Everyone is confirmed and most people are happy about moving to a keeper format, so we're going to go ahead with it. Now comes the hard part -- fleshing out the rules. Here are some things we need to decide on: 1. How many keepers? My ideal number is 5, but I'll go with whatever the majority wants. I think it's kind of pointless to have anything less than 3, though. 2. Length of time to keep players. I have seen leagues that allow you to keep a player indefinitely, and others that only let you keep someone for a set period of time (i.e. 5 years) before being forced to release him back into the pool. 3. How to establish the draft order in subsequent years. Should we do it by record, and have the team with the worst record pick 1st, etc.., with the champion picking last? Or maybe go by total points instead of record? This seems like the fairest way, but it raises the issue of teams possibly purposely tanking late in the season in order to get the #1 pick, which could cause problems for the playoff teams as they jocky for position. I have read about some possible solutions to this problem, such as having playoffs for the bottom four teams with the winner getting the #1 pick (or alternatively, having the winner get the #1 pick for just the first round and then going strictly back to record to decide seeding in all the following rounds). Or, having a weighted lottery. Or, having some sort of penalty for the last placed team. Then again, maybe it's not even something we should be worrying about. 4. Deadlines. On what date does a team have to declare its keepers? What about offseason trading and/or trading for draft picks? If everyone could chime in with their opinion, that would be great.
Fade, here are my suggestions: 1. Anywhere from 3-5, more like 5. If we only do 1 or 2 like I believe some suggested, then why do it at all. 2. Now I could be confused, but each year you get to pick who the keepers are for the following year, therefore if you want to keep someone on your list indefinitely, I see nothing wrong with that. If somebody else really woulds like to have that player, they could try the trade route. 3. I would go with total points this has been a good group and setting things up this way, hopefully nobody tanks because that really is weak on a lot of levels and can't see anybody here doing that. Bottom line is you got to give it your all each week even when your having a bad season - put out your best line-up to be fair for those jockeying for playoff position. I mean is it really worth tanking for just an early pick in round 1....... 4. Deadline for keepers must be established after championship game, before end of regular season. After which the draft for the following year is set and any trading of draft picks can begin after that - up till draft day. Are we allowed to trade draft picks during the season in trades?
I think 4 is a good number. I have played in a keeper football league for a good while. we keep one player per year but it is different with football because of the nature of the game and the way scoring works. In that league though we can only keep out player once, meaning we can have him for 2 years then he goes back into the pool. At that point you can draft him again if you get the opportunity. For football this works really well, but I have a little different idea for baseball. I would propose that we have 4 keepers per year. The "keep" time would be varied. I guess the simplest way to explain it would be give a scenario, because typing it out the way it is in my head would be confusing. So here it goes After season 1 you keep (number in parentheses is the number of consecutive years you have kept each player) Player A (1) Player B (1) Player C (1) Player D (1) After season 2 you still keep 4 players but you can only keep 2 of the players you have kept after season 1: Player A (2) Player B (2) Player E (1) Player F (1) After season 3 you have to drop one of the season one guys and one of E or F: Player A (3) Player E (2) Player G (1) Player H (1) You can continue to keep player A indefinitely but at most you can only have one player at (3) or above and one additional player at (2). This allows you to store up one player you really like without causing the draft to become completely diluted. If allow each team to pick 3-5 players and allow them to keep them every year(effectively making the draft start in round 5), I think that after a year or two the draft will be fairly diluted. i know there are some people that really enjoy the draft and basically starting the draft with 4th round talent every year would possibly take some of the fun out of it. However, going the other direction and only allowing all players to be kept for 1-2 seasons would defeat the purpose of the keeper.
I think that 5 keepers is way too many, because it means that you start the draft in round 6. The best 50 players would be out of the picture, and you'd never get a chance to draft a player like Santana, ever, unless you got one of the top picks this season. Seems like alot of importance placed on one draft. Castor's idea is interesting but it seems like it would require alot of year-to-year recordkeeping about who was on whose roster each season. I still think 2 keepers is ideal. An even number makes sense, because then the people at the top of the serpentine draft start out equal in terms of "keeper talent" to those at the bottom.
I was going to say that 4 is my ideal, because I agree that it should be an even number for draft reasons, but because I don't think that 2 is enough.
