Keeper league

bit of red72

Please post here if you're back in for this year. Yahoo is saying everyone has accepted already. That would be great if it were true - but I suspect it's just a system error!

All suggestions for changes/improvements welcome. Personally I thought it went well last year - other my actual team performance. Happy to hear if anyone would like to change things up.

smackbunnybaby

I am in!

Coeus

Yea, my team was already active when I logged in. Not a problem as I will be playing again this year...

boccy23

K Kings back to defend.

MoyVilla9

The struggle was real last year, but El Capitan shall be back.

smackbunnybaby

8-10 wrote: »

Trade deadline comes and goes. Number of trades in the league this year: 0

We're awfully suspicious of each other!

I want this to change this year guys!

8-10

I'm back in too. Had to reset my password it's been so long!

I'll have my usual whinge about Holds being a category and suggest it to be removed....

boccy23

8-10 wrote: »

I'm back in too. Had to reset my password it's been so long!

I'll have my usual whinge about Holds being a category and suggest it to be removed....

I would second this. Surely there is a fairer pitching category which doesn't mean having to scour for Holds players.

8-10

boccy23 wrote: »

I would second this. Surely there is a fairer pitching category which doesn't mean having to scour for Holds players.

I think in a standard 10-team league the 5x5 categories is sufficient. We added in OPS and HLD's a while back but I'm not a fan

For the hitting category I think in most fantasy leagues you go 1 of AVG or OPS. We have both and I think that's not statistically correct as they are too close a measurement. I think you either have AVG as a category or you replace it with OPS. Having both ends up in every week teams winning OPS and AVG 2-0. There is no option for a team to e.g. punt OPS and concentrate on AVG as they are too similar.

For holds there is just no depth in our rosters to warrant it for me.

smackbunnybaby

Hey guys,

I'd be in favour of dropping back to basic standard 5x5, no holds, no OPS league, but given we have 10 teams only we make larger squads.

2 x catchers instead of 1. As a 10 team league we have to IMO.
Change IF to CI and MI
Go to 4 OFs and 1 UT instead of 3 OFs and 2 UT
Add another SP so we go from 2 to 3

Bring the innings minimum up to 30?

I dont mind the last one regarding innings, but think we should consider the positional stuff!

Coeus

I think there is enough depth for holds, it just depends on the categories you are aiming to win in a given week. Most of the holds guys have good ratios and K/9 rates so they contribute in other categories aswell.

If I was to change anything I would give more to starting pitching by switching Wins to Quality Starts. That would put a bigger premium on having good starters while taking away the unpredictable vulture wins from the relief pitchers.

I agree with OPS been linked to Average in normally when either or none. But what to switch to it without dropping back to 5 batting categories.

smackbunnybaby

I know its really early, but can we try and nail down:
1. a draft date.
2. Keeper date
3. Discuss any rules changes

Do we have everyone back in?

If you're looking for new players, I'd love to give it a go.
Not 100% sure about how Fantasy baseball works, but I love following the Dodgers. Have a fairly decent understanding of all 30 squads, so hoping I might not be too terrible.

bit of red72

I'm still waiting on one team to confirm at this stage. I think everyone else is back in.

Once I get that confirmation I'll finalise the keeper date (probably Sunday 19th) and set up a survey for the draft (22nd through to 29th).

I'd like to make a couple of suggestions about the scoring. I'm proposing we go back to 5x5 standard or we leave it 6x6 and swap out the Wins for Quality starts. It's a 10 team league so we can go back to straight forward scoring. If there's six categories then that gives us space to go to Quality Starts. I personally like the random nature of reliever wins. Let's hear what you think.

bit of red72

Lads, keeper deadline date set for 16th March (Warning !! Yahoo has actually set it for midnight on the 15th so it's effectively the 15th)

I've set up a poll for the draft date starting the 22nd. This gives me the week to ensure I've set up the keepers correctly and for everyone to enjoy Paddy's weekend. The link to the poll is http://doodle.com/poll/f96umkmncy3unb9y. I'll go with the majority of available owners. We've had everyone over the last couple of years which has been great.

Just a reminder on the keepers - I've put a note on Yahoo. "Every team gets six keepers if they wish. These will be slotted into the first six rounds. If you do not want to keep six players you will effectively get the earliest picks in lieu of these players."

Unfortunately we've lost one of the original owners - Homers Homers - who's unable to commit this year. He's always been really active and competitive so it's a shame to lose him. A big welcome to Springfield Zephyrs who have taken their place.

8-10

Done I'm out of the country the weekend of the 25th so hoping ita a midweek either side!

bit of red72

It looks like you'll be in luck! Just three left to vote and everyone's available at the moment on the 29th of March.

