24 team keeper

[cshannajr]

I haven't thought it through very much and I don't know if anyone else is even thinking about it. But I am very interested in the idea. Anyone have any thoughts/interest?

[kimkrichbaum2]

Fascinating idea, i would give it a shot. I wonder if this is the time, or better to wait for next season?

[thisisray]

It would be difficult, but I would be interested.

[RiojaDave]

I think it would be very interesting to do.

I wonder, is the 24 team league going to stay an option?

[Rant]

I go back and forth on this. I'm interested, but it has the potential to be a brutal draft and future management problem (corralling managers). I would suggest that there be strict guidelines on when drafts and league start-times (e.g., draft starts August 31 at Noon Eastern, two hour clock, league starts on June 1 and September 15 every year).

[kimkrichbaum2]

As I think about the 24 team keeper, I am excited. It seems it has the possibility of being more like GMing in real baseball than any other legue to date.
I have some thoughts on the most interesting and effective way to do a 24-team league.

First of all, I would draft as a 24 team league on the somdraft site. But i would run the league as 2 12 team leagues. And then if someone in the league has the SOM computer game, they could run the world series for us! Interleague trading would be allowed.
The reason for this is it keeps many more teams alive in the playoff hunt.
If folks wanted, we could mix the divisions at the end of each season as in the keeper league rules, but keep the leagues the same. Or we could mix the leagues, with the second season's league a being as follows (based on where people finished in previous season
LEAGUE A
EAST A1, B2, A3, B4
CENTRAL A5, B6, A7, B8
WEST A9, B10, A11, B12
(LEAGUE B is the opposite0

In terms of numbers of players drafted, there are not enough cards to draft 40 players for 24 teams. (there are around 890 cards)
I have two thoughts on how we could do this.
PLAN A
This is the plan most like keeper leagues now.
Draft 30, Keep 20 at end of year, 10 player draft each year, 2 player supplemental draft, 2 player prospect draft, all other rules are the typical keeper rules, except I would definitely add tan NBA style weighted draft lottery for the top 3 picks in each draft after the initial. We have a system in place to do this in my current league. This will blunt the "race for last" that could be quite intense in a 24 team league, if say, Steven Strausburg was the prize!
PLAN B
Each team drafts 35, no separate prospect draft. prospects may be drafted in the original draft. In the original draft, each team must draft 30 players who have cards, and may draft all 35. From that point on, all teams must have at least 25 carded players who fulfill the strat minimum team requirements. No time limits on how long you can keep a prospect. Keep 25, 10 person draft at beginning of year
All other rules as in plan A. I like this plan better. It will afford us more flexibility.

[thisisray]

I would think it would be more fun to have all 24 teams playing in the same league. It could be non-DH to make things more interesting. Plan A is more appealing to me and having set times on when the drafts occur is a great idea and would be necessary. I think someone needs to make a set list of rules and see if people are interested.

[tcochran]

Yes, a non-DH league would make the most sense, because you would have to find fewer quality batters for each team.

You would also be more likely to be able to locate back-ups, too:
... 499 hitters / 24 teams / 9 in lineup = 2.30 per position
... 499 - 6 DH only = 493; 493 / 24 teams / 8 in lineup = 2.57 per position

To make sure the draft does not last as long as the season, maybe there should be a one-hour clock, running 7 days per week, 10AM - 10 PM eastern time. With the proxy options, this would not make it burdensome.

[cshannajr]

it appears there may be enough interest to actually pursue this. i will try to come up with a starting point for potential rules tonight (subject to change based on what others think of course). i'm in a few other keepers and will prob use their rules as a base, but tweak them a little to try and fit the 24 team game. i like all of the input so far. thanks.

[kimkrichbaum2]

I prefer to have a DH. The reality is that not having a DH takes 4 significant players (dh only) out of the pool, and makes many more (lower end 1b, and really bad fielding ss,2b) irrelevant. I think the depth per position will not change by going no DH, because most of the folks who will end up at DH would not compete other places. I think having a DH will just give us more creativity in putting together our teams, and god knows, we will need it!