One thing that has worked in my first league where there was a clear difference between the vets and the rookies was to institute a mandatory 2 day counter-offer period. All trades had to be declared by Friday midnight, then all owners had carte blanche to counteroffer either owner by the Sunday midnight deadline (or 2 days, whichever comes first). If no counteroffers were accepted, then the trade stood. If the counteroffer was taken, then the counteroffer stood. In this case, with the contentious trade being Vlad for Shiggy (if I read that right), then you bet I would have countered with Everyday Eddie G. for Vlad, but the Vlad owner would have been free to tell me to sod off, and then take the Shiggy offer. No harm, no foul.

posted by avogadro at 04:12 PM on August 16, 2003

Not knowing nothing from nothing about your league, but I am always surprised when there are major disputes that result in overturned trades and such. I've been commisar for a 11 team league (which includes a few spofites) for the last two years (this year with a co-commisar), and I've yet to veto a trade, nor have there been instances where owners have called for such an action. Not to say that there haven't been trades which I thought someone clearly had the upper hand, but we all assume that we are adults and can fend for ourselves. It's too late for this season, but I recommend taking a laissez faire policy where the only vetoes trades are ones involving players that are injured/ineligible/sent down without the awareness on the receiver's part. This way, there are no charges of favoritism, nor will there be calls to overturn a transaction. Perhaps we ought to have a separate thread to talk about what has worked regarding league set-up, rules, and general fantasy policy.

posted by avogadro at 09:35 AM on August 14, 2003