Expanding and Transitioning to Keeper League. Advice please?

[Zrab11]

Ok I am wanting some advice on moving my league to a Keeper league next season as well as a small expansion.

 

My thought is to get the whole league together and agree on all the rules before the 2015 draft and I would like to institute keeping players from the 2014 season.

Is that fine?

 

So here is my league settings now. We have been a league for 4 seasons.

 

8 Man League(I know I know. too small but we have a close nit group of guys and didn't want to compromise it with 2-4 more ok fantasy people)

 

2QB,2RB,3WR,1TE,1K,1 DST --- 6 Bench 1 IR

We auction draft with 250$ budget

Scoring is ESPN Standard

FA Auction for waivers- Budget is 80$ for the year. Only 20 Pickups all year.

8 Trades max during the season

2 Divisions of 4 teams. Top 6 teams go to playoffs

We play for money and Trophy

 

So I am looking to do 2 things this year

 

1. Expand the league to 10 teams. So add 2 more members. We already have the members picked out and ready to join.

 

2. Turn this league into a keeper league.

 

So I have a question about #1.

 

Since we are moving to 10 teams do we keep the same Roster as we had in the 8 man. Or change it? Year 1 we had a standard roster and it sucked. Moving to 2QB ,3 WR and no flex really helped the league be more competitive. But now with 2 more members I am not sure if it needs changed or not?

 

Question about #2

 

Ok I Have done some research and it seems like keeper leagues can be VERY customizable and everyone has a way they think i best. So I am sure I will get different opinions but I hope to find a consensus.

 

So here is what I have so far for my Keeper League

 

Keepers

 

1. You may keep 0-3 players each Season(they may be any position and you may keep multiple player from the same position.{ex. RB,RB)

2. Keepers can be kept for a MAX of 3 years(ex.Drafted in 2014, Kept in 2015, Kept in 2016, 2017 re enters draft.)

3. Keepers cost last's year purchase price plus 35%(ex. Andre Ellington was drafted for 21$ last year. To keep him you have to pay 28$[rounded up if .5 or above])

-5$ more for keeper in 2nd year(ex. Andre Ellington 33$), 5$ more the 3rd year(ex. Andre Ellington 38$)

4. All FA(waiver wire pick ups) are 12$

- 2nd year they are 10$ more than purchase price(22$), 3rd year they are 10$ more 32$

5. Keepers will be announced 2 weeks before the Draft

 

Trades

1. Any players traded can be kept by new owner next season.

-Traded Kept player keeper status does not reset with new owner.(Ex. Aaron Rodgers can only be kept 3 years total no matter how many owners he has)

- Traded Kept player must follow same price increase for each year kept.

2. Trades CANNOT be made for Auction or FAA $$

3. All Trades must have a Majority vote to go through(all members not involved in trade vote)

 

Anything you would change or anything I really missed that needs to be added?

 

Weird question. Lets say Tom brady was DRAFTED for 20$ in 2014 but during the season the Owner Dropped him and he was picked up from the waiver wire. Now in the Rules I have it states all Wavier wire pick ups are 12$. If the owner would want to keep Tom Brady do you go off the DRAFTED price even though he wasn't drafted by the team keeping him or does the player go by the FA Price??

 

So this is the first year ANY of us are doing keepers So I want to stay pretty basic but also want to have some good rules. So please make any comments on anything you would change with what I already have and if you can answer any of the questions I have in red.

 

*Disclaimer the 2 new members will not be able to keep anyone since they didn't have a team in our league last year. They are 100% fine with that but just wanted to inform you* If anyone has come across a fair way to let the new members keep a player even though they weren't in your league the previous year please let me know. But if not they are 100% fine with it*

Edited December 18, 2014 by Zrab11

[Dcat]

You have to start with a complete redraft in 2015. Don't let anyone keep players from this season because 2014 drafting and free agent pick up strategy would have been different during the season in a keeper league. Plus, it wouldn't be fair to the new teams joining.

[Company of Heroes]

To make things more equitable for new owners this year you could consider either or both of the following:

 

1) Limit number of keepers this year to 1 or 2

2) Give new owners the opportunity to 'keep' any one player tossed back by the other teams

[Dont Rookie Me........]

Agreed you have to redraft everyone at the same time that is the fun in seeing who is willing to pay what at the beginning.

[stevegrab]

I agree with those saying start with a complete redraft in 2015, unless the keeper plans and their details were in place and known by all owners before the draft. Even then, I think starting over is better for the new owners, and the league as a whole.

 

Otherwise I think the general plan is good and very thorough. Our league is going oin 20 years, has been a keeper from the start and we still very basic keeper rules, 5 players for each team no limits on years, no cost based on where they are drafted. You keep 5, essentially that is the first 5 rounds, then the draft starts with round 1 being like a 6th round.

[Gopher]

I would add a flex. Not because you're expanding, but just because it gives people more options (and it makes it more fun, IMO).

 

You keep referring to the draft. Is it a draft, or an auction?

 

Keeper Rule #3 - Is it 35%, $5, or both?

 

Keeper Rule #4 - Get rid of the second part. If they cost $12 in year one, why not have their keeper "price" increase in the same way that others do, for the following year? It would make sense, and make it easier to track.

 

I agree that starting from scratch might be the most fair. If everyone insists on keeping this year, I would modify the rules for the initial season, and maybe keep 1 or 2. Or, you could keep three, but the expansion teams would have to have some sort of supplemental "draft" from the existing rosters, obviously. For example, all 8 teams pick one keeper, then the expansion teams pick two plays each (from the unprotected player pool), then the 8 teams pick another keeper, then the expansion teams pick a third player, then the 8 pick their final keeper (assuming there something left that they want to keep). The only stipulation could be that the expansion teams are limited to how many players can be sniped from each team (could be 1, or maybe 2).

 

Lastly, drafted players should keep their drafted value, whether they are dropped or not. Just my opinion.

[Wpob]

When we added owners in a keeper league, we reduced the number of keepers (including limits on positions) and then had the two new teams have a two team draft for those players. We also gave them the #3 and #4 spots in the draft to make it fair.

[Big Country]

Couple clarification questions then a basic statement to cover my general philosophy for first time keeper leagues:

 

1. You have an auction draft with a $250 budget, then a separate free agent dollar pool? I take it this means you don't have an in season salary cap? I ask because every auction league I have played in maintained a salary cap. There was no separate pool of FA money, you could bid whatever but if you got a player you had to trim enough space to get them.

 

2. As others have said, you really should do a complete restart for this year. Primarily for the reasons already stated, this years rosters and moves were not made with a keeper league in mind, and it is very unfair to the new teams.

 

3. My general comment is to keep it simple when making a first foray into a keeper league. Right now you are already making it complicated by having varying number of keepers, limit on length of keeping a player, multipliers to salary, different multipliers based on how a player was acquired, etc. All of these rules will make it very difficult on you as a commish to track these things and will make it difficult on owners to manage their teams. With all of that stuff in place, you will need to also determine rules for what calculation/valuation method is used for a player that is acquired in the initial auction, subsequently dropped, then acquired during the season. Does he retain his original auction price, does he get a free agent price.

 

4. No owner votes on trades. Let your owners manage their teams as they see fit. Especially in keeper leagues, owner perspectives on player values are very different, as some owners are playing for the current year vs playing for the future, etc.