Week 17: Keeper trading FAQs

We’ll have a little more of an informational blog this week. Back to the playoff races analysis next week.

I've been fielding some questions about the update to the keeper trading rule lately so I to go over a few frequently asked questions

1. How many players can we keep going into next year?

Three, just like previous years. Only 3 players can be kept going into the draft next March

2. Is there a limit to how many trades I can make in the offseason?

NO, everyone has control over any 4 players from their end of season roster. They can trade all 4 for draft picks, or they can simply stand pat and keep up to their allotted three keeper players going into March.

3. What are the limits on returns from traded keepers?

Any team can receive one pick in rounds 1-5, two picks in round 6-10, unlimited after that. If a team chooses to send away their first round pick in a trade for a keeper, they can still only receive one first round pick via trade. This logic also applies to the rounds 6-10 restrictions.

4. If I send away 2 players via trades, can I then only keep 2 players because I can only control 4 players from my end of season roster?

No, you are able to trade FOR a keeper at that point such that your total number of keepers is 3 going into the draft. 2 players from your end of season roster and 1 player via trade. It is also acceptable to stand pat and only keep 2 players. You do not have to make a trade to fill 3 keepers.

I apologize for the confusion here guys. We're just trying to make this as fun as we can for everyone involved. Sometimes that is going to mean some complicated rules. The good news is, if you don't care, this rule really doesn't apply to you and you can continue as before.

Checking in on last week’s results:

Michael blew out the ghost team. I’m gonna try not to use this person’s name the rest of the year. Hey Josh Waring, good news, you’re the only Josh left. Michael only lost one category because the ghost team didn’t field enough at bats to strike out a competitive number of times. Michael didn’t have a great week after his closers allowed 10 runs and slipped a bit in the power rankings. BUT, at this point the blowout win was needed. Now Michael starts the brutal stretch of his schedule to finish out the year: BJ/Dean/Cory/Dave/Paul. Game on.

The upset of the week came as Max toppled Dean. Team ‘the fighting-Story’s’ rallied behind their fallen shortstop to bust out with a .324 AVG (btw in case you missed it, Max’s poster boy Trevor Story is lost for the year with a hand injury, no Bueno). Dean had a bad week and Max actually played the pitching pretty terribly over the weekend, but good for Max to take down a high-end team. Other underlying storylines to this matchup were some lame text messaging trash talk early on followed by a couple of good zingers by Dean…but Max gets the last laugh…finally. Dean needs to right the ship pretty soon. Paul and Michael have been gaining ground on him in both the standings and rankings. Five big weeks to go.

Cory had a huge week to put a hurting on Arthur. Cory’s offense has been coming on strong since week 7 but this was the gem: 39 R, 14 HR, 9 SB, and a .306 AVG. His uncharacteristically bad pitching week came at a good time as Arthur’s pitching has struggled since his pitching strategy has changed from reliever-heavy to starter-heavy. Cory is in pretty safe shape for the playoffs and has a fairly weak schedule to close out the year.

Dave followed suit with his own blowout over Keith. Decent offensive numbers and solid pitching numbers led Dave over a less-talent Keith squad. Jose Altuve and Nolan Arenado continue to be monsters.  Not too much to talk about here.  Dave is in great shape for the playoffs but he has actually been a very middle of the league team the last 2 months. He’ll look to build momentum towards the playoffs in the next five weeks.

Paul outlasted team BJ. This may have been a final last gasp for BJ…who am I kidding? They aren’t going to give up, good for them. Fairly poor offensive numbers from both teams outside of the HR category. I suppose they were also fine in R and RBI if they want to nitpick. BJ’s pitching was superior but Paul edged them out in enough offensive categories to get the win. Paul was unable to stream enough wins to keep up with BJ. Paul simply needs to keep winning games. It is a sprint to the finish.

Monster of the Week: Cory gets it. It wasn’t an all around dominant win, but 14 HR, 9 SB and over .320 AVG, that’s one of the more monstrous weeks we’ve seen lately.

Max of the Week: Max gets this one. He tried to get sneaky. Max knows just enough about how to play a matchup to get in his own way. Max was slightly behind in ERA and dean had a starting pitcher going Sunday. So Max thought he’d out-smart Dean and bench his pitchers and try to get Dean to blow up on Sunday. The problem is that he did this on Saturday night, leaving Dean almost a full day to follow suit and bench his own pitchers. Also, dean had nothing to gain by pitching his guy and likely would have benched him anyway. Max missed out on opportunities to stream all week to try to catch Dean who had a bloated ERA with modest strikeout total. Max earned this one. Well played.