End of Year Rule Change....is this okay?

[FantasySportsMaven]

16 team Dynasty H2H points league in its' first year.

My internet went out and I got autodrafted for the first 16 or so rounds... and ended up with a roster full of guys on DL, 4 thirdbasemen and overvalued old guys.

I needed a strategy which would help me be competitive while building towards the future too.... so I traded away guys like Jeter, Swisher, Uggla and Freese for guys like MeCab, Bonifacio, Pedroia and Jed Lowrie. Traded away my 2013 1st and 3rd round rookie/prospect pick for Cespedes.

Then I started taking chances on young guys on FA. Started grabbing hot young players as soon as I heard anything about them. When they didn't pan out, I dropped them and added the next deep sleeper. We are only allowed to pick up rookies who have played prior to this year, so most sleepers are "real" sleepers and most do not pan out. My hard work and constant research allowed me to build my autodrafted team from mediocrity to 1st place in the league. I now have a team which is as good as anyones going into the final weeks of the season and the playoffs.

I wasn't worried about using up all my transactions since at year end, when teams start sitting players without putting them on DL, I wouldn't use any adds since I would have to drop one of my regular starters in order to add a replacement anyway... and everyone in the league would be in the same situation, so saving adds would only be valuable if you had roster players you could drop.

Now, the commish announced he was going to change/expand the allowable DL status from DL to DL AND Out in a few weeks. This would mean that teams could now add players to fill spots in their starting lineup when the teams decide to sit players at the end of the year. This change would mean that I would now be at a severe disadvantage versus everyone else in the league who didn't use their drops/adds. Other teams would be able to add players to fill open starting roster spots for our H2H matchups without needing to drop any of their normal starters.... while I can not. The rest of the league loves this change since it helps them and gives them a big advantage when they play me.

Any suggestions as to what I can do? I played the game according the rules as well as I could and now I am going to be punished for doing so....
Thinking about dumping my roster and quitting the league if this end of season rule change is implemented.

What do you think about this pre-playoff end of year rule change and what would you do?

[bigmck]

There is one rule that applies in all Fantasy Games. The Commish should never change rules in the middle of the season. NEVER NEVER. I would complain loud and possibly quit next year.

[FantasySportsMaven]

I have been very vocal in my opposition to the rule change and have gone as far as suggesting it is cheating for the commish to make this change... as he is in second place just behind me in the league standings.
Yes, as much as I agree that no rules should ever be changed mid year in any league... I crossed my fingers and suggested this:

Yeah, I am the only team who is almost out of moves.... and I am the only team who has gone from an autodrafted mediocrity to 1st place in the league. And I did it by investing a crapload of time, effort and good risk taking of picking up young pitchers before anyone one else. I did it by playing according to the league rules knowing that even without moves I would be on a level playing field at the end of the year since no one else could pickup replacements unless they dropped those good players being sat.

Now, your end of year rule change does nothing but punish me, and only me, for my hard work and for playing according to the rules. If that isn't cheating, I don't know what is?

Of course, since it doesn't seem to bother you to change rules at the end of the year, then it also wouldn't bother you to also change the limit on transactions and in fact, rather than being a change which is prejudicial towards one team, corrects a prejudice imposed by your other change.

Is my suggestion to commit two sins instead of just one to maintain a level playing field twice as wrong or a good solution to our commish's sin? Am I just as wrong as the commish, in proposing the second end of year rule change to correct the first end of year rule change? Or, is it like taking the lemons tossed at me and trying to make lemonade?

[bigmck]

Lemons........Lemonade..............You lost me there.

[yankee04]

As a commissioner myself, I'd never change a rule mid-season without unanimous approval from all owners in the league. Everyone agreed to the rules at the beginning of the season so it can't be changed simply because some teams want an advantage.

[mkultra]

Total dealbreaker, IMO. This is basically collusion, whether it was intended that way or not. If this were a money league I'd be demanding a refund.


Unanimous voting shouldn't even be the criteria for changing the rules. The only acceptable in-season rule changes, IMO, follow these guidelines:

- They fix some kind of specific problem (your software and your constitution are in conflict)
- They impact everyone equally

Since this rule change negatively impacts you while (ostensibly) helping other teams, and since it's a "preference" rather than a "fix", it's completely inappropriate. Suggesting an additional rule change just makes things worse and opens up the possibility of more ripple effects.