60 games beginning 7/24 - Keeper League

[Yanks27Sox9]

It's an illegitimate season for MLB, but we'll get a small fantasy season out of it just the same. I'm posting this here, so you all get an email, but I'll also start a thread on proboards tonight so we can discuss things further.

1) Please, no player transactions until we get things figured out. Once we're settled, we'll open the wire up on an announced date prior to the start of the season.

2) What amount do you want the league fee to be for this shortened season? Majority will rule.

3) Most of our rules will remain the same, but some things will obviously have to change. For example, there won't be any minimums. I'm assuming Yahoo will edit the maximums based on the # of games. But is there anything else you guys think is necessary to address? Bring it up in the proboards thread that I start tonight...and again, majority will rule on any temporary changes for this season.

4) Our 2020 June draft order will be set based upon the standings at the end of games on 8/31, which is roughly the midway point in this shortened season.

That's all that comes to mind right now. We'll see how this all shakes out.
Thanks,
John

[Yanks27Sox9]

(from Scott/Trueblue)


I'll respond first I guess. I don't really care about buy in, but the incentive to compete should still be there. Perhaps we keep it $75-100 and do some fun payouts for roto category leaders? only concern is that if the payout is too small (1st place gets $140 or something) the "real winners" will be the 4th place team that gets the 1st Rd minor pick and those that subtly didn't put their best players out till after 8/31.

Anything can happen in 60 games. Best team probably won't even win.

[Yanks27Sox9]

(from Ryan/Coffee)


Great thoughts guys to kick this off. I especially agree on the June draft order and having incentive enough to not tank. As for payout, it doesn't matter to me, I just want to play and have fun, even for 60 games. Some innovative payouts is a fun idea. A couple of additional thoughts:

* Doesn't the constitution keep GmL years the same if the player plays 81 games or less? Seems like our league could just proceed as usual while keeping GmL years the same and not have any graduations. We would have our future drafts as scheduled, barring further COVID problems.

* I think we should use a virtual DL for any COVID positive player. It will be easy for players to catch this, it could impact any of us and it could wipe out some rosters for 2 weeks. That doesn't sound like a fun possibility in a year of just 60 games. Most of us play this for fun.

We have baseball again!

Ryan

[Yanks27Sox9]

Good points. I didn't put anything on proboards yet, but will copy all this over at some point. This is why we need to discuss things, as it'll bring things to mind.
You're right, anything can happen in 60 f'n games...and we need all teams competing for something or another. It's a coin flip season, so whatever the majority wants for the money. Will do a poll, if needed.

- Will have to revise the numbers, obviously, but yeah we'll have to have minimums and maximums on 2nd thought. TBD at a later date by majority.

- Ryan is right. Due to the rules, all GmL players will save a year this season. No one will play more than 100 games, so they retain their year of service time. Prospects who exceed the AB or IP thresholds will still graduate though.

- We'll have to edit the Sept DL to include any Covid-19 infections at any point in the short season. Will keep that separate from our typical, injury-related DL on yahoo...but include it with the Sept crap, which really won't be an issue anymore with roster limits.

- Other thoughts? Trade deadline in real life will be 8/31. Same for us? What about minor league additions? We have to still pick a point in time where we stop the drop/adds, but will leave that TBD for now.

[Yanks27Sox9]

(from Jon/Fondy)


Is there a reason why the June 2020 draft order couldn't just be the reverse final 2019 standings?

Or perhaps a weighted lottery based on the 2019 final results? draftpicklottery.com would be a possible way to accomplish this. It would discourage tanking the first month-plus, and it would add a little bit of the random luck factor too.

[Yanks27Sox9]

This league predates me, but it's always decided the June draft based upon the standings after 5/31...basically after 2 of 6 months were completed. It's unusual, but I like it, as it provides a different/mid-season dimension.

For 2021 on, it's not changing. But for this year, whatever you all think is best. I picked 8/31 only because it was roughly the midway point in a 2 month season. If you want to pick a different random date, or use the 2019 standings, we can vote on it. All good.

[Yanks27Sox9]

(from Ryan/Coffee)


We could also just do the June draft in early October after the end of the 60-day season. We'd have the 2 months and thus legit draft order, and best of all, we'd still be doing fantasy baseball business! I'm not married to this, just adding as another idea.



(from Jon/Fondy)


Yes, waiting until after the season – only an additional month – makes sense to me.

(Alternatively, basing it around 2019 final standings would allow us to potentially draft in July as a lead up to the season.)

[Yanks27Sox9]

(from Dan/Steel)


Hey Guys hope everyone has been staying safe and healthy.

Money doesn't matter to me, playing for the full prize is A-OK with me.

