Two more issues surfaced as a result of this week’s free agency process.
Please read on for an explanation of two nuances in the free agent claim functionality and some associated roster corrections made per approval of the commissioner.
1. Setting player status when submitting a claim
Josh’s claim for Martellus Bennett was denied because when he submitted his claim, he left the default value of “Active” in the “Status” pull-down. Because he had already set a valid line up, adding another “Active” player would have caused an invalid line up and therefore the system denied his claim.
It is a good rule of thumb to always change the status to “Reserve” when making a claim. There is no limit on the number of bench spots, so you won’t have to worry about it being denied unless it puts you over the salary cap (or over 18 players after week 4).
You can also change the status to “Minors” if you want to sign a player directly to your PS/Minors squad. You, of course, must have an available slot (2 max).
In this case, due to the learning curve with the new software and because no one else bid on Bennett, Shane has ruled that Josh should be awarded Bennett.
I executed this transaction in the Fantrax and also release Kellen Winslow to the waiver wire.
2. Handling of free agents who play in Wednesday games
This will likely be a non-issue until next year, but I want to let everyone know how Fantrax handles free agent claims for players who played a game before the free agency process works.
I put in 4 group bids, each with a max number of pick ups of 1 and each with Kevin Ogletree ranked first at $4.
I then added Keiland Williams (group 1), Greg Salas (group 2), Indy D/ST (group 3) and Golden Tate (group 4) for $1 each as the 2nd ranked player in groups 1 through 4.
I figured that if I got Ogletree in group 1, then groups 2 through 4 would be voided because I already got one player from each of those groups.
I also figured that even if I was wrong about how the max number of pick ups from each group functionality worked that claim groups 2 through 4 would still be denied if I got Ogletree because he would max out my salary cap.
Instead, the system awarded me Ogletree, Salas, Indy D/ST and Tate.
This is how it worked:
a. I was first awarded Ogletree ($4, random tie breaker over Benny) as the first ranked player in my group 1 claim. I was not awarded Keiland Williams because I had already reached the 1 player max for the group that I specified when I grouped my claims.
b. When the system went to process group 2, it did not consider Ogletree awarded to me as I thought it would, but rather it processed Ogletree as a denial because he has already been awarded (even though it was to me). So it moved on to the next player in the group (Salas) and awarded him to me.
c. The same thing happened with groups 3 and 4, resulting in my being awarded Indy and Tate.
d. The acquisitions of Salas, Indy and Tate did not put me over the salary cap because Fantrax was smart enough to know that Ogletree had already played and therefore it awarded him to me starting with week 2. This has two implications. First, that I can’t play him this week, which is as it should be. Second, that since he wasn’t added to my roster until week 2, his salary doesn’t count again the salary cap until week 2, meaning I then have until the end of this week to make any cuts necessary to accommodate him.
This functionality make sense, but it actually shafted me because I would have had to cut $3 in salary that I wasn’t planning to have to come up with.
Again, because of the extenuating circumstances, Shane has ruled that acquisitions of Salas, Indy and Tate should be reversed.
I have executed these transactions in Fantrax and all 3 players are now free agents again.
Please feel free to contact me if you have questions on any of this.
Shades