Updated Overall Standings

"Dump Trade" Proposal

Goal

To control "dump trades" and restore the competitive balance in the league, while supporting an environment of active involvement throughout the season.

Proposal

• Limit the draft picks that may be traded during the regular season to Rounds 14-24
• Open trading in the offseason (i.e., end of championship through draft day) to all draft picks, Round 7-24
• Maintain six playoff team format
• Maintain same trade deadline
• Do not limit the number of trades that can be made, or tether the round spread
• No further fines

Advantages

• Protects the competitive balance by ensuring all teams enter the offseason with the first seven draft picks, along with six keepers.
• Deters the trading of stars during the regular season due to the limitations of potential compensation.
• Expands the number of teams in contention by leveling the talent.
• Rewards teams that draft and manage their roster the best, rather than those most willing to sacrifice next year's team.
• Incentivizes owners to keep stars -- and, therefore, maintain competitive rosters -- through the end of the season due to potentially better compensation in the offseason.
• Maintains the potential for big deals involving picks during the offseason, when each team shares the same universal goal -- to prepare for the next year -- as opposed to the team-specific goals during the regular season that depend on a team's competitiveness.
• Does not hinder active owners by limiting the number of trades a team can make.
• Turns regular season draft pick trades to supplemental considerations rather than integral components.
• Challenges owners to seek out potentially valuable non-stars through trades.
• Prevents a new team from inheriting a "dead team," should an owner decide to leave the league after depleting resources.
• Enhances the appeal and activity of the offseason/pre-draft period.
• Easily policed (unlike limiting the number of trades)

Disadvantages

• Limits the ability of teams to use all of its resources as it sees fit.
• Depending on the level of activity, offseason trade tracking could be challenging.

Link to thread from 2012 discussion on this:

http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/archive/mlb/2012/55832/message?msgid=v1/mb/board/eb9b5b1b-c537-459e-91be-23ff704876cf/thread/1347250030289-d8ceb50c-ee9e-4776-9996-199162d85001

Keeper/Draft Preview

Lars

Picks:  Lars is in great shape, with multiple picks in three of the first five rounds, including three in the first. Still, that first round can be tricky. Just ask Russ.

Keepers: There are really only six candidates on the roster now. Each has great potential here, but there are some significant question marks: Granderson (10 steals? .319 obp?), Edwin Encarnacion (lack of track record), Longoria (a healthy season would be unusual), Trumbo (second half was scary bad; seems like he’s only locked-in when he’s not on Lars’ team), and Asdrubal (2011 numbers: keeper worthy, 2012: not so much). The question is whether Lars stands pat or not. With three first rounders, it might make sense to stick with what you got.

Andrew

Picks: With two first rounders and two seconds, Andrew has a real opportunity to solidify the offense and match what will likely be a good staff.

Keepers: Not great. The two definites happen to be two of the top three pitchers I’d choose over any in a long-term keeper league: Verlander and Strasburg. The other options are mediocre at best. Bourn lacks a team at the moment but is a decent enough keeper; however, its hard to count on LaRoche to stay healthy and swat 33 and 100 again. And while LaRoche lacks the track record of a keeper, perennial keeper Rickie Weeks doesn’t have the 2012 to justify a sixth round pick. Meanwhile, Wil Myers is likely to start in the minors, Morse just moved into one of the worst hitting environments in the league, Quentin is already in the worst hitting environment, and Pedro Alvarez is a two category guy at this point. He could use some help, to say the least.

Dave

Picks: Awful. Unless something drastically changes in the offseason, Dave is in a really bad situation here. He can basically wait an hour to join the rest of us in the draft room because he doesn’t have a pick until the 8^th round. Andrew waited eight last year, but at least it was after his first round pick. This is really gonna suck.

Keepers: Much better here, with stars everywhere. Prince, Posey, Price lead the pack, Aroldis is an intriguing guy, Andrus is solid though a bit overrated, and a lot of good options for the sixth spot with Bumgarner, Zimmerman, Cespedes, Jackson and the only reliever worth keeping: Kimbrel. Cespedes is the wild card here. Could be huge or complete flop. Either way, Dave really needs to deal someone away for picks. Given the urgency of the need and quality of depth here, he might even want to consider moving the Royal Round Tiger.

Brandon

Picks: If Dave’s situation is 1, Brandon is 1a. Perhaps it’s a little less urgent since he’s got picks in rounds 3-5, but those are his only three picks until round 14 (think: second-tier closers, fourth/fifth starters, third OFs – lowlights from 2012 included Jair Jurrjens, Ryan Raburn, Brennan Boesch). He’ll have to pull some magic out of a hat in those late rounds or he’s going to have to rely on waiver wire picks to compete this year.

