taking the next step

ok, so we nailed down that we're not doing keepers. let's now turn our considerable attentions to the issues of A) how the auction system will inform the new keepers. B) stats. once we've finally decided this shit, we can just sit down and actually, you know, like, do fantasy baseball.

in re the new keeper regime, i'm going to throw on the table what i feel like are the obvious, sort of in the air plans. please comment and let me know if you see an omission.

1) contracts system of some kind.
2) a straight keep, i.e., just tag X dudes and get to keep them no questions asked.
3) a discount system. you guys know my opinion of this.

i'm partial to a contracts system; it's pretty easy to keep track of, facilitates the trading of auction dollars plus future stars with a contract in exchange for right-now help (one of my favorite kinds of trades).

i think a straight keep would work, although it would kind of undermine the whole point of an auction; unless it somehow expired, everbody could just salt away X dudes permanently. i like the contracts system we have in my NYC league.

Four one-year deals (meaning someone you bid on in 2008 is locked in for 2009)
Two two-year deals. (same as above 'cept through 2010)

Contract value = purchase price of player + 10%. In the case of 2 yr dudes, it's last year's salary + 10%.

Obviously, every year you get the same # of contracts, which means that the two-years from last year will be held over, and you'll truly have 8 contracts each year.

Now, the fine print: You have to name two contracts RIGHT AWAY after the auction. this is a fun wrinkle -- it results in hedged bets like my John Danks contract from last year, fully intending to not use him all year but hoping he'd be league average by 2008. The rest are announced before the next year's auction.

Minimum contract is $5 -- anybody priced below that escalates to $5. Otherwise a $1 pickup of someone like russell martin is just an insaaaaane advantage.

Contracts are tradeable, there's no limit on how many you can acquire, other than roster size (25 or so, presumably). also it helps to cap the amount of auction cash someone can deal in one season -- $25 is our cap, just so no one totally fucks themselves for the next season.

No contracting of players not auctioned. E.g., no fausto carmona -- if you were lucky enough to snag them off the waiver wire, you got your reward already.

The total sal cap btw is $260, standard issue. I welcome response.

Berman

This surely must have been posted to one of our league boards, but I don't remember seeing it.
http://sharpshooters.blogspot.com
Scroll down toward the bottom, "Berman Loses His Shit"

keepers issue

two questions:

1) do we keep keepers (there's certainly a better way to say that) or blow everything up?

2) if we DO maintain keepers, do they stay outside the auction, or do we take last year's ESPN valuation as the 'price' for keeping them?

3) how many keepers.

that was three questions, i guess.

crickets chirping

come on, everyone. i've got new spreadsheets brewing. i even fixed the ones that indicated spending $18 on adam dunn might be a good idea.

what's the auction budget going to be, btw?

logistics

1) do we have a firm date for the draft? i'd like to buy tickets earlier rather than later.

2) are stats finalized? with an auction, i feel like sort of
winging it (like i have in years past (might be a disastrous strategy this year. hence the need to start preparations early. let's get this started...

3) what podcasts does everyone on the board listen to? with 40 minutes of commute time per way, i'm in the market for new suggestions.