Joined my first Dynasty League - now what?

[viper]

I have never done a keeper league but just joined a new one. Actually it is a dynasty league in that you draft 40 players and you can keep them all forever. I think it is mostly some of the better ESPN players - not totally sure. The guy starting it goes by YOSH and I know he is very good.

12 teams
ML universe
C,1B,2B,3B,SS, OF,OF,OF,UT, UT, 5SP, 4RP
6X6 with holds and OBP added categories.
Any 40-man roster player can be drafted

I wonder how high Wieters will go?

Any insights? Your thoughts will be appreciated.

My first thought is to only draft players under 30 years of age or at least have that as a major factor. Also, I can see I will, for the first time ever, need to research minor league players. And I thought things were slowing down.

The draft will be email starting mid this week. He still needs one more team but has several possibles. Using CBS.

[alleyoops]

I've never played in a dynasty league, but have played in many keeper leagues. I realize that there are big differences between the two.

However, I'd be hesitant to draft ONLY young players. While certainly a key to the strategy is finding young, talented players who will be good for many years, there's also the competitive aspect in the current season to consider. Perhaps the older but more established players will be "cheap" in this format. If so, you might draft a few, and either use them for a push at the title, or deal them for good, young talent during the season. Certainly they should be discounted in this format, but if many of the owners have the same mind set that you mentioned, there may be opportunities with some older players.

All that said, a lot of it is going to be about finding the next Ryan Braun, or the next ARod early in his career. So you certainly want to take your shots on the young guys, particularly those with star potential.

[viper]

Place that have be suggested to bone up on minor league prospects include
1. Baseball America Prospect Handbook
2. Books by John Sickles
3. BBHQ - one of their staff has a book
4. Articles by Jason Gray

other suggestions or, better yet, comments on those already received.

[msugray]

Lawr Michaels- CREATiVESPORTS

[RandyKutcherHair]

After playing in a AL only dynasty league for a few years here is my advice. Draft as many young guys and top prospects as possible. Even if you think it is too early the picks will pay off in spades for years to come. Also it is easy to use these young guys to make deals for immediate help if you are in position to win it all this year or next. Obviously you are going to focus on the top tier guys to start; but don't be afraid to be the first guy to reach in the minor leagues.

I would suggest regularly checking this baseball daily digest link; http://baseballdigestdaily.com/blogs/20 ... r-29-2008/ they do a great job of compiling a spreadsheet of all the top prospect list each year.

[viper]

We started the slow draft yesterday afternoon. Round two has one pick left. I ahave the 12 slot [on the turn] and drafted Kinsler & Teixeira. Strangest draft I have ever been in. It seems like all are drafting more for 2012 than 2009. I know 3 or 4 of these people and they are good players who play in other dynasty leagues. However, are BOTH Uptons first round selections?

My first pick (1.12) was Kinsler. I had a choice between Tex and Howard on my second selection (2.1). You could make a case for either justify it. For me the deciding factor was Howard's weight. That has never even entered my mind before. I can also say that I will likely wait much longer than normal for a closer as their life expectancy on the job is so short. ARod at 33 is the oldest player taken so far. The only other old 30 year old taken is Utley who is 30. My cheat sheet has age on it.

This is actually very fun.

[Hambowen]

Sounds like you may have the chance to really go for it this year and next. Getting a first place finish in 1 of the first 2 years might be worth sacrificing some long term plans. not to mention you can always build for the future at the same time with some minor league types assuming you have a bench/minor draft.

[viper]

we draft 40 players. Anyone on the 40-man roster is available. You can hold everyone. So yes, we can draft and hold minor leaguers. Each bench will be 19 deep. My guess is that most will have 8-10 prospects along with most SP/RP on someone's roster - Holds is a category so MRs have value. With daily transactions and lineups, I really do not see many position players being on your bench. The Starts limit is 162 so you may only need to bank 8-10 starts from your bench per position, excluding catchers - of which you only start one.

[RandyKutcherHair]

viper, i'd be interested to see your draft results to date and at teh conclusion of the draft as it sounds like i am in a similar league.

[viper]

Draft to Date. My biggest "pauses" are bolded. Most are because they seemed very early even for a dynasty league. I am MIKE drafting 12th

This is a Dynasty league.
12 teams
40 man rosters
all 40-man rostered players available for draft - majors & minors
unlimited keepers with off-season trading
6x6 with standard 10 plus Holds & OBP
13 hitters [just 1 catcher]
10 pitchers [5 SP & 5 RP]
10 game eligibility - for example Cabrera is 1B/3B eligible.
162 game limit by position
900IP min - 1750IP max

ROUND 1
1 DUSTIN - SS Hanley Ramirez (FLA)
2 ROB - SS Jose Reyes (NYM)
3 PAUL - 3B David Wright (NYM)
4 WENDT - 1B Albert Pujols (STL)
5 PETER - OF Grady Sizemore (CLE)
6 TEX - 1B Miguel Cabrera (DET)
7 TUNA - OF Ryan Braun (MIL)
8 DAN - 3B Evan Longoria (TB)
9 BIBBY - OF Justin Upton (ARI)
10 YOSH - OF BJ Upton (TB)
11 JAY - 3B Alex Rodriguez (NYY)
12 MIKE - 2B Ian Kinsler (TEX)

