2 more days 'till Fantasy Baseball starts!?

Question

Is a keeper or regular league better?

Answer 1

If this is your first time playing fantasy baseball, I would strongly recommend not doing a keeper league. You need to play for a year or two to get the hang of how a draft works and the idiosyncrasies of fantasy baseball (not to mention the level of dedication it takes to keep up with your team on a daily basis).

If you have played a couple of years, try a keeper league. However, I would try to get a group of friends or find a way to get only reliable players that will stick with it. Finding replacements can be a pain.

Answer 2

It's a matter of preference. Many prefer keeper leagues as you can build and cultivate your team over time, building a dynasty. You need to be in a private league to have keepers. Public leagues do not offer this feature.

Regular leagues are fun for the casual and serious player but end when the season ends. That is the primary difference in the two. If you want the experience to go year round, find or create a keeper.

Good Luck!

Answer 3

that depends on you and your competition level.

if you're dedicated to a certain league or you and your friends have a league every year, then a keeper league is a lot of fun b/c it keeps interest and gives you the feeling of being a real owner b/c you have some of the same players back year after year.

personally, i'm all about the keeper leagues.

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EDIT: Here's how I do my keeper league, in case you're interested in starting your own.

My friends and I have had a Yahoo! league for about 7 years and last year we decided to do an offline draft, put money on the line and incorporate keepers. It was a big shift.

Basically everyone put in $5 (we started cheap...we're up to $10 this year) and I put it in a CD at the bank to earn interest. Final winnings are split up as such 1st Place - 70%, 2nd Place - 20%, 3rd Place - 10%.

After that we did the offline draft which was probably one of the best times ever. Getting a bunch of friends together for a draft is a great time and really makes for a great afternoon.

Then we played the season and at the end of the year I simply typed up everyone roster as of the last day of the season and saved it in on my computer.

Each person is allowed to keep one position player and one pitcher for the next season.

We are doing an offline draft again at the end of March (just before the season starts) and everyone's keepers will be inserted into the final two rounds of the draft. No one has to select who they are keeping until three days before the draft...just in case someone gets hurt in spring training it's not fair to stick them with an injury case.

Our league has 18 total players per team. As such:
C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF, UTILITY and SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, P, BENCH, BENCH, BENCH. This keeps from the league getting too deep and people having hords of guys on their bench that never get used and it makes for better management and strategy in the draft and during the season.

We play head-to-head format with 9 offensive categories and 9 pitching categories.

Things get more complicated if you have people join the league. Not so much if people leave the league, but when people join. If people leave you just take all of their players and stick them in free agency, problem solved.

We have two people joining so they are going to flip a coin to see who picks first between them and they will get to do a two round mini-draft where they each draft a pitcher and position player prior to the actual draft to serve as their keepers.

Then we'll draw for draft order and pick the remaining sixteen players to fill-out our rosters for the new season. We draft snake format, just like a Yahoo auto draft and I never activate the league until I have everyone's money, otherwise there are always people who won't pay. Also if you're the guy in charge of the money...make sure you're very good about paying everybody out right after the season...you don't want to prove that you can't be trusted.

Well I suppose that's my suggestion. It's a lot of fun if you're the commissioner, but it's also a little bit of work maintaining the rosters after the season and whatnot. It's also important to check with the league when you set up scoring and stuff to make sure everyone is cool with the options you've chosen.

Also if you're the commish...set up a draft time as soon as possible so everyone can attend or at least be online to submit their picks via instant messenger or something. I set up my draft back in October that way everyone knew and could be sure to have the day off.

Answer 4

I like keeper league better. But if you don't follow young players you might want to stay away from a keeper league.