What about preseason trades? You trade Sherzer or Fernadez and a low pick for a a high pick and a joe shmoe player. You keep which ever one you don't trade and swap one of your low picks for a higher one while someone else upgrades their keepers.
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I'd considered doing that too... But in a 20-team league where most of the owners value offense over pitching, it would set me back too much to go pitcher-pitcher with my first two picks. I can more easily find pitching value on the waiver wire than I can hitters.
This is actually a big debate in our league right now. Some other team just did that by trading Buster Posey and Dustin Pedroia for Adam Jones and there is a big uproar about whether it's fair to trade your non-keepers in a league with only 2 keepers. But that's a good idea and something I'm looking at.
Sounds like some butts are sore. A trade is a trade and people trade to upgrade their rosters and people with great rosters can afford to give up players in order to upgrade their draft strategy. Both get upgrades, both benefit. It's a little riskier for the one trading a higher draft pick but that's also a perk for the guy who kicked butt in putting his roster together in the first place. I say BOO HOO to anyone who gripes about that.
I actually have given it a lot of thought and I think it basically amounts to collusion between two owners at the expense of the rest of the league.
It undercuts the spirit of the 2-keeper rule. The whole idea behind only having two keepers is that teams have to break up their stock pile of talent so that it goes back into the draft pool. And technically those players shouldn't even be on their rosters after last season because they are non-keepers. So I think they should be forced to make those trades the previous season or not at all.
But I could see how someone could argue that those players are ours to do whatever with until the draft.
I've kind of just survived doing the waiver wire thing in my league. I played the numbers with lesser guys who got hot for a season. It worked out pretty well last year and I nearly made the playoffs, but I don't think it's going to win a title.
Of course with 12 keepers it can be difficult to nab any high end pitchers.
Right now my pitching staff is Jarrod Parker, Mark Buehrle, Derek Holland, Felix Doubrant, Mike Leake, Jorge de la Rosa, Dillon Gee, Ross Ohlendorf, Huston Street, Mariano Rivera, Joe Smith, Neal Cotts and Bobby Parnell.
I think I'm only keeping Parker, Holland and Gee.
We can keep players year over year. Then we draft from there with all other eligible players. So, if I already had Scherzer and Fernandez as keepers from last year...I could focus my draft on offense. I wouldnt have to spend my first 2 picks on players I already kept
So do you have to use your keeper slots then? We are allowed to keep 2 guys and for the most part everyone does... But if you chose not to keep anybody then you would get a pick in the 1st and 2nd rounds, whereas if you have keepers then those count as your first two draft picks. Since I won last year I have the last draft pick #20. I just don't feel comfortable waiting until pick #60 to take my first hitter.