Sometimes, here in this weekly column, I cover intergalactic topics. OK, that is total B.S., but at least maybe once in a while, I hit on a subject of general interest to fantasy baseball players.
Other times, the subject is more mundane. This is one of those weeks. However, the bottom line may still be worth considering.
My simple message is that you need to be diligent in watching player transactions and be ready to respond quickly and fairly when problems occur, whether you are a league owner, SWAT or commissioner. (The column is sponsored by Captain Obvious.)
This is precisely what happened this past Sunday night in National League LABR. Due to an honest mistake, a player was drafted a second time.
We all know there are two Chris Youngs, and two Shohei Ohtanis (sort of, in some formats), but who knew there are two Steven Duggars?
I surely didn’t. As soon as the Sunday midnight deadline passed, I quickly prepared my weekly transaction write-up. In it, I noted that Derek Carty of RotoGrinders had the high bid of the week, nabbing the Giants outfielder for $6 and that Duggar’s value would grow if he could seize San Francisco’s open leadoff job.
I had one of the multiple losing bids for Duggar after noting on our stat site that he had 17 at-bats last week and batted .286. While that was accurate, one team manager knew the Giants’ Duggar was already owned. Dalton Del Don had selected Duggar in our reserve draft back in March and held onto him ever since, waiting for this time – Duggar’s shot in the bigs.
In a system error that was apparently made before the season, but not noticed until now, two Duggars were loaded and eligible. One was labeled Steven and the other Steve. The player who had been on Del Don’s roster the past four months was Steve Duggar, while we were bidding Sunday night on his still-available clone, Steven.
Within a very short time, the problem was identified. League commissioner Steve Gardner of USA TODAY quickly notified the league owners of the problem and actions taken to resolve it. Most did not realize there had been an issue until after the fact.
Carty received his FAAB back, the duplicate Duggar was axed from the system and Del Don retroactively received stats for the one and only Duggar for the prior week.
The resolution was swift, clear and fair. What more could one expect?
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.
