Ask The Commish: Semi-finalist Hasn’t Paid Their Dues

Commish,

I have a semi-finalist who hasn’t paid their dues. If they win, I’m not going to pay them. I plan on splitting the money between the other three teams left in the playoffs. I’m not sure what else to do. Sounds about right?

I guess. You’ve left yourself with few options, especially since you have only two weeks left in the season. I will be pushing No Pay, No Play as long as there are commissioners around to listen to me: commissioners shouldn’t let people draft and continue on with the season if they haven’t paid their dues. Of course for you, that boat has long since sailed.

There was a point somewhere during the past couple of weeks, where you had the option to not allow them into the playoff. This would’ve been better for all involved. As soon as you saw that they were going to make the playoff, you could’ve made the hard call, and announced your decision to the league. You had a chance to reset expectations.

Does the rest of the league know? I can’t imagine they do. It seems like you’ve crossed your fingers along the way, hoping things would work out. Someone else could’ve made it  in the playoff instead of the delinquent. I know you know this.

You’re going to ride this out, so let me know what happens. A couple of things: I wouldn’t let this person play in your league again, and I would institute a No Pay, No Play next year. It got complicated for you this season, and it didn’t have to be that way.

How do I stop people from hoarding players of one position? I’ve read about putting a max number on how many players you can have at each position. Do you have any experience with this?

I do. I’ve seen it and have played in leagues that have done it, and won’t do so again. I think you should let people manage their teams the way they want to. I’m personally against position restrictions as a solution.

There are different playing styles from player to player. Commissioners should not try to dictate or manipulate how someone chooses to manage by applying restrictions. If anything, it should be the opposite, finding ways to open things up, to allow more variety in managing a fantasy roster. Locking managers into a situation where they have few options is a punitive playing environment to me.

If someone chooses to have a bunch of running backs on their roster, that’s up to them. If they choose to play that way, then they’re going to have weak bench strength at other positions. That’s their choice. This also gives other managers access to a wider pool of players at positions that their fellow managers are ignoring.

You can decrease the number of bench spots each team has. This would force people to keep the players that they deem the most important. It’s hard to stash and hope when you have a small number of bench slots. The drawback to this scenario is that leagues that have ten teams or less, will tend to always have a number of good players in the player pool available to pick up. Everyone will tend to have a real solid team, and managing their team by working waivers won’t be that challenging.

The same can be true in leagues with 12 teams, depending on the starting roster setup. I’ve heard of 12-team leagues with five bench spots. I’m the first to say that people are free to do what they want with their leagues. If people choose to play in their leagues, then more power to them. However, I think five bench spots in a league that size is ridiculous, which means I’d never do it in my league. You may like the idea of five bench spots, or you might come up with a number that makes better sense for your league.

You can also choose to add an additional flex spot (or more) to your starting roster. I played in a league one year that had one WR/TE slot in addition to the more familiar RB/WR/TE options. Something similar can work for IDP leagues too. For example, instead of having slots where you can start any defensive player, you might add a couple of specific roster spots just for defensive backs, or defensive linemen too.

If you open up managing options for your league in this way, instead of restricting them (which was the basis of your question) managers will be required to start more players than stash them. This will utilize more players from the player pool who might otherwise remain there. I think having more options for game managers to utilize, offers a more fertile ground for fun and competition.

Ultimately, commissioners have to decide exactly what their goal is. Your concern is the hoarding of players at one position. I don’t have a problem with people doing that. You and a host of others do. Ok, cool. The question is, how are you going to achieve your goal of addressing what you personally think is a problem?

Think about the ramifications of your potential change in policy. Let’s use the five bench spots example. Do you want potential easy pickings on waivers? Take notes, ask yourself  questions, and play out all the “what if” scenarios the best you can like Dr. Strange. Some of the things you might be considering may fix your most immediate concerns, but could result in causing a set of different issues all together. Take your time and think things through.

Send your questions to The Commish: thecommishshow@outlook.com