Suggestions for improvements to my keeper league

[Subversive]

Okay, so I started an auction keeper league with some online friends 3 years ago. We are going to be entering our 4th season coming up. We've ha a couple of bad owners, expanded from 12 to 16 down to 15 teams. I think this coming year we'll have 13 or 14 teams and I think with a bunch of committed, fun, good owners. What I'm looking for are some suggestions for improvements to the league that will make it more fun/interesting, and potentially simplify it.

Here are the basic rules.

5x5 standard scoring, 23 man rosters. Teams have a $260 budget, we do an online auction on IRC, takes most of a whole day. Teams can keep up to 5 players. Salaries increase by 10% (rounded up) or $2, whichever is greater with players being kept for a maximum of 4 years. So, a player who went for $18 the first year would have been $20 to keep the 2nd season, $22 the third season, $25 the 4th, and would have to go back into the free agent pool to start the 5th. Contract years follow a player if they are traded.

I also didn't want this to be a league where people were waiver wire scavenging all season and the guy with the most internet access won the FA race every time. So, I implemented 'transactions'. Each team has 7 unforced moves per year. This does not include trades, or injury replacements. So, if someone is underperforming, you can dump him, and replace him with someone from the FA pool at a cost of 1 of your transactions. FA's have a salary of $10, but there is no in season salary cap. FA salary only comes into play if you want to keep them, for $12 the following season. This is an area that gets quite confusing, as teams are supposed to post their moves on a message board which I set up. However, sometimes they get confused as to what is a transaction and what is not (for example, one of your players gets hurt so you get a free replacement player while he is on the IR, but then your free injury replacement is sucking and you want to dump him so you replace him, then your original player comes off the IR and you want to keep the injury replacement's replacement as well and dump someone else who is sucking, how many transactions are spent... the answer is 2, btw. 1 for dumping your original free injury replacement, and 1 for (in effect) dumping another player and keeping your original player when he comes off the IR) , and sometimes they forget to post a move. I was trying to think of a way to simplify this area, so that there are not disagreements about who has transactions left, etc. I'm looking to keep the idea of 'limited unforced moves' without all the headaches that the currect model is causing. Anyone have ideas that could work, or things they've used in their own leagues, that they could suggest to me? I'd certainly appreciate it.

Also, I'm looking to potentially add some sort of small farm system. I'd love suggestions on the best way to get this going.

Thanks.

[shortsavage]

That injury replacement stuff does sound like it could get complicated. Like what if you have a player who gets beamed in the head but doesn't go on the DL?

I'd try to simplify it by just making any add/drop a transaction then have a DL so they can hold onto the injured guy without taking a roster spot. Maybe you can set up brackets for transactions...like 1-15: free, 16-30: some fee...ect.

For minors, you could do a prospect draft during spring training or some time after your draft (the player must be in the minors and have rookie status). Then owners can keep a few minor leaguers each season.

If you want to add minor league depth, you may want to increase the number of keepers that each team gets, otherwise you could be keeping someone who may never make an impact on your team.

Lots to think about though. Good luck!

[Subversive]

I'll definitely consider those ideas. Thanks.