One of the enjoyable features of playing in a Keeper league in fantasy baseball is what happens in the off-season. If you happen to play in a league that only uses one of the two leagues (American or National) you have the scenario of new players being available during the draft due to trades and free agent pickups in the real major leagues. That sets up a very interesting dynamic for keeper managers. Do they try to draft one of these new players or not?

In the BaseballManager game you have a set payroll that must be managed so you cannot keep all your expensive star players and still expect to draft one of the new players to the league. And this year the American League has some hefty new stars with Pujols and Fielder leading the pack. I’ve already seen some trades in my keeper leagues that demonstrate managers jockeying for position to be able to draft one of those two superstars.

We have to keep at least 7 players from the previous year so they will automatically cut into the payroll. By keeping the least expensive players you’ll have the best chance of drafting first when the third round of the draft comes along (which is the 1st base draft). Decisions need to be made whether to simply keep the seven players with the lowest payroll or try to keep good players even though their salaries are a little higher. What some of the managers are doing is trading away very good expensive players for pretty good inexpensive players. They will then be able to keep 7 moderately good players and still have a shot at getting Pujols.

Good strategy for both trading teams. The one gets the lower payroll and the other gets the better player. This makes for some very fun times especially for guys who’ve been sitting around without baseball for months and are eager to do something…anything…to get back playing the game. It is one of the main reasons I joined a keeper league several years back. I love the ability to manage year-round. It also means more strategy in the draft as you analyze each position relative to what you already have. Should you keep the 2nd baseman you have or try and get a better one? The risk is that if you don’t keep what you have you could end up with worse. Ah, great fun. If you’ve not tried it I heartily suggest it.