Yahoo Schedule

Hey guys, FYI. The Yahoo Fantasy Baseball site usually opens up on February 15th give or take a day.

MLB Ad

Hey guys. I put an MLB ad on the blog. My idea is that if anyone wants to buy something during the season, you could click on the box and access the MLB website from there. You'll have full access to all current deals in place.

The plan would be to contribute 60% of what I get to the Couch Managers pot at the end of the year. The other 40% would go toward taxes and covering my time.

Because of my Fantasy Sports Warrior website, I have qualified for lots of sponsors --- NFL, Dick's Sporting Goods, Sports Authority, etc. So if you want me to post an ad for something else, let me know.

It wouldn't be a lot of money. I get around 5% to 7% typically on the deal. But it would help the pot if anyone is interested.

IP Limit

Hey guys.  I've gotten some feedback on reducing the Innings Pitched limit to 1650 innings.  Let me know your thoughts.  I would not anticipate it going lower in future years.  Thanks.

Manager Backgrounds

FROM BIG O  (CHATAS)

I have put together a little questionnaire.  And yes , some of your responses will be featured in an up-coming "newsletter" , and maybe even twisted around and used against you (especially questions #6 and #12) .

I'm not asking for any top-secret draft strategies here , but I think it's important for us to get
to know each other a little better .
1. age
2. marital status
3. occupation
4. favorite outdoor activity
5. favorite vacation spot
6. favorite major league team
7. favorite major league ballpark to see a game
8. how long have you been playing fantasy baseball
9. how many fantasy baseball teams did you have in 2011
10. how many fantasy baseball teams do you plan on having in 2012
11. do you play in "money" leagues
12. when you were 12 years old , who was your baseball hero

There has been some "discussion" about turning CouchManagers' into a money league.  That discussion has been "tabled" , thus far.  (We feel that we have a great group of managers , and , at this point , we don't want to do anything  that would jeopardize our union) .  HOWEVER , in an attempt to improve on just "bragging rights" , we would like to enhance our prize structure .

13. would you be willing (starting in 2012) to "donate" $10 to a winner-take-all Champion's Prize .
(the idea here is to award our Champion a MLB Gift Certificate in the amount of $140.  We envision that the winner would use this prize money to purchase the MLBtv package ... about 100-120$ , and maybe get a hat) .

14. would you be willing to "donate" $20 (total) so that 2nd and 3rd place could be awarded smaller certificates .  (someone suggested to make it $25 , but ....putting a $20 bill in an envelope seems simpler) .

Keepers

FROM OLIN (a.k.a. chatas)

Ok guys , here we go again .
It's time to discuss our intentions and the direction we want for our league .

Originally , the league was formulated with the idea of making it a full-keeper league , to include
a limited (true) minor league roster of about 4 - 6 players .
Since it was year one , we decided not push the minor league idea and went with a roster size of
26 players (instead of 30) .

Because we were a start-up group , including some managers with little or no roto experience ,
we were apprehensive about league turn-over .
The fear was , that if we jumped right into a full-keeper and lost 3 or 4 managers after the 1st year ,
that we would have difficulty finding replacement managers who were willing to take over full teams ,
that they had NO part in drafting .... especially if those teams really sucked .

So , it was decided to gradually evolve into a full-keeper and to give us some time to stabilize our
ownership .
The first year , (actually year number 2 ... the 2010 season) we started with 4 keepers .
Year 3 ... 2011 ... we progressed to 6 keepers ... scaling back from our intention to go to 8 keepers .

Year 4 ... the up-coming 2012 season , because of a lack of consensus (some call it apathy) ,
our Commissioner (Rich Justmann) , instead of sticking with our original plan of an orderly
progression of keepers .... 12 - 16 - 20 etc ... decided to REPEAT the 2011 season and hold the
status quo on keepers .... meaning that , for 2012 , we would again have 6 keepers .
Again , the lack of a clear consensus , and the fear that we might lose some owners , we're the reasons
he made this decision .
*************************************************************************

NOW , is the time to decide on the number of keepers for the 2013 season .

I propose that , in addition to voicing your opinion about our league "direction" , that you
vote on the following options :
a) 6
b) 10
2) 14

PLEASE NOTE ... that we will decide on the number of keepers for 2013 BEFORE the 2012 draft .

There are 2 camps :
1st .... we should limit the number of keepers ... the fun is in the "drafting" .