Keepers: Brandon has keepers to spare and then some. Miguel, Pujols, McCutch, Heyward, Reyes are clear and one of the top groups in the league, but then there’s a lot of options: CC, Dunn, Halladay, Shields, Scherzer, Pence, Mauer, even Craig warrants some consideration. The trick will be determining what he actually wants for them or whether to just take anything. Either way, he’s got a great foundation. The question is whether the rest of the house will be made of 2x4s or toothpicks.

Adam

Picks: With the Anderson trade, my draft board looks a bit better with only five holes, the most prominent being in round 2 and 3. It’s pretty well spread out with no more than two picks in a round. All in all, not bad for a playoff team.

Keepers: Pretty mediocre for a team that did well last year. Only Hamels had a really good 2012. JUpton has much promise, but last year’s numbers did not match the pedigree, while Kinsler couldn’t even manage to get to 20/20. Carlos Santana wasn’t a top catcher until the last two months, and Hosmer was just dismal and frankly a big risk as a keeper. The sixth spot will go to whose left from a decent group. Cliff Lee had an excellent year and would be a fine sixth, but is also the best trading chip. Aramis is consistently productive, while RA Dickey was perhaps the best pitcher in the league last year (27qs 230k 2.73/1.05) though he lacks the track record and youth of the upper echelon. Peavy, Rios, and NCruz are worthy, while Prado is unspectacularly solid (81/10/70/17/.359) but particularly intriguing in that he became eligible for 2B, 3B, SS, and OF. It’ll depend on who wants what.

Russ

Picks: Russ is in great shape considering he was one of the best teams in the league last year. He’s only got four holes and has his first three picks. He and Jason did tremendous jobs balancing their rosters and picks this year.

Keepers:  Arguably the best group of keepers in the league, Russ managed to grab Trout in the late rounds last year in what was one of the best picks in league history. Teamed with Cano, CarGo, Hamilton, Felix, and Kershaw, Russ has set himself up quite well to dominate in 2013. Meanwhile, there are a number of teams who should be flocking to Kipnis, who, despite a mediocre second half, has eventual 25/25 potential and an improved lineup around him. Wainright could also be considered as a keeper, and there’s a case for Jordan Zimmerman as well, despite the low K numbers, with a 2.94/1.17 while converting 75% of his starts into QSs.

Dagan

Picks: There’s a few holes in Dagan’s draft board, but its not until after the fifth round. Overall, he is in good shape to be his typical productive self.

Keepers: Dagan tends to find keepers he likes and not let go. He may have found another monster in Paul Goldschmidt, who seemed like a bit of an overdraft in the fourth round last year, but he was a consistent producer with an 82/20/82/18/.359 in 514 abs. He also picked up Anthony Rizzo, who was very productive in half a year. The question is, with Votto already entrenched at 1B, how many first basemen should one keep? To throw a bit of a wrench in it, he’s got Ortiz too. A good problem to have, but Dagan might want to get on the horn and try to upgrade elsewhere. He’s got Bruce, Kemp and Zobrist, which is a nice group. His pitchers fall something short of obvious keeper material with Latos, Cueto, and Lincecum, but I wouldn’t argue with any of them.

Mike

Picks: He’s got a pretty full draft board, though it sounds like some of those picks will be on the move here at some point as he tries to turn around the fate of this beleaguered franchise.

Keepers: It’s tough since Troy had some pretty good players over the years, but traded them or kept a closer instead of them. He’s got Beltre as a good centerpiece, with decent guys like Phillips, Konerko, Reddick, and VMart as options. Obviously he likes Brett Anderson, who came back from TJ surgery last year to post a 2.57/1.03/35k/4qs in 35 IP.  Jurickson Profar is a tough one to keep since its hard to imagine him being drafted before round 5 if he doesn’t have a starting position, as talented as he may be.  Aaron Hill and Chris Davis had great years, but could not be more unreliable. But considering Mike’s on a two year plan apparently, anything may go here. It’ll be interesting to see him work and whether he can accomplish his goal. 

Jason

Picks: The Champ is in incredible shape considering the number of trades he takes part in and the success of his team. He’s got four holes and has a pick in each of the first six rounds. It takes a lot of time to achieve what he did last year, but he put on a clinic.

