The fantasy baseball season for JLBers is 365 days a year.
That said, I believe there are only eight to 10 days a year that provide the most stress.
For those lucky enough to make the World Series, seven of those days occur during that matchup.
For them and everyone else — myself included — the one-to-three other days come right before the keeper deadline.
To me it's the worst time of the year. It's exciting because we're inching closer to the draft, but it's equally as frustrating because so much relies on what you choose to do over the next couple days.
Do you keep the pitcher or the extra bat? Do you take a flier on a player you have high hopes for or do you give up on one who has disappointed you.
In either case, you worry because what if it's the wrong move?
In my case, this year was extremely tough. I knew my primary starting lineup, but the outliers were really the toughest to work around — and at the end of the day, a player who I had firmly believed would be a mainstay keeper is getting the pink slip.
Salvador Perez is going to the draft. Well, I'm 98 percent sure of this.
In either case, dropping Perez is something I can't believe I'm doing. It's not because of the injury scare he had the other week, but that injury scare did actually make me look over my options and it's why today, I'm settling on letting him go.
My veteran keepers will be as follows:
1B: Eric Hosmer
2B: Jose Altuve
SS: Corey Seager
LF: Yoenis Cespedes
CF: Adam Eaton
RF: Andrew McCutchen
Wild Card: Keon Broxton
SP: Dallas Keuchel, Danny Duffy, Matt Moore, Aaron Sanchez.
RP: Ken Giles
My franchise players will be as follows:
0.099 or less: Lucas Giolito
0.299 or less: Alex Bregman, Carlos Rodon, Eduardo Rodriguez, Blake Snell, Sean Manaea
0.399 or less: George Springer
My minor league player who will be untouchable in the draft and I have to draft in round 37:
Zach Collins
It was pretty tough deciding between Keon Broxton, Jason Heyward and Hunter Renfroe. I did manage to trade Renfroe to get an extra pick in the fifth round, so that certainly was helpful in making my decision — but it's certainly a scary one as I do believe Renfroe could be a legit .280/30/80 guy.
Then there's the curious case of Jason Heyward, who I traded for with the hopes that his "revamped swing" would get him to where everyone once thought he'd be. After just 5 hits in 35 at-bats, it just doesn't look likely.
So that's why Keon Broxton, a guy with some interesting upside, got the nod as Slammer keeper No. 19. He did, of course my luck, experience discomfort in his wrist on Friday, so I'll keep an eye on that through tomorrow, but for now, he's it.
I'm sure over the next 24 hours I'll think it over some more and I'm sure Heyward will go 3-for-5 in his next two spring games just to screw with my mind. Just the thought that that is a possibility is enough to add more stress to this keeper deadline.
I'm not alone.
"I have like five guys to consider for one final spot," said Choo at the Irish pub on Friday.
"It's driving me nuts!" said the 2016 JLB Champion Outs via Facebook message.
I'm sure we all feel bad for Outs.
KEEPER DEADLINE NOTES
That said, I believe there are only eight to 10 days a year that provide the most stress.
For those lucky enough to make the World Series, seven of those days occur during that matchup.
To me it's the worst time of the year. It's exciting because we're inching closer to the draft, but it's equally as frustrating because so much relies on what you choose to do over the next couple days.
Do you keep the pitcher or the extra bat? Do you take a flier on a player you have high hopes for or do you give up on one who has disappointed you.
In either case, you worry because what if it's the wrong move?
In my case, this year was extremely tough. I knew my primary starting lineup, but the outliers were really the toughest to work around — and at the end of the day, a player who I had firmly believed would be a mainstay keeper is getting the pink slip.
Salvador Perez is going to the draft. Well, I'm 98 percent sure of this.
In either case, dropping Perez is something I can't believe I'm doing. It's not because of the injury scare he had the other week, but that injury scare did actually make me look over my options and it's why today, I'm settling on letting him go.
My veteran keepers will be as follows:
1B: Eric Hosmer
2B: Jose Altuve
SS: Corey Seager
LF: Yoenis Cespedes
CF: Adam Eaton
RF: Andrew McCutchen
Wild Card: Keon Broxton
SP: Dallas Keuchel, Danny Duffy, Matt Moore, Aaron Sanchez.
RP: Ken Giles
My franchise players will be as follows:
0.099 or less: Lucas Giolito
0.299 or less: Alex Bregman, Carlos Rodon, Eduardo Rodriguez, Blake Snell, Sean Manaea
0.399 or less: George Springer
My minor league player who will be untouchable in the draft and I have to draft in round 37:
Zach Collins
It was pretty tough deciding between Keon Broxton, Jason Heyward and Hunter Renfroe. I did manage to trade Renfroe to get an extra pick in the fifth round, so that certainly was helpful in making my decision — but it's certainly a scary one as I do believe Renfroe could be a legit .280/30/80 guy.
Then there's the curious case of Jason Heyward, who I traded for with the hopes that his "revamped swing" would get him to where everyone once thought he'd be. After just 5 hits in 35 at-bats, it just doesn't look likely.
So that's why Keon Broxton, a guy with some interesting upside, got the nod as Slammer keeper No. 19. He did, of course my luck, experience discomfort in his wrist on Friday, so I'll keep an eye on that through tomorrow, but for now, he's it.
I'm sure over the next 24 hours I'll think it over some more and I'm sure Heyward will go 3-for-5 in his next two spring games just to screw with my mind. Just the thought that that is a possibility is enough to add more stress to this keeper deadline.
I'm not alone.
"I have like five guys to consider for one final spot," said Choo at the Irish pub on Friday.
"It's driving me nuts!" said the 2016 JLB Champion Outs via Facebook message.
I'm sure we all feel bad for Outs.
KEEPER DEADLINE NOTES
- Be sure to submit your keepers and minor league selection (if any) to me by 11:59 p.m. Monday night.
- Minor League players in draft. Everyone keeping a minor leaguer will select their minor leaguer in the 37th round. As mentioned, I'll change the roster eligibility of all those players to make it obvious they should not be drafted.
- THAT SAID, I URGE YOU to go into "RANK PLAYERS" and take these minor league keepers and add them to your EXCLUDE LIST. I believe this will take them out of your draft.
- The draft is open already. You can log on anytime and start preparing.
Comments