Hey guys, looking for some input here. My friends and I are starting a 5-player keeper league (14 hitters, 9 pitchers, 5 bench, weekly rosters, 5x5 H2H, auction) with some pretty neat keeper rules. You have to sign guys to one of two types of "contracts": the long-term deal or the short-term deal.

The short term deal basically states that you keep the player in question the next year for the same dollar amount (if you drafted Trout for $8 last year, you get him for $8 this year but next year he's automatically a free agent. The long term deal is slightly more complicated: you take the length of the contract multiplied by 5 and add on the original amount (If you draft Trout for 8 but want to keep him for 4 years, take the 4 years x $5+ the original 8 to get $28 a year for 4 years). Each contract has its advantages with the STD (short-term deal) maximizing value for a minimization of the leanghth and the LTD is a give-and-take with a smaller value pressed out over a span of years.

My initial strategy is between a 215/45 to a 230/30 hitter to fielder split. I want to focus on true LIMA pitchers with the focus on control (bb/9) and WHIP in the 1-3$ range (with 9 pitcher slots x 12 teams there is a very shallow pitcher pool that I'm looking to take advantage of) that I would keep on a STD next year. The focus on hitters is more of a spread the wealth type deal where I'm targeting 10-20$ players with these guys as my targets for long term deals. My question to you guys is which pitchers would you target PAST the top 35 overall (prospects greatly appreciated) and which hitters would you be looking into spending 5-10 dollars on this year to keep to a 2-4 year deal, meaning: Which <$10 players this year will provide >$25 value over the next 3-4 years.

Lastly, do you have any ideas for the concept of the keeper league (rule changes and what not)?