Keepers: An excellent group already, Jason’s got some talent to spare for interested parties. Braun, Hanley, Pacman, and Yovani are a good base. Hard to not keep Headley with 31 hr and 115 rbi, while Weaver was only OK last year but has an impressive track record. Meanwhile, he has Ryan Howard, Willingham, Rollins, Utley, Choo, Yadier, AGordon, and Lester who all have some merit, though certainly are not must-keeps. Jason has all the parts in place to have another great team. It may turnover a few times over the course of the season, but odds are it will be in the playoffs.

Kyle

Picks: Although he lacks a first rounder, Kyle has multiple picks in three of three first four rounds. The draft board is pretty full, so he looks in good shape.

Keepers: He’s got some great keepers in Giancarlo, AGon, and Starlin, while Lawrie has the type of pedigree and shown enough to warrant a spot on this roster. But the fifth and sixth spots are iffy from my view, as I just don’t see Middlebrooks or Jesus Montero as worthy keepers. Put simply, they would not be drafted in the first six rounds if we started from scratch. Obviously, that’s not the way things work in High & Tight, but Kyle could stand to take advantage of some of the talent that’s available, perhaps adding a starting pitcher or a power hitter or both. 

Dan

Picks: With four picks in the first five rounds, Dan’s pick situation isn’t bad but you could argue not as good as it should be. But he’s only got three holes in his board so he’s in decent shape.

Keepers:  Dan’s got some good young guys, highlighted by Bryce Harper and Matt Moore, who could be top 10 players by next year. With the rest of the roster however, as with Kyle, you have to consider whether you have one of the top 84 players. Machado, Olt, and Bundy are all great names and perhaps one of them will be this year’s Trout, but they’re still not worthy of being among the top 84. Machado showed signs, but the bottom line is his production early on in his career does not warrant it. If you take his rates from last year and give him 550 abs, you get a line of 65/19/71/5/.294, which is Gordon Beckham territory. He’s getting hyped up (reminds me quite a bit of Lawrie at this point), but he’s just not worth it at this point. Teix and BJ Upton are solid keepers. Jennings and Weiters had decent seasons, though something less than keeper-worthy. Melky and Altuve are interesting players, but not quite there. He could stand to talk to Mike who is looking for those young names.

Chris

Picks: Chris masterfully pimped out his roster, sold em, picked up new guys, pimped them, and did it again. He will be done drafting after the eight round. Depending on how the ping pong balls fly, it is possible that Chris could be done drafting before Dave makes his first pick. Whoa.

Keepers: Bautista, Holliday, Cain, and Gio are all good-to-great keepers, though his final two spots leave something to be desired. I like Napoli in Boston and not catching, Moustakas had a good first half, Ethier has had periods of great success, and Bauer still is a great prospect, but Chris can do better. Considering the picks he has and the available talent, I expect he could make significant upgrades for very little. Either way, I am sure Chris will be a force to be reckoned with this year much in the same way Casten was.

Brian

Picks: Brian was in a difficult position last year when the trade deadline approached and he wasn’t sure whether he was buying or selling. Ultimately, he stayed put. Other than the lack of a first rounder thanks to Dan Haren, he’s pretty much got all his picks.

Keepers: He’s got some potentially great keepers in Tulo and Grienke, while Beltran and Butler were awesome last year. Looks like most experts will say to keep Medlen, though you cannot expect him to replicate his phenomenal stats. Spread his rates over 32 starts, you would get a line of: 27 qs, 320 ks, 1.57/0.91. That’d be incredible but it won’t happen. He’s still a guy Atlanta didn’t see fit to put in their rotation until late last year and after multiple injuries. Uggla is a guy who is hard not to keep given what he can give you over the course of the season. McCann has track record and Morneau showed glimpses of what he once was. Ike Davis is an interesting guy as well, but he really doesn’t fit the keeper mold. There’s some great potential in this group. Brian should be in contention this year.

Pierce

Picks: Though he probably could’ve done more, Pierce did a pretty good job at least eliminating his last four picks through trade. He’s got two picks in five rounds, including the second and third.

Keepers: He needs his Sox to play better as Pedroia and Ellsbury are key to his success. David Wright needs to continue to produce as well. Outside of those three, he’s got two great young pitchers in Yu Darvish and Chris Sale, but are they trustworthy? Ian Desmond was an afterthought coming into last year, but he hit like a stud last year and is could be the league’s top SS next year, unless he digresses back to his former self. Sandoval is another guy to consider, though its tough with his injury history. Kubel certainly showed some nice power, but I can’t see him as a keeper. If these guys produce and Pierce can pick well, this could be a very good team.