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The trade deadline in my keeper football league has came and went, so there have been a few trades over the last few days (this trade season has been extremely stagnant) as owners scramble to upgrade or shore up their rosters as we head into the last 6 weeks of the regular season. As mentioned in my prior post, I am right in the thick of things, but a league owner brought up some interesting points: How owners “playing for next year (or beyond)” and “giving up too early” can really affect the contenders. He believes it’s way too early to pack things up if you have a mediocre record and that by “selling” all of your tangible assets and “building for the future” in deals that are one-sided or deemed that way, other owners will suffer as a result of the have’s getting richer.

I and my gargantuan ego will be the first to admit that selling in a keeper league is a totally foreign concept to me, so I would have never give up prematurely. Even when I have gotten off to lethargic starts in seasons prior, my teams usually right the ship and make the playoffs or come close to them. I pride myself on being a model of consistency, so I never pack it in until I am mathematically eliminated or unless I am way below .500, say, 10 games under in baseball or 4 under in football.

With that being said, not everyone has my sanguine disposition and are more “realistic” in their mindset and will deem themselves unworthy of championship contention when things haven’t gone as swimmingly as they originally hoped. Or perhaps they want to get unproven younger players with huge potential in exchange for still productive vets who may only stay in their primes for another season or so.

The controversial trade that has the league message board buzzing is this:

Joe (5-2) tied for first in his division receiving:

Cedric Benson and T.J. Houshmanzadeh

Stat King (3-4) IN LAST PLACE (Yes, I just put you on blast!) receiving:

LaSean McCoy and Marshawn Lynch

Obviously, we know that Benson leads the league in rushing and Housh is a WR3 at this stage of his career. Conversely, McCoy is a back up and Lynch has been quite pedestrian as he is easing his way back from his 3 game suspension to begin the season. This looks quite lopsided on paper, and would raise some red flags if it took place in a one year league, but in a keeper league, where Lynch and McCoy (the heir apparent to Westbrook in Philly) at least it has some foundation. The following questions persist: Still, couldn’t Benson being a legitimate featured back and RB1 have fetched more than two middling running backs? Should Gabe have held out for more? Is he entitled to do so? If that’s the best offer he received, why is he not allowed to do it, even if “everyone else” thinks he’s getting jobbed? Last time I checked, “Stat King” paid the same entry fee as everyone else and should have the freedom to do what he wants in a trade. It’s not collusion to load up someone else’s team.

On the flip side, the veto trade system is in place so that owners can veto trades at their discretion and most certainly have the right to do so whenever they please, however trivial or tedious the process may be. All of these issues make this so thought provoking and quite entertaining. There are myriad psychological and to a lesser extent etiquette issues involved when you are in a league as multi-layered as ours!

Sidenote: Leon Washington and Owen Daniels were out for season RIGHT AFTER THEY WERE MOVED IN SEPARATE DEALS in our league, so therefore, since no one has a crystal ball, you just never know what can unfold as the season progresses!