Keeper Champions- Official Fantasy Thread
 

[U]Members[/U]
1. [B]7jacfire[/B] - paid
2. [B]Cornerstore[/B] - paid
3. [B]crossdog[/B] - paid
4. [B]Chittychitty844[/B] - paid
5. [B]Eckstein197[/B] - paid
6. [B]Hollywood42[/B] - paid
7. [B]jstasyk1121[/B] - paid
8. [B]ksmith31[/B] - paid
9. [B]Poonchka[/B] - paid
10. [B]Ray27Ray52[/B] - paid
11. [B]seanbros55[/B] - paid
12. [B]Viking6[/B] - paid

[URL="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Nrn86ORewCX6k2nLJnjUHiwlKC04fhZxwAWU57L5FVQ/edit?usp=sharing"]Draft order and history can be found here[/URL]

[B]2025 key dates[/B]
Payments due: March 2
Keepers due: March 2
Draft begins: March 3
Opening day: March 27

[COLOR="Red"][SIZE="5"]Basic settings[/SIZE][/COLOR]
-12 teams
-Hosted on ESPN
-$50 buy in
-Points league
-Weekly head to head matchups
-Daily roster locks, each player locks individually at their game's start time

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="5"]Rosters[/SIZE]
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Breakdown:

C
1B
2B
3B
SS
Corner infielder
Middle infielder
OF x3
Utility
SP x6
RP x2

That's 19 slots for starters, and we'll add 5 bench slots for a grand total of 24 roster slots.

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="5"]Scoring[/SIZE]
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[U]Hitters[/U]
Total bases: +1 (1 point per base)
Runs: +1
SB: +1
CS: -1
BB: +1
RBI: +1
SO: -1
Cycle: +5

[U]Pitchers[/U]
IP: +3
L: -5
QS: +4
H: -1
Shutout: +5
ER: -2
K: +1
BB: -1
Complete game: +3
No hitter: +20
Perfect game: +40
Save: +5
Blown save: -3

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="5"]Transactions/Matchup limits[/SIZE]
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Each team will get 3 acquisitions per matchup, and 12 SP starts per matchup.

After the final matchup of the season, acquisitions will be locked over the offseason until the conclusion of the next draft.

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="5"]Waivers/Trades[/SIZE]
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If a player is dropped from a roster, they will be placed on waivers. Waiver period is 1 day, during which teams can make claims on the player. If a team successfully makes a waiver claim, they will be moved to last in waiver order. The waiver order will initially be set by reverse order of the most recent draft. The draft order will never reset during the season.

There will be no limit on how many trades a team can make each year. The trade deadline will be in mid-August each year. Please refer to our league for the exact dates each season. After the trade deadline, no trades will be allowed until the conclusion of the season. After that, trades are allowed up until keepers are due in March. Upon a trade being accepted, the trade will have a review period of 2 days, during which time teams may vote to veto the trade. It will take 6 votes to veto a trade. Vetos should only be used in the case of collusion, not bad trades.

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="5"]Playoffs[/SIZE]
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The 6 teams with the best regular season record will make the playoffs each season. The top 2 teams will receive a first round bye. Each playoff matchup will span 1 week with the winner moving on to the next round.

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="5"]Draft[/SIZE]
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We will discuss as a league each season when the draft will take place, but will target a day in mid-March each year. It will be a snake format. The first 6 picks will be determined by reverse order of regular season standings (last place in regular season gets first pick). This is to prevent teams from tanking in the consolation bracket to try to get a better pick. Picks 7-12 will be determined by reverse order of final standings after playoffs (first place gets last pick).

Draft picks are eligible to be traded, but only after the draft order has been set (after the conclusion of the season). Draft picks may not be included in trades during the regular season.

Any player in our league's player pool is eligible to be drafted, no matter how much or how little MLB experience they have.

