would prevent the Pujols @ 50.00 for C.Maybin and M.LaPorta, each @ 3.00 type trades. I'm thinking that if we instituted a cap @ +50% we would also include a floor @ -50%

[JP Kastner]

It always comes down to the quality of the participants. The higher the quality, the fewer rules you need to level the playing field. Ideally, if all the participants are equally competent, then the Invisible Hand of the Free Market will function properly. Finding the right participants should always be your first priority.

The reality is that you don't always have a pool of quality participants, therefore, you may need rules to even out the field. One below average participant making poor decisions can really mangle a perfectly enjoyable and competitive league.

The problem with salary caps is that top prospects can hit their cap quickly and you are then forced to use an additional rule to determine who gets the player. Most likely that means giving the player to a participant lower in the standings. If you reward someone lower in the standings, then there is an incentive to dump players to get access to a better prospect.

I prefer to let the Invisible Hand work with rules to allow the league to modify a franchise that has been mangled by a less than competent participant who leaves the league. That way, you can make a poor franchise more attractive to a new participant.

[da_big_kid_94]

One of the things I'm looking at is a salary cap of some sort in season. If any of you guys use this, what are the ramifications? My thought process is this would prevent the Pujols @ 50.00 for C.Maybin and M.LaPorta, each @ 3.00 type trades. I'm thinking that if we instituted a cap @ +50% we would also include a floor @ -50%

This may address your problem somewhat ...but it won't address why you are getting dump trades at the end of April. If you put this measure in, it just may spur different owners on to dump in order to stay competitive.

[Captain Hook]

Morning all, looking for a little help from my "online" freinds

One of my local money leagues, entering our 12th year. 5 x 5 mixed, 14 teams auction. 8 man keeper
The problem, as I see it, is that the timeline for dump trades has gotten earlier and earlier in the season. We have owners dumping by the end of April. The leagues attitiude toward trading has always been the more the merrier, and that is not something we want to stifle at all. However I feel we need to do something. How do you guys handle this in your leagues?
I've thrown out the suggestion that we would not allow dump trades till May 31st or so, but the reception to that idea has been lukewarm at best.

In my 22 year old AL keeper league we had an owner many years ago who didn't like his draft or his place in the standings in April and by May had made every "rebuilding" trade possible. He had traded away a team that would have placed in the money - we pay top four places - that year and not gotten anywhere near enough return and of course didn't like the standings much the rest of the year.

We now have a rule that there are NO trades during April.
The trade season is thus first weekend in May through first weekend in August when we have the trade deadline. This enables everyone to get a better handle on their team and what they may need an thus everyone is more involved not only early in the year but late in the season.

Like KJ Duke mentioned we also start the following year's minor league draft with the first team out of the money, so 5th place gets first pick

We also pay a prize - $260 to the team that finishes out of the money who has the largest gain in standings points from the standings at the All-Star break through the end of the season. This also helps keep (some) teams motivated to keep improving their team.

And of course you must have an in season salary cap - the larger ones I see people talking about are no deterrent to people acquiring too much talent via the trade route. We have a hard cap of $300 during the season (at least until September because we have one player roster expansion).

One more thing you might work on - teams who make a trade can not make another trade with the same team for five weeks. In addition to making sure there are no extended trades this also makes people make better trades and trades with more teams.

[njdupre]

Ok fellas, this is what the league voted to do

1. We were paying out 25.00 a week for weekly winners, weeks 1 through 26. We changed that to 50.00 a week, weeks 13 through 26. We're hoping this keeps more owners interested longer

I pushed for a league salary cap and trade limits ( no trades before 5/1 ), but my efforts wre not very successful

[rotodog]

Thats too bad...

I do love trading in keeper leagues.. And I usually have no issues even with bad trades. Dump trades are part of keeper baseball.

But others have addressed some of these and these things are to keep in mind for next year:

Active Salary cap... Not roster as a whole, but only active players. This maybe a comprimise for others in your league. If A guy wants to get a 50 Pujols and a 45 Tulo from a dumper and give 3 dollar players in return, he can. he will just have to severely juggle his roster to have them active in any given week. It will restrict any one team with 1-2 prime prospects from totally loading up...

Second half prize: Money prize for the team that gains the most points from where they are at the end of the first half. As long as that prize is meaningful enough, it will help with the fence sitters deciding whether to dump or not...

As was mentioned, if you have a reserve draft or minor league draft, altering the order of the 1st pick in the draft could also encourage competing for as long as you can. Take the closest team in a non money finish and give him first pick and go backwards in decending order until last place. Then start from the last money spot up so the winner is given the last pick.

I dont like restricting trading in April/May though....

One last thing: If you cant beat em, join em.... By that I mean this. Realize that this league has early dumpers.. Keep enough inventory of Great prospects/ extended cheap contracts on decent players... This will give you ammo to compete for the dumpers when they dump. If you are risk averse every year and dont like to rely on rookies or you are waivering on extending a contract for an extra year, look at it from a different perspective. You will need players that have value to another owner next year to trade if you want the good stuff!!

[50 Desert Eagles]

My half cent of sense....I find that when you start restricting trades, it takes away from leagues really fast, to me its 50% of my drafting stratagy, I sometimes draft someone I don't need or want because of there trade value. I am sure some people that read this have never thought of that. I also trade for players because of the deal and then trade that person for who I really am after. If I have to wait a few months to start trading, then that messes with my plans. Also, there is nothing like trading for a slow starting player that gets there numbers every season. Ortiz has been bounced 4 times now in our 20 team league. I just landed Napoli on the cheap because of his lack of playing time...good or bad, its a risk, but its risk I play for/with.....anyway, just my thoughts of madness.