When's too early to start thinking about your keepers?

[SouthSideRyan]

I know it's not even a month into the season, but is it too early to start evaluating who I want to keep for next year, and who I'm going to cut bait on?

 

For example if I have a lot of young guys with potential over the next few years, I'd probably get a lot more value trading them now for a better veteran than at the trade deadline. Of course with this I run the risk of cutting bait on a guy that'll show to be somebody I should keep if I had waited to deal him til August.

 

Right now I identify

 

V. Martinez

P. Fielder

R. Weeks

J. Peralta

L. Berkman

B. Webb

C. Zambrano

F. Hernandez

J. Verlander

 

as my definite keepers.

 

That leaves 3 spots for Delgado, Ensberg, Sheffield, Kinsler, Bedard, Street, Giambi and Gagne.

 

Any theories?

[Mark_R]

Kinsler is redundant with Weeks and Peralta.

 

For me, it would be Street, Delgado, and Ensberg

[nilodnayr]

My league is a first year keeper league and we decided on 5 players to keep. Whats the prevalence on number of players to keep? I would love to keep quite a bit more.

[SouthSideRyan]

I've heard numbers all over the place for # of keepers. 5's about as low as it goes with 15 being the most. This is the first year for my leauge too, we originally had it at 10, but bumped it up to 12 after looking at our rookie draft.

 

(We had a 5 round prospect draft, and once those prospects lose rookie status, you have to use a keeper on them to keep them on your team.)

 

The only prospect of mine that looks to do that is Jeff Mathis, and I regretted that pick pretty much right after I made it.

[NCCubFan]

I'm in a keeper league with 10 keepers. We also have a 10-man minor league roster.

[nilodnayr]

What service do you guys who have minor league drafts and minor league rosters use? This is my second year in a yahoo league with friends and that definitely isn't possible in yahoo...Bannister wasn't available in the draft and Howie Kendrick still isn't available!

[SouthSideRyan]

What service do you guys who have minor league drafts and minor league rosters use? This is my second year in a yahoo league with friends and that definitely isn't possible in yahoo...Bannister wasn't available in the draft and Howie Kendrick still isn't available!

 

We use Yahoo, and just keep track of our own minor leaguers through the commissioner's note. Prospects can be called up and sent back to and from the reserve roster as long they haven't eclipsed 150 ABs or 50 IP. (A guy can stay on a reserve roster once he passes those marks, but once he's off of it, he can't go back.)

 

Obviously, you need an offline draft for this, as prospects were available at any time including during the big league draft.

[Sweep The Leg Johnny]

Philosophy on keepers really depends on a lot of things: How deep the league? Do you have a salary? Do players have a contract status? Number of spots on a team?

 

Overall, I think its good to identify your core keepers now, but who to cut ties with via trade really depends on where you stand in the league now and by the trading deadline. Based on your team, you should be able to get established veterans now and later for your young players. In my experience in keeper leagues (salaried, 5x5, 15 teams), lower tier teams will only trade for younger players because they're cheaper and can get more players in return. That of course depends on your league settings.

[NCCubFan]

What service do you guys who have minor league drafts and minor league rosters use? This is my second year in a yahoo league with friends and that definitely isn't possible in yahoo...Bannister wasn't available in the draft and Howie Kendrick still isn't available!

The keeper league I'm in uses CBS Sportsline. It isn't free (our league costs $10 per team per year).