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Jayson Werth booted from Nationals fantasy football league for paying late
Every fantasy football league has that guy who either holds up the draft, or doesn't pay his dues on time. If you're unfortunate enough, sometimes you'll have both. Apparently, outfielder Jayson Werth was the latter guy in the Nationals team fantasy football league last season, and according to league commissioner and Nationals reliever Craig Stammen, it cost Werth his valuable spot in the league for 2014.
While making a radio appearance with 106.7 The Fan’s Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier on Thursday, Stammen revealed that Werth was way late paying his league dues. As in, months after the football season ended. And, as a result, Werth was not invited back.
“We kicked Jayson Werth out of the league this year,” Stammen said. “Jayson failed to pay last year. He didn’t pay until spring training, so we kicked him out of the league for late payment.”
Now that's a commissioner who's willing to put his foot down.
It's certainly not a situation of limited funds. Werth is currently in the fourth year of a seven-year $126 million deal, so he's obviously loaded. He apparently just failed to make the league a priority, which to those who have played in competitive leagues understand will be universally frowned upon, and in some cases grounds for expulsion.
According to the Washington Post, the Nationals league appears to be quite serious, so no exceptions and do-overs will be granted to Werth despite his veteran status on the club. He's out, and he's not coming back.
Stammen also noted that right-hander Jordan Zimmermann not only dominates major league hitters on a regular basis, he's also dominated the Nationals fantasy league, winning several titles over the years. Meanwhile, fellow ace, Stephen Strasburg, is in perpetual chase mode. He's the guy who races to the waiver wire every week hoping to beat the competition to the best free agents.
“The last couple of days Stras was talking about whether he should pick up Justin Forsett,” Stammen said. “Clippard’s scrambling trying to find a running back. It’s something to keep our minds off baseball a little bit so that we don’t start focusing on how many games we’ve got to win and how many Braves games the Braves have got to lose for us to clinch the division, but it keeps that team camaraderie going, it keeps us being good friends with each other, it’s a little bit of competition on the side without having to compete with each other on the field.”
It's a healthy distraction to be sure. Well, unless they catch themselves checking out the NFL scoreboard while on the field Sunday afternoon.
In all seriousness, it is a good camaraderie-building activity. It's ideal for passing the time toward the end of a long baseball season. But one has to understand that once you've committed to a league, you are responsible for holding up your end of the bargain. No exceptions.
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is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
