Keeper League Suggestions

[BA-Tex]

I have been running a league for about 4 years on yahoo, with some family and friends and next year we are thinking of switching and doing a keeper league. We are debating how many players to keep from year to year and what is the best site to do it at. I was looking at fanball because the price looked right, any suggestions would be appreciative. Also how does the keeper part work? does it save the entire rosters or allow the owners to save them automatically, and do you just renew your subscription each year to keep everything? I really know nothing about the keeper leagues and could use any info you have.

Thanks.

[joshyboy72]

most keeper leagues allow teams to keep anywhere from 3-6 players from year to year. the players not kept are either picked in a draft by all the teams or bought in an auction draft type thing. Myfantasyleague.com is a good site for a keeper league. Fanball might be good also, but I've never used it.

[Guttpuppy]

I moved this to a forum where you should get some more replies with some good info.

[SpeedDemon]

Fanball is a pretty good site, the live scoring is a bit of an issue, and the draft room is terrible. But I hear they've worked out most of the kinks. My draft this year stalled in the 12th round for about an hour, and it would lag pretty bad, but my guess is one of them had a dial-up connection. Anyway, getting back to the topic, my keeper league will keep one to two people after this year so that the pool of players at next years draft will have plenty of depth. Keeping anything higher than three is a real risk, mostly because you're getting stuck with the same players year in and year out, and the draft becomes shorter and less fun. Some leagues incorporate a system where you can only keep a player on your roster for two years before he must go back into the pool. Helping to mix up the rosters every now and then. Not quite sure of the name, but fanball will carry over your roster every year as long as you decide to keep the league.

[madmike]

I'm considering a small keeper aspect to my league too...not going the full 3-6 players but maybe 1-2.

Most commish sites allow you to carry over rosters (we use CBS commish). Some sites allow you to mark keeper players on the roster page (ESPN?) or can do it manually I guess. Some pruning of rosters will be needed before next draft for non-keepers.

Interesting aspect is off-season trades. I assume people have to declare their keepers by a certain date (August 1?)

I'm also considering parameters around the keepers such as 1 is franchise stud the other slot is developmental young player. Haven't figured out how to manage that all yet.

[The_Commish]

I'd use CBS Commissioner. Year round access and their draft rooms allow drafts to go for weeks/months (whatever you need). There's no having to input rosters.

With all the extensive features, it's definitely worth the money.

[petedog9]

take a peek at rtsports.com

they kick butt!!!

We keep up to 3 players. Its optional to keep any players at all as you can actually keep 0-3 players. If you keep 3 guys then that counts as your first 3 rounds of your draft. 2 players kept= first 2 rounds of your draft etc.

Some guys will keep nobody and get 3 picks before a guy guy who has three keepers . Its a serpentine draft system based on the previous years records.. 10 team league. Works pretty nice...

[deluxe_247]

my keeper league we have to keep one player as mandatory, and have an option to keep a second counting as our first draft pick. i like not being able to keep alot so it gives you a chance to rebuild every year, and keeps it fresh. also, consider how long you can keep players before you draft...some leagues only allow you to keep players a certain number of years while others let you keep them as long as you want.

[BA-Tex]

deluxe, I like the idea of keeping 1 mandatory and having an option for a 2nd if you dont take your 1st round draft choice, where do you run your league at, and is this feature built in? Also does anyone know which sites allow you to trade draft picks for keepers or players in the offseason automatically or does the commish have to do these?

[madmike]

I like the idea of keepers coming off 1st round draft pick next year. That works well for the stud keepers but my developmental keeper idea is a harder idea to manage unless that also costs you a high draft pick forcing you to decide if the young guy will be worth that much to hold.