Several factors will impact the league such as the DH for the National League rosters and expanded rosters. I feel pitching is going to be the most affected. If teams are using six-man rotations, using relievers more, with every game meaning more. Wins will be harder to come by for starters as teams will be quick to yank them after one poor inning.

There will be a lot of prospects on the expanded rosters that may not have otherwise been playing in a regular season. Maybe a special rule allowing teams to use them without service time penalties or waiving the 10 day trial???

Suppose we probably can't expand our rosters on Yahoo at this point though since we have completed that draft?
Just spitballing here.

Hopefully we can squeeze in some form of a freak season.

[Yanks27Sox9]

yeah, lots of potential issues. we'll have to adapt some, i'm sure.

anyways, keep the discussion going. as things gain steam, i'll set up voting threads.

no one will burn a GmL season this year, due to the # of games. there are plenty of players available on the wire though. i'm hesitant to allow prospects to move freely between rosters though without limits, at least beyond the current rules. if you promote someone to a GmL-3, he'll still be a GmL-3 in 2021. the difference is that even with covid, and these huge rosters, i don't want the constant back and forth with our minors leaguers. it had already been taken way too far in the past, and I'm not going to track it. the one thing I will say is that due to the virus I won't change the 15 day trial period by limiting it for 2020. so with a 2 month season, it's still easy to work around things and at no cost of a GmL year.

[Yanks27Sox9]

Changes for 2020 that are certain to happen:


1) The September Virtual DL will house any players quarantined/missing due to Covid-19 at any time during the 2020 season. You will not have to DL them on Yahoo. Post them in the Virtual DL thread, and you retain their rights, while being able to replace them with players on the waiver wire.
I can't keep track of everything, so you will be responsible to post it in the thread...otherwise, the player won't be protected. Also, when the player comes back to the MLB lineup, you will have to add him back onto your Yahoo roster as well (just like the old Sept DL rules).


2) GmL rules won't change for 2020, and they'll still apply to our prospects. That said, everyone will miss 100+ of their team's games this season, so no one will use/spend a GmL season this year. They will have the same # of service years in 2021 as they did in 2020. Players who exceed the AB or IP thresholds will still graduate for the following season. And if a prematurely promoted player ends the season on the MLB roster, he will be a GmL-3 player in 2021 regardless of the ROY thresholds.


3) Out of necessity, players/positions will have new minimums and maximums. These #s are still TBD, as we await MLB and Yahoo changes. Whatever they turn out to be, they will be in line with the # of games played and/or percentage of the season. For example, we're not going to have one team streaming 1700 IP out of a staff like it's a 162 game season. It'll be in line with things (60 games), so we're all on the same playing field stats-wise.


4) More to come. Out of time tonight. Trade deadline will move to 8/31 though, like in MLB. Minor league drop/add date has been 8/1, so that's up in the air for now.

[j0nk]

Normal minimum cumulative games played is 1470 and maximum 1620? And 1450 to 1700 innings?

Prorated that would be 544 to 600 games, and 537 to 630 innings.

~~

I suggest we also discuss switching to a "Daily-Today" pickup format, rather than "Daily-Tomorrow," in an effort to maximize playing time during a shortened season.

[Yanks27Sox9]

Jun 29, 2020 17:18:24 GMT -5 j0nk said:

Normal minimum cumulative games played is 1470 and maximum 1620? And 1450 to 1700 innings?

Prorated that would be 544 to 600 games, and 537 to 630 innings.

~~

I suggest we also discuss switching to a "Daily-Today" pickup format, rather than "Daily-Tomorrow," in an effort to maximize playing time during a shortened season.

Thanks for doing that, Jon. I assume Yahoo will make it 60 games per position, but who knows what they'll change on their end. Typically, they don't allow you to change any league settings once you have or input your draft and launch the season. If that's still the case, I'll have to manually watch and track the games played/innings pitched. Good times.

Will look at the options though, and see about the 2nd part. Will most likely round it off (slight extra leeway) to 540 - 600 games played, and 530 to 630 inning pitched.

[Yanks27Sox9]

Ok, i'm in Yahoo messing with settings...

1) I can't change from "daily - tomorrow," as it's already locked in place.

2) The earliest I could change the trade deadline to is 9/6 on yahoo. We'll just leave it as the 8/31 MLB date, and ignore the extra week on yahoo.

3) I changed the maximum games to 60 per position, so 600 total. Innings I changed the max to 650, as it goes in increments of 25. If you all prefer to move to 625, I'll make that change. Just personally preferred the 650 number.


Maybe as things move along, Yahoo will provide more editable options/settings for this season.

[cubsker]

Jun 29, 2020 17:18:24 GMT -5 j0nk said:

Normal minimum cumulative games played is 1470 and maximum 1620? And 1450 to 1700 innings?

