Fantasy Baseball Keeper League Rules

Dynasty Keeper Leagues

• Leagues that allow you to keep most or all of your roster after the season are often called "dynasty" leagues, given that it's somewhat more difficult to unseat a championship team if it doesn't undergo significant change. As a result, dynasty leagues require a lot of investment in researching and acquiring young prospects to build a future winner.

  Dynasty league teams are very much like real sports teams. To win, you must be a great player scout as well as a general manager. At the same time, you risk being a perennial bottom-dweller if your research is inadequate or inaccurate. You might also be forced to watch your favorite player excel for another owner for a long time. A dynasty league makes each new season's draft far less fun and important.

  To level the playing field, many dynasty leagues introduce rules that make keeping a large number of players very costly. One example rule forces owners to give up a draft spot for each player they keep. It can be costly for owners to use up high draft picks to keep players that could possibly be drafted in later rounds.

  Dynasty leagues are challenging and attain a high degree of verisimilitude.

Limited Keeper Leagues

• Limited keeper leagues require you to turn over a significant percentage of your roster, from half to all but a few of your players. After each season, you decide which players you will "protect" from going back into the free agent pool, where they will be fair game for anyone to draft.

  Although this turnover reduces your team's similarity to actual major league teams and makes it more difficult to build a perennial winner, it also creates more parity in the league and restores a measure of importance to the draft. You also might have a second chance to grab your favorite player that another owner left unprotected.

  Limited keeper leagues emphasize identifying the core players on whom you rely year in and out. Depending on how many spots you have available, this can be an agonizing process.

Contract Keeper Leagues

• Contract keeper leagues compel owners to place their players "under contract." For the duration of the contract, that player will be protected from going back into the free agent pool. The contract lengths can be arbitrarily decided by the league or owner, or they can be based on a real-world value.

  Not only do contracts give the league another level of authenticity, they bring parity by potentially breaking up dynastic teams filled with players under long-term contracts. If the league penalizes you for releasing a player before his contract expires, you assume some risk that the player might underachieve, retire or become injured.

  Contract keeper leagues are intricate, balanced and very closely resemble actual baseball teams. They require an intense level of research and commitment.

Salary Cap Keeper Leagues

• Salary cap leagues require owners to field a team whose combined "salaries" stay below an agreed-upon cap. The owners bid upon players in an auction, with the "salaries" of the players derived from their performance or their real-world salaries. Salary cap keeper leagues often require you to each year increase a player's salary or match a new bid from another owner in order to keep the player.

  This adds yet another level of complexity and authenticity. You must carefully balance the financial capabilities of your franchise while still fielding a competitive team.