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Trades in a keeper league

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So a trade went down in one of my leagues that in my opinion, and I’m sure most peoples opinion, was an unfair and un equal trade. One team is obviously out of it and traded J. Jefferson for Pollard straight up. They’re argument is that the owner getting Pollard who they believe will be the outright starter next year and will have him for a keeper for numerous years. On the surface this an obviously uneven trade. Does a keeper league squash the unevenness of the trade?  In a keeper league, should owners be allowed to “tank” and look to the future? 
Curious what others not in the league have to say about this scenario and how you handle this in your keeper leagues. What rules do you have in place to keep the playing field as even as possible?
 

I was talking to the commissioner and he is gonna have to come up with a whole new set of rules moving forward as we have never experienced this scenario before. There typically is no action this league, which aggravates me, because most of the owners don’t engage. Trades are a very rare occurrence.

Disclaimer:

the owner who got Jefferson is in first place in our division and I’m a close second chasing him. So I’m certainly biased against. He was gonna be hard to catch as it was, now it’s nearly impossible☹️😡

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Wow, that’s a tough one.  Obviously right now that’s a lopsided trade for this year, but Pollard could be a top 20 overall pick next year in PPR redraft if he’s the clear #1.  I’d still much rather have JJ, but if he’s loaded at WR and weak at RB, it’s not the worst deal in FFB history.

As for failsafes, the couple of keeper leagues I play in, we have a 48 hour wait period before trades actually process.  In that 48 hours if a league member objects, it’s put to a league wide vote.  We’ve only actually seen a trade go to vote 2-3 times in like 5 years, and only 1 got overturned.

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Agreed, tough scenario.

So that begs the question? Should the commissioner have absolute powers when it comes to league issues? Our commish does not have a dog in the fight so he is definitely unbiased. The league was gonna fold a few years ago when we lost a couple owners except that this owner gave up his team and became full time commish so that the league wouldn’t.

Is that a more fair way of handling league issues or is a league vote? What’s the point of having a commissioner if he has no powers?

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I think it's a dumb trade, but not a bad one.  Pollard very well could be a top 5 back next year if he's the starter and from that perspective, I think the value is reasonable (even though I think a lot of people are overrating Pollard).  The thing is, RB's have such a short lifespan that I wouldn't even consider this deal anyway.   Jefferson could be a top 5 WR for the next 5 years and in 3 years, Pollard could be out of the league.  To me, this is the exact opposite kind of deal that a person who's out of it would make.  I'd want a guy like C. Watson in addition to Pollard and a pick for Jefferson.

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My main league the Commish has veto/override powers. The league is good with this because the Commish doesn't abuse that power and only intervenes in extreme cases, and very rarely. In your scenario with Jeff V Pollard in a keeper, I am confident our Commish would let it stand. It's definitely annoying for you, the second-place team, but that's the way she goes.

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Agreed, what’s done is done. Admittedly I am annoyed about the whole situation and will live with the decision.

Not sure I will, but if I do catch him,it’ll be that much sweeter.

My main reason for the original post was to see how others handle keeper league situations. We obviously are going to talk about this in the off-season so I’m just trying to get some feedback on league rules you all use. Maybe we can try to see how others handle things in they’re keeper leagues so we can get some ideas.

 

thanks for the replies so far. Hopefully more chime in here with there ideas/suggestions.

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33 minutes ago, Ehlana said:

I would really need to know more about the keeper rules to form an opinion on this.

Exactly!  In this league, how long can a player be kept?  If the JJ owner was losing his rights to him after this year and retain Pollard for a few, then I see nothing wrong with it.  The owner who gets JJ gave up a RB with years left for a one season rental.  It’s done in all sports.

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37 minutes ago, Ehlana said:

I would really need to know more about the keeper rules to form an opinion on this.

In a nutshell

keepers are allowed for players not drafted in the first 2 rounds. Each keeper moves up 2 spots each year kept. For instance: if you draft a player in round 4 and you decide to keep him, next year he is your 2nd round pick…admittedly the owner who got pollard will have him for quite a few years while the owner who got Jefferson will have him for one more year.

