BBFL: Welcome Fantasy Managers

Thursday, January 27 2005 @ 10:20 AM EST

Gentlemen, it is time. Time to throw our intellects, sweat and treasure into the pursuit of excellence. Fantasy excellence.

Over the holiday season, I assumed the duties of BBFL commissioner from Mike Moffatt. Mike is busy perfecting his William Shatner impersonation, whereupon he will be able to glare skyward, shake his clenched fist and yell "KEYNES!!!!" during an economics lecture. I hope to keep the league running smoothly and with a minimum of rancor, as he did. On to business…

Who's With Us?

Sunday night, I emailed all of last year's managers about returning for 2005. If you did not receive it, please email me (COMN) with the following information:

Division:
Team Name:
Your name:
Email address:
WILL / WILL NOT be playing this year:

I want to have both rosters set by the time voting begins, so please reply as soon as possible. At this time, I have commitments from 14 of the 17 returning Alomar owners and one of the three promoted owners. On the Barfield side, I have heard from six returning owners and one relegated from Alomar.

BBFL Preseason Schedule

Today through Feb 8: Rule Change Proposals, General-Purpose Discussion
Feb 9 through Feb 12: Rule Voting
Feb 14 through Feb 28: Off-Season Trading Window
Mar 01 through Mar 04: Announce Keepers
All deadlines are 11:59pm PST.

Rule Proposal Guidelines

1. One owner proposes a rule change or an addition/adjustment to a current rule.
2. Someone seconds the proposal.
3. The proposal is added to the list. If two or more proposals seem contradictory, I may combine them into a single multiple-choice question at the time of voting (as an example from last year, we wouldn't have wanted separate proposals on how many teams to relegate). We'll just see how they develop.

Advancement / Relegation

Per last year's vote, the lowest ranked Alomar team is assigned the lowest ranked Barfield team, and so on down the line:

• The Alomar #18 K-Town Mashers switch rosters with Barfield #1 Slippery Pete.
  
• The #19 Springfield Isotopes switch with #2 Ghost Man on Third.
  
• The #20 Jicks Rays switch with #3 Homer Jays Simpsons.

Owners can find end-of-season rosters at the BBFL site.

One issue we need to discuss is how to replace Alomar owners who forfeit their teams. I know of at least one owner that will not be returning, Jordan "Dad" Furlong. I'm of the opinion that an open slots in Alomar should first be offered to the highest ranked owner in Barfield that didn't advance. Perhaps you have a different opinion. More problematic is how to handle rosters and keepers for new Alomar owners beyond the designated three. Mike Moffatt, I, and others in the rules committee have discussed this but reached no consensus. Some possibilities include:

• Move all the promoted teams "up" a notch. Barfield #1 would get Jordan's team (which finished 12th), Barfield #2 gets Alomar #18, B#3 gets A#19, and B#4 gets A#20. For this year, this solution might come close meet the fairness criteria I'll outline in a moment, as Jordan finished in the middle of the pack. The problem is, what if one of the top two or three teams doesn't return? Giving one of those teams to a freshly promoted Barfield owner seems like quite a windfall.
• Dump Jordan's team back into the free-agent pool and have the extra promoted team draft with a clean slate. This sounded good to me at first, but it actually gives that owner an advantage. He would be choosing his first five picks from a pool consisting of Jordan's team AND all the free agents. Again, quite a windfall. (We can't make a team wait until the sixth round to pick. Yahoo won't allow it.)
• Dump Jordan's team back into the free-agent pool and have the extra promoted team draft with a clean slate, BUT force him to pick two retired or Japan-bound players with his first two picks (or however many seems fair). This method would give the 4th promoted team access to some would-be keepers, but not as many as the other three promoted teams. The downside is this method is more complicated than any other.

Any thoughts you have on the matter are greatly appreciated. If you have any suggestions or rule proposals, keep in mind these criteria:

• The three Barfield owners who earned their promotion shouldn't have any advantage over the returning Alomar owners.
• Any extra promoted owners shouldn't have any advantage over the three promoted owners or the returning owners.
• Any extra promoted owners shouldn't be placed at such a disadvantage that they can't be competitive.

Draft Day

Last year, both divisions held their drafts on the Thursday prior to Opening Day. I suggest the same for 2005. Choice time slots fill up fast, so we must decide soon.

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