CommishRx Advice: “What’s the Fairest Way to Convert to a Keeper League?”

Fantasy Advice  – The Commish is here to help. Send your question to: reginaldjfantasy@outlook.com

"I want to move our league to a keeper league. Some of the guys in my league want to choose players from their roster this season. That’s not what I had in mind. I want to redraft this year. Our first keepers would come from this upcoming season’s roster. I’m right, right? LOL. I don’t think it’s fair to do it now, we should start fresh if you know what I mean."

I do know what you mean. You are correct. You should “start fresh.”

Owners in keeper leagues draft differently than those in straight redraft leagues. They also trade and work the waiver wire differently over the course of the season. Everyone has a different strategy when it comes to playing in a keeper league, but the common thread that binds is planning for the future.

A fresh start would mean your league will go into this season’s draft knowing that potentially they will keep some of those players for the season after that.

Right now, your league owners have rosters that they assembled based on a different set of parameters than what you are now proposing. It wouldn’t be fair to expect them to make a keeper decision based on their final roster from this past season without knowing about the transition in advance.

Nice and Easy

Since this will be your first time running a keeper league, you might want to consider starting with one, no more than two, keepers the first year.

You didn’t indicate how old your league is. If you have fairly new fantasy players in your league, it might be wise to give them a chance to get used to the new format. You have plenty of time to increase the number to three or four players, for example, in future seasons.

You also might find that one or two players is enough. It’s easier to increase the number of keepers going into the next season, as opposed to suddenly reducing the number the following year.

Again, this falls under the category of owners creating a team based on a different set of expectations. The assumption is an owner will have no problem adjusting to a bump in the number of players. You’re more likely to have issues if an owner has already put together a team expecting to keep five and you inform them they’ll only have the option of three the next year.

The Devil is in the Details

This is your league, so you can craft the rules any way you want. Whatever rules you come up with, make sure it is all in writing. This seems obvious enough, but the key is to be as specific as you can. Don’t hesitate to give examples to help illustrate a particular rule.

You also get the fun task of playing devil’s advocate to find loop holes in whatever rules you’ve established. If you don’t do it yourself, chances are, someone else in your league will – during the season (not before) possibly creating issues with other league members. That scenario probably won’t be as pleasant.

There’s alway a pesky player in your league looking for that golden loop hole to exploit. At this moment, while you’re writing the new rules, you have the advantage of beating them to the punch.

Too Many Cooks?

Decide how much input you want from the league.

If there are features that you know you want, without compromise, you might not want to put those items up for discussion. If you want the league to have some say in the matter, offer up ideas that you think might be cool, but ultimately don’t feel that passionate about. That way it won’t matter to you if they’re not part of the final draft, but some folks will get to feel good that they got to participate in some way.

Good luck in your transition. Hopefully it works out for you!