Winning Fantasy Baseball Strategy - Keeper League Edition

Few fantasy baseball experiences are as immersive as the keeper league.

Not only are fantasy owners grinding toward a championship, they're also keeping one eye on the future. Every trade, every waiver-wire pickup, every injury - they're all critical to the future complexion of the league.

This post is divided into three sections: Leagues in which you keep x number of players, leagues in which a keeper costs you a draft selection from the round in which that player was drafted (or earlier), and auction keeper leagues. Check out the section that applies to your league.

Leagues With X Keepers

Some league types allow owners to keep a set number of players, generally between 3-6. Once owners establish who they would like to keep, those picks are removed from draft consideration, leaving the remainder of the player pool eligible to be selected.

This keeper league format lends itself to the most basic fantasy strategy possible: Hang onto the best players. That's it. If you have six great players in a keeper league that allows you to keep all six, there's absolutely no decision-making required.

Settling on your keepers may not always that easy, so consider what is most important to you. Do you want a balance between pitching and hitting? Do you favor multi-category contributors, or players who dominate in one specific stat? Do you have a great player at a scarce fantasy position?

And here's a question that has haunted more than a few fantasy owners over the years: What happens if you have more keepers than spots? Look for owners who may have one or two high-end keepers but little else; there may be a deal that benefits both parties.

Leagues With Draft Pick Forfeiture

In this format, players are kept at the expense of the draft pick in the round in which they were drafted - or a round ahead. For example, if you nabbed Jake Arrieta in the seventh round, it would cost you this year's seventh-rounder - or sixth-rounder, depending on the league format - to keep him.

Determining which players to keep is all about assessing the value of each player relative to where he is being drafted this season. Arrieta is a great keeper option in this scenario, as he's being selected in the second round in the majority of 10- and 12-team mixed leagues.

On the flip side, let's say you selected Joey Votto in the second round last season. He's a third-round pick in most mixed league formats, meaning that he's a bad keeper option for this year. If you really want him, throw him back and look to get him in the redraft process.

Owners should only consider the most significant value plays; while there's no hard and fast rule, it may be worthwhile to limit your keeper options to players being drafted five rounds ahead of where you selected them the year before. And there's little keeper value in players you drafted with your first five picks.

Finally, don't simply keep players for the sake of doing so. If you don't have anyone worth hanging onto, then don't - throw them all back and start over. This is a common result for players who trade away all their best keepers in an attempt to win a fantasy title.

Auction Keeper Leagues

Auction keeper leagues allow owners to keep players either with or without a salary increase, depending on the format. Generally, a player's salary is bumped by a pre-set amount if an owner wishes to retain that player.

Auction league owners have many factors to consider. Among them: how much inflation does my league have? How will the keepers I've selected affect my budget at the draft? Is a x$ raise too rich?

Generally, owners should follow the same edict used in leagues with draft pick forfeiture. Only players who present significant value relative to current salary should be kept; when in doubt, throw him back.

You can make an exception for players at scarce positions (where it may be difficult to secure decent value at the draft), or if your league's inflation has you convinced that a player representing modest value will be too expensive to reacquire at draft time. Otherwise, go with high-value plays only.