Those who read this column regularly are probably tired of reading about one of my core values of fantasy rules management, but because it is central to this article, here it is again.
“Avoid making rules changes during the season. Hold decisions until the off-season, when pros and cons can be discussed more objectively, there is adequate time to assess downstream ramifications, and the league can verify the proposed changes can be implemented by its stats service.”
Having said that, there is a related corollary.
“The only exception should be if there is a problem that needs immediate attention. But even then, an in-season rule change should be made only if there is 100 percent agreement among all league members.”
As most likely already know, for 2018, Tout Wars made a change to its weekly transaction deadline from the standard midnight Sunday night to 1:00 p.m. ET. This was done to enable the leagues to communicate weekly waiver wire additions in time for use by the general public.
With Tout’s deadline for reconciling rosters and locking active players for the week ahead remaining at first pitch Monday, the elapsed time between these two weekly milestones increased substantially. This window has grown from approximately 19 hours, during which there are no games, to 30 hours, with a full slate of Sunday contests in between.
As Tout founder and board member Ron Shandler wrote recently, this new window enables league members the time to initiate trades rather than potentially having to cut valuable players to maintain legal rosters.
The rub surfaced when it was determined that the rules, as documented in the Tout constitution, were out of touch with the current practice. Here is the clause in question.
“All free agent bids and trade transactions must be communicated to the SWAT by 1:00pm ET Sunday.”
In the few weeks since the new waiver wire time went into effect, the league management software had been allowing trades up until first pitch on Monday – and Tout warriors seemed to like it.
Still, the two are in conflict.
In this case, the right thing to do would seem to be to make a change to the constitution. However, the Tout board resisted any temptation – real or imagined – to do this without first contacting the league members.
The problem was explained, as well as the difference between rule and practice. Not a single respondent – at least of the many who commented via mass email to their peers – had an issue with the proposal to allow trades until Monday’s first pitch.
Key to its acceptance was the fact that no Tout owner is either advantaged or disadvantaged by the change.
A few Tout warriors, however, did probe exception cases such as Patriots’ Day. Because the rule was already clearly-written, no further weekly clarification was required.
“…all weekly ups and downs must be made by the start of the first game on Monday involving teams that the league draws players from…”
In conclusion, in this case, because of another rule change made during the off-season, the weekly process had drifted away from the wording in the constitution. Because the recent practice was well accepted, and no one objected, the reconciliation was made without further incident.
This provides a good reminder to never say “never”. As much as I have – and will continue to – oppose in-season rules changes on principle, there can be exceptions like this one that make compete sense to all.
Brian Walton was the 2009 National League Tout Wars champion, scoring the most points in the league’s history. He also holds the all-time NL Tout single-season records for wins and saves. His work can also be found daily at TheCardinalNation.com. Follow Brian on Twitter.