Prorated that would be 544 to 600 games, and 537 to 630 innings.

~~

I suggest we also discuss switching to a "Daily-Today" pickup format, rather than "Daily-Tomorrow," in an effort to maximize playing time during a shortened season.

we should entirely change to daily-today.

[Yanks27Sox9]

Forgot where I saw it, but yeah, if the season is not finished it will be null and void. Fuck a certain amount of games. If MLB can't pull off the 60 game season, then we shitcan 2020...and any fees will roll over to 2021.

Need a few more votes. Otherwise, I'll move forward with executive decisions lol. Want to relaunch the season by Monday 7/20.

[Coffee's 4 Closers Only]

I hear you on the 60 games, this is already going to test a lot. But man, if we get to 50 or 55 games and our league is cancelled, that could be a tough pill to swallow for some after taking that journey. Championships as we know are tough enough to come by, 60 games or not. Perhaps we use 50 or 55 games just to give a little leeway? That way no one can claim they were robbed being that close. Hopefully it won't matter.

[Yanks27Sox9]

The season is a total coin flip, here and in real life. Anything can happen. That said, if MLB reaches 40-50 games, it would take the worse case scenario to keep them from finishing their season.
If saying 50 games here makes you all feel better, that's fine with me. I was just thinking that MLB must finish their season, or it's better to forget the whole thing. To me, it's already a joke at 60 games, but it is what it is.

[Yanks27Sox9]

Jun 29, 2020 0:16:12 GMT -5 Yanks27Sox9 said:

Changes for 2020:


1) The September Virtual DL will house any players quarantined/missing due to Covid-19 at any time during the 2020 season. You will not have to DL them on Yahoo. Post them in the Virtual DL thread and you retain their rights, while being able to replace them with players available on the waiver wire.
I can't keep track of everything, so you will be responsible to post it in the thread...otherwise, the player won't be protected. Also, when the player comes back to the MLB lineup, you will have to add him back onto your Yahoo roster as well (just like the old Sept DL rules).
Bottom line, you are responsible for tracking your team's Virtual DL comings and goings due to Covid-19 in the community thread in order to maintain ownership of the assets. Reason being is that it's more than I can handle, so you'll be responsible for any mistakes you make. Lastly, once a player is activated in real life, you will have 48 hours to do the same or he'll be a free agent.


2) GmL rules won't change for 2020, and they'll still apply to our prospects. That said, everyone will miss 100+ of their team's games this season, so no one will use/spend a GmL season this year. They will have the same # of service years in 2021 as they did in 2020. Players who exceed the AB or IP thresholds will still graduate for the following season. And if a prematurely promoted player ends the season on the MLB roster, he will be a GmL-3 player in 2021 regardless of the ROY thresholds.


3) Out of necessity, players/positions will have new minimums and maximums. It's a 60 game season, and Yahoo has been adjusted appropriately. It's 60 games per position, so 600 Games Played maximum in total. I also set the maximum Innings Pitched at 650 innings. The minimums (based upon a comparable percentage to our typical season) are 540 GP and 530 IP.

4) The trade deadline is 8/31, which is the date MLB set for themselves. 8/31 will also be the last day for any minor league drop/adds this season. Since there is no minor league season, that really shouldn't matter...but it does make it easier to keep it aligned with the trade deadline this year.

5) I will open up Yahoo on Monday 7/20 at Noon Pacific time. At that time, all teams are free to make any drop/adds necessary to their MLB rosters. Please note that to place a player on the virtual DL for Covid-19 reasons it must be documented in some way, and the MLB team must be treating the player similarly in real life. See #1 above, but please don't use this to cheat the system.

6) If we don't reach 50 games played in the MLB season, our fantasy season will be moot. We'll roll the money over to 2021, or cash everyone out on leaguesafe.

7) There are 2 votes left to be decided. Looks like the June draft order will also be determined by the standing at the end of games on 8/31. As for the league fee, there's one vote left. Depending upon that, our league fee will either be $75 (if a tie) or the same $100.


Think that's everything. Thanks.

[Coffee's 4 Closers Only]

John, this is looking good, thanks for the work. You bring up a good point with No. 5: how to document? Positive COVID tests are only made public if the player consents. Granted, everyone can infer to the likelihood when there is a positive. To your point about documentation, I hate to suggest a subjective interpretation, but what if we make you the final arbiter of whether a player likely has it? Otherwise the playing field becomes uneven in our league as it wouldn't just be about positive/negative, but also public/non-public. Just a thought.

