Player Adds: April 16 - May 29

Below are the player adds through May 29. Click on the image to make it appear larger.

Player Adds: March - April 15, 2008

Below is a list of all player additions made to teams up through mid-April. I did not include players dropped because that is irrelevant to the keeper process. If any of the below players are kept at the end of the year, those teams must give up a Round 10 or higher pick in the 2009 draft, regardless of whether these players below were drafted or in what order. For example, if Troy Tulowitzki (drafted in the 5th round) was dropped and then added by another team, they would only have to give up a 10th round pick to keep Tulo, not a 5th round pick - even if the team that added him originally drafted him. Click on the picture to make it appear larger.

2008 Draft Results

(Round Number) (Overall Pick) (Player)

Gladiators
1. (1) Álex Rodríguez
2. (16) Ryan Braun
3. (17) Carl Crawford
4. (32) Mark Teixeira
5. (33) Curtis Granderson
6. (48) Adam Dunn
7. (49) Chone Figgins
8. (64) John Lackey
9. (65) Dan Haren
10. (80) Michael Young
11. (81) Aaron Harang
12. (96) Mariano Rivera
13. (97) Brett Myers
14. (112) Huston Street
15. (113) Kenji Johjima
16. (128) Matt Capps
17. (129) Carlos Peña
18. (144) Jermaine Dye
19. (145) Rickie Weeks
20. (160) Ted Lilly
21. (161) Phil Hughes
22. (176) Edwin Encarnación
23. (177) Tony Peña
24. (192) A.J. Pierzynski
25. (193) Felipe López

Onearmedscissors
1. (2) Hanley Ramírez
2. (15) Ichiro Suzuki
3. (18) Brandon Phillips
4. (31) C.C. Sabathia
5. (34) Manny Ramírez
6. (47) Derrek Lee
7. (50) Chipper Jones
8. (63) Brian McCann
9. (66) Roy Halladay
10. (79) Francisco Cordero
11. (82) Corey Hart
12. (95) Kelvim Escobar
13. (98) Hideki Matsui
14. (111) Brad Penny
15. (114) Paul Konerko
16. (127) Kevin Youkilis
17. (130) Pedro Martínez
18. (143) Hideki Okajima
19. (146) Ian Snell
20. (159) Plácido Polanco
21. (162) Jason Varitek
22. (175) Joe Blanton
23. (178) Eric Gagne
24. (191) Bronson Arroyo
25. (194) Aaron Rowand

Potemkin Villagers
1. (3) José Reyes
2. (14) Alfonso Soriano
3. (19) Grady Sizemore
4. (30) Justin Verlander
5. (35) Aramis Ramírez
6. (46) Jonathan Papelbon
7. (51) Carlos Guillén
8. (62) Dan Uggla
9. (67) Scott Kazmir
10. (78) Chris Young
11. (83) Billy Wagner
12. (94) Orlando Cabrera
13. (99) Jacoby Ellsbury
14. (110) Rafael Betancourt
15. (115) Iván Rodríguez
16. (126) Jeremy Bonderman
17. (131) Clay Buchholz
18. (142) Todd Helton
19. (147) Tim Hudson
20. (158) Dontrelle Willis
21. (163) Matt Kemp
22. (174) Kerry Wood
23. (179) J.D. Drew
24. (190) Stephen Drew
25. (195) Billy Buckner

Marshfield Maniac's
1. (4) Albert Pujols
2. (13) Ryan Howard
3. (20) Carlos Beltrán
4. (29) Lance Berkman
5. (36) Magglio Ordóñez
6. (45) Russell Martin
7. (52) Robinson Canó
8. (61) Cole Hamels
9. (68) Rafael Furcal
10. (77) John Smoltz
11. (84) José Valverde
12. (93) Tim Lincecum
13. (100) Fausto Carmona
14. (109) Adrián Béltre
15. (116) Rich Hill
16. (125) Brad Lidge
17. (132) Jason Bay
18. (141) Howie Kendrick
19. (148) James Loney
20. (157) Dustin McGowan
21. (164) Joakim Soria
22. (173) Derek Lowe
23. (180) Troy Glaus
24. (189) Khalil Greene
25. (196) Ramón Hernández

