I ran across an article by Derek Ambrosino over at The Hardball Times (a great site for baseball analysis; check it out if you haven’t already). It’s entitled The ethicist part two: pulling a fast one. No doubt, Derek is speaking to the fantasy baseball crowd here but it’s certainly relevant to APBA Leagues as well.
He asks:
How do you guys feel about owners trying to pull a fast one and dump guys right after they get hurt and when the ink announcing their imminent DL stint is still wet?
The jist of Ambrosino’s is this: how ethical or acceptable is it for a manager to make a lopsided trade with the knowledge of inside information such as an injury that hasn’t gotten to the big news outlets yet. In today’s world of news feeds, Twitter, smartphones etc., it’s hard not to stay up-to-date but it can happen. In those cases, is there such a thing as an unethical trade? Or is it every man(ager) for himself?
In short, is ok for a guy to pull a fast one to help his team, bridges be damned?
I guess this issue rarely comes up in some APBA leagues and probably comes up more often in others. Our league (the Illowa APBA League) has been together for over 35 years now but more to the point, we rarely have turnover. We’ve had two new managers in the last ten years. I think it’s accurate to say that our league in it as much for the social aspect as much (or more so) than the game itself. While we all want to get the most out of our transactions, we’re not ready to swindle our buddies.
Now, that may be true in every league. Newer leagues, larger leagues, maybe leagues that are geographically are farther apart. And frankly, leagues with more “win or die” dynamics. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not necessarily judging this different way of looking at the ethics of trading. It’s not the league’s responsibility for looking out for your team. If you lose out because the relief pitcher you got in a trade was about to go on the DL and you didn’t know about it, it’s your loss.
But it’s not how I do business either.
Another issue to be considered, what is the role of the APBA league commissioner should a potential lopsided trade be made? Do they have the power to veto trade if they deem it not in the best interests of the league? Perhaps one good reason?? A newbie manager in the league who’s getting his feet wet.
Finally, a quick anecdote:
In the IAL, we’ve never had an incident of swindling that I know of but it’s come close. One manager traded Jim Edmonds to another just before our season was going to start. This was a blockbuster deal so you know it was back when Diamond Jim was GOOD. After our our day was done, we went down to the hotel bar to down a few and watch sports on TV bar. That was ESPN News told us that Edmonds had just been injured.
BUT.. the trading manager had no idea of Edmonds’ injury and if I recall correctly, he recovered enoguh to give his new manager a few good years at the plate.
Still a good story…
I’d love to hear your comments.