[Yanks27Sox9]

Jul 15, 2020 4:28:05 GMT -5 Coffee's 4 Closers Only said:

John, this is looking good, thanks for the work. You bring up a good point with No. 5: how to document? Positive COVID tests are only made public if the player consents. Granted, everyone can infer to the likelihood when there is a positive. To your point about documentation, I hate to suggest a subjective interpretation, but what if we make you the final arbiter of whether a player likely has it? Otherwise the playing field becomes uneven in our league as it wouldn't just be about positive/negative, but also public/non-public. Just a thought.

Yep, that's fine. I don't expect anyone to post proof. People should be able to look up or infer that a guy is out for Covid. What I don't want to see is a player missing a couple games with a stiff neck, like Judge this week, and getting placed onto the virtual DL for a bogus reason.




Votes are decided. 8/31 for June draft, and $100 league fee.

[Yanks27Sox9]

Jul 15, 2020 1:09:02 GMT -5 Yanks27Sox9 said:

Jun 29, 2020 0:16:12 GMT -5 Yanks27Sox9 said:

Changes for 2020:


1) The September Virtual DL will house any players quarantined/missing due to Covid-19 at any time during the 2020 season. You will not have to DL them on Yahoo. Post them in the Virtual DL thread and you retain their rights, while being able to replace them with players available on the waiver wire.
I can't keep track of everything, so you will be responsible to post it in the thread...otherwise, the player won't be protected. Also, when the player comes back to the MLB lineup, you will have to add him back onto your Yahoo roster as well (just like the old Sept DL rules).
Bottom line, you are responsible for tracking your team's Virtual DL comings and goings due to Covid-19 in the community thread in order to maintain ownership of the assets. Reason being is that it's more than I can handle, so you'll be responsible for any mistakes you make. Lastly, once a player is activated in real life, you will have 48 hours to do the same or he'll be a free agent.


2) GmL rules won't change for 2020, and they'll still apply to our prospects. That said, everyone will miss 100+ of their team's games this season, so no one will use/spend a GmL season this year. They will have the same # of service years in 2021 as they did in 2020. Players who exceed the AB or IP thresholds will still graduate for the following season. And if a prematurely promoted player ends the season on the MLB roster, he will be a GmL-3 player in 2021 regardless of the ROY thresholds.


3) Out of necessity, players/positions will have new minimums and maximums. It's a 60 game season, and Yahoo has been adjusted appropriately. It's 60 games per position, so 600 Games Played maximum in total. I also set the maximum Innings Pitched at 650 innings. The minimums (based upon a comparable percentage to our typical season) are 540 GP and 530 IP.

4) The trade deadline is 8/31, which is the date MLB set for themselves. 8/31 will also be the last day for any minor league drop/adds this season. Since there is no minor league season, that really shouldn't matter...but it does make it easier to keep it aligned with the trade deadline this year.

5) I will open up Yahoo on Monday 7/20 at Noon Pacific time. At that time, all teams are free to make any drop/adds necessary to their MLB rosters. Please note that to place a player on the virtual DL for Covid-19 reasons it must be documented in some way, and the MLB team must be treating the player similarly in real life. See #1 above, but please don't use this to cheat the system.

6) If we don't reach 50 games played in the MLB season, our fantasy season will be moot. We'll roll the money over to 2021, or cash everyone out on leaguesafe.

7) The 2 votes are final. The June draft order will be determined by the standings at the end of games played on 8/31. As for the league fee this season, the majority voted to keep it the same at $100.


Think that's everything. Thanks.

2 more Virtual DL notes:

- Regarding any players who aren't publicly listed as being out due to Covid-19, due to the MLB rules on this, we will infer what the deal is together and I will be the arbiter if necessary. We'll use common sense though. If there's no listed injury, or any news, it'll be considered a safe assumption that it's Covid related.

- Lastly, any player who chose to sit out the year due to Covid-19 is eligible to be placed on the virtual DL for the year.

[Yanks27Sox9]

Leaguesafe is open. Email me if you didn't get the notification, or if you can't pay by opening day.

[Yanks27Sox9]

The Covid Virtual DL will somewhat be a work in progress, and there are gray areas. Using my team as an example...DJLM, Moncada, and Kenley are all unknowns today. I don't feel like I can place any of them on the Virtual DL on Monday, because all 3 have finally reported to camp and have a legitimate opportunity to be active on opening day. As a result, I will have to wait and see with those guys who've just returned from quarantine.

I'm only mentioning these examples now as a reference for next week. If they're out, absolutely use the Virtual DL. If they may play, they gotta remain on your roster until we know or see what happens.
Once a player is on the Virtual DL, there is no minimum or maximum time frame to leave him on that DL. Whenever he comes back in real life, you'll have 48 hours to add the player back to your active rosters as well.