We\'re a young (going into 3rd year) keeper league and we\'ve got an issue that\'s causing quite a rift among the GM\'s.

We have a GM who is going to be leaving the country and will be working in rural areas for \"at least\" the next year and will not have internet access to enable him to run his team.

He wants to designate a friend of his (and others in the pool) or his brother to run his team while he is gone. He is taking an indefinite leave of absence from his job and he has no idea how long he will be gone. Also, I don\'t know who would be paying the league fees and/or receiving any winnings - or if that is even an issue.

Some GM\'s are okay with this situation, others claim that this would not be fair to any expansion teams that enter the league since they inherently are disadvantaged due to the decreased talent pool.

We are trying to expand by 2 teams this season, so there will be at least 2 teams affected by this decision.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

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Baseball 11 team mixed Roto Salary cap keeper
$300 cap auction for 2 of each IF,1UT,5OF,3SP,2RP,4P + 10 reserves
Auction 25 player starting rosters + 10 round draft of $1 players
6x5 (add OPS)
C - AJ.Ellis,VMart
1b - Hosmer,Konerko,Dunn,Moreland
2b - Kipnis,M.Ellis,B.Roberts
3b - Beltre,Seager,Donaldson
SS - Segura,Nunez,D.Espinosa
UT - Bautista
OF - N.Cruz,BJ.Upton,Morse,Stubbs,Nava,Crisp,McLouth
SP - Lester,Shields,Darvish,Medlen,Lohse,Niese,Pettite, Beachy
RP - Kimbrel,Nathan,League,Valverde

How is it that if his brother runs his team...an expansion team suffers? I\'m not sure I follow. Sounds like a fair move, pass the team off to someone to run in his place...

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DobberHockey Rules
14 Team Keeper, points only, best 12 skaters 2 dman 2 G count. Playoffs count.
F - Crosby, C.Smith, Wheeler, Parenteau, Hudler, Clowe, Grabovski, Atkinson, Frolik, S. Kostitsyn, Marchand, Peverley, Tavares, Read, Brouwer, Bickell, Gionta, Setoguchi
G - Anderson, Hiller, Markstrom, Brodeur
D - Letang, Del Zotto, I. White, Kronwall, Brodin, Nikitin

Dobber wrote:
If the GM-in-lieu assumes the risk-reward of the league fee-prize payout, I would suggest that they are in substance a new GM to the league.

As such, compared to the other 2 expansion teams, he has a clear and distinct advantage. This new GM does not have to trade any draft picks to existing teams like the other 2 guys to get some decent players. The brother had a roster of players handed to him that the other 2 guys (or other existing GMs) didn\'t have a shot at during our auction/draft.

During our last expansion, there was no expansion draft. 3 teams came in cold with only their $200 budget and 10 draft picks (we have a combo auction/draft) and had to trade away picks for some high end players.

I won\'t be affected too much by this, but it slightly offends my sense of fairplay - and I may not have the opportunity to bid on emery, vishnovsky, gionta, stastny, vanek, gaborik, or brindamour.

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Baseball 11 team mixed Roto Salary cap keeper
$300 cap auction for 2 of each IF,1UT,5OF,3SP,2RP,4P + 10 reserves
Auction 25 player starting rosters + 10 round draft of $1 players
6x5 (add OPS)
C - AJ.Ellis,VMart
1b - Hosmer,Konerko,Dunn,Moreland
2b - Kipnis,M.Ellis,B.Roberts
3b - Beltre,Seager,Donaldson
SS - Segura,Nunez,D.Espinosa
UT - Bautista
OF - N.Cruz,BJ.Upton,Morse,Stubbs,Nava,Crisp,McLouth
SP - Lester,Shields,Darvish,Medlen,Lohse,Niese,Pettite, Beachy
RP - Kimbrel,Nathan,League,Valverde

But it\'s not an expansion team. Like if you want him out of the pool then make the rule but otherwise I see absolutely no harm in his brother handling his team for a year as long as he\'s involved. It\'s not unfair to any expansion teams at all.

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Keeper - 23 Man Roster (17 Keepers) + 8 Man Farm Team
G,A,P,PIM,PPP,SHP,GWG,+/-,FW,Shots, Hits - GP,W,L,GAA,SV%,SV,SA,SO

C: Stamkos, Berglund, Gagner (RW), Turris, Zibanejad
LW: Kovalchuk (RW), Benn (C), Kunitz, Lupul (RW), Mcdonald (C)
RW: Iginla, P. Kane (C), Oshie (C), Pominville
D: Phaneuf, Shattenkirk, Kulikov, Leddy, Carlson, Faulk, Kindl
G: Fleury, Lehtonen, Anderson

Farm: Niederreiter, Kuznetsov, Connolly, Soderberg, R. Murphy, Morrow, Gardiner, Rielly

QStar wrote:
If the Brother is only acting on the behalf of the original owner...then the brother is just managing an existing team...he is not an expansion team, so why should he have to trade picks if he chooses not to. I think that the GM\'s that are against this are way off base. There should be no issues of someone running a guys team if he has to take a leave for whatever reason...he obviously thinks enough of this league and wants to remain in it, to find someone to manage his team in absentee. If he wasn\'t coming back, why wouldn\'t he just quit??

Let them play!! Let them play!! Let them play!!:cheer:

Its been said. He is designating his brother to act on his behalf.
He better be specific about who is replacing him while he is away.
As long as the money is paid up on time there is no issue.

