Hobbies And Interests
Straight Keeper Leagues
In the straight baseball keeper league, participants are allowed to keep a limited number of players from one season to the next. This is usually decided upon by all teams prior to the fantasy draft. The number usually ranges anywhere from one to five players. In most cases, a player must forfeit a pick in the following year&'s draft as a penalty for keeping a player. Sometimes it is a pick in the round in which the player was originally selected. Other times, it is a selection in the round ahead. For example, a player chosen in the eighth round would cost a participant either a seventh or an eighth round pick in the next draft. If the limit is five keeper players, a participant doesn&'t need to pick five players to keep if he doesn&'t want to. He can elect to keep four, three, two, one or even zero players if he chooses.
Dynasty Keeper Leagues
In a dynasty keeper league, teams keep all or most of their players from year to year. A true dynasty format requires only the original draft at the beginning of the season. From there, all rosters are finalized and kept from year to year. Competitors may make trades and acquire other players via free agency, but there is no roster turnover from year to year. If Poolie A selects Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer, that player belongs to Poolie A for the duration of his career, unless he is traded to another fantasy owner or dropped into the free-agent pool.
Salary Cap Leagues
Salary cap leagues offer a number of different keeper options. Since salary cap leagues require players to take part in an auction to determine a player&'s worth, each roster spot is filled by a player with a salary figure. In order to keep a player into next season, a poolie may have to "raise" his player by a pre-set amount. For example, if an owner has Joe Mauer at $30, league rules may require that value to be raised to $35 as a deterrent to teams keeping players for too many years in a row. In a salary league, a competitor may keep as many players as he wants, as long as he remains below the maximum salary cap set by the league commissioner.