The keepers are in and it's time to prep for the draft.
There are a few surprises here and a few interesting notes, but first, let's take care of some business.
There seems to still be some confusion. I hope this last mention of it clears it up.
We had three sets of keepers:
1. Veterans
2. Franchise Players
3. Minor Leaguers
1. The Veterans are the 7 bats and 5 pitchers we've had for years. No change.
2. The franchise players are the 7 players who we used to call minor leaguers, nothing has changed other than the name from minors to franchise.
3. The minor leaguers are now the two new roster spots on the actual Fantrax roster that replace the on-paper June Draft. The June Draft is gone and you just draft your minor leaguers (or keep them from the first and only June Draft).
OK, I hope that clears it up. I'd like Choo to start properly labeling his franchise players.
Secondly, drafting minor leaguers. The draft is set at 37 rounds to account for the two minor leaguers you can draft. (Yes, you can draft more than 2 players in the minors, but only 2 can be declared and placed into those Fantrax roster spots for the year. See rulebook for deeper clarification.)
Here's what you have to know heading into draft:
If, for some reason, you're still lost in this process, call me.
Inside the Keepers
I'll try to do some team-by team breakdowns of keepers if I can, but first, let's just gloss over the numbers.
Ol' Country traded for 13 players and dropped in several rounds to acquire said 13 players. Come to the Big Ol' Country Store. Our shelves are fully stocked with players we just can't keep. And that was the case as he wound up keeping just 8 of them. Definitely an interesting offseason. Don't get me wrong, his team looks good right now heading into the draft; I just wonder how the draft will be impacted for him with all the later picks.
Outs could skip the draft and win the World Series. He has built the ultimate team right now and this is the last year for it as a whole with numerous franchise players right on the edge of eligibility. He literally has players right on the edge and he lucked out in 2017 with that, allowing him to keep the most insane roster I've ever seen in a 12-team deep roster format. Can he be stopped?
Steroid.ERA is taking an approach I do not think any of have ever seen. Virtually all bats. If it could be a bat, he kept it. He kept the bare minimum in pitching so he's going to be really working hard in the draft to make up for that. Good news for him is, he shouldn't need to draft a single bat for a while. ... But then again, is 14 enough? Why not make it 20 bats ASAP!
For as good as the Outs are as a whole, the Steaks have a formidable veteran group of SPs with Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Noah Syndergaard and Jon Lester. It may be the best four pitchers ever kept on the same team. It'd take some research but I'm fairly sure this is the case.
The Bombers come in like a lamb and go on without Lamb. I'm rather surprised Jake Lamb didn't make the team. I'm even more surprised that his deadline deal acquisition last summer, Victor Robles, is getting the axe.
That's all I have for right now. I'll go team-by-team later.
Minor Leaguers (37th round picks)
The following players must be selected by designated teams in 37th round. If someone steals them earlier, that team loses 2018 first round pick.
Outs: Kyle Lewis
Panthers: Josh Lowe
Slammers: Zach Collins
Vandelay: Zach Burdi
Choo: Shohei Otani
Gamblers: Nick Senzel
Ol' Country: A.J. Puk
Steroid.ERA: T.J. Zeuch
Cheese Steaks: Cal Quantrill
Lebowski: Mickey Moniak
Bombers: Delvin Perez
Please go exclude these players in your draft rankings.
There are a few surprises here and a few interesting notes, but first, let's take care of some business.
There seems to still be some confusion. I hope this last mention of it clears it up.
We had three sets of keepers:
1. Veterans
2. Franchise Players
3. Minor Leaguers
1. The Veterans are the 7 bats and 5 pitchers we've had for years. No change.
2. The franchise players are the 7 players who we used to call minor leaguers, nothing has changed other than the name from minors to franchise.
3. The minor leaguers are now the two new roster spots on the actual Fantrax roster that replace the on-paper June Draft. The June Draft is gone and you just draft your minor leaguers (or keep them from the first and only June Draft).
OK, I hope that clears it up. I'd like Choo to start properly labeling his franchise players.
Secondly, drafting minor leaguers. The draft is set at 37 rounds to account for the two minor leaguers you can draft. (Yes, you can draft more than 2 players in the minors, but only 2 can be declared and placed into those Fantrax roster spots for the year. See rulebook for deeper clarification.)
Here's what you have to know heading into draft:
- 1. If you "kept" a June draftee, you'll pick them Round 37 no matter what. You MUST place those guys "kept" in your minor leagues.
- 2. Roster maxes for pitching will be expanded in the draft to accommodate for the potential drafting of players whom you wish to place in minor leagues. (SPs from 12 to 14 and RPs from 8 to 10.) Bats stay the same because we already went to 5 to accommodate for this.
- Immediately after the draft, I'm going to reset the following: Roster max from 37 to 35, SPs from 14 to 12 and RPs from 10 to 8. This will immediately make everyone have an illegal roster. Once you move your players to minors, you should be eligible to play, unless you made a mistake in the draft, in which you'd have to drop players to fix. With illegal rosters, you cannot trade, so don't go draft 14 SPs hoping to trade after draft.
- Deadline to declare minor leaguers is day before Opening Day, April 1. I don't have to do anything to police this because if you don't fix, you won't get credit for any stats during the days your roster is illegal.
So, to make this super clear in timeline form:
March 27 - Go onto ranked players and "exclude" the 37th round draftees (list below)
March 28 - Draft - Draft 37 players (19 keepers) - 2 must be minor leaguers
April 1 - Must get compliant - Cut down to 35 (and/or comply with roster maxes as stated in rulebook - Declare minors both in roster and to commissioner.
April 2 - Start playing for the run to the 2017 JLB World Series
If, for some reason, you're still lost in this process, call me.
Inside the Keepers
I'll try to do some team-by team breakdowns of keepers if I can, but first, let's just gloss over the numbers.
Ol' Country traded for 13 players and dropped in several rounds to acquire said 13 players. Come to the Big Ol' Country Store. Our shelves are fully stocked with players we just can't keep. And that was the case as he wound up keeping just 8 of them. Definitely an interesting offseason. Don't get me wrong, his team looks good right now heading into the draft; I just wonder how the draft will be impacted for him with all the later picks.
Steroid.ERA is taking an approach I do not think any of have ever seen. Virtually all bats. If it could be a bat, he kept it. He kept the bare minimum in pitching so he's going to be really working hard in the draft to make up for that. Good news for him is, he shouldn't need to draft a single bat for a while. ... But then again, is 14 enough? Why not make it 20 bats ASAP!
For as good as the Outs are as a whole, the Steaks have a formidable veteran group of SPs with Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Noah Syndergaard and Jon Lester. It may be the best four pitchers ever kept on the same team. It'd take some research but I'm fairly sure this is the case.
The Bombers come in like a lamb and go on without Lamb. I'm rather surprised Jake Lamb didn't make the team. I'm even more surprised that his deadline deal acquisition last summer, Victor Robles, is getting the axe.
That's all I have for right now. I'll go team-by-team later.
Minor Leaguers (37th round picks)
The following players must be selected by designated teams in 37th round. If someone steals them earlier, that team loses 2018 first round pick.
Outs: Kyle Lewis
Panthers: Josh Lowe
Slammers: Zach Collins
Vandelay: Zach Burdi
Choo: Shohei Otani
Gamblers: Nick Senzel
Ol' Country: A.J. Puk
Steroid.ERA: T.J. Zeuch
Cheese Steaks: Cal Quantrill
Lebowski: Mickey Moniak
Bombers: Delvin Perez
Please go exclude these players in your draft rankings.
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