Coeus

bit of red72 wrote: »

Just a reminder on the keepers - I've put a note on Yahoo. "Every team gets six keepers if they wish. These will be slotted into the first six rounds. If you do not want to keep six players you will effectively get the earliest picks in lieu of these players."

Are we still keeping prospects like in previous seasons? Upto 2 NA player put in the last 2 rounds of the draft. I know some trades were made before the trade deadline with this in mind. I see I have one guy on my teams roster so I would keep him given the chance...

lankythecamel

I am away on Holidays from the 18th till the 25th of March.so I will be available

smackbunnybaby

looks good for the 29th at 9pm?

Doogs27

Hi guys, I'm taking over the Springfield Zephyrs. Looking forward to the draft and hopefully having the keeper league distract me from the miserable Padres this (Every) year.

bit of red72

Well done us. 10 responses, 10 available for March 29th. I'll pop it in for 9.00. Great stuff - if only everything in life was so straightforward....

As it's later than I would be, I've moved the deadline back to March 24th -in reality it's midnight on the night of the 23rd.

smackbunnybaby

Can we look at the potential rule changes now as well?
Could better inform our keeper selection.

GiantSquirrel

My 2c on rule changes etc.

Having only played a single season so far I haven't really got a detailed sense of how some of the changes proposed would play out across a season.  So really, I'm happy either with the same format as last year or indeed dropping back to the standard 5 categories.  

FWIW my general sense of things last year was that in the hitting categories, HR tended to massively skew the results as they impact all of R, RBI, HR, AVG and OPS, the latter two obviously having significant simliarity.  There's certainly a strong argument for one or the other of AVG or OPS. I also found myself pondering whether it is possible to have net stolen bases i.e. SB-CS rather than just SB.  No idea if that is even feasible.

On the pitching side, if often felt like I just had to abandon holds as a category because I didn't have sufficient roster depth to chase them (I don't like holds in baseball period but that's another story).  However that's not necessarily a reason for abandoning them, it just means you have to set your strategy accordingly.  Also, as per my stolen base comment above, SV-BS would be interesting, but then you can blow a save on a hold opportunity so I guess that wouldn't work.  

I do like the opportunity to pick up random wins from the bullpen though, even if I don't like it in the real world where you can blow a save but get the win.

Enough. I'm happy with however it pans out, and looking forward to my second season.

Welcome to the Zephyrs.  Good to have another NL West fan on board!

GiantSquirrel

Sorry, one more thing.  Somebody further up the thread mentioned holding two catchers on the roster.  I'd be in favour of that.

8-10

I would drop OBP before I'd drop AVG but I think we have to drop one.

To balance it out between pitching and batting categories as mentioned I'd drop Holds, but as a mitigation if people are really clinging to it I would change it to SV+HLDS. Not in favour of that personally but it's up to the group as a whole.

I also like Quality Starts over Wins but much of a muchness to me, again as long as it's one of them and not both!

In terms of extra players on the roster I'm in favour because of how shallow the league is being a 10 team AL+NL. However only if we are not increasing bench spots. If we add roster spots they should be playing spots and number of bench spots remain.

Options seem to be:

Additional Outfielder
Additional Catcher
Split INF into middle & corner infield positions
Additional RP

In my opinion I would say we do not add an additional outfielder, instead we change one of the Util's to OF if that's what people want. Additional Catcher sounds popular, hate the idea myself as Catchers are only good for pulling down other stats but sure I guess that's part of the fun - though I'd imagine some would choose to play with 1 catcher than have another catcher from the 2nd or 3rd tier who would likely hurt your average and give little to the other categories (I'm an awful cynic!). For splitting the Infield I have no real opinion either way but if we are adding a new position I would go with this one. For additional RP I am just suggesting this for if we leave in HLDS, but in that case we could also just change one of the P's to RP.

So my vote for an additional player would be in the infield, and changing one of the Utils to OF. Then drop OBP and Holds. Done. Don't want too many changes but shoring up the scoring categories and having an additional roster player sounds good without being overly disruptive.

smackbunnybaby

Just to keep this moving along:

This is our current roster make-up and our potential roster make-up

---

25 man roster

C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, IF, OF, OF, OF, Util, Util = 11
SP, SP, RP, RP, RP, P, P, P, P = 9
BN, BN, BN, BN, BN = 5
DL, DL = 2
NA, NA = 2

---

28 man roster

C, C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, MI, CI, OF, OF, OF, OF, Util = 13
SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, RP, P, P, P, P = 10
BN, BN, BN, BN, BN = 5
DL, DL = 2
NA, NA = 2

The changes are 2 catchers.
IF = Now two positions, MI and CI.
UTIL changes to OF4.
I introduced an additional SP position as if we go to QS for pitchers, SPs become more valuable.

---

In terms of scoring, i'm in favour of going back to 5X5, like I said before.