You are able to keep a max of 3 keepers.

Like I mentioned before, this is a relatively new keeper league so we didn’t have to many rules in place.

Like I also mentioned, the league activity is really low so no one really paid too much attention until now that this scenario popped up, which is why the commish is scrambling to figure out what to do moving forward. Which is why I came on here to get other’s opinions. I’m just trying to help the guy out.

Hopefully, I’m not coming off as whiny on here. What’s done is done and I’m gonna live with the decision. Just trying to get feedback.

 

thanks again for the replies.

 

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I think it’s a BS trade. Jefferson is a stud and his situation and status on the Vikings is known. Pollard isn’t as valuable as him now and nobody has a crystal ball of where he will end up.or if the team he plays for has any RB value. Maybe KC signs him and that’s a cluster fudge for RBs. Jefferson is considered the top 1-3 players at his position. Pollard might be too 10-15 right now. Can he handle a full load of carrie’s for 17 games? Nobody knows.  That is “almost” like trading Alexander Mattison for Diggs. He has been great as the number 2 and when he starts he’s really good almost great at times. Both guys are FAs Next year.  Pollard is considered a better RB I get it but would you allow that?

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If it's not collusive, it should stand, and it appears that the person taking the short end of the stick this year believes that it will help his team in the long run.

And why the concern about "catching" the first place team?  Assuming that at least two teams make the playoffs, you'll still get in, and then it's just a matter of outscoring a team one time in one week to move on.

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7 minutes ago, AxeElf said:

If it's not collusive, it should stand, and it appears that the person taking the short end of the stick this year believes that it will help his team in the long run.

And why the concern about "catching" the first place team?  Assuming that at least two teams make the playoffs, you'll still get in, and then it's just a matter of outscoring a team one time in one week to move on.

again guys...trade is done. just looking for input for next year.

 

To answer your question though...this team is tied with another team in first place...although i sit in second, to your point, i will not make the playoffs. And of course the other owner who is currently tied and in first didn't even respond to the trade which is another conversation all together...which goes to my point of owners in this league not actively involved. I have no idea what that guy thinks about any of this. He still has not chimed in. You would think that he would be as upset as i originally was. For another point, the division winner gets a huge payout for wining the division. So this not just a "fun" league. So yea, i would love to catch him.

 

Since you brought up collusion...how does one determine that?

From the outside looking in, do YOU think its collusion?

Owners aren't gonna come out and say, look at us we're colluding together

 

Again thanks all for the responses. If anything it makes for a good conversation and if i can help make this league better for the long run, I'm all in.

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1 hour ago, blackhawks said:

again guys...trade is done. just looking for input for next year.

 

To answer your question though...this team is tied with another team in first place...although i sit in second, to your point, i will not make the playoffs. And of course the other owner who is currently tied and in first didn't even respond to the trade which is another conversation all together...which goes to my point of owners in this league not actively involved. I have no idea what that guy thinks about any of this. He still has not chimed in. You would think that he would be as upset as i originally was. For another point, the division winner gets a huge payout for wining the division. So this not just a "fun" league. So yea, i would love to catch him.

 

Since you brought up collusion...how does one determine that?

From the outside looking in, do YOU think its collusion?

Owners aren't gonna come out and say, look at us we're colluding together

 

Again thanks all for the responses. If anything it makes for a good conversation and if i can help make this league better for the long run, I'm all in.

Any keeper league I've been in requires a league vote to pass a trade, with the commish being worth 2 votes.

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Pollard is on the 4th year of his rookie contract, so he's gonna be a FA after the season.

So it's hard to say exactly what his expectations are beyond this season but I think it's safe to say he's gonna want a starting job somewhere.

I'm guessing the Cowboys are gonna try to keep him but I don't think they're gonna give another RB a big contract like they did Zeke a couple of years ago

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36 minutes ago, polecatt said:

Pollard is on the 4th year of his rookie contract, so he's gonna be a FA after the season.

So it's hard to say exactly what his expectations are beyond this season but I think it's safe to say he's gonna want a starting job somewhere.