BIG DONGS
1. (5) David Wright
2. (12) Miguel Cabrera
3. (21) Jake Peavy
4. (28) B.J. Upton
5. (37) Álex Ríos
6. (44) Erik Bedard
7. (53) Travis Hafner
8. (60) Bobby Abreu
9. (69) Nick Markakis
10. (76) Miguel Tejada
11. (85) Félix Hernández
12. (92) Bobby Jenks
13. (101) Ben Sheets
14. (108) Trevor Hoffman
15. (117) Matt Cain
16. (124) Jarrod Saltalamacchia
17. (133) Adrián González
18. (140) Shane Victorino
19. (149) J.J. Hardy
20. (156) Jason Isringhausen
21. (165) Josh Fields
22. (172) Adam Wainwright
23. (181) Orlando Hudson
24. (188) Troy Percival
25. (197) Bengie Molina

Colorado 59ers
1. (6) Matt Holliday
2. (11) Prince Fielder
3. (22) Vladimir Guerrero
4. (27) Carlos Lee
5. (38) Troy Tulowitzki
6. (43) Brian Roberts
7. (54) Joe Mauer
8. (59) Eric Byrnes
9. (70) Ryan Zimmerman
10. (75) Chris Young
11. (86) Javier Vázquez
12. (91) John Maine
13. (102) James Shields
14. (107) Yovani Gallardo
15. (118) Manny Corpas
16. (123) A.J. Burnett
17. (134) Oliver Pérez
18. (139) Rafael Soriano
19. (150) Chien-Ming Wang
20. (155) Brandon Lyon
21. (166) Kevin Gregg
22. (171) Joe Borowski
23. (182) George Sherrill
24. (187) Ryan Theriot
25. (198) Michael Bourn

Stugots
1. (7) David Ortiz
2. (10) Chase Utley
3. (23) Josh Beckett
4. (26) Derek Jeter
5. (39) Garrett Atkins
6. (42) Hunter Pence
7. (55) Jorge Posada
8. (58) Joe Nathan
9. (71) Roy Oswalt
10. (74) Torii Hunter
11. (87) Mike Lowell
12. (90) Daisuke Matsuzaka
13. (103) Francisco Liriano
14. (106) Juan Pierre
15. (119) Dustin Pedroia
16. (122) Édgar Rentería
17. (135) Todd Jones
18. (138) Jeff Francis
19. (151) Chad Billingsley
20. (154) Jered Weaver
21. (167) B.J. Ryan
22. (170) Brian Fuentes
23. (183) Casey Blake
24. (186) Jeff Francoeur
25. (199) Julio Lugo

The Chicken Wings
1. (8) Johan Santana
2. (9) Jimmy Rollins
3. (24) Víctor Martínez
4. (25) Brandon Webb
5. (40) Justin Morneau
6. (41) J.J. Putz
7. (56) Takashi Saito
8. (57) Francisco Rodríguez
9. (72) Carlos Zambrano
10. (73) Brad Hawpe
11. (88) Vernon Wells
12. (89) Andruw Jones
13. (104) Ian Kinsler
14. (105) Gary Sheffield
15. (120) Chad Cordero
16. (121) Alex Gordon
17. (136) Delmon Young
18. (137) Nick Swisher
19. (152) Joba Chamberlain
20. (153) Carlos Mármol
21. (168) Kelly Johnson
22. (169) Jhonny Peralta
23. (184) Geovany Soto
24. (185) Evan Longoria
25. (200) Curt Schilling

Keeper All Stars Rules (Draft 1)

Here are the preliminary rules. Because this is a keeper league, we want to keep some sort of competitive balance to the league so each year everyone has a chance to make the playoffs based on their merits. Thus rule one:

1) For each team, the two highest ranked players are Restricted Players (RP's) who cannot be kept at the end of the seasons. RP's can be drafted in any round of the full draft.

For these purposes, "Highest Ranked Players" is according to Yahoo at the end of the year under the "Rank" column (not O-Rank). The reason I went with this instead of restricting the players picked in the first two rounds is because after three or four seasons, the players being picked in the top two rounds are not going to be the best players in the league. In three or four seasons, the top players in the league are the players who are getting picked up as free agents this year, or being drafted in the later rounds and being kept every year. Rule 1 doesn't penalize people any more than restricting the top two draft picks, because if you pick up a guy like Clay Bucholtz who eventually wins the Cy Young, you have gotten your full worth of him and it's time to throw him back to give another team a chance. This will also keep a competitive balance to the league regardless of how good each manager is at drafting, and will keep a more level playing field than simply restricting a player based on their draft spot in '08.