Batters Stat Categories:
Runs (R), Home Runs (HR),
Runs Batted In (RBI),
Stolen Bases (SB),
Batting Average (AVG),
<STRIKE>On-base Percentage (OBP)</STRIKE>

Pitchers Stat Categories:
Quality Starts (QS),
<STRIKE>Wins (W)</STRIKE>
Saves (SV),
Strikeouts (K),
<STRIKE>Holds (HLD)</STRIKE>
Earned Run Average (ERA),
(Walks + Hits)/ Innings Pitched (WHIP)

bit of red72

Been a bit asleep at the wheel here.

Based on the input above I will change back to 5x5 and get rid of OBP and Holds. That seems to be the general consensus and was one of my initial suggestions. It keeps things nice and simple.

I'll also split the IF into MI and CI to add an extra batting spot.

I simply cannot bring myself to inflict a second catcher on us all. I have 2 other leagues which are two catchers and the position is so weak and plate appearances so unpredictable that it's just not enjoyable at all. However, if there's a consensus and ye want it then I'll amend.

I'll give it until Saturday and then finalise the roster positions. Let me know what you think before then.

smackbunnybaby

Totally with 1 catcher.
Think the two infielders is a good move and having more OFs rather than 2 UTIL is also better. OF is so deep!
Another SP is something I'd advocate!
But I've had my say...
thanks Joe

boccy23

bit of red72 wrote: »

Been a bit asleep at the wheel here.

Based on the input above I will change back to 5x5 and get rid of OBP and Holds. That seems to be the general consensus and was one of my initial suggestions. It keeps things nice and simple.

I'll also split the IF into MI and CI to add an extra batting spot.

I simply cannot bring myself to inflict a second catcher on us all. I have 2 other leagues which are two catchers and the position is so weak and plate appearances so unpredictable that it's just not enjoyable at all. However, if there's a consensus and ye want it then I'll amend.

I'll give it until Saturday and then finalise the roster positions. Let me know what you think before then.

Thanks for that. I am definitely against the second catcher and I have always hated Holds. Would have liked to keep OBP as I have Joey Votto . But a straight forward 5x5 is good with me.

Coeus

bit of red72 wrote: »

I'll give it until Saturday and then finalise the roster positions. Let me know what you think before then.

If we are going back to a 5 x 5 category league then this is the way to go. Thinking about it I prefer to stay with Wins if we drop Holds.

The position changes are fine with me. I prefer one catcher as it is not the deepest position...

One last thing...are we keeping our NA players still on our rosters from last season?

8-10

Coeus wrote: »

One last thing...are we keeping our NA players still on our rosters from last season?

I think it's fair to still do it this season as we ended last season knowing this was the rule

However I think we should look to eliminate this next year. There's only 4 NA players in the league right now, on 3 out of the 10 teams.

The main issue I have is that this status can change based on many factor. If a player's wife has a baby and is out for a week on parental leave he is NA for example. Or injured players not yet on the DL. It's not always prospects which is the reason we said we'd keep them.

I like having them as roster spots, but I think keeping them is overkill. To do it right I think you need to play in a dynasty league. Having said that (and I have no NA players), I am happy for people to keep them this season.

8-10

bit of red72 wrote: »

Been a bit asleep at the wheel here.

Based on the input above I will change back to 5x5 and get rid of OBP and Holds. That seems to be the general consensus and was one of my initial suggestions. It keeps things nice and simple.

I'll also split the IF into MI and CI to add an extra batting spot.

I simply cannot bring myself to inflict a second catcher on us all. I have 2 other leagues which are two catchers and the position is so weak and plate appearances so unpredictable that it's just not enjoyable at all. However, if there's a consensus and ye want it then I'll amend.

I'll give it until Saturday and then finalise the roster positions. Let me know what you think before then.

Agree with 1 catcher, agree with extra infielder.

Also agree with smackbunny on moving 1 UTIL spot to OF. The fact we have an extra INF spot should mean this won't be much of an issue

smackbunnybaby

I traded to get prospects last year, though I am pretty sure those guys won't be N/A come season.
its really hard to tell who's going to NA and I'm not too much of a fan of it.
If people wanted to remove it now, I wouldn't worry me.

However, the NA position did allow an element of acquiring prospects, to avoid people being able to get the next Mike Trout off waivers while other people snoozed. To that end, I'd prefer to see some sort of FAAB being put in place, in order to bid on guys in-season.

But that is a whole different conversation!! No need for it here

8-10

smackbunnybaby wrote: »

I traded to get prospects last year, though I am pretty sure those guys won't be N/A come season.
its really hard to tell who's going to NA and I'm not too much of a fan of it.
If people wanted to remove it now, I wouldn't worry me.

