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Savvy or Unethical move?
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2019 5:21 pm
by jordanzs
In one of my leagues, an owner had a QB stable consisting of DeShaun & Foles. Both on bye.
So Saturday morning, another owner saw that and started scooping up the starting QBs on the waiver wire. That owner then dropped them on Sunday morning, 10 minutes before the games kicked off, without picking up anyone else. So obviously his intentions were just to play the waiver wire lockup game & cockblock the other owner.
As luck will have it, the other owner was still able to grab and start Driskell, and he won his matchup and is now taunting that in the face of the other owner who is laughing about his strategy not working. So no harm no foul......this time.
But as commish, should I be stepping in to squash this from happening in the future? I personally don't like the move. Like if I saw that my opponent's kicker was declared out on Sunday morning, I "could" go in and grab and drop every kicker and lock them all up. I wouldn't condone that.
Thoughts?
Re: Savvy or Unethical move?
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2019 5:25 pm
by ArrylT
If it is in MFL you can always adjust the settings so that players added & dropped do NOT get locked prior to game time. So if they add and drop a player, that player remains FA. I believe this can also be done on some other sites like Fantrax, but not 100% sure about ESPN or Yahoo.
Regardless what you're referring to is a grey area that not all owners are going to agree on. So if it is something you have concerns about as a Commissioner - and want to be pre-emptive, then next off-season make that setting adjustment and explain to owners why.
Personally I have no issues with it - as you saw it can backfire in the owners face that attempts it.
Re: Savvy or Unethical move?
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2019 5:29 pm
by Goddard
If I own two QBs and both are on bye the same week and I wait until the Saturday or Sunday to pick up a backup, then I deserve whatever I have coming to me. In terms of a Kicker being declared out Sunday morning without any notice prior to that is a different story. It's also a Kicker versus a QB, so if someone wants to drop 20 players on their team to pick up all the remaining starting Kickers on waivers, then feel free. Owners need to be more aware of their rosters and players who are on bye or injured and figure that stuff out prior to kickoff. If not, it's all fair game. I've never had to do that and wouldn't because it seems like a waste to me, but if someone else in my league did, then that's on the owner who didn't prepare ahead.
Re: Savvy or Unethical move?
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2019 6:14 pm
by Nascent
no, totally viable strategy. If someone cant manage their bye weeks then that's their business and they deserve to pay the price. equally, if someone is smart enough to pick up a QB (assuming you have fixed roster size they are paying the opportunity cost of tying up a valuable spot on their roster) and try and flip him in those bye heavy weeks around 8-12 then good luck to them. very entrepreneurial.
Re: Savvy or Unethical move?
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2019 6:26 pm
by jordanzs
Nascent wrote: ↑Tue Nov 12, 2019 6:14 pm
no, totally viable strategy. If someone cant manage their bye weeks then that's their business and they deserve to pay the price. equally, if someone is smart enough to pick up a QB (assuming you have fixed roster size they are paying the opportunity cost of tying up a valuable spot on their roster) and try and flip him in those bye heavy weeks around 8-12 then good luck to them. very entrepreneurial.
I've scooped up QBs before during this time of the year. I haven't picked up a pile of players though just so I can drop them that Sunday morning a few minutes before kickoff. Maybe I need to start doing that
Re: Savvy or Unethical move?
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2019 6:33 pm
by FantasyFreak
jordanzs wrote: ↑Tue Nov 12, 2019 5:21 pm
In one of my leagues, an owner had a QB stable consisting of DeShaun & Foles. Both on bye.
So Saturday morning, another owner saw that and started scooping up the starting QBs on the waiver wire. That owner then dropped them on Sunday morning, 10 minutes before the games kicked off, without picking up anyone else. So obviously his intentions were just to play the waiver wire lockup game & cockblock the other owner.
As luck will have it, the other owner was still able to grab and start Driskell, and he won his matchup and is now taunting that in the face of the other owner who is laughing about his strategy not working. So no harm no foul......this time.
But as commish, should I be stepping in to squash this from happening in the future? I personally don't like the move. Like if I saw that my opponent's kicker was declared out on Sunday morning, I "could" go in and grab and drop every kicker and lock them all up. I wouldn't condone that.
Thoughts?
Guy has to drop players in order to pick them up though, right? So he's sacrificing guys off his roster to roster guys he's not going to keep. It's completely fair. It's on the other owner to pay attention. Guy that made that move is an owner who you know will always be paying attention in your league, and is playing within the rules.
I'd be more concerned as a commish, of the guy who didn't do anything about his QB situation. Foles has been on IR for how many weeks? Ten? Week 2 the guy should have realized if Foles was coming back, it would most likely be after the bye, and with only 1 active QB going into week 2, should have been looking at when Watson's bye week was. I find guys that don't pay attention are worse for leagues than hyper active players. Guys that play guys injured, or on bye's etc. are a detriment to the leagues, and lots of leagues have that guy. Not saying this guy is like that, but he had a lot of time to figure it out.
Guys playing within the rules, paying attention, and making moves in order to gain a competitive advantage are guys I will take in my league all day over people who suddenly realize a day before that they need a QB, when they should have realized the situation months ago.
