Bye bye

Some of you might remember my frustration post from last month. At the time, I didn't really go into too many details, but yes, something very specific--a single event--had set me off; and only now am I able to directly confront the pain and talk about it.

Let's revisit my post from April 19:

After the Big Hurt's second consecutive 0-for-4 outing on Friday, I took a good look at his season stats and decided that I could do better. After perusing the waiver wire, I picked up Carlos Quentin (instead of Ryan Ludwick whom I also considered).

Well, well, well. Who was the manager with the foresight, intuition, and guts to pick up Carlos Quentin on April 19? That's right. Me.

What made my Quentin pick-up even better was that he played for the White Sox, a team that I naturally cheer for, and furthermore, the main road by my apartment that I drive on every single day is Quentin Road. It's like Quentin and my team were made for each other.

The only problem is that a few days later I dropped him for a player who shall remain nameless on this blog.

Granted, I didn't view the Quentin demotion as permanent. I just wanted to juggle my roster around a bit... and I figured nobody else would pick him up before I re-acquired him. But of course, somebody did snag him off waivers before I could (apparently Yahoo doesn't let you put a waiver request in for a player you just dropped).

But that's not even what I'm upset about. As it so happened, at the time I was really trying to figure out how to increase steals and runs for my team; and as the month of May neared, I ramped up my efforts to swing a deal. One player that I really targeted was Hanley Ramirez.

Then one night I finally put together my best offer for Hanley. I forget the exact details, but it was an aggressive offer. When I checked the league the next day, I saw a "Protest" message on the board. I figured the trade had gone through (although I didn't understand how it could be protested). With excitement, I went to verify that I would be receiving Hanley Ramirez, the man who would lead my team to the promised land...

But what I found instead was that the dreaded Thugs had traded for Carlos Quentin.

That was enough to spark my Lee Elia-style tirade; and honestly, I think the recurring thought of Quentin slipping through my fingers into the Thugs' clutches has been affecting my play. A few weeks ago I erred by dropping Shane Victorino for Fred Lewis. Just the other day I thought (and thought) about dropping Mark DeRosa for Jerry Hairston, but I wasn't quick enough with the trigger. My string of mental lapses seems to know no end.

However, last week I heard Mariah Carey's new "Bye Bye" song on the radio, and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was as though she knew what I was going through, and that she had written the song just for me and my loss of Carlos Quentin.

So I decided that the only way I could move on from this incident was to bring in Mariah and have her perform "Bye Bye" for my team (the '90 Reds are a big-market team in the UPL so we've got the resources).

Even though I'll always have the depressing Quentin Road reminder at least twice a day for the rest of the summer, I have to start the process of putting this behind me. It's a new month and time for a clean slate.

For all you fantasy baseball players out there who have lost someone to another team, come on, don't be ashamed, put your hand to the sky and sing...