Standings
Players
Research & Analysis
Did note that this was a draft? That's why it's in this color rather than black. The keeper syst really isn't that weird, I was just trying to be complete, eh.
UPDATE: 03/24/05: I corrected one rule (and it's application in two illustrations.) I despise the formatting as it now sits; I am going to have to do this over again on the blog starting from a raw text paste. Err, that's my way of saying that I wanted to use strikethroughs but couldn't get it to work within the nasty sea of MS-Word formatting this blogpost has as a background.
1) Introductory
a) This applies to the Down With… series of fantasy baseball leagues run by Yahoo! Fantasy Sports. Check Yahoo! rules for the basics.
b) These rules are in effect when they are approved. After that no changes to these rules made after March 1 will apply to any league activity during that calendar year.
2) League Settings
a) This is a 5x5 rotisserie league.
i) The five hitter categories are as follows: Runs, Runs Batted In, Stolen Bases, Total Bases, OBP.
ii) The five pitcher categories are as follows: Wins, Saves, Strikeouts, ERA, WHIP
b) The positions used are as follows: Catcher, First Base, Second Base, Third Base, Shortstop, Outfield (3), Utility (any hitter), Starting Pitcher (3), Relief Pitcher (3), Pitcher (any pitcher). There are also 8 bench slots (any player) and two Disabled List slots. Yahoo! determines eligibility for each of these positions including the disabled list.
3) The Draft
a) Draft order is assigned randomly.
b) It is acceptable to trade draft positions.
c) The draft is conducted via Y! Chat.
i) We may implement a clock. Regardless:
(1) Draft quickly.
(2) Draft players who have not already been drafted.
(3) Draft players who were not kept.
(4) If you are taking too long (this will be defined) you will be assigned a player selected from the official approved draft list (usually ESPN’s average picks.)
d) Players not within the Yahoo! system may be drafted.
i) You do not get stats from such players until Y! adds them to the system (they are usually quite quick) and they are on your roster.
ii) A team waiting for such a player must keep an empty spot on their roster to hold the place of the drafted player.
iii) The rights to the player drafted are lost in one of two ways:
(1) The manager with rights to the player fails to keep an empty spot. The rights are not relinquished immediately; there is a grace period.
(2) The player does not make it to the manager’s roster by the roster deadline.
4) Keepers
a) Each season up to six eligible players on your previous year’s roster may be selected as keepers. These players will remain on your team for the following year.
i) To be eligible a player must have a keeper cost in the 1st round or later and be on your previous year’s roster the entire time from the roster deadline (always August 31) to the end of the season.
(1) Example 1: Goose Gossage is picked up July 8. On September 3. Goose Gossage is cut so you can pick up Don Mattingly. Neither player may be kept for the following year even if Goose Gossage is picked later on.
ii) All keepers that are not free agents are considered “natural keepers.”
iii) A player is considered a “free agent” when he is either not drafted or drafted in the 14th-24th round and later cut.
(1) In the above example Goose Gossage would have been considered a free agent if he had not been cut.
(2) An FA picked up during the 2005 season has R=13(2005) assigned to him; thus he can be kept at the cost of a 12th round draft pick for 2006 (that is K(2006)=FA-12.)
(3) Free agents do not retain their free agent designation after the first year of being kept as a free agent. That is a player kept as a free agent in 2004 is treated as a natural keeper for 2005.
b) Value definitions
i) R-value – round originally drafted. The R-value specifies a year. R=8(2001) is read “this player was originally drafted in 2001 in the 8th round.”
(1) This is reset after the keeper deadline for all players that were not kept.
(2) This is reset during the year when a player from the 14th round or later (i.e. R=14 or greater) is cut.
(3) This is not reset when a player drafted in the 13th round or earlier is cut.
