A piece via Hardball Times had  me doing some funny thinking today about the ethics of Fantasy Baseball Drafting. Entitled Mitchell Report fallout: Fantasy ramificiations (Part 1) the article goes on to advise readers how to handle the steroid scandal when draft day rolls around.

Morality

Hopefully this doesn’t apply to any of you, but I know that some fantasy players won’t draft a player who they deem to have shaky ethics. This could include a guy like Elijah Dukes who gets into legal trouble with women or Milton Bradley who is famous for his on-field charades. Or, it could include a guy like Barry Bonds who allegedly has taken steroids.

I’d like to share a quick story about this. One THT Fantasy Focus reader, at the beginning of the 2007 season, told me that he nominated Barry Bonds for $1 at his league’s auction as a smokescreen. He didn’t actually want Bonds, but the rest of his league refused to bid anything for Bonds because of his steroid issues. This reader ended up getting Bonds and his very good fantasy season for just $1. This is obviously an extreme example, but these are the kind of opportunities that we need to capitalize on.

The ethics line made me laugh and reminded me of an incident during a draft I was in last year. It was draft for the Kingman League,  a league  Jackson and I will probably mention ad nauseum because the name recognition outshoots our own by a galaxy or two.

I believe it was the sixth or seventh round of the draft. I  didn’t draft a starter through the first rounds, loading up on offense.  I have Aaron Harang, who I consider an underrated Top 15 starter, as a keeper.  Then I drafted Brett Myers. I was high on Myers last year as a starter knowing he’d be picked just  outside the top tier, but who I thought would come close to winning 20 games and touch the 200 strikeout plateau. I expected him to be the sixth or seventh best pitcher in baseball. Suddenly, I’d have two top starters without drafting a top starter in the early rounds.

Of course, Myers had punched his wife  in public outside Fenway Park the year before, but like the writer of the THT piece suggests, I paid it no mind. Do I think Brett Myers is someone I want to hang out with? No. Do I give a rat’s ass when struggling to assemble a team that won’t finish with the league’s worst record? No. Since when do numbers beat wives anyway?

Well, not so fast. Not if your name is — well, not if you comment under the name “Aaron Cheats” here at East Windup Chronicle. From time to time Aaron Cheats and I (and Jackson too) email back and forth during our drafts. The Kingman League had a slow draft last year conducted on mockdraftcentral.com (a highly recommended way to go, incidentally).

After picking Myers I emailed A.C.  to ask his opinion.  No  reply. I figured he was busy.  An hour or so later, once we’d started another email exchange, I slipped in another question about Myers. Again, no reply. Later I called him on it, and low and behold I finally got this curt  answer:

“I wouldn’t  draft him.”

I began to wonder, was  I somehow condoning  the spousal abuse of Brett Myers by drafting him to my fantasy team? Was that the reason he’d fallen a bit to me?
No, and maybe. But in the end no to both.

I drafted him in my other league too.  Of course, things didn’t work out as planned. After a month of terrible walk totals as a starter Myers was converted  into a closer.  He was dominant in spots, but then threw his arm out after losing his temper in giving up a ninth inning lead. Then, he became one of those fringe players out for an indeterminate length of time, that you hate to drop or keep, the kind that can ruin your fantasy season both mentally and numerically. He also called a reporter a “retard.”

Karma? Perhaps. However, A.C. drafted Bonds late and had some similarly uneasy moments in the beginning of the year (though by the end Bonds, as always, was a great fantasy player save the low AB totals). In a real twist of fate A.C. and I went head-to-head during the short week prior to the All-Star break, which was also the weekend he was getting married. I took advantage of the distraction and pounded him 10-1. He would later miss the playoffs by a single game. Tough luck A.C.

Going into this season word is the Phillies will convert Myers back into a starter, which strikes me as a very questionable move. I’ll keep an eye on him, but not until at least the 12th or 13th round.