2nd ... we should move towards full-keeper at a more accelerated pace ... right now , the number
of keepers is so low that it inhibits "trading" .

SO , we will , now , OPEN THE DISCUSSION on KEEPER SIZE for the 2013 SEASON .

League Rules

Here are the league rules from past years.

2011
1. Rotisserie Style, Standard 5X5, Daily Changes, Yahoo League.
2. League of 14 Teams.
3. No Limits on the Number of Moves by a Manager.
4. 25 Man Team Rosters plus 3 DL Slots.
5. 12 Active Hitting Slots.  C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, CI, MI, OF, OF, OF, OF, UT.  There will be no limit on games played per position.
6. 9 Active Pitcher Slots. 3SP, 3RP, 3P.  Limit of 1,800 innings pitched.
7. Trades: League Vote (48 Hours) with Commissioner Overrule if a Fair Trade is Vetoed.  Don’t expect an Override at all but it’s an option the league should have.  I would do the Overrule by moving the Players myself.
8.  The League will have 6 Keepers for 2011.  Keepers can be at any Position.
9.  Draft will be Serpentine starting with the 14^th place finisher.
10.  Standard Yahoo Waiver Wire Rules will be in effect.
11.  Standard Yahoo Trade Rules and Deadline will be in effect.
12.  Draft Selection Time will be 90 seconds.
13.  The number of Keepers for 2012 will be decided after the 2011 season.  We are not able to come to a consensus for 2012 at this time.
14.  The Draft will be held Thursday, March 24^th, at 9PM Eastern.

2010
1. Rotisserie Style, Standard 5X5, Daily Changes, Yahoo League.
2. League of 14 Teams.
3. No Limits on the Number of Moves by a Manager.
4. 25 Man Team Rosters plus 3 DL Slots.  (Change:  Last Year was 2 DL Slots.)
5. 12 Active Hitting Slots.  C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, CI, MI, OF, OF, OF, OF, UT.  There will be no limit on games played per position.  (Change:  Last Year was 3 UT slots.  This year CI, MI, a 4^th OF, and only 1 UT.)
6. 9 Active Pitcher Slots. 3SP, 3RP, 3P.  Limit of 1,800 innings pitched.  (Change:  Innings limit reduced from 2,000.)
7. Trades: League Vote (48 Hours) with Commissioner Overrule if a Fair Trade is Vetoed.  Don’t expect an Override at all but it’s an option the league should have.  I would do the Overrule by moving the Players myself.
8.  The League will have 4 Keepers for 2010.  Keepers can be at any Position.
9.  Draft will be Serpentine starting with the 14^th place finisher.  (Change:  Last Year was Random.)
10.  Standard Yahoo Waiver Wire Rules will be in effect.
11.  Standard Yahoo Trade Rules and Deadline will be in effect.
12.  Side bets among Managers are not allowed. 
13.  Draft Selection Time will be 90 seconds.

2009
1. Rotisserie Style, Standard 5X5, Daily Changes, Yahoo League.
2. League of 14 Teams.
3. No Limits on the Number of Moves by a Manager.
4. 25 Man Team Rosters plus 2 DL Slots.
5.  No Top 100 Ranked Player can be placed on the DL until 30 Days after Draft.  (Applies only to those entering the season on DL.)
6. 11 Active Hitting Slots.  We'll probably use two extra Utility positions to have guys active (depending upon how Yahoo is set up this year).  There will be no limit on games played per position.
7. 9 Active Pitcher Slots. 3SP, 3RP, 3P.  No limit on innings pitched.  We will not have ‘holds’.  However, the 3RP slot will bring the middle relievers into play which makes it more fun.
8. Trades: League Vote (48 Hours) with Commissioner Overrule if a Fair Trade is Vetoed.  Don’t expect an Override at all but it’s an option the league should have.  I would do the Overrule by moving the Players myself.
9.  The League will have 5 Keepers for next year.  The Keepers can be at any Position.
10.  Draft for the following year will be Serpentine starting with the 14^th place finisher.  Draft this year will be randomized by Yahoo 45 minutes prior to start.
11.  Standard Yahoo Waiver Wire Rules will be in effect.
12.  Standard Yahoo Trade Rules and Deadline will be in effect.
13.  No Entry Fee for this Year.  Side bets among Managers are fine.
14.  Draft Selection Time will be 2 Minutes.