Bummer

[KingFish]

Looks like I missed out on a lot of exsleeper action here. Oh well...:crying2:

[Nate Dogg]

You can be my honorary bench coach if you want to. Would love to see you stick around. This is a very active league. Hang around, maybe someone will have to drop or not be available for the draft and you could take over for them.

Nate

[KingFish]

I have been known to fling advice around from time to time. Until a slot opens you can count on me. Thing is I fear half the other guys in the league ask me for advice also and I will be as truthful with them as you but you get all the good stuff frst! LOL:biggrin:

[usc2002]

Kingfish might be just what this league needs...Could bring guidance for all...A lot of problems with establishing our keeper league here...maybe some suggestions here or there wouldn't hurt......

[Nate Dogg]

For those who do not know the LEGENDARY KINGFISH, he is the most knowledgable baseball person I know and I look forward to someday buying him a beer at a game. Maybe STL huh King? Anyway, he gives great and very deep advice. (Just don't ask him about Larry Walker) If you are not going to be able to make the draft, when ever it is, I would encourage you to see if King would for you. You will not be dissapointed.

Nate

[KingFish]

Convulted to say the least.

Here's my first "full on take" for you guys so hold on.

Definition of Keeper:
A player to be held by an owner beyond the current season.

Intent of Keeper:
The primary intent of allowing Keepers is for an owner in a salary league is to gain a player whose cost is less than the value of the stats created. In a non salary leagues the intent is to gain a high performing player that may fill a roster spot at a position that is short of talent or available performance statistics. This player is often the best or next best at their position in non salary leagues but not always.

Number of Keepers
The number of keepers any one owner is allowed to carry over until a following season.
The # of keepers has to be founded on the number of teams in the league and whether it is a single league or combined. When determing the # of keepers one must also take into account the number of players required to fill all roster spots versus the number of available players. Perhaps it may be a surprise to some but there simply should be a sizable FA pool. In some 40 man leagues they actually consume every player available and go deep into the minors as well. Keepers can happen but they may take years to develope. The available free agents are more times than not the source of many of the true keepers. Why? Because so many owners have so much experience these days that it is next to impossible to sneak a good one past anyone at the draft. I think a good target for the number of keepers that can be held is 15%-20% of the roster size. This prevents teams from holding on to so many that there are no true potential keepers come the next draft.

Number of Keepers with new ownership coming into league
This is a consideration both salary and non salary leagues must make if they intend to attract active new owners. Without an adjustment to the number of Keepers rule a new owner is often left with no possibility of being competitive. After a while they just go away. In one NL only salary league I'm in we have 23 man starting rosters that allows 5 reserves. Thats 28 players times 10 teams or 280 players. Still there are available FA's of value. This league allows 15 keepers except when a new owner is coming into the league. At this time we only are allowed to keep nine and then the new owner is allowed to choose from our teams in an expansion draft up to seven players. After the new owner makes his selections we can then take up to 3 more players as Keepers for a total of 12. This allows the new owner access to some real talent and gives them a fighting chance in an established league. In the case of league expansion and not just a replacement owner taking over for a departing owner this is important as it ensures that there will be an adequate number of players available in the draft pool.

Length of Contract
The number of years (seasons) a Keeper can be given a contract for.
Here's another sticky subject that may be modified to fit the structure of the league. I have never participated in an on line keeper league but I cannot imagine it being a great deal different than live leagues. We have selected three years as the maximum length of contract for any keeper but we are a very mature league. This prevents an owner from grabbing an A-Rod type coming up out of the farm system and never letting them go. It is also long enough to reward the owner shrewd enough to spot this type of player development at a very early stage. This ensure a constant influx of talent back into the available draft pool in the following seasons. This 3 year limit is ideal for mature leagues but is weak for new leagues. I would suggest that startup leagues increment their way up to three years. For every year a league is in existance allow that number of years to be the maximum length of contract or years that a player can be kept consecutively, up to three years. A first year league would therefore only be able to give a one year contract or keep one additonal year beyond the current season and a two year league can give a two year contract or keep two additional years, etc. This allows younger leagues to grow into the keeper way of playing without allowing a small minority of owners taking advantage and stock piling the very best talent early in a leagues existance. Also in salary leagues you definetly want to make that Keeper contract get bigger for every year they are signed. We took 1/2 of the minimum salary for a reserve player in our league ($2.50) as the amount added to a contract for each year. I suggest that whatever a league does in this area they must consider that new owners may be rotating into their league at any time. You dry up that talent and no one will want to get involved when you loose an owner. Eventually your league will go away.

Releasing or waiving Keepers
An owner wishes to rid themselves of a player by any method other than a trade i.e. out right release or waiver.
I have heard it called release or waiver. In leagues without salaries this is not much of an issue. Either you allow it or you do not. In leagues with salaries involved you can also take this approach but I feel it is better to bill the releasing owner. Make them pay for their error just like they do in the bigs with guaranteed contracts for players that simply are not worth it or for some reason their value suddenly dries up. I suggest in salary leagues you do the following;
1) Add up the value of all the years not yet served of a long term contract.
2) Divide it by two and this then becomes the cost to release that once most valued keeper.
This makes it much more realistic and yet allows the owner the option of releasing or waiving a player. I have seen a variation of this rule in leagues that are AL or NL only. If a player switchs from one league to another they can be freely released by the owner. This also is meant to bring some to mimic what typically happens in the bigs as the recieving team usually absorbs the cost of the contract not the team losing the player.

Trading a Keeper
Again I have seen and played it both ways. Either you allow it or not. My personal preference is to allow it but this may lead to dumping complaints unless a league has a strong commish or rules against such activity. Dumping rules should be based on the the players statistical value and not their contract regardless of whether it involves a low salary or not. The owner recieving the keeper is fully responsible for fullfilling the entire contract of the keeper regardless of cost or performance outcome.

When can you give a contract?
Typically contracts are signed before opening day of any season. Once the contract is assigned it cannot be changed in anyway. You are stuck with it. I would think that after one year of service you could begin signing Keepers to contracts. In a mature salary league you may want to consider having to increase the number of years of service before a contract is required. In non salary leagues this is not an issue and the keepers are simply announced right before the start of the season when rosters have to be set. Again I caution that you do not simply allow an owner to forever name the same Keepers, year in and out.

Well I hope some of the above helps. There is of course much more but my emails are piling up and it's back to giving advice.:cool:

So Sayeth the Fish!

[KingFish]

Thanks for the compliment Nate. Looks like I was posting at about the same time you did.