Chris has petitioned for the league to allow him to drop Grady Sizemore, who is out for the rest of the season.Our league rules can be read here so you can see the only circumstances we allow for a keeper to be cut.
After the jump, read Chris' petition to the league, and then e-mail me or tell me in some form what your vote is. Majority rules. I am not creating a poll for this one because Chris can't vote, and we will need everyone to vote without any chance of the poll being skewed by a multiple voter.
Feel free to comment to create a discussion if you are unsure of what is going on here.
Chris's request:
Dear League Members,
I am writing this to request that you show mercy and allow me to Drop Grady Sizemore. While I realize that he is my keeper for this season and next, he recently had microfracture surgery performed on his knee and will be out for the next 6-9 months. On top of that he has already been out an additional 21 days and just sitting on my bench. According to our League Rules, a Keeper can not be cut midseason unless there are Mitigating Circumstances. We have gone on to include in these circumstances, “If a player sustains an injury that requires him to miss AT LEAST 7 months of a calendar year for surgery and rehabilitation.” Given the time already missed on top of the prognosis given, Grady does fit within these parameters.
I realize that just because Grady’s injury meets this criterion it does not automatically mean that I should be entitled to cut him and that it is up for the League to decide. I also realize that this situation is a bit more complicated because I had originally signed Grady to a 2 year contract and thus I would be getting out of having him for next year. I also realize that we take risks when signing players to multi-year deals.
All that said, the time that I did own Grady was by no means productive, as he couldn’t even hit a home run during a game that counted, and one manager had even stated to me during our matchup, “Damn I was disappointed to see that you had Grady in your lineup and he was given an off day by the Indians.” Moreover, knee injuries are extremely problematic and there is no guarantee that he will be ready for the start of next season or that this surgery and recovery time will not cause additional surgeries during the offseason or early next season. Keepers are also a very integral part of this League and players that we turn to in hopes that they will constantly carry our teams. If I were to have to keep Grady I would be down to just 2 of these players for the rest of this season to rely on each week and this would significantly harm my chances of competing.
As a final factor in asking the League to grant my request and allow me to drop Grady Sizemore, I ask that you take into consideration I had to harbor Brandon Webb on my roster for the entire last year and didn’t even get 1 outing out of him. I have had to deal with homing a keeper who is out the entire year already in the past and request that I not have to go through that again this year especially considering the routine injuries that our teams constantly go through, except for Andy’s who team seems to walk on water.
In sum, I ask that since my keeper has met the Mitigating Circumstance requirement and since keepers play such a pivotal role in our League, you all grant my request and allow me to drop Grady Sizemore.
Thank you,
Chris McGann
Bronx Bums Manager/GM/CEO/President/Owner
Posts
As Andy and not commissioner here, I am saying to the league that my vote is no because he has him for 2 years and not just 1, and every article indicates he'll be back for spring training. If he was a single-year keeper it would be different to me.
ReplyDeleteWhether that matters for the rest of you, that's up to you to decide.
yes they say back for spring training now, spring training is a ways away. a lot can go wrong and does go wrong with players in that interim.
ReplyDeleteThe rules for mitigating circumstances don't make any distinctions between 1-, 2-, or 3-year keepers. Therefore, I think we should grant Chris his request. However, I think we need to address this loophole during the offseason and make specific rules for keepers of different contract lengths.
ReplyDeleteI also think Chris should have to take back Grady for next year, unless someone else takes him as a keeper instead or his injury carries into next season.
So if he were to be allowed to drop him, he would lose a draft pick as cutting someone with a year left on his deal right? The circumstances only allow for you to drop him during the season and lose a draft pick instead of dropping him at the end of the season and losing a pick for him if he underperformed (Like Dave did with Bedard). If i am under the right assumption that he will lose a pick next year for cutting a guy with 2 years left then I am OK with him cutting him now.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ricky that he should be allowed to drop Grady but he will have to take him next season or lose a pick for dropping a guy with a year left (typo from above) and also that we need to further clarify this rule going into next season so it isn't left up to a vote.
ReplyDeleteWhat draft pick does he lose? Does he also lose one for next year because he signed Grady to a 2 year contract?
ReplyDeleteAlso, now that I've read over the rules, does the 7 months include in-season or off-season? So if Sizemore is healing during the offseason and is ready for spring training but needs the whole offseason to get healthy does Chris have the right to cut him if he's missing less than 7 months of playing time?
ReplyDeleteI'll be encouraged to hear more discussion on this before I cast my vote.
-Shea
Right now he would not lose a draft pick. Bob and Ricky both suggested that he be forced to lose the pick that he would lose if he cut him in the offseason. So that would be a sixth-rpund pick (third after keepers).
ReplyDeleteI don't think the fantasy baseball season even lasts seven months, so obviously that includes total time.
In my view - its a posionous tree we are playing with here - we should have a hard and fast rule as opposed to opening up the floor to alternative ad hoc solutions on matters such as this in the middle of the season.
ReplyDeleteThat said, if I had to vote, I would vote that since he is a 2 year keeper that he zhould not be able to be cut since he does have next season available and can be cut after this season in accordance with the rules.
This situation is what the DL spot on the roster is for (whether with a keeper through the season or a non keeper who will miss long stretches of the current season).
As the injury poster child of this league, I lived this situation last year with Peavy, held him all year on the DL, then got him back this year (woo -hoo, he couldn't get me out this season - but thats another story). Anyway, injuries suck - and they especially suck with a keeper.
To summarize I would say if he was injured through the contract expiration then I would vote to allow him to be cut, otherwise we seem to have that covered in terms of cutting him at the end of the season.
Hope everyone is well.
- JACK
Jack brings up a valid point here. If he wants to cut him at the end of the year and lose a draft pick so be it. Jack had an injured player for this year and had to deal with it. I vote that Chris keeps Sizemore through the season and we address this during the off-season.
ReplyDelete