Re: Savvy or Unethical move?
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2019 6:41 pm
by TimeWillTell
FantasyFreak wrote: ↑Tue Nov 12, 2019 6:33 pm
jordanzs wrote: ↑Tue Nov 12, 2019 5:21 pm
In one of my leagues, an owner had a QB stable consisting of DeShaun & Foles. Both on bye.
So Saturday morning, another owner saw that and started scooping up the starting QBs on the waiver wire. That owner then dropped them on Sunday morning, 10 minutes before the games kicked off, without picking up anyone else. So obviously his intentions were just to play the waiver wire lockup game & cockblock the other owner.
As luck will have it, the other owner was still able to grab and start Driskell, and he won his matchup and is now taunting that in the face of the other owner who is laughing about his strategy not working. So no harm no foul......this time.
But as commish, should I be stepping in to squash this from happening in the future? I personally don't like the move. Like if I saw that my opponent's kicker was declared out on Sunday morning, I "could" go in and grab and drop every kicker and lock them all up. I wouldn't condone that.
Thoughts?
Guy has to drop players in order to pick them up though, right? So he's sacrificing guys off his roster to roster guys he's not going to keep. It's completely fair. It's on the other owner to pay attention. Guy that made that move is an owner who you know will always be paying attention in your league, and is playing within the rules.
I'd be more concerned as a commish, of the guy who didn't do anything about his QB situation. Foles has been on IR for how many weeks? Ten? Week 2 the guy should have realized if Foles was coming back, it would most likely be after the bye, and with only 1 active QB going into week 2, should have been looking at when Watson's bye week was. I find guys that don't pay attention are worse for leagues than hyper active players. Guys that play guys injured, or on bye's etc. are a detriment to the leagues, and lots of leagues have that guy. Not saying this guy is like that, but he had a lot of time to figure it out.
Guys playing within the rules and paying attention and making moves in order to gain a competitive advantage are guys I will take in my league all day over people who suddenly realize a day before that they need a QB, when they should have realized the situation months ago.
1000%
Re: Savvy or Unethical move?
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2019 6:44 pm
by dizzler
I think its a savvy strategy personally as long as nothing is stated in the rules that you can't. I think its the owners responsibility to look ahead for upcoming bye weeks and adapt. If you're waiting until the week.. or in this case the day.. to fill your roster spot then you're playing with fire.
I did this 2 years ago to my opponent. He needed a TE and we were playing for a playoff spot. Winner moves on, loser is eliminated. I had 3 open spots with 2 empty IR slots open. I added the top 5 Te's in free agency and the guy added some 3rd string TE and ended up losing by 4 points. Did it bleep him off? Sure thing. Did it cause commotion throughout the league for a few days? You bet. But nothing was stated that I could not do that and at the end of the day.. there's money involved. If I can get a competitive advantage (fairly) over my opponent and increase my chances of a bonus check, then I certainly will.
Re: Savvy or Unethical move?
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 4:30 am
by Overachiever77
Savvy
Re: Savvy or Unethical move?
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 5:03 am
by Kurt G.O.A.T.
fleaflicker doesn't allow you to drop a player you picked up when it gets to 24 hours before game starting time. this is in place to stop this exact technique.
Re: Savvy or Unethical move?
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:28 am
by elvisn
I think it's fine. If there's no rule against it then don't worry about it. Other owner should have sorted something quicker.
All my leagues don't lock dropped players unless they've been on your roster for more than 7 days. (They lock once their teams game starts tho)
Re: Savvy or Unethical move?
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:39 am
by themburns
I did this move more or less this week. The Engram owner didn't have a backup so I picked up Ryan Griffin and tried to get a 4th for him. When he refused, I dropped him, he locked and I picked up the other best option.
It is important to be very clear in your league charter. I enjoy the cutthroat nature of the game. In the grand scheme of the league, it's truly a minor point that can probably be addressed in the off season if the league was particularly perturbed.
Re: Savvy or Unethical move?
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:44 am
by Jigga94
Savvy but he shouldn't be able to just pick up QB1 and then Drop QB1 for QB2 (and so on) putting the dropped QB on waivers. Arrylt alluded to that...
I once had a guy on bye who was droppable... Monday comes around and my opponents kicker was inactive. So I pickup the backup kicker (for my bye week player) and subsequently drop him for the other MNF kicker, locking up the other kicker on waivers.
I think it's savvy, but there needs to be a clear rule about how you want to go forward with that. I'd hate to see a late game inactive at WR, just to go the WW and see that my opponent had picked up and dropped all 62 viable WR options lol
Re: Savvy or Unethical move?
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 7:33 am
by sloth8u
Put it to vote if truly concerned. As mentioned....your offender had to drop players.
A league member wants to get "cute" thats ok, he lost anyways. I dont think you should be allowed to add then drop right away, but i dont think thats what happened here?
Re: Savvy or Unethical move?
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 7:45 am
by abloom
Considering that the owner kept the QBs for 24 hours, I think its Savvy. He's sacrificing his own depth/roster, to hinder another team, nothing wrong with that.
I'd have more of an issue if you can pick up and drop players (and then have the players locked) sunday morning, resulting in locking up players at the expense of just a single bench spot.