Dealing With Cuts In The NFBC

[Greg Ambrosius]

I understand how nobody wants "Big Brother" looking over their shoulder with every cut they make in the NFBC, and I hear the thoughts that everyone should be allowed to run their teams as they see fit, but I stated before the season and many times during the season that the integrity of the overall contest is always our main focus. With that in mind, I will continue to monitor every cut made in the NFBC and act when I think a cut needs to be rescinded. The cutting of Barry Bonds last week in Las Vegas League 9 was one move that I felt jeopardized the integrity of that league title and the overall contest and was rescinded by me. We are working with that owner to make sure another player is cut from his reserve team other than Bonds.



I understand that at times certain owners will be left short-handed on their 30-man roster because of injuries or will be forced to cut a "star" player in a certain category to try and move up in other categories. In anticipation of this, I have added one new provision to our rules under Section 13 that will be enacted immediately. It allows me to remove a player from that particular league's free agent pool for the time being (or longer) if there is justification in a top player being cut. This way the team in question is allowed to make the moves it wants and the league race isn't affected at all.



Here is the addition to Section 13 of the Rules that will be added today:



13. Trades between managers: To minimize the possibility of collusion, there will be no trading allowed. All drops are also subject to review by the commissioner of the NFBC and can be revoked if the dropped player is deemed too valuable to be offered to that league's free agent pool, thus damaging the credibility of the overall contest. In the case of a "star" player being dropped in a league for a valid reason, the NFBC commissioner does reserve the right to allow the cut but keep the player out of that league's free agent listing for any length of time, possibly the entire season. All decisions by the NFBC commissioner will be final.



Tom and I do not want to manage anyone's team and we have allowed cuts such as Nomar Garciaparra and Magglio Ordonez because of the length of their injuries after they were cut. I chose to intercede in the Bonds move because 1) Bonds can still be a dominant force if he returns healthy and no one is sure about his health at this point; and 2) The owner who made the cut has held Bonds for this long and has other options on his roster he can deal with other than just cutting bait with Bonds.



Again, we are not trying to act like "Big Brother" here, but it's not fair for the 285 other owners not to have a shot at a free agent like Bonds. In this case, there is still plenty of time for the owner in LV 9 to win weekly prizes and improve his team with a healthy Bonds and keeping him on his reserve is the right move. Should he be so hamstrung in the future that he has no option other than to cut Bonds to field an active roster, then we'll either allow the move or now have the option to allow it and keep Bonds out of that league's free agent pool. Yes, there will be one less free agent in LV 9 than the other leagues, but at least we'll have the ability to keep the race for the overall title pure.



Thanks for all your feedback on this and good luck the rest of the way.

[nydownunder]

Good job guys!

[Tom Kessenich]

Just an update: I spoke to the owner and he said he wasn't trying to compromise the league in any way, he's simply been hit hard by injuries and doesn't believe Bonds is going to play again this season which is why he made the move.



In any event, he's agreed to drop Michael Tucker from his reserve roster instead. So Bonds is back on his team.

[eddiejag]

Excellent job guys, wasted no time . This should keep everybody happy.The other way something would have happend. Nice to see the guys in vegas 9 took it this good.

BAD [ass] ANGELS