OK, I am in a 12-team keeper-format fantasy baseball league. Long story short (well, sortof short), we get 25 years of contracts each off-season to allot to the players we want to keep (plus we get one "franchise player" who can be kept for any amount of time with no contracts).

For example, a few years ago I drafted Justin Morneau, awarded him a 3 year deal, now this season he has 1 year left on the his contract before he goes back into the draft.

Anyway, here is my rough draft keeper list heading into the year. The years in bold are set in stone (cannot be changed), however, the years in italics are players I obtained last year, so I can adjust their contract years as I deem fit (as long as the total of my team does not exceed 25 years):

1B- Justin Morneau 1 year
2B- Aaron Hill 3 years
SS- Jose Reyes FRANCHISE PLAYER
3B- Kevin Youkilis 3 years
C- Matt Wieters 3 years
OF- Justin Upton 1 year
OF- BJ Upton 2 years
SP- Tim Lincecum 1 year
SP- Josh Johnson 2 years
SP- Cole Hamels 2 years
SP- Scott Kazmir 1 year
SP- Max Scherzer 2 years
SP- Stephen Strasburg 4 years

Would you drop any of the guys above, or adjust any of the contract years in italics, for any of these other guys on my roster?

Hunter Pence
Rajai Davis
JA Happ
David Aardsma
Frank Francisco
Jason Heyward
Cameron Maybin
Rickie Weeks
Delmon Young

I know its a long post, if you made it this far ... thanks! Thoughts?

I would drop Justin Upton and pick up Hunter Pence.

Maybe Aaron Hill for Rickie Weeks

What is this league ran through? I like this format!

Keebler wrote: What is this league ran through? I like this format!

Customized league, my friends and I actually created this system from scratch. There are some glitches, but overall its been a blast! The hard part is making a trade: for example, Justin Morneau doesn't have much trade value, because with only 1 year left on his contract, if someone trades for him he has to release him back into the draft next year unless he designates him as a franchise player.

It would depend on the scoring of the league. Is it just a standard 4x4 rotisserie league, or are there added stats?

stroups wrote: I would drop Justin Upton and pick up Hunter Pence.

Maybe Aaron Hill for Rickie Weeks

But Justin Upton is a stud! And Hill had a monster season last year, while Weeks is coming off a pretty serious injury. Would love to hear your thoughts though, always looking for different viewpoints.

I was thinking of releasing BJ Upton for Pence, but Upton has SO much talents, its hard to do. I also wouldn't mind keeping Happ, but my staff is pretty sweet as is. Thoughts?

Any openings in the league? I doubt it I'm sure.

Wooball wrote: It would depend on the scoring of the league. Is it just a standard 4x4 rotisserie league, or are there added stats?

Sorry about that, forgot to mention that: we award two titles, one for head-to-head (playoffs/World Series champ), and one for the cumulative stats (rotisserie) title. 5x5 categories, avg, HR, RBI, runs, SB, wins, ERA, Whip, Ks and saves.

Keebler wrote: Any openings in the league? I doubt it I'm sure.

Not currently, but I will seriously keep you in mind if one opens up.

Yeah, I'd really be interested even if it is a money league.

Also, how does your franchise player work? I'm interested in starting a league like this up with my buddies. Is there one per team and it has to go to someone with an expiring contract?

Keebler wrote: Also, how does your franchise player work? I'm interested in starting a league like this up with my buddies. Is there one per team and it has to go to someone with an expiring contract?

After our original draft three years ago, we designated one player as a franchise player after that season (before the first contracts were assigned). The basic rules are:

*You can keep a franchise player for as long as you like
*If you take the franchise tag off that player to give to someone else (which I will consider doing next year, removing it from Reyes and giving it to Lincecum), the original franchise player must go back into the draft (you cannot give him contract years)
*If you trade your franchise player to another team, that team must assign him their franchise player after the season or let him go back into the draft. If they do assign them their franchise player, they must release their former franchise player back into the draft.

I love the sound of this.

BigAppleBuckeye wrote:

Wooball wrote: It would depend on the scoring of the league. Is it just a standard 4x4 rotisserie league, or are there added stats?

Sorry about that, forgot to mention that: we award two titles, one for head-to-head (playoffs/World Series champ), and one for the cumulative stats (rotisserie) title. 5x5 categories, avg, HR, RBI, runs, SB, wins, ERA, Whip, Ks and saves.

Scott Kazmir to me seems like a risky keep just because he is so up and down, and injured often. BJ Upton had a down year, but still steals bases and the potential to do much more. I would definately keep him. Not sure how many roster spots you have, but Cameron Maybin has loads of potential and it sounds like the Marlins are going to give him the chance to play every day right from the start of the year.