ROUND 2
13 MIKE - 1B Mark Teixeira (NYY)
14 JAY - 1B Ryan Howard (PHI)
15 YOSH - 1B Justin Morneau (MIN)
16 BIBBY - 1B Prince Fielder (MIL)
17 DAN - 2B Chase Utley (PHI)
18 TUNA - OF Josh Hamilton (TEX)
19 TEX - OF Carlos Quentin (CWS)
20 PETER - SP Johan Santana (NYM)
21 WENDT - OF Jay Bruce (CIN) - at the time sure seemed early
22 PAUL - SP Tim Lincecum (SF)
23 ROB - OF Nick Markakis (BAL)
24 DUSTIN - C Joe Mauer (MIN)

ROUND 3
25 DUSTIN - 2B Dustin Pedroia (BOS)
26 ROB - OF Matt Holliday (OAK)
27 PAUL – OF Matt Kemp (LAD)
28 WENDT - C Matt Weiters (BAL)
29 PETER - 3B Chris Davis (TEX)
30 TEX - OF Jacob Ellsbury (BOS)
31 TUNA - SS Jimmy Rollins (PHI)
32 DAN - OF Carlos Beltran (NYM)
33 BIBBY - OF Carl Crawford (TB)
34 YOSH - C Brian McCann (ATL)
35 JAY - OF Curtis Granderson (DET)
36 MIKE - OF Carlos Lee (HOU)

ROUND 4
37 MIKE - SP Cole Hamels (PHI)
38 JAY - 1B/3B Kevin Youkilis (BOS)
39 YOSH - SS Troy Tulowitzki (COL)
40 BIBBY - SS Stephen Drew (ARI) - again seemed early. This owner lives in Phoenix
41 DAN - OF Jason Bay (BOS)
42 TUNA - 1B Joey Votto (CIN)
43 TEX - 1B Adrian Gonzalez (SD)
44 PETER - SP CC Sabathia (NYY)
45 WENDT - 2B Brandon Phillips (CIN)
46 PAUL - SP David Price (TB)
47 ROB - 3B Aramis Ramirez (CHC)
48 DUSTIN - SP Brandon Webb (ARI)

ROUND 5
49 DUSTIN - OF Alfonso Soriano (CHC)
50 ROB - SP Jake Peavy (SD)
51 PAUL - OF Cameron Maybin (FLA) - seems early
52 WENDT - C Geovanny Soto (CHC) - only because he drafted Wieters earlier
53 PETER - 2B/SS/OF Alexei Ramirez (CWS)
54 TEX - C Russell Martin (LAD)
55 TUNA - 1B/OF Lance Berkman (HOU)
56 DAN - OF Alex Rios (TOR)
57 BIBBY - SP Dan Haren (ARI)
58 YOSH - OF Manny Ramirez (FA)
59 JAY - 2B Brian Roberts (BAL)
60 MIKE - OF Shane Victorino (PHI)

ROUND 6
61 MIKE - OF Nate McLouth (PIT)
62 JAY - SP Roy Halladay (TOR)
63 YOSH - OF Hunter Pence (HOU)
64 BIBBY - SP Chad Billingsley (LAD)

[Tampa Bob]

This is completely foreign to me. Our keeper league allows us to retain 5 and 5 minor leagers. It flushes players back into the auction. Having the option to keep everyone seems like it would take a lot of the joy out of future drafts. Clearly that isn't the case or the system wouldn't have survived.

Have confessed my ignorance isn't Santana, who's hitting the wrong side or 30, going awfully early? 2nd round seems way premature although I confess I could see a studly young pitcher (Lincecum, Joba, Price) going that early.

[viper]

On Santana, I guess the question to be answered is "what is the life expectancy of a starting pitcher?" Longer than a closer but less than 1B is probably the answer.

Through 12 picks, I have but 4 pitchers and two were in my turn on round 11 & 12. Aside from looking at age a little more than normal when there isn't a clear-cut choice, I'm actually building this team like I do all the time with a strong emphasis towards hitting. I mean, someone has to win the first season and it just as well be me. The only prospect I have drafted is my last pick which was Tommy Hanson. I'd like to get a young 3B but Moustakis & Alverez are already taken. Two weeks ago, those players would have as much chance of being drafted by me as drafting Todd Zola. Now I'm mulling over Wallace [worries me may go to 1B where I have Teixeira], Vitters and Gamel [whoever the hell he is - but he is on many prospect lists].

I have a series of top-50 prospect lists, six in all. If a player is found on five or six of them, he is a target but I am trying to see just who he is.

Prospects already gone, to include some late callups, are in no orde:

Fowler
Alverez
LaPorta
Moustakas
Martinez (nym)
Haywood
Hanson
Wieters
Price
Snider
Maybin
Rasmus
McCutcheon

I was amazed but no 2B were on anyone's top 50. That said, I drafted Kinsler so who cares.

[Tig]

Matt Gamel is in the Brewers system. Aside from Braun's poor defense, the presense of gamel was another reason they moved him to the OF.

[Rusty Barr]

can we get more results please?

[uharchmajor]

I know I'm a little late in the response, but Rusty's recent post got me thinking..

28 WENDT - C Matt Weiters (BAL)

I think if I were to draft in a dynasty league I would forgo Weiters, even if he's the next Mauer except with power; it's still a 12 team league with only 1 C needed. Even with 40 players, I'd probably look for a short fill-in like the guys you would get much later, like Doumit, Napoli, or Ianneatta, and then look at one of the minor league prospects for the future.

M.Ramirex - Tex
Teagarden - Tex
C.Santana - Cle
Posey - SF
Montero - NYY
Flowers - ChW
Skipworth - Fla
Salome - Mil

Just a thought.