Reason for Winter Roster cut down for keeper leagues

[Isetan]

Hello everyone:

This is a general question. I would like to know the reason why leagues decide to have winter roster cut down. That is to cut a regular ultra keeper league 40 man roster to 23-25 man winter roster for the winter. Subsequently, prior to draft day, rosters are again cut to 15 or less. Is there a special reason? I'm just wondering about the logic since it seems that it would be just as easy to just keep the roster and have one cut down day to 15 prior to draft day. Thanks in advance.

[bigmck]

Strange you should have this question. I was thinking about this the other day. I started a Keeper League in 1996. The rules are fairly mainstream. I decided at the beginning that at the end of the season Owners would need to decide between the active player and his linked DL player so that all teams have the same amount on their Winter Roster. I really don't know how much difference it makes. The majority of the players will be cut when the Keepers are turned in anyway. I suppose it is like MLB teams making their 40 man roster for the Winter.

[converge241]

The keeper league I run we cut from 25/28 (up to 3 minor leaguers) to 10/13 right after the season to limit the amount of players in possession, limit the amount of cost calculation, and to open up a number of open draft slots (we pay keeper cost with draft picks). We then cut to final keepers in March/April (5/6 major league roster, up to 3 minor leaguers)

With the way our pricing is setup, if we kept everyone there would technically be no open draft picks to trade etc

Ideally id prefer to cut something like 5 players a month in the offseason, so you have waves of cuts but not everyone wants to stay that active throughout. So we cut a huge chunk in October then final decision in the spring.

Dynasty league I am in does a similar thing, no cost to keep but we hand out or limited amount of contract extensions right after WS so everyone knows who is owned, who can be traded, how amny draft picks everyone has to fill out their roster, etc. In that league to me it makes total sense to cut a player you arent extending as you should have no rights to use that player for trade if no longer legally "yours" (contract years update/run through the current season)

[TopChuckie]

The original intent of the rule was an attempt to slightly spread the wealth and create a more balanced league heading into the next season. In theory, the upper division teams are loaded with talent and the bottom tier is trying to rebuild. By allowing the bottom teams to choose one player from the excess of talent on the upper teams it would create better competition next season. I know some subscribe to the no reward for ineptitude philosophy and therefore would be against this process, but I think the more teams that are competitive, the better your league.

It's also creates more decisions, which creates more fun, and by having to make those decisions now, it can lead to some wrong decisions and therefore more talent available in the draft next season. I've often not had room for a MR that turned into a closer by the following year's draft.

[Isetan]

Thank you TopChuckie. That's the reasoning I thought, but I wanted to be sure.

[23]

Interesting topic. What is the date of your winter cut down? Any rhyme or reason to it in terms of MLB's winter transactions/deadlines?

[fast dogs]

The 3 leagues I commish we used Dec 1 as a cutdown date then have a week of trading including draft picks next week during the winter meetings. Its just a way to get guys thinking baseball again and as a bonus I have all my leagues filled and paid for in advance. There isn't a huge advantage or significant reason to have an early cutdown but part of me feels like a keeper league should have some offseason activity for the owners. I had a league vote before we did it the first time and again after the first year and both won big to have a cutdown and early trading period so the guys seemed to like it

[TopChuckie]

Interesting topic. What is the date of your winter cut down? Any rhyme or reason to it in terms of MLB's winter transactions/deadlines?

Our league deadline is Oct. 15, with the idea being to have all the waiver claims on the unprotected players sorted out by the end of the World Series when MLB free agency begins. Once we complete the winter waiver process we allow trading of the protected players until keepers are due two weeks prior to our auction draft.

[23]

Thanks, guys. Appreciate the input. I agree regarding just sort of the sustaining of league activity into the winter, I think that's a good thing. Our league is a little more relaxed, as we don't use waivers and have few "frozen" periods. I'm also not in favor of trading draft picks, but yielded to democracy. I think the winter cut could help competitive balance, too.