Fantasy Baseball Dispute No. 8160-T: SportsJudge.com Rejects Trade of Albert Pujols for Mark Reynolds & Jason Bay

SPORTSJUDGE.COM

COURT OF FANTASY BASEBALL –

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -	x	Index No. 8160-T Date: July 9, 2010 League Type: NL-ONLY ROTO Dispute: TRADE REVIEW Judges: HON. MARC EDELMAN, HON. MATTHEW COHEN TRADE BETWEEN PHIRE & SHAZAM IS REJECTED.
COMMISSIONER PAUL K. Petitioner, - against - PHIRE & SHAZAM Respondents.	: : : : : : : : : :
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Commissioner Paul K. brings this claim in the COURT OF FANTASY BASEBALL to determine the status of a proposed trade of PHIRE players Jason Bay (OF, New York Mets), Chris C. Carter (LF, New York Mets), and Mark Reynolds (RP, Arizona Diamondbacks) to SHAZAM for players Alcides Escobar (SS, Milwaukee Brewers), Todd Frazier (OF, Cincinnati Reds), and Albert Pujols (1B, St. Louis Cardinals). This Court rejects the proposed trade.

The Law on Upholding a Trade

In this court, it is the general rule that any fantasy baseball trade shall be upheld as long as the trade adequately benefits both teams. (See Public Opinion No. 101, Big Red Rockers v. Big City Bombers).

Where a league constitution provides alternative criteria for reviewing a trade, the alternative criteria may supersede the general rule. (See Public Opinion No. 409-T, Commissioner P.K. v. Cartman).

The league’s Constitution at issue in this case has perhaps the strictest trade restrictions that this Court has ever seen. According to the Constitution, “Only the current season’s value of the players may be considered in the equality of any trade. The future freeze value or contract value cannot be considered as an element in the fairness of a trade.” The Constitution also has the following restriction, “Only trades that are clearly equitable will be permitted. Trades that leave an impression of even marginally pushing the envelope shall be rejected.” As such, the ruling of Big Red Rockers v. Big City Bombers will not be used to decide this trade, and instead the trade will only be accepted if both sides of the trade are equal in value without taking into account future projections.

The Proposed Trade

The proposed trade is a 3-for-3 trade:

PHIRE proposes to send to Shazam (2010 statistics in parentheses):

· Jason Bay (.271 Avg., 46 Runs, 6 Home Runs, 44 RBI, 10 SB)

· Chris C. Carter (.239 Avg., 7 Runs, 2 Home Runs, 12 RBI, 0 SB)

· Mark Reynolds (.216 Avg., 48 Runs, 19 Home Runs, 55 RBI, 5 SB)

Shazam proposes to send to PHIRE:

· Alcides Escobar (.240 Avg., 34 Runs, 2 Home Runs, 24 RBI, 6 SB)

· Todd Frazier (.233 Avg., 35 Runs, 12 Home Runs, 36 RBI, 3 SB)

o (Stats are from AAA Louisville)

· Albert Pujols (.302 Avg., 51 Runs, 20 Home Runs, 61 RBI, 9 SB)

The Analysis

As previously stated, this trade will only be accepted if both sides of the trade are equal in value without taking into account future projections as per the league Constitution. Under this league standard, which is most hostile to trades, wherever one club trades a player who has consistently produced “first round pick” or “second round pick” quality stats, it imposes a hefty burden against the proposed trade.

Based on the performance of Pujols, Bay, and Reynolds over the course of their entire careers (as well as in 2010 specifically), only one of those players is not subject to potential replacement through free agents or mid-level players on other rosters, and that player is Albert Pujols. While Pujols exceeds at all five categories (even his stolen base totals are ahead of the average first baseman), both Mark Reynolds and Jason Bay have huge holes in their games that can drastically downgrade their value in ROTO leagues.

Some websites overvalued Mark Reynolds heading into 2010 based on his 2009 stats. However, his performance in 2010 thus far is far more in line with 2008 than 2010. He may match Pujols in HR and RBI, however, Reynolds’ exceedingly low batting average is a category killer in that particular statistic. Jason Bay is a solid player and is having a very average 2010 season in all categories, however, an average season does not make him equal to a superstar, and in fact, this court has long held that two mid-level players do not equal one superstar. Superstar players are harder to replace. While this court acknowledges that Reynolds is better than mid-level, it also acknowledges the league’s exceedingly strict view on trades, and he is not equal in value to Pujols.

With regards to the rest of the trade, Carter, Escobar, and Frazier all have marginal value and will not make any difference in this Court’s decision. The Court would however like to note that if future projections are not allowed to be taken into account, it will be very hard to accept any trade involving minor leaguers, like Frazier in this trade, unless if minor leaguers are involved in both sides of the deal. The reason for this is that if they have no major league experience and future projections are not allowed, than they have no statistical value that can be used when evaluating the trade.

Holding

Based on the foregoing, this court rejects the proposed trade from PHIRE of Jason Bay (LF, New York Mets), Chris C. Carter (LF, New York Mets), and Mark Reynolds (3B, Arizona Diamondbacks) to Shazam for Alcides Escobar (SS, Milwaukee Brewers), Todd Frazier (OF, Cincinnati Reds), and Albert Pujols (1B, St. Louis Cardinals).

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