Expanding to 12 teams, adjust roster size?

[Hags888]

Hey All,

I'm only in my second year as a commissioner, and therefore have little experience with this sort of thing. I've been playing FF for 4 years, but only in 10 team leagues, so I have no experience with how 12-team leagues operate. My league this year expanded from a 10-team standard league to a 12-team standard league. I'm concerned that the quality of players available on the waiver wire, and in the late rounds of the draft, will be significantly less, and I'm wondering if it's a good idea to reduce the number of roster players to help combat this problem? It's worth pointing out that a significant number of team owners in the league are either newbs this year, or were newbs last year.

The roster spots last year for my 10-team were the following:
QB
RB x2
WR x2
FLEX (WR/RB)
TE
D/ST
K
Bench x7

So, we had 16 total players, with 9 starters and 7 bench. I'm considering reducing the number of starters by 1, so that every team only drafts 15 players. Would this be a good idea? If so, where would you cut the extra player? Would you cut the number of starters or the bench? I'm toying with 8 starters and 7 bench, so it would look like this:
QB
RB
WR
FLEX x2
TE
D/ST
K
Bench x7

I also want this to be as conventional a league as possible, and I'm worried that the above change would make it a bizarre league. Any thoughts or opinions here? I'm certainly willing to offer any help/advice I can in return!

[xbo]

As a seasoned c'mish (from the days when scoring was tabulated using boxscores from the newspaper), my philosophy has always been that all decisions should be made with the following priorities in mind:
1) Whatever is in the best interest of the league as a whole (particularly when deciding controversial issues)
2) Whatever is in the best interest of competitiveness

In your particular case, your concern (which is valid) is the quality of players that will be available.

Personally, I prefer the roster makeup that you used last season. It requires teams to draft/acquire players to fill specific roster positions (RB & WR) and the Flex then allows them to field the best available player in general (competitiveness).
But by reducing the RB/WR by one (each) and adding a 2nd Flex, it becomes more much about just fielding the best available players (too simple).

Btw, you will be surprised to see how teams learn to adapt to the reduced quality of players in a 12 team league. The waiver-wire becomes much more active, and the smart teams pay much more attention to what is happening every week (the not-so-smart teams never pay attention anyway - they are just there to fund everyone else's season).
And you might be interested to hear that we actually added an additional bench player when we expanded to 12 teams. We find that it allows teams to hold onto to a player to see if he develops into a viable starter without having to sacrifice a roster spot for depth purposes.

Personally, aside from considering an additional bench player, I wouldn't change a thing.

[Cards24]

You'll be fine Hags, Don't change a thing. You are going from a 10 team to 12 and your rosters are pretty standard, all is good. If you are really sweating it take out the Flex spot.

[Hags888]

Thanks for the input guys, I appreciate it. I ended up getting some feedback from the league, and they all seemed to like the idea of reducing the bench size by 1, but keeping the starters the same. So, based on that, I think we'll try it this year with only 6 bench spots. Perhaps I'm over-thinking it, but if it doesn't work out so well this year, then we'll go back to the standard 7 bench spots next year, or maybe try an IR spot or something.

[Bobbleheadrusty]

Personally, I prefer a deeper bench in 12 team league. It lets you invest in handcuffs/backups early in the season, and can reward you for picking up a guy like (last year) Hillis or Blount early. A shorter bench rewards the team that is the fastest to grab a free agent following a benching or injury. Obviously your waiver rules can change that as well, but I like rewarding players for taking risks before the season/change is made

[dupree]

We field 18 man rosters in our 12 team league, lots of teeth gnashing come Wednesday when waivers process...

[Hags888]

I like hearing about all the other league setups, any additional input is certainly welcome. We decided to switch to an free agent auction style with set budgets this year instead of waivers. Some people in the league didn't like the waiver order process, and thought that reverse standings order was unfair. So, hopefully the combination of a small bench size and a free agent budget will work hand in hand.