This article is part of our Rounding Third series.
The RotoWire Staff Keeper League convened for its 19th season last night. The 18-team keeper league runs with standard 5x5 rules, seven-man benches (no IL spots!) and 10-man minor league rosters. We keep up to 15 major leaguers and up to 10 minor leaguers, and it's an auction salary-cap draft (we need a better name for this!) format. With so many keepers, inflation runs rampant in this league, and you can see that in the results. For more on the concept of inflation, you should consult John Mosey's excellent article posted back when he had just become RotoWire, after first starting off as "RotoNews." Here's the results from the first part - new additions to each team are in red:
Click here to see a larger image.
Click here to see a larger image.
Click here to see a larger image.
The teams are listed in reverse order of finish from 2020. Howard Schindel won his first crown last season, riding the accomplishments of Freddie Freeman down the stretch. Freeman's long-term contract expired after last season, and you can see that his stats cost his new team a lot more this season.
I entered the draft with a relatively deep pitching staff, with five set starters and one speculative starter in Cal Quantrill, and one (presumed) closer in Richard Rodriguez. I needed more spots to fill on the hitting side, but had a pretty healthy budget ($152 remaining) to fill them. While I was in on the bidding of nearly every available elite hitter, finishing second on Freeman, I instead ended up landing two hitters in the next tier and, with one exception, players with everyday jobs at each open spot. An 18-team mixed league is similar to an only league in that respect - it's not quite as tight, but playing time is huge.
Here are my additions from the salary cap draft portion, with the winning bid and in the order in which I added them:
J.T. Realmuto ($41) (9) - I didn't think I'd roster him in any more leagues, but I was willing to make an exception here, due to inflation and the notion that if it works out I can keep him at this price next year.
Kyle Hendricks ($27) (23) - One of my favorites comes home. He's likely to be among the innings leaders this season, and I'm trying to put an emphasis on that this season.
Michael Conforto ($40) (27) - So this was a bit of an overpay, but here's my reasoning. I see Conforto as a building block type of player, one that can go 25-90-90 in a strong lineup without killing my batting average, and maybe even provide a good boost in BA. Was last year's .322 average a total two-month fluke, or a harbinger of a potential new .280+ level? "He started using the whole field more," was the party line from the team.
J.D. Martinez ($20) (32) - If Conforto was an overpay, Martinez was a significant bargain. Of course, he's also coming off of a terrible season and is UT-only this year in most formats.
Amir Garrett ($7) (61) - I honestly didn't expect to land Garrett - I nominated him at $5, Clay Link went to $6, and I topped him at $7, thinking that he'd go at least to $10. I did need another closer, however, so ... here's hoping! He threw to hitters in a live batting practice at the Reds' training facility in Goodyear today.
Jean Segura ($9) (103) - Segura fit my team perfectly - I still needed a 2B, 3B and CR, though I could move Max Muncy to any of those spots. The only negative is that getting Segura prevented me from landing Christian Walker, having already been topped out on C.J. Cron.
Joey Wendle ($1) (115) - I love the multiple positions (2B/SS/3B) and the speed. I was willing to max out at $5 to get him if necessary. It wasn't necessary.
Jasson Dominguez ($2) (118) - Buying the elite prospect in the auction is often the sucker play, but what if Dominguez really is that generational prospect? It's worth using up a roster spot to see if he comes quickly. I made a point of grabbing a couple of outfield-eligible players early in the reserve rounds to back up Dominguez.
Enrique Hernandez ($2) (131) - Hernandez has consistently batted leadoff all spring. He also qualifies in the outfield, which will be helpful given my addition of Dominguez.
Reserves/Minors
In an 18-team league with 10-man minor league rosters, we go pretty deep among prospects. I'll spare you the full details of each pick, but here's who I ended up with.
As you can see, I'm adding shortstops among my prospects as a point of emphasis.