It really wouldn't be too tough, and I would volunteer to do it, or at least set up a chart so for whoever does it. All you need is a chart with each team and their keepers listed. Each team emails their keepers to the person keeping up with it. That person then looks over the list and changes the (#) for those that are holdovers, and add/deletes those that are new/old. Then once the list is validated they can post a copy of it so everyone can see the keepers. Doing it that way means the record keeper only has to make sure a team has no more than one (#) at 3 or more and no more than one other player at (2). Also just to clarify, any player that is not a "keeper" is put into the draft pool. He can then be drafted by anybody, even the team that had him the previous season. He would not be considered a keeper to that team, because others would have had a chance to draft him. Another issue that will probably need to be addressed, is when will lists be due and considered finalized. For our football league, we make it mandatory for keepers to be declared 2 weeks before the draft. That gives the owners time to evaluate the players available for the draft but also cuts down on the possibility of players that are kept retiring, being injured, etc. Then we also have a stipulation in place on the contingency that a player gets hurt during the 2-week window between declaration and the draft. What we do, is allow an owner of an injured player (In football, they have to be reported as possibly missing the first 3 games) to drop that player prior to the start of the draft. That owner then receives a compensation pick in the exact middle of the draft. If there is more than one player (we've never had this) the teams would draft in their normal order.
That's an interesting idea, Castor. How would your system handle trading? For example, what if the team in your example trades his Player E. Does Player E retain the (2) years flag on the new team or does the counter revert to zero? If it does reset to zero, what is there keeping two teams from continually trading back and forth the same two players year after year to take advantage of the reset? I.e. Team Alpha is about to lose Derek Jeter to the draft pool. Team Delta is in the same situation with Jimmy Rollins, so they decide to trade the two players back and forth to each other every couple of years to guarantee they have a top shortstop. Or, should the # of years flag remain with the player if he is traded? So, once David Ortiz gets that (2) years next to his name, he is guaranteed to be released back into the draft pool no matter what (unless he is designated as a team's #1 Keeper). Hope this makes sense. How would your system handle trades?
Also, since everyone is confirmed, I see no reason to delay the draft lottery. It will take place in the ClutchFans chat room tonight shortly after 11 pm BBS time if anyone wants to witness the slow, drawn out pain of hearing your team's name called firsthand.
Here are the results of the draft lotto: 1. LonghornFan 2. Fadeaway 3. Chrisjent 4. PhiSlammaJamma 5. Rocketball 6. BobFinn* 7. SmeggySmeg 8. DarkHorse 9. SamCassell 10. Castor We'll start the draft sometime in mid March. Congrats to LongHornFan, who drew the #1 pick and the rights to Big Albert Pujols.
sorry fade missed things, will sort out the cash in the next couple of days i say go with a 3 keeps, not sure about the draft order after the first year...... maybe first round based on record and then serpentine after that
I'd like to reiterate that an odd number of keeps is unfair to the people at the bottom of the drafting order.
I agree, we need to leave it at 4............. LH, I am ready to deal...........unless you want me to release those compromising pictures of you to the rest of the BBS.............
Hitting Hits: 1 point Runs: 1 point Doubles: 1 point Triples: 2 points Home Runs: 3 points RBI�s: 1 point Stolen Bases: 1 point Caught Stealing: -1point Walks: 1 point Strikeouts: -1 point Errors: -1 point Grand Slams: 3 points HBP: 1 point Pitching Innings Pitched: 3 points Hit Allowed: -1 point Walks Allowed: -1 point Strikeouts: 1 point Earned Runs: -1 point Wins: 10 points Losses: -5 points Saves: 10 points Blown Saves: -5 points Complete Games: 5 points Shutouts: 10 points No-Hitter: 20 points Perfect Game: 30 points
Response has been a little underwhelming, but thanks to those who chimed in. Here's what I'm thinking at this point: 1. 4 keepers seems to be the right number. DH made a good point about keeping the number even. 2. Castor's idea is appealing in a way, but I think it's too complicated. Maybe something simpler like having two keepers that can be kept indefinitely and two others with some sort of time limit. Otherwise, I think straight-up 4 keepers is the way to go for now. 3. Draft order: the returning champion picks last. The remaining positions are determined by reverse order total points. We'll assume nobody is going to be lame and tank. If someone does, they'll get a smack. Additionally, the worst team gets his team's name renamed by the rest of the league (within reasonable taste) either via vote or consensus decision for the following year. An added incentive to avoid last place. 4. Trading deadline is the same as the MLB trade deadline. After the season ends and the champion is crowned, the draft order for the next year will be established, trading will be reopened and trades can be made during the offseason up until the keeper declaration deadline, which is two weeks before the draft. Any trade involving draft picks must receive an equal # of draft picks in return, to keep roster sizes even. The waiver wire will be frozen immediately after the season so people cannot cheat and claim new additions like Daisuke Matsuzaka during the offseason. Is there anything I'm forgetting?
Fade, I sent my money to the email listed. Could you verify you received it? Gracias! Anyone interested in a pre-draft trade for the first pick, hit me up with an email at PrimeX18 (at)yahoo (dot) com. Open to offers before this draft starts.
