NL Only Keeper/Auction League Question

[rluzinski]

I'm kind of new to fantasy baseball and very new to auction and keeper leagues. I just agreed to join an already established league and will be taking over for a departing owener. As you can guess, the team I am taking over isn't very good... at all. To try and quantify where my keepers stacked up against the rest of the league, I compared each teams' keepers and what they get to keep them at vs. their worths, according to cbsportline.com. You are allowed to keep up to 5 players but I assume teams will only elect to keep "positive value" players. Here are the results:

 

Team	Savings	#
Team A	$80	5
Team B	$63	5
Team C	$56	5
Team D	$51	5
Team E	$48	5
Team F	$43	5
Team G	$33	4
My Team	$33	4
Team H	$30	5
Team J	$25	5

We all have $260 to spend but the way I see it, Team A actually has $47 more dollars than me to spend, team B has $30 more dollars, etc... Team A is just stacked. He gets to keep Hanley Ramirez, Fielder, Eric Byrnes, Kelly Johnson and Brian Mccan for a combined $73! Team B has Braun and Tulo for a combined, $17 (along with 3 other positive value players). I potentially get:

 

Webb: $22

Hart: $17

Matt Kemp: $7

Aaron Cook: $7

 

My question is, am I over estimating the disadvantage my franchise has this year or should I just hand my $100 entrance to the commissioner and save myself some time? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Giraldo8]

You're at a disadvantage to be sure but it's still definitely possible to be in the top 3. Get great value in the draft. and find the breakout players. Weeks, Gordon are great buys and for some reason, Aaron Harang is ALWAYS undervalued it seems. Not sure if it's the case in this league or not but I enjoy taking over a junker team much more so than a top tier one, way more fun.

[RobertR]

Yeah, you're at a disadvantage and you're probably not going to win. But the auction is still a lot of fun and if you can figure out inflation correctly, you might have a better handle on value than a lot of people. A couple of ill advised inflation spurred splurges by the top contenders and it will even out some. The fact that it's a keeper league also gives you an incentive to play different types of strategies, some short term, some long term.

 

Two things that can always be cashed in at the deadline are closers and a base stealing specialist like Juan Pierre or Jose Reyes. If you don't think you can win or finish in the money, I'd put those type of players on my radar as must haves.

 

Robert

[EdgarDiazRocks]

with these established league, many of these teams actively play for next year when plans go awry so coming in cold is certainly a disadvantage. Especially in the auction when you don't know bidding patterns. It's a lot like poker. A lot of the times the teams that are "vacated" are the ones in the middle, who need two or three years of attention to guide back. Building is half as fun as winning (or so I hope, 3rd is the best I have finished, which was still a nice little payday)

 

In my league, which I have been in for 8 years now, one team has changed hands 5 times and is middle to bottom every year simply because of lack of direction.

 

And that said, we have SEVERAL teams (4, I think) open this winter if anybody wants to give this style a go. Classic Roto 4x4, NL only, $130. Phone Auction. My best friend and I have been in the league for a while and have more fun playing against each other than anybody else.

[sbrylski]

I had a great stock of keepers in one of my leagues last season, I think I had 3 players that were projected in the top 10 picks. I think I came in second to last. So its not all about the keepers.

[rluzinski]

Thanks guys. You've convinced me to embrace my underdog status and build for the long term.

[olliegjw]

A strategy that has worked well for me is to spend a lot of money on 3 or 4 studs (Pujols, Cabrera, Webb, etc). The rest of the team will be filled in with cheaper players (i.e. potential freezes). This works very well if two things are present - 1) You know every player on every team in the NL. By knowing every player, it is easier to find bargains in the later rounds; 2) Keep a very close, active eye on the waiver wire. There are always a few players who come up out of nowhere.

[RobertR]

Yeah, "stars and scrubs" is a good strategy especially since the "scrubs" in a 10 team league should be pretty decent. I think it's also a good strategy if you don't have much experience in an auction as it gets you to spend all your money. Almost nothing is worse than leaving significant money on the table at the end of the auction.

 

Who knows, sometimes the scrubs really blossom too. There's a lot of guys out there in keeper leagues with a cheap Carlos Pena this year.

 

Robert