Wooball wrote:

BigAppleBuckeye wrote:

Wooball wrote: It would depend on the scoring of the league. Is it just a standard 4x4 rotisserie league, or are there added stats?

Sorry about that, forgot to mention that: we award two titles, one for head-to-head (playoffs/World Series champ), and one for the cumulative stats (rotisserie) title. 5x5 categories, avg, HR, RBI, runs, SB, wins, ERA, Whip, Ks and saves.

Scott Kazmir to me seems like a risky keep just because he is so up and down, and injured often. BJ Upton had a down year, but still steals bases and the potential to do much more. I would definately keep him. Not sure how many roster spots you have, but Cameron Maybin has loads of potential and it sounds like the Marlins are going to give him the chance to play every day right from the start of the year.

Yeah man, I am loving the future of Maybin, and have thought about keeping him. If I do though, I would only be able to give him a 1 or 2 year deal. I am thinking about letting him go, drafting him somewhat early, locking him into a long-term deal starting next year. What do you think?

I'd be wary of Happ. He was kind of an overnight sensation with the year he had last year, which makes him kind of risky, in my opinion. Then again, Kazmir's kind of risky, too, considering his entire career has been plagued by injuries and inconsistency...so I couldn't fault you for looking at Happ.

Can players be released with more than 1 year remaining?

IMO, you would be crazy to dump Juston Upton. B.J., on the other hand, would be easy to trade/release for me. Hunter Pence would definitely be the safe pick, but there is potential with Maybin. For me, I would take my chances with Pence. But B.J. definitely has to go.

Keebler wrote: Can players be released with more than 1 year remaining?

Yes, you can release a player any time, and in the offseason you can give the freed-up contract years to new players.

I love this format, but like I said, it makes trading tricky. You always need to check how many years a guy has left before you trade. For example, the worst team in our league last year had Roy Halladay in the final year of his contract. He tried trading him in August as a rental to a good team, knowing that he had to release him after the season (unless he tagged him his franchise player, which he chose not to do). But his asking price was too high (he was looking for a 1st round pick), so no one jumped at Halladay's availability.

BAB : Do you have any rules on file that I could get a copy of? I'm thinking of trying to start something similar. Thanks!

Keebler, I just jumped on my league website. These may not be the best set of rules, but hopefully this helps (I just cut and pasted it):


Rosters: The draft will consist of 28 players and each team must field a valid starting lineup each week. Rosters can not exceed 28 players. Starting Lineup will consist of the following: 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, (3)OF, C, (2)U(any position batter) and (8)Pitchers Starting or Relief. A batter will qualify at their primary position as stated by the website or from playing 16 games at a position in either the previous or current year. Free Agents may be picked up at any time after the draft till the end of the season on a first come basis. Trades can be made until any league imposed deadlines and are subject to the approval of the league.

Categories: The following categories will be used for all competition: offense-BA, HR, RBI, R, SB and pitching-W, WHIP, ERA, S, K

Regular Season and Playoffs: The regular season will consist of 21 weeks of games with 3 against every team in your division and 1 against every team in the other division. Each Division will be picked ramdomly with 6 teams. Each game against your opponent will be a weekly competition M-Sun(The first week will include the Sunday night game to open the season) in a head to head format and points will be decided by won categories for the week. Ties will remain ties. Four teams will advance to the playoffs in week 22 to decide a league champion with each division champ and two wild card teams(two week games will be played in the playoffs). Teams will be seeded so that the 1 seed will play the 4 seed. Ties in Standings will be decided by the following order....Head to Head record, Division Record, Categories Won...If those are all tied then it goes to a coin flip. There will also be a seperate cumulative competition that will last from the the beginning till the end of the baseball season and will be based in a roto fashion to decide a winner.

Payouts: The Cumulative champion will receive 35% with second in the Cume getting 15%. The Playoff Champion will receive 35%, second place 10%, and third place 5%

Keeper Rules:

Each team will get 25 years of contracts to assign before each years draft to any available player on their roster. Free agents may be picked up in the offseason. Players who were signed under contract in the previous season aquired via trade or free agency will remain under previous contract and any player signed under contract remain so until either contract expiration or reentry into the draft. At the end of each season every player under contract will be reduced 1 year and all unused contract years will be available to sign players before the draft. Subsequent drafts will be in a straight draft fashion i.e. round 1 1-12, round 2 1-12 with draft order being decided by the worst teams going first using the same tie breaking criteria for the playoffs among non playoff teams. Remaining playoff teams will then subsequently be ordered by playoff performance. Each team will also get to keep one player as a "Franchise Player" in which contract years have no bearing.

Thanks!