Could use some help...

[chancellor]

Picked up a team in a league a friend commishes that's just been dumped. It's 12-team mixed, but with deeper benches and four minors slots, 5x5 with OBP. The keeper rules are based on years - you can contract a player for 1-4 years, with your team having a max of 20 contract years. If a team keeps more than 7 players, they forfeit their first round pick, then second round, and so on. The team I inherited has Wander Franco with three more years, Kyle Tucker with three more years, and Gerrit Cole with one more year. So I have 13 years to spread among four players - there's about 12 top-50 players who's contracts have run out, and I'd like to make sure I can get one or two of them. I pick 12th out of 12. If you keep less than seven players, you actually make that up at the end of the draft - not the beginning.

My options:

Hitters - Starling Marte, Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rendon, Justin Turner, Jo Adell
Pitchers - Carlos Rodon, Alex Manoah, Edwin Diaz

Thoughts? I'm pretty baffled at this point.

TIA

[Hornsby]

Not quite sure I understand the format, but if those are guys you're looking to pick up. I'd probably go with the following.

Marte
Rendon
Adell
Manoah
Diaz
Stanton
Turner
Rodon

[Todd Zola]

If you keep a player, do you declare the years? Is it automatically four? Can you drop a guy mid-contract?

[chancellor]

If you keep a player, do you declare the years? Is it automatically four? Can you drop a guy mid-contract?

You do declare the years, and you can choose 1-4. Someone can be dropped mid-contract with no penalty.

[Todd Zola]

So with four players, and no penalty to drop, no reason not to go 4-3-3-3 or something like that.

Manoah, Marte and Stanton seem like the three easy choices. I can make an argument for Diaz, Rendon and Rodon. The safe pick is Diaz.

Manoah is the only clear four-year guy, but there is no penalty on the others, so maybe...

Manoah 4
Marte 4 (you'll drop when he starts sliding, but why not maximize possible productive years?)
Stanton 4 (every year he stays healthy, you keep him, else drop)
Diaz 1 (you may not get a decent closer if you're focusing elsewhere with your first two picks)

[Bene Futuis]

Seems like you really ought to keep exactly seven in this format, right? I guess I'm not too sure what the first or second rounds may look like, but if you're looking at four more I also like Manaea as well as Marte, Rendon, and I guess Stanton. With no penalty to release, might as well go for the biggest upside, eh? Would be nice to figure a way to get Rodon in there, too, which is doable if you're not a Rendon guy after his rough 2021. Rendon can be an OBP monster, though.