Caveat emptor, my friends. Caveat emptor.

A recent email exchange with one reader has prompted this latest edition of Kicking Rocks and with any luck, those of you who are affected by this topic will accept this as a helpful slap in the face with reality. The reader, and we’ll simply refer to him as Bob to spare his true identity, contacted me shortly after the news that Yu Darvish was looking at potential Tommy John surgery. Bob traded Yu to a rival in his 13-team keeper league in exchange for draft picks and not only was the other owner whining about the loss and a request to adjust the trade, but Bob was also feeling pangs of guilt for having made the trade in the first place, knowing that Darvish was a serious injury risk entering the 2015 season.

Whaaaaaaaaat????

I don’t know where to begin here, there is so much wrong going on. Let’s start with the trade partner first and that brings us back to our Latin lesson from before. Caveat emptor, buddy. If you were too blind to see the numerous red flags waving in front of your face regarding Darvish, then you only have yourself to blame for making the deal. Maybe you thought you were being slick, dealing draft picks in a keeper league for someone who was once a premier pitcher, but failing to read the signs is no one’s fault but your own. You took a risk. It didn’t pan out. But is that any reason to ask for the trade to be rescinded or adjusted? Hell no.

Bob’s trade partner contacted Bob immediately upon hearing the news and said something to the effect of, “Well I won’t even be able to use him.” Is that Bob’s fault? No. Of course not. If Darvish stayed healthy and won the Cy Young award, could Bob go to him in the next offseason and demand some added compensation? Come on.

A trade is a trade and as long as there was no deception involved or anything collusive in nature, any trade agreed upon by both parties should be considered a done deal. There are no backsies allowed here. If a guy gets hurt, a guy gets hurt. There’s no crying in baseball and anyone who cries in fantasy baseball deserves a smack in the head. Too violent? Okay fine. How about a wedgie?

Now as far as Bob’s guilty feelings and misguided sense of what fair-play means, we can start in a number of ways. How about the aforementioned situation where Pew Darvish wins the Cy Young? Is he getting anything more out of his trade partner should that happen? How about the old adage of “all’s fair in love and war”? If you don’t think that fighting for a fantasy baseball championship is a war, then you need a lesson in competition, my friend. How about the good, old-fashioned “nice guys finish last”? Maybe that will hit home enough for Bob to rid himself of this ridiculous notion that he has to make it up to his trade partner. This guy thought he was rooking our man Bob and failed. It should now be up to Bob to add compensation and make this guy feel better about his own mistakes? You’ve got to be kidding me.

Hold your head up high, Bob. You made a shrewd move and came out on top. Don’t beat yourself up because this guy happens to be a crybaby. His personality defects are not your responsibility.

I said it before and I’ll say it again. A trade is a trade. One guy wins and the other guys loses. Sometimes, they both win. Sometimes they both lose. Sometime, it rains. But turning around and expecting the other owner to somehow make it up to you when you lose a trade is utter nonsense. You make your bed and you lie in it. If you come out on the losing end, you just have to work a little harder to fix the problem. You don’t ask for added compensation. What’s next? You gonna take your ball and go home? We all know how many friends that guy has in life.