Let's look at the first three trades that got vetoed....
On 4/17, the Sketchy Mustaches were going to trade Placido Polanco, David DeJesus, and Francisco Cordero and receive Hanley Ramirez and Scott Downs from 69 wit SuzynWaldman.
Since that day, here's how these players have fared....Ramirez: .351ob%, 7r, 9rbi, 1sb, 27tb, 7k
Downs: 7.71era, 2hld, 7ip, 6k
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Polanco: .218ob%, 3r, 2rbi, 1sb, 13tb, 8k
DeJesus: .338ob%, 7r, 6rbi, 0sb, 28tb, 7k
Cordero: 3.68era, 5sv, 7.1ip, 6k
Polanco looked like the NL MVP after the first two weeks but has since crashed hard. DeJesus continues to produce admirably and Cordero is picking up his saves. Ramirez hasn't quite turned it on yet, however, we're pretty sure that Hanley is going to finish the season with over 100R, over 100RBI, and an OB% close to .400, making him one of the top fantasy players.Later that same day, a similar trade was accepted and vetoed before I even received the trade email. This second deal had J.A. Happ also going to 69 and Scott Downs staying put. J.A. Happ has not made an appearance since then.
Most owners seemed to think that trading away Hanley Ramirez for a bunch of solid, yet unspectacular roster filler seemed like an early desperation move by 69. The two trades were voted down quickly.
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Four days later, 69 with SuzynWaldman was at it again. Seemingly intent on giving up his star players, 69 attempted two trades that were vetoed within 35 minutes of eachother.
First, 69 agreed to trade away Kendry Morales to the Mustaches for Bronson Arroyo, Scott Feldman, and Francisco Cordero. Yikes! Since that trade was vetoed Kendry Morales has gone on a tear, putting up a .432ob%, 7r, 10rbi, 24tb, 3k line, while winning the player of the week award that Sunday.69 should be thanking the league owners because Arroyo has an ERA of 9.31 since then. Feldman hasn't been much better, pitching to a 4.66ERA and a WHIP near 2.00. Again, Cordero has been picking up his saves, but I'll keep Morales.
In the second vetoed deal of the morning, 69 was trading away Hanley Ramirez again. This time it was to Mount Gay Rum. The Gay Rum actually had a decent offer here, including the likes of B.J. Upton, Nick Swisher, and Leo Nunez. Here's the numbers since 4/21:Ramirez: .378ob%, 6r, 8rbi, 0sb, 25tb, 7k
Torii Hunter: .372ob%, 6r, 7rbi, 2sb, 22tb, 5k
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B.J. Upton: .348ob%, 10r, 4rbi, 3sb, 15tb, 9k
Swisher: .409ob%, 8r, 9rbi, 0sb, 28tb, 5k
Alex Gonzalez: .302ob%, 6r, 12rbi, 0sb, 27tb, 15k
Nunez: 0.00era, 1sv, 4ip, 3k
Swisher has had a good two weeks, while Alex Gonzalez continues to produce TBs somehow. Upton is getting a few SBs and Nunez has a sick WHIP right now.
On the other side of the argument, Hanley is Hanley, and Torii Hunter has turned it on hard in the last few games. Again, most owners thought that 69 was giving up way to much in order to try and fill a few "dead" spots in his lineup, and voted the deal down.
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Finally, Sunday saw two more deals get squashed. The first involved notorious slow-starter and biggest tool in baseball, Mark Teixeira. Teixeira is a career .237 / .345 / .414 (avg/ob%/slg) in April, while the rest of the year he just mashes. After hearing that Psycho Studs had him on the trading block, Teixeira responded by going 4 for 5 that afternoon and is now 6 for 9 in May.---------------------------------
In possibly the strangest vetoed deal in the history of fantasy baseball, one team was trading away two average starting pitchers (Derek Lowe and Scott Feldman) for a middle reliever (white-trash representative Joba Chamberlain), and owners thought that the team receiving the middle reliever was ripping the other guy off!!!! A middle reliever! Amazing. Only in this league.
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Seriously though, this trade veto is going to make me think about the setup of this fantasy league. I have a few ideas that might work to decrease the value of a relief pitcher that qualifies in the SP slot....
-I could raise the Innings Pitched maximum, which would increase the value of starting pitching.
-I could eliminate the Holds category and add the Quality Start category, which would both increase the value of starters and decrease the value of middle relievers.
-Or, preferably, I'd like to combine Saves, Holds, and Wins into one big category, and add Quality Starts.