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="5"]Keepers[/SIZE]
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Each team may keep up to 5 players from their team each year. Keepers will cost a draft pick in order to keep, which is based on the number of consecutive years a player has been kept. The first year a player is kept, they will cost a pick in 1 round higher than they were taken in the previous year's draft. The second year cost will be 2 rounds higher than the previous draft. And the third and all following consecutive years will be 3 rounds higher than the previous draft. There is no limit to how long a player can be kept, but if/when escalators raise keeper cost higher than a 1st round pick, that player is no longer keeper eligible. For example, if I draft Mike Trout in the 10th round in 2021, his keeper cost would be a 9th round pick in 2022. If he is again kept in 2023, his keeper cost would be a 7th round pick. And if kept again in 2024, his keeper cost would be in the 4th round. Finally, his keeper cost in 2025 would be a 1st round pick, and that would be the final year he could be kept.

These keeper escalators do *not* reset when a player is traded, nor when a player is dropped midseason. The only time keeper cost resets back to +1 round is when a player is not kept and returned to the draft pool.

If at any time a team wishes to keep 2 players due to cost a pick in the same round, the player that scored more points between the two of them will escalate one additional round. In the event the 2 players scored the same number of points, the player whose last name comes first alphabetically will be escalated one additional round. For example, if I want to keep Clayton Kershaw and Bryce Harper and they both are slated to have 5th round cost, whoever scored more points in the prior season would be bumped up to 4th round cost. If they scored the same number of points, Harper would become 4th round cost due to the alphabetical rule. Alternatively, if I acquire a second pick in the 5th round, both players may still be kept in the 5th round, each using one of my two picks that round. This same logic applies for if 3, 4, or 5 players are due to be kept in the same round.

If a team added a player off waivers or free agency during the year and wants to keep them, the player will cost them a 15th round draft pick, but only if they were not drafted that season. For example, if I add Carlos Correa from the free agent pool and he was not drafted by anyone at the start of the year, it would cost me a 15th round pick to keep him for 2021

These described costs follow a player even if they are dropped, claimed, added, or traded during the season. For example, if someone drafts Ronald Acuna in the third round and drops them several weeks into the year, and then I add him to my team, he would still cost a second round pick for me to keep the following season. He does NOT revert to free agent cost since someone drafted him that season. Anyone that is drafted automatically has their keeper cost set in stone for the year, regardless if they stay on a roster for the entire season.

This is the case even if a player was originally drafted last year but later dropped by a team. For example, if I added Carlos Correa from the free agency pool and wanted to keep him, he would cost me a draft pick in the 15th round. If a team elects to keep 2 players acquired via free agency or waivers, they same logic applies as described above.

No player without MLB experience is eligible to be kept.

Keeper selections will be due in late February or early March each season. We will announce a specific date each year.

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="5"]Buy-ins[/SIZE]
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There will be a buy-in of $50 per team each season. There will be a due date of March 1st to submit a buy-in without a $20 late fee each year ($10 of that late fee goes to LeagueSafe, the other $10 will be split evenly between our payouts). If you do not submit your buy-in by this date, you will be subject to being replaced.

The payout structure will be as follows. $50 per team x 12 teams = $600 in total prize money

1st: $300
2nd: $150
3rd: $100
4th: $50

All buy-ins and payouts will be handled through LeagueSafe so no member ever has the funds in their possession. Hollywood42 will distribute the funds at the end up the year, but it will require half of the teams to approve the distribution (to approve the money is going to the correct teams). This can be done on our league page on LeagueSafe. PM reminders will be sent out to everyone each year after approval is available.

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="5"]Tiebreakers[/SIZE][/COLOR]

In the event that two teams have the same number of points after a regular season matchup, both teams will recieve a tie for that week. If two teams have the same number of points after a playoff matchup, our league's tiebreakers will determine who gets the win for the week. This applies for all playoff matchups, including the final matchups of the year. Tiebreakers will also break any ties in record for playoff seeding. Our league's tiebreakers are as follows:

