Draft Strategy: Fantasy Baseball Keeper League

[Vince]

So tonight, I draft a Fantasy Baseball team from scratch, but this will be the first keeper team that I ever draft. Obviously this makes age a much stronger consideration in my draft choices...how much so, though? This is a typical 5x5 head-to-head league with 10 teams (W, S, K, ERA, WHIP, R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG). We also have a limit to games started by pitchers, so the "streaming" pitchers strategy is not going to work.

I'm a long time veteran of fantasy baseball, so I typically know how to play. I just want to hear from people with some experience with Keeper Teams -- where are you typically drafting position players, versus starting pitchers, versus closers?

[Lathum]

I always try to get a young player at a position hard to fill. Cabrera and Wright would be 2 guys I target

[Travis]

A lot depends on the keeper rules, how many you can keep, if there are positional restrictions (between P and position players) and what compensation, if any, there is for who you keep (forfeiting that rounds pick in the following years draft). Depending on how the draft is going, some people will place too much premium on going with too much of a youth movement which can give you some great value on older guys who you'll only need to have on your team for the year if you're pretty sold on who you already have to fill your eventual keeper requirements.

[Vince]

I'll have to clarify, but I'm pretty sure there are 4 keeper slots, no restrictions on them, and we're going with a draft order that is the reverse order of the standings of the previous year. There is no compensation for not keeping all 4 players.

[QuikSand]

The best general rule is that the newer people are to the keeper concept, the more they will overreact to it. If you're only keeping 4 players, with shallow rosters, I don't think it should change your strategy much at all. The only slight adjustment would be to downgrade guys who are really toward their twilight -- but no need to throw everything you already know out the window.

[Toddzilla]

Also, you'll need to decide if you want to draft to win this year or next, or build a team to win an 3-4 years. You can't really plan to do both - though it could happen.

With only 4 keepers in a draft format, there isn't much different you can really do than a non-keeper league unfortunately.

[Vince]

The best general rule is that the newer people are to the keeper concept, the more they will overreact to it. If you're only keeping 4 players, with shallow rosters, I don't think it should change your strategy much at all. The only slight adjustment would be to downgrade guys who are really toward their twilight -- but no need to throw everything you already know out the window.

This is what I was leaning towards...however, this is more than a typical league. We've (my dad and I) been playing with this same exact group of 10 guys for almost 10 years now. We're only now converting to the keeper format. These guys are also not stupid -- I don't think anyone has won the league more than once.

So with all that being said, I can't expect more than 1 or 2 people in the league to really go overboard on drafting tons of youth. I think the real hitch in my plans are that we're making these two rather significant changes in the league, which will alter the hell out of draft strategy:

-Keeper League
-Limiting Pitching Starts

Until this season, every draft has been grab as many closers as you can early, then just rotate starting pitchers for whoever is pitching the next day so that you ratchet up the Wins and Strikeout numbers. Now, that's going to be completely out the window, so someone like Johan Santana is quite a bit more valuable than he was for the last four years in our league.

[Vince]

Dola -- Santana's probably not the right name there. Someone like...Ian Snell is probably a better fit there. The not-quite-top-tier starter.

[lynchjm24]

With 4 keepers just ignore the fact there are keepers. There is no strategy necessary with such a shallow league and so few keepers.

Maybe try to grab a couple of high upside guys late if you have some reserve spots - Longoria or Bruce could theoretically be worth protecting next year? It takes quite a leap for a young player to get into the top 40 or so players in a mixed league so it would be more luck then skill to happen into one of them.

[lynchjm24]

Until this season, every draft has been grab as many closers as you can early, then just rotate starting pitchers for whoever is pitching the next day

Wow ten years of playing like this? 10 days and I would have thrown in the towel.

[Horizon]

In an online league, I would bet 90% of the keeper leagues started this year will not be around next year. Keep this in mind when selecting young players mfor the future.