Keeper Problems: When Having Too Good OF A Team Is An Issue

by Chris Buckley on Feb 6, 2012 1:00 PM EST in Fantasy Baseball Thoughts

Question mark Exhibition of Jean-Michel Folon

While the rest of the world was watching the Super Bowl, I was gearing up for what I expect to be multiple fantasy baseball championships. This particular 16 team, H2H league I am in offers quite the keeper quandary. The scoring is below, as is the list of players that could be deemed keeper worthy. You'll see that I have some pretty studly players to choose from and I must narrow it down to 3 keepers with no draft pick penalty. I have a good idea on who I plan on keeping but it's always good to get a second, third, and maybe a fourth opinion. This league has an interesting "graduation" rule where we are allowed to keep 2 bonus keepers who exceed rookie limits for two seasons there after. Those two bonus keepers for me are Carlos Santana and Daniel Hudson. They will exhaust bonus keeper eligibility after this season and then the question becomes will I keep them as regulars? Obviously that answer is a no as of now, but it is worth noting. And before you ask, yes, this roster resulted in a championship, first place from beginning to end. #Humblebrag

Please leave a comment with the 3 players you would keep. Thanks!

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Scoring for Batting Categories

1B	Singles	1 point
2B	Doubles	2 points
3B	Triples	3.75 points
BB	Walks (Batters)	1 point
CS	Caught Stealing	-1 point
CYC	Hitting for the Cycle	15 points
GSHR	Grand Slam Home Runs	10 points
HP	Hit by Pitch	1 point
HR	Home Runs	4.75 points
KO	Strikeouts (Batter)	-1 point
OFAST	OF Assists	2 points
R	Runs	1 point
RBI	Runs Batted In	1 point
SB	Stolen Bases	2 points
SF	Sacrifice Flies	1 point
Scoring for Pitching
BBI	Walks Issued (Pitchers)	-.75 points
BS	Blown Saves	-2 points
CG	Complete Games	6 points
ER	Earned Runs	-1.25 points
HA	Hits Allowed	-.5 points
INN	Innings	1 point
K	Strikeouts (Pitcher)	1.5 points
L	Losses	-5 points
NH	No-Hitters	15 points
PG	Perfect Games	25 points
QS	Quality Starts	6 points
RW	Relief Wins	0 points
S	Saves	7.5 points
SO	Shutouts	10 points
W	Wins	10 points

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Comments

wow

You must play with a bunch of people that don’t know anything about baseball to have this good of a team. I would keep Adrian Gonzalez, Evan Longoria and Clayton Kershaw

by Brew_Crew on Feb 6, 2012 1:05 PM EST via iPhone app reply actions

That’s who I would keep too. You better have won this league last year!

by highvoltagerob on Feb 6, 2012 2:11 PM EST up reply actions

Longoria ...

Could score as many as 100 more points than he did last season. But, even if that’s the case, I’d still bet on Ellsbury scoring 100 more than him. In 2011, Ellsbury scored over 200 more points than Longo.

Position scarcity is definitely important, but no hitter scored more points than Ellsbury in 2011 and while his HR could drop, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him lead all scorers again. Considering his skill set, home ball park and lineup, Ellsbury just has a ridiculous number of ways to score points.

by Kevin Boger on Feb 6, 2012 2:55 PM EST up reply actions

question

just curious Kevin, how much do you weigh position scarcity? I value it quite a bit, sometimes almost to a fault.

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FakeTeams

by Chris Buckley on Feb 7, 2012 1:14 PM EST up reply actions

actually

the league is pretty competitive, a lot of knowledgeable players, I just exploited a non rule and some draft pick trading. When I took over the team I dealt several players for picks, another round 1 and round 4. Also there was no rule that we had to keep 3 players, I opted to keep 2, Kershaw and Longoria, giving me a pick prior to the draft actually starting. I acquired A Gonz by dealing Lind and Ervin Santana for Tex and then flipped Tex and Banuelos for Gonzalez. Ellsbury was traded for in a deal involving Grady Sizemore, I think I did that over the course of a hot weekend, prior to this injury. When it came trade deadline time, I targeted teams that were out of it already and looking towards next year. I won’t be able to use the same methodology this year, the league was really unbalanced prior to last year and through all my dealings I kind of evened things out.

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FakeTeams

by Chris Buckley on Feb 6, 2012 3:23 PM EST up reply actions

Honestly

I don’t think you have any real issues here. Adrian Gonzalez, Jacoby Ellsbury and Clayton Kershaw are your keepers. Kinsler and Longoria are injury prone, but they do occupy thin positions. Granderson and Victorino can be picked up in later rounds. As for your closers…Papelbon and Wilson both seem to decline last year (for one reason or another). I don’t think it’s even a contest, Gonzalez, Ellsbury and Kershaw are your top keepers – especially in a points league.

by park.jaesang on Feb 6, 2012 1:27 PM EST reply actions

calling Longoria injury prone is a stretch. 157,151,133 games in his last 3 seasons.

by gatorenginr88 on Feb 6, 2012 2:32 PM EST up reply actions

That is an insanely good team ...

Considering the value of SP in a points league, you have to keep Kershaw. In fact, he was the #1 overall pick in a H2H points league mock I did this weekend on CBS Sportsline.

Second would be A-Gon. I like him right after Cabrera and Pujols at 1B in 2012 and assuming his shoulder woes are behind him, we should see a few more balls land over the fence in 2012. With that scoring system, 600 points might not be out of the question for Gonzalez this season.

Third is the tough one and its between Longoria, Ellsbury and Kinsler. Kinsler and Longoria should both approach 500 points next season, while Ellsbury is likely to reach 600 or more in that scoring format, even if he hits 10 less HR than he did in 2011.

While I love the position scarcity the other two offer, there aren’t many hitters likely to reach 600 or more points and you could have 2 on your roster to start the season with A-Gon and Ellsbury, so I would go that route.

There is no chance you would get Ellsbury back in the draft if you let him go and you probably won’t get Longoria either, but if Kinsler is still available, I would go that route, assuming Pedroia and Cano are both off the board.

Kershaw, A-Gon, Ellsbury

by Kevin Boger on Feb 6, 2012 2:03 PM EST reply actions

you should see

my minor leaguer’s! Ha. Its a pretty cool league, sort of a keeper-dynasty hybrid. We keep 3 players, 2 bonus, and 5 minor leaguers going forward. I’ve got Cole, Bauer, Skaggs, Middlebrooks, Arenado, Vizcaino, and Lavarnway to choose from.

I think there’s a spot for another owner if you’re interested.

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FakeTeams

by Chris Buckley on Feb 6, 2012 3:26 PM EST up reply actions