Now on to how we'll keep players. Because we currently only have 8 teams and we will likely not expand to more than 12, there are going to be plenty of players on each team. The current setting allow for a DEEP bench (9 spots), 3 DL spots, the typical 9 offensive spots, and the typical 7 pitching spots. You can start 16 players and you have a total of 25 players on your team (not counting the DL spots). A good number to keep is around 1/3, or 8 players total. However, to prevent people from hoarding players at any one position, there needs to be a restriction.

2) Each team can "keep" up to 8 players from one season to another. These players are Keeper Players (KP's). KP's cannot be Restricted Players. Each manager can keep a maximum of 4 pitchers (starters and relievers), 3 outfielders, and 2 offensive spots (1B, SS, etc.).

If a player is eligible for more than one spot (1B and 3B for example, like Kevin Youkilis), the manager can keep him in any spot they want. So it would be possible to keep Prince Fielder, Kevin Youkilis, and Ryan Howard if you wanted. If a manager keeps a KP from one season to another, they lose the draft pick of that KP. A manager does not have to keep 8 players, however. In some circumstances, they would prefer to keep the draft pick. For example, if I draft Brad Penny in round 10, I waive my round 10 pick next season. Furthermore, to keep people from hoarding young rookies and keeping them forever while only giving up late round picks, each year a player is kept the draft position needed to keep them goes up by one. In other words, I'll give up a 10th round pick for Brad Penny in '09, but the following season (2010) I'll give up a 9th round pick, then an 8th round pick (in 2011), then a 7th round pick etc., for as long as I keep him. Obviously a player who is worth a 1st round pick can only stay a 1st round pick for as long as that manager keeps him, provided that player is not one of the top two highest-ranked players for the team.

If a team picks up a free agent player or an undrafted player throughout the season and then wants to keep that player, the player is automatically assigned a round 10 draft spot. In this way, a free agent pickup can stay with the team for up to 8 or 9 seasons. If the player keeping the free agent already is keeping someone in round 10, the free agent is assigned round 11, and upwards until their is a free spot to keep that free agent. So,

3) A free agent pickup who becomes a KP is automatically assigned a round 10 draft value, or the next round pick available to that manager.

4) For each KP, a manager must forfeit that player's draft pick in the next draft. The draft pick will be higher by one round for each additional year that the player is kept.

5) If a KP is traded, their draft position stays with them from team to team and follows rule 3.

Next on to how the draft position is picked. As this is our inaugural season, the draft order will be determined at random. For the next seasons, the teams who do not make the playoffs pick first in order to restore balance in the league. However, there needs to be an incentive for a player who is definitely out of the playoff picture to want to continue to win towards the end of the season (we can't have teams trying to lose) because it could disrupt the playoff hunt for the teams still in it. For example, if there are two teams tied for the final playoff spot, one of them is playing a team trying to win to get a higher playoff seed and the other team is playing against someone trying to lose to end the season in last place, it isn't fair for the two teams still trying to make the playoffs.

Because of this, there needs to be a clear incentive for teams out of the playoffs to want to finish higher at the end of the season. The draft order will be as follows:

6) The next year's draft order will be based on the final standings of this season, in the following order: 7th, 8th, (9th, 10th if 1o teams; 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th if 12 teams), followed by the reverse order of the playoffs: 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st. The draft will always snake between rounds.

For example, if at the end of the season Gus and Harry don't make the playoffs and finish 7th and 8th, respectively, Gus will get the first overall pick and Harry the second overall pick next year. Then, after the playoffs, Al wins the league beating Bill in the world series, 3rd through 6th is Chris, Dirk, Ed, and Frank, respectively, then next year, the first two rounds of the draft would look like this:

Round 1
Pick 1 (Gus), Pick 2 (Harry), Pick 3 (Frank), Pick 4 (Ed), Pick 5 (Dirk), Pick 6 (Chris), Pick 7 (Bill), Pick 8 (Al).

Round 2
Pick 1 (Al), Pick 2 (Bill), Pick 3 (Chris) Pick 4 (Dirk), Pick 5 (Ed), Pick 6 (Frank), Pick 7 (Harry), Pick 8 (Gus).

