I’ve never written an article like this.

The reason is that there are no standard setups for keeper and dynasty leagues. Still, people want me to write something, and I’m nothing if not accountable to my followers. So in what follows, I will do my best to lend a hand and I’ll start out with a definition that folks need to focus closely on since there is widespread misunderstanding as to the difference between a dynasty and keeper league.


A DYANSTY LEAGUE is a league where you keep all the players on your squad, forever.

A KEEPER LEAGUE is everything else.

I get the following type of question all the time: “I’m in a dynasty league. We keep five players…”

This is wrong.

If you don’t keep your entire roster then you are in a keeper league, not a dynasty league. There are very few leagues that are dynasty leagues. Nearly every league where players are being kept are keeper leagues.

If you have a dynasty league you keep everyone so we needn’t worry about keeper rules.

If you are in a keeper league you do need to worry about your keeper rules.

This concludes my intro. Hopefully it’s clear.

 

How do we proceed in setting up a keeper league? Here are some thoughts.

There are no keeper league rules that are universal. By that I mean there is not one set of rules that all keeper leagues utilize.

Therefore…

  1. You can set up a keeper league any way you would like.
     
  2. All the rules you have for your league need to be written down. So many leagues leave out rules and then try to change on the fly. If you do leave out something you should leave that rule out until the following season. No in-season changes to the rules should be allowed.
     
  3. You have to implement a penalty for keepers. Well, you don’t have to, but I recommend it or your league has no value. Too often I hear something like, “I have Carlos Gonzalez as a 23rd round draft pick.” What is the value of being in a league where there is a situation like this? I’m not saying you shouldn’t be given credit if you drafted a guy no one knew about, but you also shouldn’t be allowed to keep a superstar, six years after you drafted him, at the cost of a backup middle infielder. More on this line of thought below.

ROSTER SIZES

You can do whatever you want, I know you all will, but if I could set it up, this is how I would do it.

14 hitters start (2C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, MI, CI, 5 OF, UT)

Nine pitchers start (SP or RP)

Seven bench players (any position).

This is the easiest set up.

You can make the argument that there are more pitchers doing more than ever before, so if you want to start 10 pitchers, I could get behind that (teams have more pitchers on their big league rosters than they used to as well).
 

There are, of course, so many options you could riff off this main setup with. Here are two simple options:

  1. You could increase the roster size to 35 or 40 players and be done with it.
  2. You could leave the roster size at 30 and then add a 5-10 person taxi squad filled with minor leaguers.
     

TYPE OF LEAGUE

A plethora of options exist…


MIXED LEAGUES

You can do 10 teams, but it’s lame.

You can do 15, but it’s hard to keep that many people together year after year.

I would recommend going with a 12-team league. It’s the traditional size of mixed leagues, and it offers enough player pool penetration that it’s challenging but still “easy” enough that people won’t feel overwhelmed that they are rostering players they have never heard of.

LEAGUE SPECIFIC

If you’re in an AL- or NL-Only league you can do a 10-team league without issue. I still think you should do 12, it’s my preference and the level I participate in, but 10 is also doable. A 15-teamer is only for those of you with masochistic tendencies.

MINOR LEAGUES

There are two main ways to handle guys on the farm:

  1. You can add minor leaguers like any other players to your roster.
  2. You can have a specific minor league draft or roster in addition to your regular one.

This one comes down to how you want to play it.

The easiest way is simply to have a set roster and allow people to fill it out any way the owners in the league like. If you want to have a supplementary draft just for minor leaguers, so be it.


PLAYER KEEPER OPTIONS

This is where things get interesting/confusing.

Decide what type of league you want (remember, dynasty leagues keep all players). Do you want a league with a lot of player turnover or just a little? Do you want to only be able to keep players drafted after the 10th round? Do you only want to be able to keep players drafted in the first 10 rounds? Do you only want to be able to keep one player a position? Do you only want to be able to keep players with less than three years of experience? You can construct any setup you would like.

Let’s go through some options:

  1. Keep one player.
  2. Keep 3-5 players.
  3. Keep 5-10 players.

Those are the basic options. I would suggest No. 2 for those of you who are new to the keeper setup, but you could easily go with No. 3 if you are committed to the game.

