How can you really do a keeper league?

[docholliday]

Here is the situation my league is facing. We haven't decided on the number of players we keep. My team is so dominant it will be tough for any team to catch me. If we keep every player or even half, the teams near the bottom won't have a chance next year as well. Teams are crying because half the league is now disinterested. I wanted some thoughts on your keeper league and the fact that with the disinterest my league would go from 12 teams to 5 or 6 real quick.

I. Rodríguez (Det - C)
M. Teixeira (Tex - 1B,3B)
J. Kent (Hou - 2B)
M. Cabrera (Fla - 3B,LF)
Á. Rodríguez (NYY - SS)
V. Guerrero (Ana - RF)
B. Abreu (Phi - RF)
R. Baldelli (TB - CF)
C. Crawford (TB - LF)
J. Pierre
M. Ordonez
J. Mauer
C. Schilling (Bos - SP)
J. Beckett (Fla - SP)
J. Santana
Odalis Perez
F. Garcia
F. Cordero (Tex - RP)
B. Wagner
D. Kolb (Mil - RP)

[Mustangs989]

Well it always helps to have decided the number of keepers before the season so there wouldn't be any problems. Although my league started out with 3 keepers then increased to 5 the next year and is now at 10 and has been 10 for a few years now. So to keep this league going I'd say try to have a limited number of keepers, 3 or 5 probably.

[ramble2]

My league uses a Contract-Year system that a friend and I developed. It allows each team to keep as many or as few players as they like or can afford. Depending on where you end up in the final standings you get more or less contract-years (CYs) which you can use to sign your players with.

Players can be signed to multi-year deals, but may not have current contracts extended. When a player comes off contract, you may re-sign them, but only after you match any other offers that may have been offered to that player by other league members. This might be a selling point to the other teams in your league, in that your team is so dominant. The teams that do worse in your league will end up with more CYs which they can use to try and sign your players. The bottom of the barrel teams in my league became much more active when we moved to the CY system.

It's a total blast. We're in the third year, and no one strategy has yet proven to be the most successful. Last off-season we had a ton of trading activity going on. You've got to have a dedicated lot to make it work, but it's been really fun. It's a bit complicated, but if you work through the examples on the rules page you'll see that it's pretty intuitive: http://www.geocities.com/thehaber2000/rules/c-yrules.html

[mikegp]

The league I am in has it so you can keep up to 10 players and/or $40 million. The players salaries are based upon those in real life.

[dannahann]

My league uses a Contract-Year system that a friend and I developed. It allows each team to keep as many or as few players as they like or can afford. Depending on where you end up in the final standings you get more or less contract-years (CYs) which you can use to sign your players with.

Players can be signed to multi-year deals, but may not have current contracts extended. When a player comes off contract, you may re-sign them, but only after you match any other offers that may have been offered to that player by other league members. This might be a selling point to the other teams in your league, in that your team is so dominant. The teams that do worse in your league will end up with more CYs which they can use to try and sign your players. The bottom of the barrel teams in my league became much more active when we moved to the CY system.

It's a total blast. We're in the third year, and no one strategy has yet proven to be the most successful. Last off-season we had a ton of trading activity going on. You've got to have a dedicated lot to make it work, but it's been really fun. It's a bit complicated, but if you work through the examples on the rules page you'll see that it's pretty intuitive: http://www.geocities.com/thehaber2000/rules/c-yrules.html

Thanks for posting Ramble so I can FINALLY give you the props you deserve. You posted the method on the Cafe last fall and we've completly revamped our primary keeper system because of it. docholliday, I WHOLEHEARTEDLY suggest you read Ramble's system and think about how you might modify it to your own league. We're glad we did

[shortsavage]

As mentioned above, it is best to agreed to a specific or ballpark amount of keepers before the season. I would recommend rounding up as many of your owners as possible for a league meeting where you discuss and vote upon an amount that everyone is willing to work with.

I remember looking at Ramble's system when he first introduced it to the Cafe. It is very well thought out, and it could be the answer to your problems.

[j_d_mcnugent]

The league I am in has it so you can keep up to 10 players and/or $40 million. The players salaries are based upon those in real life.

i have heard of a similar system except the dollar values are determined by a publication such as rototimes instead of using actual contracts.

[StlSluggers]

I'm in a league that uses a years-owned method similar to what was linked to above. Basically, if you have the "years" left to keep a player, he's yours. This prevents people from owning a group of good players for too long, but it appeases the owner of a good team by allowing him/her to cultivate players for a couple of years.

I agree, though, that you guys should have given this more thought before the season. Although, if you look at it logically, the other owners have only themselves to blame if your team is so good. Why didn't they take those players?

[dannahann]

I agree, once the league starts it's really too late to 'fairly' set a keeper system. To keep from half your league leavuing you either have to redraft n keep next season or at least poll your league. If you go by the poll, I suggest you elect to keep the FEWEST number recommended...at least for this first keeper season.

[BGbootha]

My league uses a Contract-Year system that a friend and I developed. It allows each team to keep as many or as few players as they like or can afford. Depending on where you end up in the final standings you get more or less contract-years (CYs) which you can use to sign your players with.

Players can be signed to multi-year deals, but may not have current contracts extended. When a player comes off contract, you may re-sign them, but only after you match any other offers that may have been offered to that player by other league members. This might be a selling point to the other teams in your league, in that your team is so dominant. The teams that do worse in your league will end up with more CYs which they can use to try and sign your players. The bottom of the barrel teams in my league became much more active when we moved to the CY system.

It's a total blast. We're in the third year, and no one strategy has yet proven to be the most successful. Last off-season we had a ton of trading activity going on. You've got to have a dedicated lot to make it work, but it's been really fun. It's a bit complicated, but if you work through the examples on the rules page you'll see that it's pretty intuitive: http://www.geocities.com/thehaber2000/rules/c-yrules.html

Hey man i just read over all that and i really like it. Me and some friends are trying to set up a new keeper league for our football league. Hope you don't mind but i think i might steal some ideas from this. thanks man