1. Head to head record
2. Most regular season points scored
3. Coin flip

[COLOR="Red"][SIZE="5"]Special COVID rules for 2020[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[B]For historical purposes, the following list is a set of rules that were temporarily adapted during the shortened 2020 season. These rules are no longer applicable.[/B]
[LIST][*]$20 entry fee, $30 applies towards next year's payment (the $30 can also be refunded if you so choose)[*]1 team in the MLB must reach 40 full games played for our season to count. If no teach reaches 40 complete games, the full $50 applied to next year (or refunded)[LIST][*]I am not 100% sure how the rolling over will work logistically, but we will figure it out. Worst comes to worst I can refund everyone and we can do our usual collections in February[/LIST][*]Scoring format- Head to head but roto style. Everyone is matched up against everyone for the week-long matchup, you get a win for all team you finish with more points than, and a loss for everyone you finish with less points than. Standard rules for SP limits still apply. I will keep track of results in our draft spreadsheet as I don't believe ESPN can handle it outright[*]Final standings will be determined by W/L. Tiebreaker is total points scored over the full season, second tiebreaker is a random. The top 3 teams finish in the money ($120/$80/$40)[*]Keeper values will not escalate next season. Costs will be the round they were drafted in this season, NOT +1. Prices will escalate again as usual the following season (2022) assuming next season is back to normal[*]Teams still get 5 keepers next season[LIST][*]Normal MLB experience rules still apply, only players with MLB experience are eligible to be kept[/LIST][*]Trade deadline will be August 26, 33 days into the season[*]All adds, drops, and trades are final. If we get a week into the season and you trade Mike Trout for Max Scherzer, and the next day the rest of the season is canceled, you still have Scherzer. This also means that if you drop someone sitting this season out, you do not get them back in the offseason as a keeper option. You must hold them for the full season[*]To account for opt outs and potential positive COVID tests, we will increase the available bench slots on each team by 2 spaces and add 2 more DL slots[LIST][*]We will do 2 quick additional rounds of draft picks to fill the 2 bench slots for all teams that wish to participate, picking up the draft order where it left off. No trades of these extra picks, please[*]Players drafted in these 2 fill-in rounds will start off as round 24 costs to keep, should that scenario arise[/LIST][/LIST]
[COLOR="red"][SIZE="5"]League History[/SIZE][/COLOR]

League history including draft results, final standings, and more will be edited into this post as we move forward in this league.

[B]Year Eight (2025[/B]

[B]Final standings[/B]

Playoff bracket
1. Chittychitty844
2. Crossdog
3. Viking6
4. Hollywood42
5. 7jacfire
6. Jstasyk1121

Consolation bracket
7. Poonchka
8. Seanbros
9. Chris Lyle
10. Cornerstore
11. Ray27Ray52
12. Eckstein197

[B]Year Seven (2024)[/B]

[B]Final standings[/B]

Playoff bracket
1. Hollywood42
2. Ksmith31
3. Poonchka
4. Viking6
5. Jstasyk1121
6. Seanbros

Consolation bracket
7. Chittychitty844
8. Eckstein197
9. Cornerstore
10. Crossdog
11. 7jacfire
12. Ray27Ray52

[B]Regular season standings[/B]
1. Ksmith31 17-5
2. Viking6 17-5
3. Hollywood42 17-5
4. Poonchka 12-10
5. Jstasyk1121 12-10
6. Seanbros 10-12
7. Cornerstore 10-12
8. Eckstein197 10-12
9. Crossdog 9-13
10. Chittychitty844 9-13
11. 7jacfire 6-16
12. Ray27Ray52 3-19

[B]Year Six (2023)[/B]

[U]Final standings[/U]
1. Poonchka
2. Jstasyk1121
3. Hollywood42
4. Crossdog
5. Viking6
6. 7jacfire
7. Seanbros
8. Eckstein197
9. Chittychitty844
10. Ray27Ray52
11. Cornerstore
12. Ksmith31

[U]Regular season standings[/U]
1. Jstasyk112115-7
2. Poonchka 14-8
3. Crossdog 14-8
4. 7jacfire 14-8
5. Hollywood 13-9
6. Viking6 13-9
7. Seanbros 11-11
8. Eckstein197 10-12
9. Chittychitty844 9-12-1
10. Ray27Ray52 8-13-1
11. Cornerstore 6-16
12. Ksmith31 4-18