On to trades. Any future draft pick(s) and any player(s) can be traded among teams. If any teams involved in a trade does not play the following year, however, the trade is cancelled and all picks/players return to the original teams. This will keep a guy who knows he isn't playing next year from trading Manny Ramirez for Chris Shelton and Brad Penny. All trades will be tracked on this blog from year to year. If Matt Cain is traded from team A to team B, team B can keep Cain the following year, but must give up the spot when A drafted him. Per rule 4, if a player is traded their draft position follows them. Multi-player deals, multi-draft-pick deals, and multi-team deals are all allowed.

7) All trades are allowed, pending a league veto (4 or more teams vote against the trade). If any team involved in a trade does not play the following year, the original players and draft picks return to the original teams and the trade is considered null and void.

As in any keeper league, a difficult thing to prepare for is if teams do not play the following year. What happens to that team's players? What happens to the new expansion team brought in? Also, what happens if we want to go from 8 teams to 10 or 12? Certain rules need to govern what happens in case of expansion or teams dropping out.

First of all, there needs to be some incentive for a manager to want to join our league, whether it is to replace another team or to expand the league and form new teams. It isn't fair to join a league where every other team has 8 keeper studs and the new team has no one. Because of this, there should be an Expansion Draft. This way, a new team can get first crack at any 8 players they want to "keep", as long as those players aren't Restricted Players and as long as the expansion teams don't hoard players. The expansion team(s) will be able to pick any 8 players, with position maximums described in rule 2. Then, the expansion team will jump into the draft either in the spot of the team they are replacing, or (if no teams drop out) at the end of the first round.

8) An expansion team who joins the league in the future will be awarded 8 picks in an "Expansion Draft" before the full draft, in which they can pick any 8 available players per guidelines in rule 2. If Expansion Drafts are made up of more than one team, the draft order will be decided randomly and will snake between rounds. If the expansion team is replacing another team, they will then take that team's draft spot. If the expansion team is not replacing another team, they will get the last draft spot in the first round.

Expansion picks mean that the Expansion Teams must give up draft spots like everyone else (otherwise the Expansion picks will have 8 extra players after the draft. Which spots should they give up? At the end of the season, the top 8 players on each team who are kept are probably better than everyone in free agency. Because of this, expansion teams are in a huge disadvantage. They are going to need their top 10 draft picks to balance out the league. In this way, I feel it's fair for Expansion Picks to start at pick 11 and go up to pick 18 if the Expansion Team wants to keep 8 players. This way, the Expansion Team will give up rounds 11 through 18 if they want to pick 8 players in the expansion draft.

9) Expansion Teams must give up draft picks in the full draft for each player they draft in the expansion draft, starting with pick 11 and going up to pick 18.

For example, if Team A and Team B join the league next year and we expand to 10 teams, they can pick up to 8 non-RP's in an expansion draft, but they have to give up a pick in the full draft. Team A wants to pick up only Gary Sheffield and Chris Young, so Team A does not get a pick in the 11th and 12th rounds of the full draft, but they get all the other picks. Then, if Team A wants to keep Chris Young next year, they have to give up a 12th round pick. Team B wants to pick up 8 players in the expansion draft. That means Team B does not pick at all between rounds 11 and rounds 18, to make up for the players he "kept".

If a team does not play the following year, it can screw up the whole league. A rule is needed to keep the league balanced if this takes place.

10) If a team does not play the following year, the entire team is placed into free agency and the top two point-earners on that team are considered Restricted Players who cannot be drafted in an Expansion Draft.

For example, if Dick Dickless drops out of the league next year, his top two players are restricted from being kept like everyone else's top two players. The rest of his team is placed into free agency. Before next year's draft, Newt Newbie, the replacement team, gets 8 picks to create a new keeper team, based on all of the free agents available. Newbie cannot pick anyone's best 2 players with the expansion picks though (including Dickless' best) because those players are RP's. Then, Newbie takes Dick Dickless' old draft position of the 5th pick, and the draft continues.

However, if Gary Grundle and Baloo Knott want to join next year and all other teams stay in the league, the league will expand to 10 teams. Knott and Grundle will each pick 8 players (Knott picks first, then Grundle, then Grundle again (it snakes), then Knott twice, etc.), but they cannot pick RP's and they cannot pick more than 4 pitchers, more than 2 position players, etc.. Then, after each team has 8 players, Grundle and Knott get the 9th and 10th picks in the full draft, respectively.

Because this is a keeper league and good players get hurt every year, I've increased the number of DL spots to 3.