RJEL Keepers

[revo]

For the second consecutive year, it's looks like I'm going to finish 5th -- just out of the money, but securing the 1st pick in the rookie draft. But the bad news is that to be competitive, for the second straight year I traded that pick away!

Anyhow, we can keep 10. RJEL is 18 teams, starting 1 catcher.

Who would you keep out of this crew?

Definites
Bryant 6-A
Familia 1-B
deGrom 12-2018
Matz 6-Zero

Probables
Jackie Bradley 8-A
R. Hill 2-A
Thornburg 1-A

That leaves three from this group:
Trumbo 24-A
Gurriel 18-A
Espinosa 1-A
Mauer 6-A
Bruce 24-A
CarGo 32-B
L. Cain 16-B
Kintzler 2-A
Pineda 17-A
S. Perez 14-A

[Controller Jacobs]

If Bradley isn't a definite for you, you could probably trade him for someone who is.

I would keep Cain at $16
Trumbo depends on team, would be nice if he stays in Baltimore.
If Kintzler is still the closer in the spring, I think he's a keeper - beats chasing saves.
Espinosa well exceeded $1 this year, convenient cheap keep.

[GwynnInTheHall]

I thank you for the pick.

Nice list, I like your top 7 and as for the bottom 3, I like Perez but our league really undervalues Catchers so you might be able to get him back or something close for a bit less.

Kintzler, Trumbo and either Gurriel or Cain would be my choices.

[revo]

I thank you for the pick.

Nice list, I like your top 7 and as for the bottom 3, I like Perez but our league really undervalues Catchers so you might be able to get him back or something close for a bit less.

Kintzler, Trumbo and either Gurriel or Cain would be my choices.

LOL, I had a feeling I would end up on the outside looking in! Nice job landing it.

[GwynnInTheHall]

LOL, I had a feeling I would end up on the outside looking in! Nice job landing it.

It was a calculated risk, I'd have done the same.

Now if I can just help from using the pick on some random Padres prospect...............

[mjl]

Agree with GITH that our league undervalues catchers - Perez isn't close I don't think. I guess I'd take Cain and maybe CarGo? Espinosa's been worth his dollar obviously but if they decide that they want to play Turner at 2B because they have someone they like better in the outfield he might get squeezed out of a job.

[revo]

Agree with GITH that our league undervalues catchers - Perez isn't close I don't think. I guess I'd take Cain and maybe CarGo? Espinosa's been worth his dollar obviously but if they decide that they want to play Turner at 2B because they have someone they like better in the outfield he might get squeezed out of a job.

Yeah, I think I got more than my money's worth with Espinosa in 2016, but I don't think he comes close in 2017 and isn't a keeper.

I'm not considering Perez as a keeper.

How about Gurriel at $18? I'm really hoping that, in the last year of this strategy, that he doesn't get to 130 ABs and I get to keep him as a MLer (he needs less than 28 ABs in the final 9 games -- it's a real nailbiter!). That would make losing the #1 overall pick (again) a little easier to take.

[mjl]

sure, if he's free that's fine, but then he doesn't count against your ten keepers, does he? I certainly wouldn't keep him as a major leaguer at 18.

[revo]

sure, if he's free that's fine, but then he doesn't count against your ten keepers, does he? I certainly wouldn't keep him as a major leaguer at 18.

If he's <130 ABs, he's a free MLer. >130 ABs and he'd need to be kept as a major leaguer.

[mjl]

right, so he's irrelevant to this discussion unless you'd actually consider him at $18 in the majors, which I certainly haven't seen enough to think is a good idea. Trumbo seems decent. Kintzler is OK but high variance - I tried with Doolittle and McGee this year and that did not particularly pay off, but at least those didn't cost me much. I'm probably way too willing to keep random $1-ish players on the assumption that I'm going to have to take a couple $1 players anyway and I might as well lock in someone I actually like.

[mjl]

It probably was. It was determined that this was a loophole and this is the last year it's possible. We have 15 minor league slots so there aren't a ton of guys who become available in this way who are worth it.

Also, they're still on the major league contract schedule - Gurriel would be $18B next year even if kept in the minors instead of the normal minor league contract. I picked up Kepler last September this way and he'll be $4 going into his option year next year; if I'd had him as a real minor leaguer he'd be an A contract next year.

Also also our salary cap is $300 for the first month and $360 after that, so if you had someone at $30 like this it'd be pretty inconvenient to keep him around if he was only worth $15.

[revo]

So you can FAAB a guy for $99 (or $18 or whatever) and if he doesn't hit 130 ABs you can keep him for free? That seems poorly thought out.

Hence it's one of the reasons why it's being changed. But yes, if a player got promoted and he did not have 130 career ABs or 50 career IP, you could keep him as a MLer.

And very few decent players who were anything more than $1 - $5 FAAB bids didn't end up with these career posts and were kept as MLers over the years, but some owners (including yours truly) were particularly adept at landing a few of them. There was a sister rule that we had that didn't allow for foreign players (exactly like Gurriel) to be FAAB'd at all for fear of this, but we did away with that for this season. So this was the first year a notable foreign player who was promoted could've been added in-season.

[Hornsby]

Gurriel would be 18 bucks no matter what, he wasn't a draft pick, so he's currently an "A" contract which will advance next year to a "B". Any FA pick-up retains his original salary if kept, no matter what his minor league status may be.