[B]Year Five (2022)[/B]

[U]Final standings[/U]
1. Viking6
2. Ksmith31
3. Seanbros55
4. Chittychitty844
5. Cornerstore
6. Ray27Ray52
7. Hollywood42
8. Bn2cardz
9. 7jacfire
10. Jstasyk1121
11. Eckstein197
12. Poonchka

[U]Regular season standings[/U]
1. Viking6 (16-4)
2. Ksmith31 (14-6)
3. Ray27Ray52 (12-8)
4. Seanbros55 (12-8)
5. Cornerstore (11-9)
6. Chittychitty844 (11-9)
7. Hollywood42 (11-9)
8. Bn2cardz (10-10)
9. 7jacfire (7-13)
10. Jstasyk1121 (6-14)
11. Eckstein197 (5-15)
12. Poonchka (5-15)

[B]Year Four (2021)[/B]

[U]Final standings[/U]
1. Viking6
2. Jstasyk1121
3. Ksmith31
4. Hollywood42
5. Ray27Ray52
6. 7jacfire
7. Seanbros55
8. Diem926
9. Cornerstore
10. Eckstein197
11. Bn2cardz
12. Poonchka

[U]Regular season standings[/U]
1. Viking6 (19-2)
2. Jstasyk1121 (17-4)
3. Ksmith31 (14-7)
4. Hollywood42 (14-7)
5. Ray27Ray52 (14-7)
6. 7jacfire (12-9)
7. Bn2cardz (9-12)
8. Seanbros55 (8-13)
9. Eckstein197 (7-14)
10. Poonchka (6-15)
11. Diem926 (5-16)
12. Cornerstore (1-20)

[B]Year Three (2020)[/B]

[U]Final standings[/U]
[I]Modified scheduling format due to covid[/I]
1. Seanbros55 (75-24)
2. Hollywood42 (66-32-1)
3. Ksmith31 (65-34)
4. Eckstein197 (63-36)
5. Jstasyk1121 (62-37)
6. 7jacfire (60-39)
7. Texmcpherson (51-47-1)
8. Viking6 (46-53)
9. Poonchka (37-61-1)
10. Cornerstore (28-70-1)
11. Ray27Ray52 (27-70-2)
12. Diem926 (11-88)

[B]Year Two (2019)[/B]

[U]Final standings (including playoffs)[/U]
1. ksmith31
2. jstasyk1121
3. ksemmel
4. Viking6
5. seanbros
6. Poonchka
7. Diem926
8. Cornerstore
9. Ray27Ray52
10. 7jacfire
11. Hollywood42
12. mike1870

[U]Regular season final standings[/U]
1. ksmith31 (19-2)
2. jstasyk1121 (15-6)
3. ksemmel (14-7)
4. seanbros (14-7)
5. Viking6 (13-8)
6. Poonchka (10-11)
7. Diem926 (10-11)
8. Cornerstore (8-13)
9. 7jacfire (8-13)
10. mike1870 (7-14)
11. Hollywood42 (5-16)
12. Ray27Ray52 (3-18)


[B]Year One (2018)[/B]

[U]Final standings (including playoffs)[/U]
1. ksmith31
2. ksemmel
3. Cornerstore
4. 7jacfire
5. nateyad
6. Hollywood42
7. seanbros
8. Poonchka
9. Viking6
10. Diem926
11. Firerunner4
12. Ray27Ray52

[U]Regular season final standings[/U]
1. ksmith31(15-4)
2. 7jacfire (14-5)
3. ksemmel (12-6-1)
4. Hollywood42 (12-7)
5. Cornerstore (11-8)
6. nateyad (10-9)
7. Viking6 (9-10)
8. Ray27Ray52 (9-10)
9. seanbros (8-11)
10. Firerunner4 (5-13-1)
11. Poonchka (4-15)
12. Diem926(4-15)

Looks good to me buddy, I'm in

I thought we were doing straight points and not head to head? Am I reading that wrong?