I'm guessing the Cowboys are gonna try to keep him but I don't think they're gonna give another RB a big contract like they did Zeke a couple of years ago

This is a good point.  Zeke would be an $11M cap hit if they cut him.  That hit plus the money they pay Pollard to stay may be too expensive for the Cowboys.  If he does leave, what if he goes to a team like Baltimore or Chicago where all they do is run, but it's mostly by the QB and 2 other RB's?  His value will be crap.  Now, if he goes to Buffalo, there's potential right there.  Singletary is a FA also, so they may not want to bring him back.

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In keeper leagues where draft capital is factored, values get skewed quickly based on the league rules. For instance,  going into next year someone like Kenneth Walker is probably the holy grail of keepers in a league like this. He may not be the rb1 but he probably presents the best value. So players and trades shouldn’t be evaluated in a short term perspective.
I think this is just part of the strategy of the league you are in. If you don’t like these types of trades, switch to redraft. Not saying I would do this trade, but everyone should play and strategize to their league rules and settings and I think both guys are believing they are doing that.

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4 hours ago, blackhawks said:

Since you brought up collusion...how does one determine that?

From the outside looking in, do YOU think its collusion?

By comparing the trade to the definition of collusion:  "secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy, especially in order to cheat or deceive others."

I don't really see that going on here on the surface, but I don't know the relationship of the owners involved and other league dynamics that could play a role in that evaluation.  It's not a trade I would personally make, but I wouldn't deny another owner the chance to take a shot on his hunch that Pollard is going to kick butt next year while Jefferson sits out the season with a torn Achilles.  It's not like he traded a skill player for a QB/TE/K/D or something.

Still don't see how you could miss the playoffs if you finish in second place--never heard of a one-team playoff before--but I guess that's not my problem.

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4 hours ago, blackhawks said:

again guys...trade is done. just looking for input for next year.

The guy who traded Jefferson just made himself way weaker at wide receiver for maybe a slight upgrade at running back.

Pollard is not a top 5 back and he might not even end up as an RB1 by the end of the season. 

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I've been in a keeper league for many years, there are trades along these lines that have happened over the years. They're bad trades and it sucks when the better team gets the better deal in these trades, which is often the case that's why the bad teams are bad. But there's nothing can do unless you think there's attempt to collude.  Collusion is really cheating so you'd be accusing someone of cheating.  If you know everyone it's usually just a bad trade, and that's the been the case in my league (don't know everyone directly but all are friends of friends, etc.).  Noone has ever even raised an objection, once in a while will get a snarky comment on the message board.  It's one of the things about fantasy football that you just kind of have to live with.  Specific to this deal, the guy has fixated on getting Pollard which makes sense on some level but not at the cost of the #1 dynasty wr.

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I think the trade makes no sense at all,  one doesn’t trade away a young stud wr like Jefferson for a player who might not even be on his current team next season, the trade shouldn’t have taken place imo. 

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On 11/17/2022 at 6:36 AM, blackhawks said:

So a trade went down in one of my leagues that in my opinion, and I’m sure most peoples opinion, was an unfair and un equal trade. One team is obviously out of it and traded J. Jefferson for Pollard straight up. They’re argument is that the owner getting Pollard who they believe will be the outright starter next year and will have him for a keeper for numerous years. On the surface this an obviously uneven trade. Does a keeper league squash the unevenness of the trade?  In a keeper league, should owners be allowed to “tank” and look to the future? 
Curious what others not in the league have to say about this scenario and how you handle this in your keeper leagues. What rules do you have in place to keep the playing field as even as possible?
 

I was talking to the commissioner and he is gonna have to come up with a whole new set of rules moving forward as we have never experienced this scenario before. There typically is no action this league, which aggravates me, because most of the owners don’t engage. Trades are a very rare occurrence.

Disclaimer:

the owner who got Jefferson is in first place in our division and I’m a close second chasing him. So I’m certainly biased against. He was gonna be hard to catch as it was, now it’s nearly impossible☹️😡

Looks like that first place person helped you out today. 

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