I have a league that runs 12 teams that I have been attempting to implement a keeper concept to it, but time and time again something unravels.
This year, I have settled with creating a "core" which will consist of any 5 players a owner drafts this year. Then, my idea is to allow people to either add to that core one player from anyone drafted after that 5th round or replace someone in their core.
Do you think I should do add or replace? Do you think the 5th round or later is good or should it be later? Maybe add one every year, 5th round next year, 7th round the following, and so on?
Different direction altogether?
"Nobody’s going to ask about the Nats being the No. 1 farm system in major league baseball," wondered Rizzo about his organization being ranked first by Baseball America. "You disappointed me." -Mike Rizzo
I think any more than 5 Keepers would be a mistake. Just allow each Owner to keep five each year. You should put a cap on the number of years a player can be kept. I would think 3 is good. You don't want to have all the good players kept each year. You need to have some in the player pool. By putting a cap of three years, it acomplishes this. == Be sure everyone knows that they will be keeping five of this years draft for next year. You don't want any surprises.
bigmck wrote:I think any more than 5 Keepers would be a mistake. Just allow each Owner to keep five each year. You should put a cap on the number of years a player can be kept. I would think 3 is good. You don't want to have all the good players kept each year. You need to have some in the player pool. By putting a cap of three years, it acomplishes this. == Be sure everyone knows that they will be keeping five of this years draft for next year. You don't want any surprises.
Probably not going to cap the years, but I agree capping the amount at five will make certain that the draft has plenty left over. With 5 per on 12 teams that is only 60 players, then by limiting who you can swap out "core" guys with will make it more difficult. More than likely, you are going to put young guns almost ready (Matt Moore) in there instead of bonafide studs on the last run (Halladay) which will also increase the draft pool.
Do you think can swap "core" players with anyone after the 5th, 7th, 10th, 15th?
"Nobody’s going to ask about the Nats being the No. 1 farm system in major league baseball," wondered Rizzo about his organization being ranked first by Baseball America. "You disappointed me." -Mike Rizzo
From my experience, I think the most important factor is to know your league. What kind of people do you have in the league?
As far as the keeper question goes, I think you have to weigh simplicity versus complexity; a more simple keeper program is easier for all to undertand, but a more complicated one can be more fun IMO. I have a league with 5 keepers, all with variable lengths of how long the individual player can be retained. However, I have found that the idea of having a minor league keeper a bit too much for many in the league, though it is worth noting that some of the guys are hard core saber types, and others are just guys who love their teams, but might miss a couple games a week depending on the rest of their lives.
Another factor is to know how your host website deals with keepers. I use the free ESPN league, and the problem with the draft is that if one team have 5 keepers and another team has 3 keepers, the team with more keepers won't pick until after the latter team has picked several times. That seems inhertently unfair to me. So I make sure everybody has five keepers!
bigmck wrote:I think any more than 5 Keepers would be a mistake. Just allow each Owner to keep five each year. You should put a cap on the number of years a player can be kept. I would think 3 is good. You don't want to have all the good players kept each year. You need to have some in the player pool. By putting a cap of three years, it acomplishes this. == Be sure everyone knows that they will be keeping five of this years draft for next year. You don't want any surprises.
bigmck wrote:I think any more than 5 Keepers would be a mistake. Just allow each Owner to keep five each year. You should put a cap on the number of years a player can be kept. I would think 3 is good. You don't want to have all the good players kept each year. You need to have some in the player pool. By putting a cap of three years, it acomplishes this. == Be sure everyone knows that they will be keeping five of this years draft for next year. You don't want any surprises.
I agree 100% with this. Keep it simple!
I was going to say that going 7-8 keepers and including minor leaguers might be good, but since you're just starting off and are hoping to transition to a new type of a league (and thus hope others will be amenable and get used to a keeper league), starting off simple is probably the smart choice. Next year you can always expand based on the wishes of the league.
Keeper leagues and auctions are the perfect natural fit. It makes keepers so much more sensible. For example, you can keep 5 players at the price drafted. After that they will cost $5 additional dollars for every additional year kept. This keeps all stars eventually returning to the player pool. It gives you "free agent classes" in a sense, some years everyone will be available, some years very little talent. I think 5-8 keepers is about the perfect number. I know some people like to keep a ton, but this allows for a nice balance between continuity, rebuilds and dynasties while also giving an opportunity for everyone to have at least some decent hope if they have a great draft.
Love having some minor leaguers (3-5 to me is ideal), but I think I'd implement that in year 2 or 3. Get people used to keepers in general.
Merlin401 wrote:Love having some minor leaguers (3-5 to me is ideal), but I think I'd implement that in year 2 or 3. Get people used to keepers in general.
Once those minor league players get to the majors, how do you handle them in terms of keeper rules? Do they have to be regular keepers, or are there special rules for these players? A league I run was very much for keepers, but short on ideas as to how they should be handled!
Thinking it through, i think it's tough to not have them have any special privelege because rookies are typically uneven. As a result, not having special rules seems to kind of make the idea of having a minor league keeper somewhat pointless.
Merlin401 wrote:Love having some minor leaguers (3-5 to me is ideal), but I think I'd implement that in year 2 or 3. Get people used to keepers in general.
Once those minor league players get to the majors, how do you handle them in terms of keeper rules? Do they have to be regular keepers, or are there special rules for these players? A league I run was very much for keepers, but short on ideas as to how they should be handled!
Thinking it through, i think it's tough to not have them have any special privelege because rookies are typically uneven. As a result, not having special rules seems to kind of make the idea of having a minor league keeper somewhat pointless.
We don't have special rules for rookies. Once you call them up, the next year they can be kept for $5, then $10 etc. It may not seem big but it really is. Guys like Lawrie, Hosmer, Pineda, Jennings, Kipnis, Ackley etc can all be kept for $5 this year it means. Thats a major major savings over their draft day values and if they progress to become stars you'll have them underpriced for a half decade or more. Meanwhile, guys like Trout, J. Montero, M. Moore who are still rookies can be kept basically for free this year... an even more major advantage.
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by NationalsOnTheRise » Fri Jan 13, 2012 9:14 pm 
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