How To Stop Teams From Tanking

[skeeze24]

We are converting our league to an auction style keeper league and one concern that has been expressed is how to avoid keeping teams from tanking.

For example, if in H2H week 17, a team is already eliminated from the playoffs, what is to keep a "smart" owner from dropping the majority of his team in and effort to pick up prospects through the FA auction wire for $1 or $2? By doing this, the owner gets a jump on their keeper options for the next season.

The negative of course is the potential influx of "good" players into the FA pool right before the start of the playoffs. I don't want a team to have a decided advantage late in the season simply because another owner who was out of the playoffs decided to drop all their star players to try and reload with keeper prospects.

Any other league deal with this issue?

[Zillamonk]

We had the same problem but solved it quite easily. We stopped rewarding bad teams. All teams that do not finish in the money go into a lottery and their draft spot for next year is randomly selected. Problem solved.

Teams in contention will not tank as they want to place in the money. The bad teams will either just not log in or try to do the best they can as finishing last no longer carries with it a reward.

[skeeze24]

We had the same problem but solved it quite easily. We stopped rewarding bad teams. All teams that do not finish in the money go into a lottery and their draft spot for next year is randomly selected. Problem solved.

Teams in contention will not tank as they want to place in the money. The bad teams will either just not log in or try to do the best they can as finishing last no longer carries with it a reward.

Thanks for the feedback. However, the issue here is that we are converting to an auction style draft...so there is no draft order.

[ayebatter]

Don't keep FA pickups.

[Quackman]

We are converting our league to an auction style keeper league and one concern that has been expressed is how to avoid keeping teams from tanking.

For example, if in H2H week 17, a team is already eliminated from the playoffs, what is to keep a "smart" owner from dropping the majority of his team in and effort to pick up prospects through the FA auction wire for $1 or $2? By doing this, the owner gets a jump on their keeper options for the next season.

The negative of course is the potential influx of "good" players into the FA pool right before the start of the playoffs. I don't want a team to have a decided advantage late in the season simply because another owner who was out of the playoffs decided to drop all their star players to try and reload with keeper prospects.

Any other league deal with this issue?

This is a problem in all keeper leagues pretty much. Doesnt matter if its auction or not. The guys competing for the playoffs cant stack their benches with prospects. Someone that knows they are out of it doesnt need anyone on the bench except prospects. Also some teams are out of it early and they know it. Especially when like 4 make playoffs in 12 team. There will ussually be 4 or 5 teams out of it. With 6 teams make the playoffs maybe 2 or 3 are out of it.

The main thing ive done in the past that sorta prevents this is to go with keeper leagues with a very small number of keepers. It doesnt strickly prevent it but if you have a keeper that only allows 1, 2 or 3 keepers then there really isnt a giant need to stack prospects. Just think of the difference between that and like a 10 Keeper league.

good luck

[RotoValue]

Our league addressed this by creating an anti-trophy. The last place team gets a lot of negative attention, such that owners fight hard to avoid last. Nobody wants to win IT.

Indeed we may have gone a little overboard there: sometimes it seems owners are more concerned about not finishing last than they are about finishing first!

[germani40]

In my 1 league anyone added after like the first week in September cant be kept.

[Quackman]

In my 1 league anyone added after like the first week in September cant be kept.

Ya this doesnt do much though. There are a few teams that are out of it way before sept. Not alot of teams but a few, bad draft, injuries, people giving up whatever. These teams in keeper leagues are the problem. Teams that are in contention cant use their bench spots for a bunch of prospects. Its certainly an unfair result when i bad team having a bad year can give up and be stacked for the future.

[germani40]

In my 1 league anyone added after like the first week in September cant be kept.

Ya this doesnt do much though. There are a few teams that are out of it way before sept. Not alot of teams but a few, bad draft, injuries, people giving up whatever. These teams in keeper leagues are the problem. Teams that are in contention cant use their bench spots for a bunch of prospects. Its certainly an unfair result when i bad team having a bad year can give up and be stacked for the future.

Include a AB minimum or a IP minimum and if you dont reach them so many times during the season you arent coming back next year. But if people are using their bench spots for prospects and they are still filling out a full roster its not really tanking

[Quackman]

Like my above post, we have solved the issue a long time ago by just having very few keepers. I have a keeper that keeps 3 and another that keeps 5, really no issues in either. There is some risk in the 5 keeper but not really. I might have like 1, possibly two prospects that i keep year to year. Personally i think fewer keepers make drafts more fun also. Puts alot back into the pool. everyone likes to draft.