 

I don’t care what position the players play.
I don’t care how old/young they are.
I don’t care… pick a number of keepers and hold them. Simple.
 

PLAYER KEEPER PENALTIES

This is the biggest/most important topic to discuss when it comes to keeper leagues.

You cannot have a setup where you rostered Brian Dozier for $2 or took him in the 29th round in 2012 and his cost for 2016 is… $2 or a 29th round selection. What’s the point of being in a league like this where it costs six times as much money to add Howie Kendrick at the draft as it does to hold on to Brian Dozier? The answer is – there is no point.

“Well then Ray, how should we be doing it?”

Astute fake question reader.

Some thoughts:

  1. You can keep a player one year and then he goes back into the player pool.
  2. You can keep a player for 2-3 years and then he goes back into the player pool.

These are the two simplest way to handle things:

  1. You can sign a player to a one, two or three-year deal. You therefore get the option to keep players for different periods of time. If using these contracts, they should be staggered. Example: Let’s say you keep five players. You should have one three-year deal, one two-year deal and three one-year deals. Something like that.
  2. If you do have contracts with players, they must travel with the player. Let’s say you signed Joey Votto to a three-year deal before the 2014 season. That means he’s played two of three years on his deal heading into 2016. If you decide to trade Votto the team that gets him can hold him for 2016 only before he’s sent back to the free agent pool. Seems obvious to me, but many people seem to miss this one. Not really sure why.

Now the final point, and the most important.

How do you keep players from season to season if you want make things fair?

We have to address two scenarios.

ROUND VALUE

I noted above the options you can avail yourselves of when it comes to retaining players. Here are some more pointed thoughts:

  1. If a player is added off waivers at any point in the season he should cost a mid-level selection the following year. If you have 30 roster spots and add a guy off waivers, that means keeping him would cost you a 15th round selection.
  2. There has to be a scale with players to address keepers. A hypothetical option follows.
    All players should be advanced five rounds. A 20th round selection costs a 15th rounder next year. A 15th costs a 10. A 10th costs a 5th. You could, of course, lower that to three rounds, or increase it to eight if you prefer. In this setup you would not be able to keep any player drafted in the first five rounds (since advancing five rounds takes you past the first round). You could also exempt players taken in the first five rounds meaning anyone taken in the first five rounds can be kept at their current value (I find this option is weak).

An example of how this works:

In 2011 you drafted Aroldis Chapman in the 27th round.
in 2012 Chapman cost a 22nd round selection.
In 2013 Chapman cost a 17th round section.
In 2014 Chapman cost a 12th round selection.
In 2015 Chapman cost a 7th round selection.

You could have kept Chapman for five years and never pay what his ADP said you should have.

Whatever you do, avoid the following…

You cannot be allowed to keep two players from the same round. If you are keeping three players that are 2nd, 5th and 5th round cost they will cost you a 2nd, 4th and 5th round. If you have two players at the same round cost one of the players move to the next highest round (hence moving one of the 5th round picks into a 4th rounder).

DOLLAR VALUE

Provided we’re using the standard, as everyone should, of $260 (if your league is more or less, adjust the added dollar value by the appropriate percentage).
 

  1. If a player is added off waivers his cost should be $10-15 dollars. Are you really going to complain if you have to pay $10 for John Lackey or Curtis Granderson? If you are, then they aren’t keeper worthy. Problem solved.
  2. Same as above… it’s just easy to add $5 or $10 to any player’s cost from last season. Play it out.


In 2011 you rostered Paul Goldschmidt for $8.
In 2012 he cost you $13.
In 2013 he cost you $18.

In 2014 he cost you $23.

In 2015 he cost you $28.

This season he would cost you $33.

 

Goldschmidt earned more than $40 last season.

There isn’t a mixed league around where he will go for less than $33 in a keeper league.

You could have rostered Goldschmidt in 2011 and kept him six years, including 2016, and only paid his true cost once (this year). Do you really have a problem with that?

 

CONCLUSION

No article on keeper leagues can be considered complete. This one isn’t the article to break that mold. Hopefully, though, it will provide a rough outline to allow you to address how best to start the process of refining the setup in your keeper league.