(4) This is not reset by any trades.
ii) K-value – independent/theoretical draft pick (round) cost to keep a player in a specified year. K(2002)=7 is read “the theoretical keeper cost for this player for 2002 is a 7th round draft pick.” K-values matter before the draft; it does not make sense to speak of K-values for the current year after that year’s draft. K-values are used to determine D-values for keepers.
iii) D-value – round actually drafted for a specific year. D(2003)=4 is read “for this player the actual draft position for 2003 was the 4th round.” D-values are relevant only during the draft and are listed on a prepared draft schedule published each year after the keeper submission deadline and before the draft.
iv) For a single year the D-value for a player are the same as his K-value in all situations except the following:
(1) A player is originally drafted rather than kept; in this instance the D-value is the same as the R-value.
(2) Multiple players have identical K-values for a single year. See discussion of this in 4) c) ii) below.
c) The cost of keeping each player is a draft pick (K-value.) Draft slots being used for keepers by other teams are never a factor in deciding keeper slots for your team.
i) An R-1, R-4, R-9, R-16 system is used to determine K-values.
(1) The first year a player is kept he costs R-1
(2) The second year a player is kept he costs R-4
(3) The third year a player is kept he costs R-9
(4) The fourth year a player is kept he costs R-16
(5) No one can be kept a fifth year; he would cost R-25 and we don’t have a 26 round draft.
ii) Multiple players have identical K-values
(1) R-values (which, unless reset, will be used to determine their draft position for the following year, if applicable) do not change.
(2) The players actual draft positions (D-values) depend on what kind of keeper they are.
(a) All free agent keepers are slotted first using the free agent slotting progression (see below.)
(b) After that the natural keepers are added by assigning slots using the natural keeper slotting procedure (see below.)
(c) It is not relevant which player gets which slot as no R-values change.
(d) All positions are considered fixed once they are assigned unless the keeper set is not valid.
(i) If this procedure assigns any player to D=0 then the keeper set is not valid; keepers then need to be reselected and the players need to be reslotted.
(ii) If an invalid keeper set is submitted and reselection does not occur before the keeper submission deadline then the commish may select offending players to be removed until the procedure no longer assigns D=0.
(3) Free agent slotting progression
(a) One player: D=12.
(b) Two players: D=12 & 13.
(c) Three players: D=12, 13 & 11.
(d) Four players: D=12, 13, 11 & 14.
(e) Five players: D=12, 13, 11, 14, & 10.
(f) Six players: D=12, 13, 11, 14, 10 & 15.
(4) Natural keepers slotting procedure
(a) Take a remaining player and assign D=K unless the K which would be assigned is already full – in which case D is the next earlier round which is open.
(b) If there are keepers remaining to be slotted repeat (a.)
iii) Player Cost Illustrations:
(1) Geoff Zahn is Originally Drafted in 2003 in the 7th round and is kept until his keeper eligibility runs out naturally. Result: R=7(2003); K(2004)=6; D(2004)=6; K(2005)=3; D(2005)=3; not eligible to be kept for 2006 thus his R-value resets.
(2) Johnny Ray was Originally Drafted in 2000 in the 10th round. He is cut during the season and picked up before the roster deadline. Result: Johnny Ray’s R=10(2000) is not reset; K(2001)=9, that is his keeper cost for 2001 would be a 9th round pick.
(3) Example 3: Milt Wilcox is Originally Drafted in 2002 in the 18th round. He has a few rough games to start and gets cut in late May. He has a resurgent June and is picked up (it doesn’t matter by whom) during the All-Star break. Result: R=13(2002) [he is now treated as a free agent], K(2003)=12-FA.
(4) You want to keep Dave Parker, Will Clark, Buddy Bell and Wade Boggs for 2008 and for each of them K(2008)=18. Result: The D(2008) values assigned are 18, 17, 16 & 15. It does not matter which numbers go to which player; their R-values remain unchanged.
(5) In 2003 you picked Kirby Puckett in the 2nd round [R=2(2003)]. During the season you traded for Lou Whitaker who was drafted by another manager in the 2nd round [R=2(2003)]. Result: K(2004)=1 for each player. Thus only one of them may be kept for 2004; the D(2004) value assigned is 1. The other D-value would be 0; this is not an eligible slot.