I've never been a fan of head to head. There's too much variance and isn't a realistic representation of the marathon that is a baseball season.

Count me in if anyone drops out of the league. Fifty buy in is good for me. Thanks!

Plan is to do points with weekly head to head matchups that result in a win, loss, or tie. There can be weeks that aren't indicative of things as a whole, but over the course of the year, things will even out so the best teams are at the top of the standings. Plus it's not as fun when all you do is set your lineups and never have any direct competition with another team :)! Playoff matchups are 2 weeks long each to help avoid those wonky weeks

[QUOTE=Ray27Ray52;13187705]I thought we were doing straight points and not head to head? Am I reading that wrong?

I've never been a fan of head to head. There's too much variance and isn't a realistic representation of the marathon that is a baseball season.[/QUOTE]

Got you added to the waitlist

[QUOTE=mrbasepauly;13187734]Count me in if anyone drops out of the league. Fifty buy in is good for me. Thanks![/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Hollywood42;13187737]Plan is to do points with weekly head to head matchups that result in a win, loss, or tie. There can be weeks that aren't indicative of things as a whole, but over the course of the year, things will even out so the best teams are at the top of the standings. Plus it's not as fun when all you do is set your lineups and never have any direct competition with another team :)! Playoff matchups are 2 weeks long each to help avoid those wonky weeks



Got you added to the waitlist[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I pretty much disagree with everything you wrote, lol. Head to head could potentially reward someone in the playoffs whose team gets really hot instead of rewarding a full seasons worth of consistent statistics. But it's cool. I'm not trying to be a Richard. I'm still in.

I hear you, but that's baseball in the real world too- Any given day :)! Glad to still have you aboard

[QUOTE=Ray27Ray52;13187769]Yeah, I pretty much disagree with everything you wrote, lol. Head to head could potentially reward someone in the playoffs whose team gets really hot instead of rewarding a full seasons worth of consistent statistics. But it's cool. I'm not trying to be a Richard. I'm still in.[/QUOTE]

Everything looks good, though I'd definitely prefer ESPN over Fantrax.

I'm with Ray in that I don't really like the H2H concept, but I'll still be in. I heard an interesting thing during the football season where it was head to head and you got a win loss or tie based on matchup, but you also got a win if you finished in the top half of league in points that week, and loss if in the bottom half. I thought that was a cool idea as you don't get penalized as hard if you scored really well but faced a team that went off. Just a thought.

[QUOTE=7jacfire;13187857]Everything looks good, though I'd definitely prefer ESPN over Fantrax.[/QUOTE]

I would prefer ESPN as well. I don't have a Fantrax account and lord knows I don't need anymore spam showing up in my inbox every single day.

I definitely know ESPN better, but the thing with Fantrax is that it's much better for league customization. In particular, handing keepers with a value attached. ESPN doesn't offer that, so if we do an online draft, it would be pretty weird as I have no way to set a certain player to be drafted by a certain team in a certain round. So I see a lot of headaches there with people forgetting who isn't allowed to be taken and when, that sort of thing. Of course, we could do a slow offline draft and avoid all of that, which would be great

[QUOTE=Ray27Ray52;13187906]I would prefer ESPN as well. I don't have a Fantrax account and lord knows I don't need anymore spam showing up in my inbox every single day.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=7jacfire;13187857]Everything looks good, though I'd definitely prefer ESPN over Fantrax.[/QUOTE]

Sounds good, I am in.

ESPN as well.

Am I understanding the hitting scoring correctly where you get 0 points for an actual base hit or double?

It's a point per total base. So a single is 1, double is 2, triple is 3, home run is 4 (plus a point each for a run scored and a RBI). Just makes things cleaner than setting each type of hit up

[QUOTE=Viking6;13188012]Am I understanding the hitting scoring correctly where you get 0 points for an actual base hit or double?[/QUOTE]

As long as total bases gets you points (I didn't see hits in the scoring or total bases) I am good with everything and I am confirmed.


I've never used Fantrax but I am fine with either website. Whatever makes it easier to keep track of keepers and such.

