Trade Dispute: Moss/Betts for James/Coles

Q: I recently had a trade turned down and was wondering what you thought of it.Team 1 gets Laveranues Coles and Edgerrin James

Team 2 gets Randy Moss and Ladell Betts

Normal scoring-1 point for 10 yds 6 pts for TD

A: Hi Matt. By and large, fantasy footballers are way too quick to click the ‘veto’ button when a trade is accepted. It is simply a flawed system. When the Patriots traded for Randy Moss, did they have to ask the Colts? Do you think the Colts would have been quick to try to block the trade simply for personal reasons or would they have been an objective third party? Exactly, and the same applies to fantasy football. I’ve mentioned this before in my posts but I will mention again and again until the point hits home. There is a difference between and uneven trade (which favors slightly one team over the other but should still be allowed) and an unfair trade (which should be overturned). The vast majority of trades are either fair or uneven and should be allowed. Very rarely is a trade so overwhelming unfair that it warrants a veto. Fantasy footballers need to remember that they are not voting to prevent all other teams from getting better. The veto rule is simply there to prevent collusion and ridiculously unfair trade made by stupid owners.

Sorry for the diatribe, but far too often I see a completely legitimate trade overturned not because it is unfair - but because the other owners who do the voting are scared the trade may hurt their team’s chance.

That said, your trade is absolutely fair. How can this be possibly be vetoed? Based on the scoring in one of my Sportsline leagues - which looks to be the same as scoring system - The Coles/James tandem has racked up 93.4 points so far this season which is slightly more than the Moss/Betts duo who have posted 88 points. That’s not a very wide margin. I’m not sure how much more fair a trade can be. Even if you don’t want to trust the stats since its still early in the season, team 1 is getting a very solid RB2 and a WR2, while team 2 is getting a top tier WR. Its a classic trade, give away a superstar at one position to obtain depth at multiple positions.

You got robbed my friend. I’d be making a stink as well (which is probably how you ended up on this site). My advice is pull the stats for 2007 and show the rest of your owners how close the trade really is. If that doesn’t work, I’d look for a new league next year where the owners have the common decency to allow a fair trade to go through even if they think it may hurt their chances of winning the championship.