Paradise Lost

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. Even though Kenn is starting to pull away a little, we have had an amazing four team race for almost the entire 2007 season. We also, however, are witnessing two amazing apathetic ways to run a team.

Before I get too deep into this I understand that there are all kinds of reasons owners may "drop out" during the season, ranging from the happy (birth of a child, wedding, etc.) to the mundane (very busy with work or other activities) to the tragic (serious health issues, death of a loved one, etc). There's also the possibility that they've simply lost interest. In all but the most tragic of reasons, you'd at least expect some kind of interaction - or at least a note saying "guys, work is killing me now and I just can't focus on the CFCL." Without that kind of notice, it's natural to assume they've lost interest.
The Splinters and Meisters have disengaged themselves from day to day (hell, even month to month) operations of their franchises. The last Splinter transaction was recorded on 6/22/07 (the last of five transactions all year). The last Meister transaction was recorded on 5/27/07 (also the last of five transactions all year). You may think, ‘So what, Rich. If they don’t want to replace an injured player, they’re just hurting themselves (in Teddy’s case not trying for something better than seventh place) or saving themselves time (in Paul’s case).’ True, but let’s look at the standings:

Meisters .036 behind Copperfields in ERA (He was .02 behind a week ago)
Meisters tied in H/S with Copperfields and four behind Ruffins (a week ago he was ahead of both by 1)
Splinters 3 H/S behind Kenndoza
Meisters .001 behind Rebels in K/BB (a week ago, he was ahead by .04)
Splinters 12 RBI behind Kenndoza
Meisters 14 QS behind Copperfields
Splinters 7 QS behind Ruffins
Meisters .003 behind Rebels in OBP

On the Splinters Roster:
Henry Owens and Jon Lieber are out for season (look at Holds and QS)

On the Meisters Roster
Chris Guzman out since late June
Scott Rolen out for year since 8/28 (look at OBP)
Zach Duke out since 6/28
Randy Wolf out for year since 7/3 (look at K/BB, QS)
Steve Finley released by the Rockies in mid-June
Craig Wilson released by the Pirates in early May
Neal Cotts out of the majors since May 20th

That’s over 30% of the “active” roster that hasn’t been very active.

And it’s not like the Meisters didn't have someone available to replace Finley and Wilson on their roster. On the Meisters RESERVE roster: Nate McLouth (18 SB) and Michael Bourn (also 18 SB). Now I don’t know why McLouth wouldn’t get activated. Bourn could be a different situation. To date Bourn has 111 ABs, so Paul could be holding out hope that Bourn won’t get to the plate another 24 times so his M contract won’t kick in to a D this year. While this is a fact, (Bourn’s ABs) it’s probably more of a serendipitous event rather than a conscious effort.

If the Meisters had replaced Finley and Wilson (0 SB combined) with McLouth and Bourn (36 SB combined), they would have had enough steals to pass the Picts, Stones, AND Copperfields in that category. That alone (at the time we went to press) would have tied the Meisters with the Lambchops and moved the Copperfields down into a tie for third with the Rebels. The Meisters have more SB sitting on their Reserve roster right now than the Splinters have on their Active AND Reserve roster combined! Clearly Paul checked out of the CFCL 3-4 months ago.

Both teams have their full compliment of FAAB ($1.00). But even more amazing or should I say disappointing is that neither the Meisters nor Splinters even bothered to bid on a single player all year long. Contrast that with the Bulls who bid on 29 players and the Kenndoza Line who bid on 26. Are you telling me that Mark Teixeira, Carlos Marmol, Brad Hennessey or Rick Ankiel wouldn’t have been worthy additions for this year or next? Plus the fact, three of those players made their way to two of the top four teams. Where would those teams be without those key additions? Add to that, not one Waiver Claim has been made by either team. [We interrupt our program for this very important message – Keep in mind the Transaction Reporting Deadline was moved to Sunday afternoon largely influenced by the Splinters who wanted the luxury of sitting in bed Sunday morning with his laptop to plot out the upcoming week’s strategy – We now join our regularly scheduled program, already in progress]

And that’s just the influence on the title. There is a battle for fifth and seventh place that’s being influenced by this indifference.

When a team goes through extended periods with disabled or demoted players on their active roster, it does a disservice not only to that team, but to the league as a whole. We're all entitled to a "good race" - which means that we should be able to assume that all teams are making their best effort, despite their place in the overall standings.

Inactive teams need to realize that in a Roto League, it's not just their own teams that are affected by their inactivity. For every point they lose, it means some other team is gaining a point. If that team happens to be a contender, the team that's "given up" is affecting the Championship results. They owe it to the other contenders to create an atmosphere where no team can coast past inactive teams.

Right before the trading frenzy I was a bit put out by what I felt was a lopsided trade between the Stones and Kenndoza Line. Having conversed with both Steve and Kenn over the weeks following the trade, I understand that they each felt they got value from the trade. While I still think the trade could have been made without so many high priced, so called studs making their way to Kenn, that could be peanuts compared the way the standings were affected by Teddy and Paul pulling a Doug Henning and disappearing for the majority of the baseball season.

Throughout the 24 years of the CFCL, owners have dealt with the following: Busy work schedules, their own weddings, births of children, honeymoons, deaths of family members and co-workers, divorces, career changes, birthdays, health setbacks. And these are just the things that I’ve been aware of. Yet somehow owners have persevered through to run their teams to the best of their abilities.

I’m not saying that we all have to spend five hours a day pouring over our team and the league, because none of us has the time to do that – except for Grage who annually makes something like four scouting trips to spring training, three to the Arizona Fall League, seven or eight in season trips to Wrigley or the BOB on top of his four satellite dishes and MLB.com Ultra-Season package.

But I am saying that the twelve owners as a whole, and the history of the league, are deserving of a commitment from each owner to make sure the season is as competitive as possible. It's very possible that Teddy and Paul have very serious, legitimate reasons for their lack of involvement, and no one is saying the CFCL should take precedence over major, life-altering events. If Paul and Teddy have been dealing with serious non-CFCL issues this season, their inaction is understandable and completely excusable. If, on the other hand, they're simply disappointed with the teams they drafted or found something "better" to do rather than look after a second-division fantasy team, then they're letting the rest of us down.

A number of years ago, Cincinnati Bengal football coach, Sam Wyche got on the loudspeaker as Bengal fans were acting out of control, throwing things on the field. His admonition was “You don’t live in Cleveland. You live in Cincinnati!”

My comment to all of us is “You’re not part of some dumbass, generic fantasy league. You’re part of the CFCL! Play like it!”