League moving from single-season draft to auction keeper

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Andy

League moving from single-season draft to auction keeper

#1 Post by Andy »

Hi Mastersballers.

The Fantasy Baseball League of Ireland is moving from a single-season draft league to a keeper league with an auction.

As commish, I want our new setup to be as simple as possible. The league, while three seasons old, is still of mixed overall ability and experience.

Basic rules:

- 23 man roster, $260, reserve slots done as a snake draft.

- A minimum of 5 players must be kept with a maximum of 8.

- Keeper cost is draft price plus $5 per year. No contracts and no limits.

- Reserve picks, if kept, will be at $5 (i.e. $0 + $5 increase). Similarly, FA pickups will be $5 to keep. Note that any player bought in the auction retains their price throughout the season (purely to keep the admin simple during the season).

- Trade deadline will be 1 month before the end of the regular season.

- If anyone's not able to attend the draft in person they'll get a team drafted based on the ESPN preseason rankings.

As you see, I'm making it as simple as possible. No contracts, no FAAB, the fewer complexities the better (they can always be introduced at some point in the future).

Any thoughts and advice gratefully accepted for a group of Irishmen having their first auction next weekend in Dublin :)

Captain Hook

Re: League moving from single-season draft to auction keeper

#2 Post by Captain Hook »

Dublin...really? AWESOME I would volunteer my auctioneer services if I could get there but spring training calls.
Have a GREAT draft

Just a few suggestions
1) do NOT put a minimum on players that must be kept - it really punishes the bad teams which is not your intent, but you will have problems with it and it is not necessary
2) I am against a maximum on players that can be frozen in keeper leagues - isn't the whole idea to build a roster? IF you think you must have it for the first year or two to make sure you don't have a juggernaut, then say that the 8 player max is just for the first two years....after that you could go to the original rules for 15 max, although again personally I favor no limits.
3) Who will be eligible in the draft pool? Since you are drafting before the start of the season you can use opening day rosters but should at least use the 40 man rosters
4) Are you going to have trades? I would hope so but you must have a good set of rules because "dump trades" are a fact of life in keeper leagues. One answer there is to have an in season salary cap....so if you spend $260 at the auction (which is correct) then the cap should be $300 (325 is doable but you aren't preventing a massive influx of talent)
5) If you do use an in season cap you want the reserves and free agents to count $5 against the cap - BUT their retention salary - the price their contract would be next season should be $10. You want to preserve the integrity of the auction prices

Hopefully that doesn't sound like too much but I am glad to help with any of this and answer questions for the Irish

Andy

Re: League moving from single-season draft to auction keeper

#3 Post by Andy »

The max limit will be kept, at least for the short term, due to the imbalance in expertise in the league. I don't want a bad draft this year to penalise anyone for too long a time. You make a very good point about minimum though.

In terms of player pool it will be based on our service provider's pool (currently ESPN).

This might be a stupid question, but why do you need an inseason salary cap for trades? Purely to avoid too much dumping? Would it not require a lot of admin work trying to keep up with current caps all the time?

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Todd Zola
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Re: League moving from single-season draft to auction keeper

#4 Post by Todd Zola »

Andy wrote:
This might be a stupid question, but why do you need an inseason salary cap for trades? Purely to avoid too much dumping? Would it not require a lot of admin work trying to keep up with current caps all the time?
Too much dumping is one reason, forcing a team to spread its high priced players around and not just find one team, do a 5 for 5 and start prepping for football.

What you'll find is some are simply better at horse trading than others, nothing to do with baseball, but it is still a skill that should be rewarded, but with no cap, things can get out of control.

If there are jellybeans on the line, it makes it even more imperative that the dump trading is regulated/controlled because you DO NOT want to go through the process of replacing owners for a team with a crappy keeper list and the #1 reason teams leave is a dispute over the equity of a keeper trade. The cap sort of builds in a way to self-police deals - it fits under the cap, it's a deal.

Otherwise you need rules about vetos, etc. Then the league votes on how it impacts their team, or holds grudges because one team did not accept their offer. So then you make it a commissioner decision to accept/veto trades except the commissioner is in the league and should be a facilitator, not a decision maker that affects the league in-season, so you go to a 3-man committee, but there are now personal biases on the committee...

A cap works really well :mrgreen:
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I'd rather be wrong for the right reasons than right for the wrong reasons - The Forum Funklord

Always remember, never forget, never say always or never. - The Forum Funklord

You know you have to seek therapy when you see one of your pitchers had a bad night and it takes you 15 minutes to find the team you have him on. - The Forum Funklord

Andy

Re: League moving from single-season draft to auction keeper

#5 Post by Andy »

Thanks for that. Much appreciated.

One more stupid question, lads - I'm not understanding the following point...

"5) If you do use an in season cap you want the reserves and free agents to count $5 against the cap - BUT their retention salary - the price their contract would be next season should be $10. You want to preserve the integrity of the auction prices"

Considering that there will be players drafted at $1, why would reserves and FAs count as $5?

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Todd Zola
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Re: League moving from single-season draft to auction keeper

#6 Post by Todd Zola »

Nothing HAS to be anything.

Perry has a system that works very well in his leagues and recommends it for others.

The idea is to find a balance with the bottom end keepers.

If you DRAFTED a guy for $1, you should be rewarded.

FAAB and reserve are often more speculation (not that $1 isn't) but there is a different feel to a guy you put on reserve or get in FAAB. It's cliche, but it helps minimize the number of "lucky" keepers by having their salary be more reasonable.

Some leagues have the FAAB bid be the salary and you get a bunch of $1 fliers in September which is within the rules, but just seems contradictory to what September should be all about. So making the salary higher reduced these flyers, as an example.

Honestly though, the key is coming up with something along the lines of KISS, then adjust according to how your league does things, then vote in changes for the greater good of the league going forward, but do so not at the expense of how someone has already played for the future -- this could mean delaying a rule for a year, etc.
Catchers are like prostate exams -- comes a time where you can't put if off any longer, so you may as well get it over with and take it up the butt - The Forum Funklord

I'd rather be wrong for the right reasons than right for the wrong reasons - The Forum Funklord

Always remember, never forget, never say always or never. - The Forum Funklord

You know you have to seek therapy when you see one of your pitchers had a bad night and it takes you 15 minutes to find the team you have him on. - The Forum Funklord

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