If the money isn\'t being paid on time then you have the start of a reason to disband that team.

Unless you have a rule stating that only the original owner of the team must manage it then I don\'t think any future expansion guys can complain.

Im with dobber, whats the difference whether the original gm runs the team , or for a season or two his brother does. It is no different then if the original guy stayed. I too dont see any effect on expansion teams?

I always take a little bit of good-natured ribbing from the GMs in my league who say that I can be a little OCD with our constitution.

My goal is to have rules for stuff like this, because these are the things that can really fragment a league.

I run a keeper league, also going into its 3rd season, and we haven\'t had to deal with a leave of absence request yet. We did have a very messy late-season owner departure last season, and that prompted me to re-write the entire \"Franchise Ownership\" section of our consitution.

Here it is, in full, as of the latest (just about final) draft:

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Part II: Franchise Ownership

• Ownership and Management: Each team shall be owned and managed by a single individual. No individual may own or manage more than one team in the league. Management exceptions may be made to accommodate owner leave of absence.

• Owner Leave of Absence: Any owner requiring a leave of absence from the league must immediately notify the commissioner. For short-term leaves of absence (partial season) either the commissioner, or an individual designated or approved by the commissioner, will assume day-to-day operations of the team. The temporary manager will operate the team in a competitive manner. All prizes earned will be awarded to the team owner. Longer leaves of absence, such as an entire season, shall be considered on a case-by-case basis. If a longer-term leave of absence is required, the original owner shall retain all ownership rights to the team, shall be responsible for all fees, and shall receive all winnings.

• Leaving the League: Any owner leaving the league must immediately notify the commissioner. Any owner leaving the league will have their last two trades investigated as outlined in the trading rules. If leaving during the season, all ownership rights are forfeited and the commissioner will take control of the team. All prizes earned by the team will be retained and used as agreed upon by the remaining owners. Following the season, the team will, as decided by a vote of returning owners, either be disbanded or auctioned off to the highest bidder among incoming owners, with proceeds above the league entry fee going to the returning members of the league. If an owner leaves following the conclusion of a season the returning owners will decide on disbandment or auction, with any potential auction proceeds above the entry fee going to the departing owner.

• New Owners: Should the number of teams in the league fall below a desired minimum, or should the owners of the teams in the league wish to expand the league, new owners of high quality shall be invited to join. New owners, by vote of returning owners, will be granted expansion teams and/or given the opportunity to bid on teams whose owners are leaving the league.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

By these rules, the owner wishing to take a leave of absence would have every right to request one. As long as the owner maintains \"ownership\" of the team, meaning he pays the fees, and receives the winnings, it should be fine.

Anyone who opposes this, in my opinion, is going directly against what is in the best interests of any owner in a long-term, successful keeper league. And that best interest is to cultivate owners that are dedicated enough to the league to be willing to make alternate management arrangements in event of a leave of absence.

Not to mention the fact that whatever this owner is doing during the leave of absence sounds like something that is going to make the world a better place. And if some manager(s) is/are more concerned about being jealous over the team that guy built than with having some common decency, then those are the managers you need to be worried about, not the one requesting the leave of absence.

My .02

Good luck, let us know if you have any additional questions.

I gotta say, I\'m with the majority here. If the owner/GM wants to designate a temporary person to control his team and has made appropriate arangements in advance (within the league rules), I don\'t see how the temporary GM could be considered an \"expansion\" team. Unless the league rules specify who receives the winnings, as long as the fees are paid at the appropriate point at the beginning of the season, it should be up to the owner and the temp GM to divide the profits as they see fit.

I could see this changing if the original owner decides not to return, but as long as he returns at some point, my thought is that this is not an \"expansion\" move.

Good Luck.

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League #1
Dyn Points (14 tms) 12F, 6D, 2G, 8B; unl farm; Scoring: G(1) A(1) Shootout G(1) PIM(.1) +/-(.2) SOG(.05) W(2) SO(3)

League #2
Dyn H2H Points (16 tm) - 6F 4D 1G 7B farm 10 (50 gms) Scoring SOG(.3) +/-(1) Hit (.2) GWG(1) PIM(.5) W(10) S(.2) GA (-1) SO (5) F: G(5), A(3), PPG(3), PPA(2) SHG(3) SHA(2) D: G(7) A(5) PPG(3) PPA(3) SHG(3) SHA(2)

Thanks for all the input, especially the exerpt from your league rules blindedbyfear.

I think the sticking point here is the fact that the owner has not committed to returning at all.

I will bring those forward your rules as amendments to our own constitution so we have some established protocols for this.

__________________
Baseball 11 team mixed Roto Salary cap keeper
$300 cap auction for 2 of each IF,1UT,5OF,3SP,2RP,4P + 10 reserves
Auction 25 player starting rosters + 10 round draft of $1 players
6x5 (add OPS)
C - AJ.Ellis,VMart
1b - Hosmer,Konerko,Dunn,Moreland
2b - Kipnis,M.Ellis,B.Roberts
3b - Beltre,Seager,Donaldson
SS - Segura,Nunez,D.Espinosa
UT - Bautista
OF - N.Cruz,BJ.Upton,Morse,Stubbs,Nava,Crisp,McLouth
SP - Lester,Shields,Darvish,Medlen,Lohse,Niese,Pettite, Beachy
RP - Kimbrel,Nathan,League,Valverde