(6) Neither Ron Cey nor Harold Baines were drafted in 2001 but they are both picked up before the roster deadline. Result: For each player R=13(2001); K(2002)=12-FA. If both are kept for 2002 and there are no other players with K(2002)=12 and no players with K(2002)=13 then their draft slots are D(2002)=12 & 13.
(7) Dale Murphy, Dave Bergman both have K(2006)=15. Charlie Hough has K(2006)=14. Result: You choose to assign Charlie Hough first, D(2006)=K(2006)=14. You choose to assign Dale Murphy next, D(2006)=K(2006)=15. The remaining keeper is Dave Bergman and D(2006)=K(2006)=15 but 15 is already filled by Dale Murphy so Dave Bergman gets D(2006)=13. That is the end cost for these three players is rounds 13, 15 & 15.
(8) Jay Johnstone has K(2003)=12. Walt Terrell has K(2003)=12-FA. Result: You assign the free agent first; Walt Terrell gets D(2003)=12. You assign the natural keeper second; Jay Johnstone gets D(2003)=11.
5) Trades
a) We have a season wrapping trade deadline. Trades are not allowed from the date after this deadline until after the keeper submission deadline for the following year.
b) We have a commish veto for trades
i) If you see a trade you think is unfair you may explain why to the message board.
ii) If your trade gets vetoed and you don’t know why (sometimes it is very, very clear) you may argue your case on the message board.
6) Claims
a) After the draft is completed players not within the Yahoo! system may be “claimed.” These players are treated as free agents with respect to keeper rules.
b) A player is claimed by a clear post to the message board and by dropping a player to make room. “I claim Paul Molitor. I have dropped Rob Dibble to make space.”
c) The Commissioner’s Note will include a list of all players under claim (including those drafted); check both this list and recent message board posts before making a claim.
d) A player under claim may only be picked up the manager who has the claim.
e) The claim is lost in two ways:
i) The manager with rights to the player fails to keep an empty spot. The rights are not relinquished immediately; there is a grace period.
ii) The player does not make it to the manager’s roster by the roster deadline.
f) Claims may not be made after the roster deadline.
7) Deadlines
a) Keeper Submission Deadline: This will be before the draft such that there is adequate time for draft preparation with the knowledge of who is already taken. A final list of players to be kept must be submitted by this deadline.
b) Trade Deadline: This deadline is set at the beginning of the year; it is in mid-to-late-August. Trades must be approved by the commish on or before this day.
c) Roster Deadline: This deadline is always August 31st. A player must appear on your official Yahoo! roster on September 1st to be eligible to be kept. To appear on your roster for Sep 1 a player must be acquired on or before Aug 31.
d) Claim Deadline: This deadline is always August 31st. Claims may not be made after August 31st. Claims actually on August 31st are meaningless due to the roster deadline.
i) Example 1: Gary Templeton was drafted in 2004 by Manager D but was not on the Yahoo! Available Players list. Manager D kept an empty slot on their team all season long but Gary Templeton was not called up to the majors until September and thus was not on the AP list until September 7th. Anyone can pick up Gary Templeton at this point but no one may keep him for 2005.
ii) Example 2: Bret Saberhagen is claimed June 16, 2001 by Manager F. He is added to the Available Players list on August 31st but Manager F doesn’t notice him until September 4th and picks him up then. Bret Saberhagen thus does not appear on a roster on September 1 (he does not appear until Sep 5) and thus is not available to be kept for 2002.
8) Contraction and Expansion - If the number of departing managers matches the number of new managers then the new managers are randomly assigned an existing team. If not we get either contraction or expansion. This section has not yet been written.
12/01/2003 - 01/01/2004 01/01/2004 - 02/01/2004 02/01/2004 - 03/01/2004 03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004 04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004 05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004 06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004 07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004 08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004 09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004 10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004 11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004 12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005 01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005 02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005 03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005
