Honestly all i'm going to say about this subject is if anyone is surprised by my actions they haven't been paying attention.

The one thing i've preached (PREEEACH TO THE CHOIRRR! since I took over as GM is that we're going to bring in guys who want to be and remain Renegades and that's always been the motto.

If you don't believe me, look back. I've traded away every pending FA who told me they were going to test the market. I traded away every Rene faithful who retired on me and brought in more guys who wanted to be here.

It wasn't that I didn't want Partlow, Lahey, Fourfour, Knight, or anybody else on my team. Are you kidding? Those are my best friends on this site. It was simply this: I have a plan, and a culture i'm trying to build which I successfully have of 18 active people who want to be here for the long term and are willing to make concessions to do it. The people in this room want to be Renegades and nothing else. They won't even bat an eye at the idea of playing elsewhere. That's the culture I'm building.

I'm a very risk-averse GM - I don't like to play the FA game if I don't absolutely have to. If I have holes on my roster, I will go to FA. If I have the opportunity to make a trade two weeks before FA starts to fill those holes, I make that trade. I'm not a fan of the uncertain and i'm a huge fan of knowing what I got.

Now i've known my lineup and it's been set for a couple of weeks now. When Durden made it clear to everybody that he wants to be in Texas and nowhere else, I went out and got the guy who wanted to be here and has let it be known for many seasons. That's the type of guy I went out and got.

Now I saw that we were first in LPF's rankings and we probably had the best shot to land him, but I still didn't get the feeling that we were his only choice. And I simply look for players that see us as their only choice.

If I hadn't made the trades to bring in Bottas, Boyka, Knight, Brumm, and Kowalski then there would've been room and I would've made a strong pitch to you, LPF. But I had the opportunity to make a trade for players that I was able to speak with and with certainty were able to tell me "we're in this for the long haul", and I took the route that carried less risk.

It is no slight on your player, or on you as a member, but just my style of GM'ing. It's really all it is. If you were under contract and I had the opportunity to trade for you, you best believe i'd put in a damn good offer on the table. But uncertainty is something I don't like, and so when Minnesota, The #2 team on your FA rankings acquired your rights, I had to get into action instead of sitting around waiting to see what would happen.

I think any logical person assumed, anyway, that you wouldn't make it to FA when the team who was #2 on your list acquired your rights. Put yourself in my shoes - would you risk losing out on other deals that improved your team to wait a couple weeks for the uncertainty of bringing in one Free Agent?

I understand where you're coming from, I truly do, but all i'm saying is i've been GM'ing like this for 4 seasons now. Anybody who's been a Renegade can attest to that.

As I said before and i'll say it again, I think you have an amazing opportunity in Minnesota to play under one of the best GM'ing pairs in the league, and I know you'll thrive there and i'm truly happy for you.

Me not tendering an offer was more a creature of circumstance and timelines and other opportunities that arose than "We felt we didn't want you anymore or didn't have time for you". I mean look at our forward group, who could you honestly look at and say "Get rid of that player so I can be there". I honestly cannot look at anybody on that roster and say they deserve to lose their spot. Everybody there has made concessions to be there, and theres only so many spots I can have on one team.

With love, and good luck,

Deener AKA The Snood-daddy