Drew started the 2014 season as one of the ten managers in our league, all ten of us with the same rights and responsibilities. On May 27th I began my attempts to open trade talks with Drew. No manager made more attempts to reach out to him than I did over the summer. I texted him, facebook messaged him, proposed trades on Yahoo, and even called him once. He was a complete ghost, as most of us can attest. On Friday, August 1st, I expressed my concern and frustration about Drew’s absence to a couple of league managers and on August 4th I posted the following on our league message board:
“We can discuss his league membership in the off-season, but for now, what do we do with his team? He’s got a ton of pieces that would benefit a lot of teams in playoff race and I think it’s stupid to have them go to waste.”
Despite the important fact that Drew was still a manager at this time and had not been stripped of his managerial capabilities, I had no reason to think that Drew would manage his team the rest of the season based on the way he acted over the summer. So, I naturally proposed ways that the league could seize his trade-able assets, re-stock his depleted 2015 draft board, and keep some decent keeper options for next season. I proposed this so Drew’s team, whoever was managing it, had a chance in 2015, but also because I am a buyer on my way to the playoffs and, as a buyer, should be actively seeking ways to improve my team. That’s what a good manager does.
To summarize the rest of the thread, Kurt, Alex, and I (the only ones who were voluntarily contributing opinions at the time) decided to reach out to Drew before auctioning his players off, as Kurt explained in the thread:
“I want to tell him before we do this because he's our friend and should know and if possible should do the auction himself.”
Alex took it a step further:
“I also think we need to have a vote on this. This shouldn't be a case where the 3 of us make a decision and force it through even though no one else wants this. We may need to do a Facebook or text chat where everyone needs to vote and 6 (2/3 majority) are needed to oust him. We also need to talk with him because he was a great member in the past and deserves it as our friend.”
And finally,
“We should make moves on his behalf if he doesn't respond by Monday. Need league majority though.”
Kurt asked if anyone else wanted to weigh in on the situation. Colin reiterated what we had already said, and no one else contributed. So all we had was a proposal for the league to seize his team that needed to be voted on and passed by ⅔ league majority. But at that moment, Drew was still a manager with all his managerial rights.
On Sunday night, August 10, six days after I first proposed the auction idea that less than half the league commented on, Kurt (somehow) got a hold of Drew and started a discussion in the Diamond Dynasty facebook message group with all 10 members. Drew apologized and said he wanted to still be a manager in the league, if we would let him. Jarrett was vehemently against allowing Drew to have control of his team and execute trades. Colin, Kurt, and I were open to giving him another chance, with an ultimatum that any period of inactivity would lead to league expulsion. The other 6 members did not comment.
It’s important to note here that Kurt, Colin and I do not constitute a majority in any way and thus cannot make any league decisions. But this was not a change in the league. During this entire process, and within the timeline of everything I’ve presented to you thus far, Drew was a manager with all his managerial rights intact. Kurt was just able to do something we were all trying to do - wake him up.
Back to the facebook message group: Kurt still wanted to do the auction, but I argued that if he is in fact a manager, he should be able to manage his roster how he pleases:
- Drew can you just focus for a week and deal with the trades as they come in?
- I mean, your ultimatum starts now essentially
- I'm committed from now until forever
- Drew, you have one week until the trade deadline
- Do we have to do this weird auction thing?
- I was pumped to start the auction
- but its okay
- or you know the internet stops working
- just one week until the trade deadline spend it making moves
- If drew wasn't involved yes auction, but since he's here I say go back to regular procedures
- get some picks back or a better flex keeper than alexei ramirez
My thought process was, why would we still hold an auction when Drew was right there to field offers, especially when less than half the league even commented (not voted, commented) on the plausibility of an auction at all? I asked Drew on the message board how best to contact him, and he posted his phone number.
As Drew and I came to agreements on trades for Wainwright and Ryu that evening, I knew there would be some kickback. I did not expect the nuclear bomb that went off. But if the situation were to present itself again in the same manner, I would do it again. It was not a dick move. Drew was and currently is a manager. He was never suspended. He was never not allowed to trade. There were uninspired conversations on what to do with his team but no votes, no majority consensuses. I did not have any advantages in the way that I found out. I did not have any advantages in the way Drew and I negotiated. If you think the trades were unfair, blame Drew. If you think he didn’t get enough value for his players, blame Drew. I didn’t hold a gun to his head or force him to make those trades without shopping his assets around. If he’s a manager, he gets to make those decisions. Wanna hear some shit? I offered Drew a first round pick for Wainwright back in June. I was in the same boat as you guys who feel slighted, saying you offered more and got no response. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and took advantage of the opportunity that presented itself.
We all have different ways of managing. TJ has no closers despite the roster changes we made to force closers. I sell my players for draft picks when my season goes down the drain. Drew kept a closer one year! HE KEPT A CLOSER ONE YEAR! Why is it so unthinkable that he would rather enter 2015 with a lesser keeper and some extra picks? You don’t get high draft picks for average guys. He had to replace his high draft picks.
If you want to get on my case for anything, yell at me because I flip flopped. Yell at me because I said it was fair, then I said let’s veto, then I argued that it was fair again. I wanted to summarize the past 11 days so you could all see, from start to finish, that it was legitimate. There's no back-door deals; everything we did was on public forum. I understand how it looks from an outsider's perspective, I understand some of the reasons why you're pissed, and that's why I wanted to explain it all. If we come to the conclusion that Drew was just trading to trade and seem active, I am absolutely for vetoing the trades and starting fresh with a league controlled auction and a new manager next year. But if we undermine a manager’s right to trade, he’s not a manager at all and shouldn't be in the league. I’m sure we all disagree at times with how other managers manage their rosters and this is just one of, albeit an historic, example.
