In honor of me waking up on the wrong side of the bed, and then remaining grumpy throughout the day, I thought I’d share with my readers my list of – People that Really Annoy Me.
“I-Call-Foul Guy”
This past weekend, I made my first trade of the 2011 Tout Wars Mixed season. Inevitably, with 15 owners in the league, someone has to gripe about it one way or the other. Last season, I made a three-way deal with Eric Mack of SI.com and Nando DiFino of WSJ.com. Without getting into the extremely boring details of it, the players involved were Daric Barton, Alex Gordon, Derek Jeter, John Lackey, Jonathan Papelbon, David Price, Alfonso Soriano and Will Venable.
Well, obviously, with that many players and three owners involved (and 12 owners not involved), the opportunity for people to gripe about who got what and the fairness of it all was at a maximum. One owner actually called it cheating! He thought two of us were loading up one owner because we’re friends.
No. Before calling collusion on people because they always trade with each other, think things through, you big dummy. Emack is someone I see on a weekly basis and have been friends with for years, since our time with CBSSports.com. Nando is a friend whose house I’ve stayed in when I visit New York. When you talk this much with people, trades are easier to make because you have built some sort of trust. That’s the same reason why you’ll see certain MLB teams always trading with each other (think Nationals/Reds during the Jim Bowden days).
Secondly, name a Fantasy guy – much less one that’s in such a high-profile league – that wants their friend to win more than themselves. I would rather get run over by a baby elephant than to lose to Emack.
Finally, Emack posted a poll on CBSSports, asking which team got the best end of the deal – and my haul won. Price was my prize and he ended up in the AL Cy Young talks – while I ended up in the middle of the pack. Yet the guy that called me a cheater never mentioned it again.
It just goes to show you – what you deem a horrible deal for one owner could be considered by someone else a horrible deal for the other owner.
If you joined a league with people you consider competent, then shut your yap and play the game.
“Ask-Me-a-Question Guy”
I hate when guys try to bait you into asking them a question, rather than just telling you what happened. They say stuff like,
- “Boy, I’m surprised I’m still alive after that!”
- “I can’t eat apples … Well, not since ‘the incident.’”
- “That’s the last time I’m going to try joining the mile-high club!”
Then they just wait for you. After learning of this species of dopes, now I just react like this, “Yeah, that’s the same thing I was thinking!” Then I put on my headphones.
“Why-Didn’t-You-Ask-Me Guy”
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| Felix Hernandez’s numbers aren’t spectacular, but he’ll still end up being the Fantasy ace you thought he was. Photo Credit: KeithAllison |
Again, we’re talking about Fantasy trades. After that trade I made this week, sending Clay Buchholz, Torii Hunter and Mitch Moreland to Nando for Felix Hernandez and Matt LaPorta (and $10 FAAB), Nando received a couple emails from owners saying, “Why didn’t you ask me about a trade? I would have given you way more for King Felix.”
If that was the case, you should have made the offer. Dope.
Meanwhile, Nando and I were both trying to figure out a way for him to give me more for my players, finally settling on the $10 FAAB.
I look at it like this – he gets two players that have outplayed their salaries in Hunter and Moreland so far, and since he’s dominating in the pitching categories, he can swap Felix for Buchholz. On my end, I wanted to do the 3-for-2 because I wanted to make sure to grab Mike Trout for my reserves. He was the best prospect that was a Fantasy free agent, and after Eric Hosmer went for $40 FAAB last week, I figured getting Trout cheap now was keeping a step ahead of the rest.
While Trout was passed over recently by the Angels in favor of Reggie Willits when Vernon Wells was hurt, I still like Trout to join the club sometime in June. I have Domonic Brown (thumb) on reserve, so they are two prospects I’ll use to replace Hunter and Moreland. Matt Joyce’s breakout has also allowed me to hunt for pitching.
As far as King Felix, he’s on pace to go 16-12 with a 3.35 ERA – his highest number since 2008. But he’s still striking out three hitters for every batter he walks, and he gobbles up innings at an insane rate (only Roy Halladay and CC Sabathia have thrown more innings over the past three seasons.) Now I own Halladay and Hernandez, and I can start working toward cleaning up my bullpen.
Assess your strengths, your weaknesses, and what others see more value in.
“My-Phone-Gets-Great-Reception-In-The-Can Guy”
Is there anything more off-putting than being in a bathroom stall, only to hear some douche come in and sit in the stall next to you – while he’s carrying on a conversation with an unknowing participant. Drives me nuts. So what do I do in that situation? I quickly flush a few times, just to make sure the other guy on the phone knows they’re talking to an idiot in a bathroom.
“Waiver-Pickup-And-Trade Guy”
A few weeks ago, just about one month into the season, I got this trade offer – seriously – from another owner in one of my leagues: He gives up Sam Fuld, if I give up Carl Crawford.
How does someone react to such a horrible trade offer? Nothing says, “I don’t respect your ability to assess baseball” more than picking up a player off of waivers (Fuld), then offering him up for someone else’s first-round draft pick – just one month into the season!!!
What did I do? Well, what could I do? I posted the trade offer on Facebook and immediately ridiculed him in public.
David Gonos won Tout Wars in 2008, sometimes shares deep thoughts on DavidGonos.com, and once traded a rookie Rickey Henderson card for a bunch of commons to fill out a set. Jealous? Shoot me your questions and comments to gonos@rotoexperts.com and follow me @GonosRotoX and @davidgonos.
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