However, the NA position did allow an element of acquiring prospects, to avoid people being able to get the next Mike Trout off waivers while other people snoozed. To that end, I'd prefer to see some sort of FAAB being put in place, in order to bid on guys in-season.

But that is a whole different conversation!! No need for it here

I think FAAB is a great idea.

boccy23

8-10 wrote: »

I think FAAB is a great idea.

Not so easy to run as we have daily pick ups. Would it affect the streaming of starters then?

I have done it in Football leagues and it is easy there.

smackbunnybaby

boccy23 wrote: »

Not so easy to run as we have daily pick ups. Would it affect the streaming of starters then?

I have done it in Football leagues and it is easy there.

Yeah, it's a process change. Waivers is once a week so it would mean changes in daily pickups to weekly planning and no more daily streaming! Pretty sure FAAB isn't a daily thing!

bit of red72

Right lads, it's been a long weekend!

I don't feel particularly strongly about the extra OF replacing the U spot. I'll make that change as there seems to be a couple of teams keen for it.

I also won't change the NA arrangement. You can send me the names if you have them and we can accommodate them in the draft as before. I think they've changed the arrangement so you don't have to activate them immediately like you had to before. They give you a few weeks now. (I had Buxton last year- sighs)

The settings as configured don't facilitate the introduction FAAB for our league. I would have to press on a full reset I think and I'm not too keen on that - Yahoo is complicated enough as it is. FAAB is weekly so the dynamic of our league would change significantly. I think the waiver works as well for active teams particularly in a 10 team league.

bit of red72

And to follow up on an earlier post - I've changed one of the RPs to an SP. I've left 10 pitchers in the rosters but I had added the RP for holds so I've re-set that. Hope this works for everyone

smackbunnybaby

Excellent! Thanks!

smackbunnybaby

Reminder on the keepers guys!

As per the Commish below (Its midnight Thursday PT, so early Friday morning for us?)

"Your commissioner has set Friday March 24, 2017, as your league's deadline for declaring your keepers. You can make and edit your selections until 11:59pm PT on Thursday March 23, 2017."

Commish, do we see those straight away then, in order to Edit our draft rankings?

bit of red72

Hi folks,

I finalised the draft time - Wednesday 9pm and the return to the standard 5x5 categories. You should have got messages on that.

I still have to finalise the teams and keeper settings which I will do over the weekend so you can't see anything yet - as far as I know. All should become clear - as long as Yahoo behaves. I think everyone can see all the keepers once that's done - that was my recollection from last year. (Yahoo only allows me to do within a certain window so I'll let you know when I've done that.)

I got messages about 3 NA players so I will slot them in at the end of the draft in those team's slots.

The draft order is the inverse of last year's standings so the order will be-

1. Beechwood Badgers
2. El Capitan
3. Tolka Drakes
4. Rebel Sox
5. Artful Dodgers
6. JPF
7. Squirrels
8. Zephyrs
9. Eastside Fireballers
10. K Kings

I'm sure there'll be lots of research over the weekend now so you're well prepped for Wednesday evening. I'm off to the Ireland v Wales match. I bought new boots last week and I'm bringing them with me. You just never know!

bit of red72

All set up for Wednesday, I hope.

The Zephyrs has the first two picks followed by Rebelsox as they only kept four and five players respectively. Then the order from the last post will apply.

There are three NA keepers, Rodgers, Urias and Giolito so you won't see them in the player list and those teams will have those players in their last draft picks.

As always, Yahoo can throw a spanner in the works but all seems set up and you should be able to see the various keepers and the draft order.

Doogs27

Everyone has a plan until the get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson (probably after picks 60 - 65 in a keeper league)

GiantSquirrel

Think there was a Winston Churchill version of that - something like no plan survives first contact with the enemy.  That's how I felt tonight!  My beautifully crafted list was a mess of crossings out in pretty short order.

8-10

I went down the route of drafting RP's early and backfilling the rest with randomers. As a season strategy it's probably useless - but as a draft strategy it meant I was never at risk of my picks getting taken!

So it was pretty relaxed for me. Way more question marks over my team than I'd hoped though. Just can't wait for the season to start now

MoyVilla9

So, who is going to have the first trade?!

Enjoyable evening, now it's time to get MLB.tv sorted out.

smackbunnybaby

I drafted a lot of DL players. Some might work out others might not.
They dropped so far, i could no longer ignore them.

GiantSquirrel

MoyVilla9 wrote: »

So, who is going to have the first trade?!

Enjoyable evening, now it's time to get MLB.tv sorted out.

I'm a big fan of MLB.tv - great value for money IMHO

boccy23

I have no idea how I ended up with the team I did. Whatever strategy I thought I had went to pot early and I ended up drafting more by best player available and "we'll see how that works". As per usual, ended up with little or no pitching. Can never seem to avoid the hitters and focus on pitching.