Fantasy Baseball 2015

Gotcha. So I'm assuming Michael Conforto is gone already as well?

 

In the running to win my longtime work league even though I only checked in occasionally and made much fewer roster moves than usual. This is the first year there has not been money involved. Sigh.

 

As most leagues are now done, the only focus now is keeper lists. I'm curious what others think of Troy Tulowitzki going forward. Of course, he got hurt again, but that isn't what concerns me most now. He just wasn't particularly good this year. He's only 30, but does the move out of Coors Field and the down year make him a bad keeper option? Hell, Brandon Crawford had a better season (I also have Crawford).

My league allows 14 keepers without any limits. I'm fairly well set on 10 of them, but I really don't know what to do with Tulo at this point. I worry about Carlos Gomez, too, but I think he just needs to be healthy. We have seven starting pitchers and four outfielders active each week, so those are prime positions.

Here are the ones I'm sure I will keep:
Miguel Cabrera
Nolan Arenado
Jason Kipnis
Starling Marte
A.J. Pollock
Carlos Gomez
Zack Greinke
Felix Hernandez
Adam Wainwright
Tyson Ross
Lance Lynn

And the question marks
Tulowitzki
Crawford
Shin-Soo Choo
Lucas Duda
Jeurys Familia

 

I'd probably keep Duda and Tulo.

 

That is how I'm leaning, with the last spot to be decided. I was wondering if I was simply keeping Tulowitzki out of habit.

 

Nah. As long as he's healthy ...

 

Tulo, Duda and Familia. Just have a backup option for Tulo.

Good post, OOP. I've got two leagues and very different keeper rules. Let's start with the 12-teamer:

I can keep five players and each one will be drafted two slots ahead of where they were taken this year. As I noted upthread, free agent acquisitions are slotted beginning in the 25 spot and I've set my team up to take advantage of a loophole. I dropped several players during championship week and re-acquired them after the waiver period expired, thus making them free agents, instead of high round picks. I'm not sure what, if any, resistance this will meet. Given that uncertainty, I'm planning to have a list of my "legit" keepers and "loophole" keepers. If the league puts up resistance, I'm happy to keep my legit guys (I've bolded the legit guys I'm leaning toward keeping). List is below. They're basically all free agents, so they'll be picks 25-21, but I've also included the actual round for the loophole guys.

Felix Hernandez (FA, can't keep)
Lester (FA, 1)
Bumgarner (FA, can't keep)
Ellsbury (FA, can't keep)
Hanley Ramirez (FA, 2)
Pedroia (FA, 3)
Carlos Gomez (FA, 3)
Liriano (FA, 11)
Verlander (FA, 11)
Zack Wheeler (FA)
Severino (FA)
McCullers (FA)
Lucas Giolito (FA)
Soler (FA)
Conforto (FA)
Bird (FA)
Aaron Judge (FA)
Gall0 (FA)
Maikel Franco (FA)
Addison Russell (20th round)

 

I agree with those "legit" keepers.

So, every single guy on that list would be in rounds 21-25? I'm guessing your league mates will scream, but how the hell did they not recognize what you were doing? If somebody in one of my leagues drops a guy like Bumgarner, I'm going to investigate why they did so.

Honestly, it would depend how much I liked the league. If it was one I cared about, I'd turn in the list with "loophole" keepers and explain the situation, but I'd also be ready to back off, which seems to be what you have planned. That said, I'd be pissed if I didn't get to keep the loophole guys. You followed the rules. It is their fault for not catching on, not yours.

So, what does your list look like with the loophole guys? Of course, Bumgarner is a keeper at that point. I think the same of Hernandez even with his decline in the second half. I'd also keep Ellsbury or Gomez. I know Gomez stunk this year, but it was pretty much all injuries. I think he bounces back big if he's healthy.

 

Yes, all those guys would be drafted in rounds 21-25 and I'd get to select where each one is drafted. I think it's largely because nobody else paid attention during championship week except my opponent, and apparently it didn't occur to him that those guys would be FA acquisitions for next year (in fact, he dropped Gallo, which kind of sparked the idea for me).

I'm thinking I'll present the argument - that each one of the players I dropped cleared waivers (and I could not submit a waiver claim), thus everyone had a chance to acquire them before I did - and suggest that we can close the loophole for next season. It is a league I care about - mostly high school friends and we've been in this league for more than 15 years - so, if everyone is ballistic about it, I'll let it go. My other keepers are good enough, I think, that I'm OK with proceeding with the young guns.

Also, now that I think of it, Gomez and Lester were dropped by other teams and I picked them up, so I think they're probably legitimate keepers. Given that, I should probably keep at least Gomez on my "legit" list.

I feel like the only argument that can be made against me is that loophole guys were all drafted before the season and, thus, they do have a draft position.

OK, so if I can keep the loophole guys, the list probably looks more like this (keepers in bold, considerations in italics):

Felix Hernandez (FA, can't keep)
Lester (FA, 1)
Bumgarner (FA, can't keep)
Ellsbury (FA, can't keep)
Hanley Ramirez (FA, 2)
Pedroia (FA, 3)
Carlos Gomez (FA, 3)
Liriano (FA, 11)
Verlander (FA, 11)
Zack Wheeler (FA) - I'm tempted to keep him, stash him on the DL and then pick up Judge or Giolito, who I suspect may go undrafted
Severino (FA)
McCullers (FA)
Lucas Giolito (FA)
Soler (FA)
Conforto (FA)
Bird (FA)
Aaron Judge (FA)
Gall0 (FA)
Maikel Franco (FA)
Addison Russell (20th round)

 

I'm not a big Gallo fan, so I might go with Russell or Franco in that spot, but I can't argue too much with the selection. Gallo's power is ridiculous. He could be the 2013 and 2015 Chris Davis type, but he could also give us something closer to the 2014 version.

 

Yeah, I haven't seen him play, just read scouting reports. They LOVE his power, but obviously, he didn't do a lot to prove himself this year. Russell really struggled early on, but played much better as the season wore on. At age 21, he's got a lot of potential. Franco seems like the safest bet, based on his body of work this season before he broke his wrist.

Franco and Severino are two guys I would really like to have back next season, either by keeping them or drafting them.