How to prevent lending players?

[Samfolds]

Hi guys,

This is more of a general question, but for my 15-team cap league, there have been a few trades recently that looked like "elastic trades" (i.e. lending a player to a contending team and likely expecting him back).

Normally it is hard to prove, but do you have any kind of mechanism to prevent this? I am co-commish in the league and would like to present a few solutions to discuss...

Thanks for your input!

[tux]

Do not allow traded players to be traded back (by the team they were traded to) to the same team for 1 full season.

[als_revenge]

Do not allow traded players to be traded back (by the team they were traded to) to the same team for 1 full season.

So then they just make a convoluted trade, using other players, to reverse the original trade. And the league is no better off.

The root of the problem is that the league is allowing stupidly lopsided trades to go through (and then future lopsided trades to offset them).

So you have two choices: veto lopsided trades. Or allow stupid trades (i.e. I will trade you my full team at the trade deadline for a 20th round pick. and then in the offseason, you trade me back my full team plus a 1st round pick). That's the stupidity you are heading for without having a veto in place to ban this type of collusion. (And it is collusion when one trade is made on the condition of a future trade to offset it).

[Moses]

Make the trade deadline in your league much much earlier in the season than it is now. i.e. - make trading legal all summer and then up to January 1st. From Jan-early April your team is as is and only players you have access to are the ones on the waiver wire.

[SergeP]

This sounds like straight up collusion. You'll never be able to hard-code rules for every possible scenario and trying to do so will just introduce a bunch of convoluted rules or some dumb veto system, both of which are a great way to suck the fun out of a league.

At the end of the day, you need to be able to rely on the integrity of the GMs in your league. In addition to the rule book, have a Constitution or Code of Conduct that lays out expectations on how everyone is to behave in the league in order to maximize everyone's enjoyment and the overall competitive spirit of the league (e.g. don't be a jerk, no collusion or side deals, trades should be made with your own team's best interest in mind at all times, etc.). This is a great way to enforce "rules" that aren't always black and white and that go beyond the league's set-up.

No matter how many rules you have, there will always be a way for GMs to exploit them or come up with loopholes. The guys in your league should be reminded of the Code of Conduct and that they are to consider not only the letter of the law but also the spirit of the law before acting.

Ultimately if that fails and you have GMs who continue to look to bend the rules or game the system, just get rid of them and replace them with guys who aren't @$$holes. A league is always better when there aren't any @$$holes in it.

On a related note. I've drafted a code of conduct for the leagues I run. I'm happy to share it with anyone who thinks it could be of value to their leagues. Just hit me up with a PM.

[Avalanche_Ambush]

Do not allow traded players to be traded back (by the team they were traded to) to the same team for 1 full season.

One of my leagues has this rule...works pretty well.

[LeafsFan1967]

One of my leagues has this rule...works pretty well.

This rule is partially true in my fantrax keeper league. You can trade for a guy before he's spent 1 full calendar year off of your team, so long as original contract wouldn't have expired already. Not sure if by season, ya'll mean 82 games, or just calendar year like my league?

So a situation where I can't acquire a previously owned guy yet is Huberdeau, I traded him in Mar of last year, and he was my 1 year. In this situation, if I did want to re-acquire him, I would have to wait until the 1 year mark, then he would be treated as a normal keeper and I could sign him to whatever was open or leave his contract as is when it comes time to submit my keepers before the next season.

Personally, if I trade a keeper it's not with the intention of bringing them back, let alone within a short time frame. Now I owned Monahan at 2 different times, but he was off of my team for > 1 year, and I traded him back in Dec.

[Avalanche_Ambush]

This rule is partially true in my fantrax keeper league. You can trade for a guy before he's spent 1 full calendar year off of your team, so long as original contract wouldn't have expired already. Not sure if by season, ya'll mean 82 games, or just calendar year like my league?

So a situation where I can't acquire a previously owned guy yet is Huberdeau, I traded him in Mar of last year, and he was my 1 year. In this situation, if I did want to re-acquire him, I would have to wait until the 1 year mark, then he would be treated as a normal keeper and I could sign him to whatever was open or leave his contract as is when it comes time to submit my keepers before the next season.

Personally, if I trade a keeper it's not with the intention of bringing them back, let alone within a short time frame. Now I owned Monahan at 2 different times, but he was off of my team for > 1 year, and I traded him back in Dec.

In my league it's calendar year, we don't track to the exact date of the previous trade, just a rough guess. Last year around this time I traded Gardiner for JT Miller so I could hypothetically trade Miller back for Gardiner now.

[Eskimo Brother]

If I was commish of a league where this was happening, the GMs in question would get a warning the first time, and if it happened again I would just replace them. I have no time for collusion in my leagues.

[newfcollins]

Just wait until the one guy ends up not trading the players back in the summer. That should put a stop to it.

[Samfolds]

Thanks all for the helpful feedback!

I agree that I should at the very least remind every GMs that this kind of deal is not in the spirit of our league. It's kind of an all-friends league, so it's hard to kick a guy out... If I can't get people to follow the unwritten rules, I'll possibly discuss the 1-year rule with the commish of the league.

Thanks again, rep given everywhere I could!

[Taco97]

Easy - don't join leagues with sneaky douchebags. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

[GavinC]

Our league has a two tiered veto system. Generally it requires 80% of the non-trading GM's to vote against a trade for it to be vetoed. But if a GM reaquires a player within the a 12 month window, that veto vote drops to 50% of non-voting GMs.

[saucelife90]

Our league has a two tiered veto system. Generally it requires 80% of the non-trading GM's to vote against a trade for it to be vetoed. But if a GM reaquires a player within the a 12 month window, that veto vote drops to 50% of non-voting GMs.

That's a great rule.