Veto the Veto
I’m only writing this article because I have received multiple requests to weigh in on the veto in dynasty. I’ve been procrastinating because it sort of disgusts me to even think about the topic. I’m going to lay out my main reasons that the veto has no place in fantasy and especially no place in a dynasty league. Feel free to comment back; I suspect this will create disagreement.
Get ready because I’m not pulling any punches!
Let’s first make sure we are using common language. For the purpose of this article, I am using the term “veto” to mean a league vote that determines whether a trade between teams can go through. So effectively the other ten owners in a twelve team league deciding, for whatever reason, how the teams involved in the trade should manage their rosters. And when I say “whatever reason” I mean that inclusive of the merits of the trade, collusion or whatever else.
The first reason the veto is controversial is that no one knows my long term plans for my team. I have a three year plan at all times for my dynasty teams that may lead me to do things that look strange right now, but I believe position me for future success. None of my league mates know my plans and I’d be fool to tell them. So if they veto a deal, they are doing so without the benefit of the facts – that’s an Uniformed decision.
Second, my league mates don’t know any more about player values than I do. And I’m not saying that because I think I know more, I may not. What I do know is that any assessment of player values is based on taking in all available information and passing a personal judgment on it. It’s frankly arrogant of anyone to take the paternalistic position that they need to protect me from myself by vetoing a trade for it being unbalanced.
Unbalanced is in the eye of the beholder. I’m sure that many, many people would have said that a trade of Tampa Mike Williams for Victor Cruz was unbalanced going in to 2011. Well, they were wrong. The mere fact that there is a one percent possibility that they could be wrong should have prevented them from passing definitive judgment on the trade. Those owners are absolutely entitled to their opinion on the trade, but they aren’t entitled to decide whether I can make it. How dare they tell me how to run my team!
Third, the veto is used as a weapon. I made the awful mistake of joining a public (redraft) money league last year. I thought it would be fun to put my money where my mouth is and see if I could win some dollars. I won’t say how much, but the buy-in was high. I quickly found myself in trouble after losing Jamaal Charles to the ACL tear, but I muddled through and had a .500 record through week eight – still very much in contention and at least a problem for the leaders. I was approached with a deal where I got Matt Forte and gave Mike Wallace. While I wasn’t deep at WR, I had sufficient players to field a strong set and the addition of Forte would make my team better. Clearly the other owner felt his team was better off with Wallace. I accepted the trade thinking I was back in the mix.
What happened next?
All of the teams with better records vetoed the deal. And worse yet, the format of this league only required three vetoes to block the deal. They could tell immediately that both teams in the trade were getting more competitive and they didn’t want that to happen. It was in their financial interest to veto the trade. Had it gone through, their chances of winning the pot would go down. While I can’t fault their logic, I can argue the ethics of that. The simple solution would be for them not to have that tool at all.
At this point, I know you are saying, “but Tim what about collusion.” I’ve played fantasy football for 15 years and never once have I seen a case of collusion. That isn’t to say it doesn’t happen, but it’s safe to say it’s rare. Here’s the thing: if you really have a situation in your dynasty league where collusion has occurred, the veto isn’t the right remedy anyway. An unbalanced trade is an unwise decision at very worst. Collusion is cheating. How could it possibly be that simply preventing the collusion from working is sufficient? That’s like catching a bank robber, returning the money and letting him go on his merry way. If you have clear cut proof of collusion in your dynasty league you have two choices – kick the people out or quit yourself, unless you can stomach the idea of playing with known cheaters. That wouldn’t work for me, but to each his own.
So at the end of the day, there are basically three reasons people want to veto:
a) Preventing people from hurting themselves through bad trades
b) Preventing people from helping themselves through good trades
c) Solving the problem of collusion with an inappropriate response
Simply put, none of these are good reasons. My challenge to you is to “Veto the Veto” by simply abstaining from the votes or approving all votes without even looking at the players involved.
Happy Easter!
Editor’s Note: Tim Stafford can be found @dynastytim on twitter and in the forums as tstafford.
