Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

wondering if this is a vet's trick...or just somebody having a really bad day...

I'm currently fighting a close race in my division at the 141 game point...while in the division next door, the last-place team has just dumped FIFTEEN players, in one sitting, on the last day it is possible to make changes. This, of course, will help the other teams in that division greatly, particularly in the wild-card race...

I hate to have evil thoughts, but what if the guy on top of the division (4-figure rating) opened a new account under another name, set himself up with two teams in one division, and is now tanking it at just the right moment...am I officially paranoid, or is this a "strategy" that has been used before?...

I'm not pointing fingers at anyone in my league, just wondering if this smells funny to anyone else...

There are several reasons for this and none of them are good.

1. They could just be buddies
2. One owner could just realize that he isn't going to make the playoffs and wants to ruin it for others in the league.

and there could be other reasons. TSN should expel people like this but they won't expel anyone as long as they pay to play.

Sounds shady to me

I think it all depends on what kind of players their picking up. Knowing their out of the race they could be trying different players at a certain ballpark for a future league. But if their picking up 50 cent guys then that is a different story.....

Taking from TSN rules

[quote:df229e7869]
Fair Play policy

Please be respectful of your league-mates throughout the season so that all may have a pleasant environment in which to play. The following behavior will not be tolerated:

[i:df229e7869]Tanking. You may not intentionally throw games, under any circumstances.

Collusion. You may not conspire with another manager, by making trades or by changing your team settings when playing against that team, to achieve any sort of anti-competitive goal, e.g. to help a team win, or to gang up on another team. [/i:df229e7869]

Offensive language. You may not communicate with other managers in a manner that they could find offensive.

If you violate any of the above rules, at our discretion, SportingNews.com will seize control of your team and you will not be eligible for a refund. Repeat offenses will result in a ban from ever playing the game again.
[/quote:df229e7869]

I guess that's possible, BoDean...

15 players in one sitting seems like a lot for a team 26 games out with 21 to play...but I concede that you may be right...

The only way I have ever picked up new players to try, after falling out of contention, is by trading with other doormat teams in an attempt to both get back in the race (usually doesn't help) and see how different players might perform in the park I am using. I find this strategy especially helpful if I am using my favorite park, so that I can plan a team further down the road.

Dumping and reloading sounds really shady to me. If they'd sent out feelers on trades and made a lot of noise at the deadline, that would be one thing, but the dump is a load of poop.

Just as annoying as leagues where some team starts dropping players one or two games in to the season.