My Auction & Keeper Plan

I don't support democratic elitism, although I am tempted to these days, so I think people should throw whatever they want on the agenda. Once commonalities/factions develop, then we can develop working groups to develop more coherent and consensual proposals. I also want to put my "plan" out here because I'm pretty sure it is different from and unpopular with the others who want an auction.

Like Carter, I would like to keep the season simple. I devote too much time to our league as it is, so I'm not all that geeked out about replicating the real world of baseball with salary caps, trading of money, contracts, etc. Well, a secret part of me does kind of like such a notion but practicality steers me away. We could always create a second league along the lines of Mo's "Three True Outcomes" for those who want to go that route.

Auction
I want to do an auction simply because I think it would be more fun, less random, and reward preparation. I'm fairly convinced doing an auction will ensure that I finish last in the league, but it's worth the risk. I like the element of competition it injects to the drafting process and the additional strategizing (for one day) it enables. Can I get someone to overpay for Weeks (no)? Will I overpay for Willy Taveras (yes)? Once the teams are put together, I would expect free agency to work as it usually does. No contracts. No cap. No money moving around. Just an auction to build our teams instead of a draft.

Keepers
I'll throw it out there again. I don't understand why people want to key keepers to draft position, value, etc. I think we should let everyone keep a small amount of players. Say 3. If you keep someone, they are no longer in the talent pool and it doesn't cost anything. If we do a draft, you don't need to save any slots to keep them. if we do an auction, no deduction of whatever the "value" of the player is from your auction cash (and no need to perform COLA adjustments each season). If people don't like the idea that whoever gets ARod gets to keep him forever, then we could set a time limit. The point is to reward good management/drafting. The key, I think, to keeping things fluid, both in terms of dealing and in terms of the standings from year to year, is to seriously restrict the number of keepers.

Blowing things up.
Why blow up ownership this year? Because changing the draft, keeper, or stat system (and I want changes in all three) is serious business which ought to be bargained over in good faith. I think people are less likely to do that if they already have strategies in mind based on last season or who they currently own and might like to keep. If people are really up in arms over this, perhaps we could give everyone one legacy keeper. If we change to auction, I think we really do need to have every player available for the sake of a perfect market.

Call me a flat taxer. I want a simple league. I don't want to simulate MLB in all dimensions (although I lean this way when it comes to stats).