Im in, I'm used to using Fantrax but am good with whatever the group wants

Although the only thing I wasn't too fond of was if you keep a player you pick up during the season that it only costs a last round pick.

I would prefer to see it cost you something higher than that. For instance what if Harper gets hurt and the owner, for some reason, drops him...now he becomes a last round keeper? That's pretty insane.

My fault, total bases was meant to be in there- Didn't realize I missed it

[QUOTE=ksmith31;13188345]As long as total bases gets you points (I didn't see hits in the scoring or total bases) I am good with everything and I am confirmed.

I've never used Fantrax but I am fine with either website. Whatever makes it easier to keep track of keepers and such.[/QUOTE]

Well the bigger problem in that situation is the guy dropping Harper in the first place. But I do see a potential issue of someone that's out of it by midseason picking up all these top prospects that haven't hit the majors yet and being able to keep them for 20 years before they cost more than a 5th round pick. So that is something to consider

I was thinking about adding some sort of accelerated cost. For example, people drafted in rounds 18-25 cost a pick 3 rounds higher than where they were drafted to keep, then guys drafted in rounds 10-18 cost 2 rounds higher, and guys 2-10 cost 1 round higher. Something like that would limit that problem. I don't have an issue with rewarding someone for finding the next Trout super early and being able to keep him on the cheap for a long time, but I do see potential issues with prospects being kept for 20th round picks

Think about it, if you were aggressive and took Vlad Jr in the 20th round, even if he doesn't debut for another 3 years, you'd still have 7 years with him before he costs you a 10th round pick. So I think there ought to be some rule in place to prevent that. Perhaps we could say you can only keep players that have MLB experience?

[QUOTE=ksmith31;13188448]Although the only thing I wasn't too fond of was if you keep a player you pick up during the season that it only costs a last round pick.

I would prefer to see it cost you something higher than that. For instance what if Harper gets hurt and the owner, for some reason, drops him...now he becomes a last round keeper? That's pretty insane.[/QUOTE]

or only keep for a maximum of 3 seasons...something like that.

That would also work, though it'd be one additional thing to keep track of

[QUOTE=ksmith31;13188573]or only keep for a maximum of 3 seasons...something like that.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Hollywood42;13188597]That would also work, though it'd be one additional thing to keep track of[/QUOTE]

Okay then I would think making free agent pickup keepers start at somewhere like a 10th round pick would be best. That's just my opinion and I will do whatever we go with in the end.

10th round seems a little high, but maybe something like 15 would be a good compromise. I'd like to hear some thoughts from a few other league members on this before we make a decision

[QUOTE=ksmith31;13190668]Okay then I would think making free agent pickup keepers start at somewhere like a 10th round pick would be best. That's just my opinion and I will do whatever we go with in the end.[/QUOTE]

Whatever round everyone decides on Free Agents is fine with me. There is always, every single year, 2 or 3 guys who go undrafted and wound up being solid contributing keeper options. If you are wise enough to spot them and grab them before someone else you should be rewarded for it in my opinion. I mean yeah, occasionally you luck box your way into a stud but that's a part of the game. Usually it's a shrewd acquisition that is a product of hard work and research that makes the difference.

I agree with all that, but I'm more concerned with people gaming the system with prospects. You could probably take a younger top prospect in round 20 or later. There's no guarantee he'll pan out, but if you're willing to kill a keeper slot on him, you could have a young stud for 10 years without it ever costing you more than a 10th round pick. Like I said, I'm cool if you find the next Trout early. But what I described seems like gaming the system a bit

[QUOTE=Ray27Ray52;13190935]Whatever round everyone decides on Free Agents is fine with me. There is always, every single year, 2 or 3 guys who go undrafted and wound up being solid contributing keeper options. If you are wise enough to spot them and grab them before someone else you should be rewarded for it in my opinion. I mean yeah, occasionally you luck box your way into a stud but that's a part of the game. Usually it's a shrewd acquisition that is a product of hard work and research that makes the difference.[/QUOTE]