The Draft with Keeper and Eligibility Rules

Individual draft review posts begin tomorrow.

I will not ask you to comment on many posts, but PLEASE give me your thoughts on the matters listed towards the end of the post. I want to make sure everyone understands the keeper rules.

Additionally, this is the OFFICIAL draft transcript. This post will clear up any and all arguments as to the round a player was selected. If you have a correction that can be verified, please get it to me ASAP.

P.S. This post looks really long, but it is mostly names. So don't freak out.

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Three players may be kept by one team.

Only selected keepers and draft picks can be traded during the offseason.

A team can only select three keepers from their roster after the MLB regular season is over. However, a team can trade draft picks or keepers or both during the offseason to obtain a kept player(s). In that case, the team receiving the traded keeper will lose the compensation to obtain the player and the draft pick associated with the kept player.*

Example One: Joel trades Garrett Atkins to Casey for Travis Hafner. Each would lose a the draft pick associated with the obtained player.

Example Two: Jason trades Erik Bedard to Ben for a 10th round draft pick. Ben would lose his 10th round pick and whatever pick was associated with Bedard.

Example Three: Erik trades Cole Hamels to Andrew for Justin Verlander and Russell Martin. Andrew would lose the pick associated with Hamels. Erik would lose the pick associated with Verlander and Martin.

* Using "Example One" as a guide, once Joel trades Garrett Atkins, the draft pick associated with keeping Atkins is restored. However, he would lose the draft pick associated with obtaining Hafner. Using "Example Two" as a guide, Jason would no longer have to forfeit his pick for keeping Bedard.

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Players who were kept for this season who cannot be kept after this season:
(Note: These players were either drafted in the first two rounds of 2007 or were not drafted in 2007.)

Vladimir Guerrero
Ted Lily
Hanley Ramirez
Prince Fielder
C.C. Sabathia
Johan Santana
Jose Reyes
Albert Pujols
Chase Utley
Jonathan Papelbon
Alex Rodriguez
Aaron Harang
Tim Lincecum
Ryan Braun

Players Drafted in Rounds One through Two who are not eligible to be kept after this season:

Brandon Webb
Grady Sizemore
David Wright
Carl Crawford
Brandon Phillips
Ryan Howard
Ichiro Suzuki
Carlos Beltran
B.J. Upton
David Ortiz
Mark Teixeira
Carlos Zambrano
Carlos Lee
Justin Morneau
Troy Tulowitzki

Draft rounds three through twenty-eight:
(Note: The following players are eligible to be kept after this season is finished. Additional keeper rules are noted at the end of the post.)

Round Three
Roy Oswalt
Alex Rios
Victor Martinez
Nick Markakis
Miguel Cabrera (two years left of keeper eligibility)
John Lackey
Aramis Ramirez
Brian Roberts
Felix Hernandez
Travis Hafner (two years left of keeper eligibility)

Round Four
John Smoltz
Derrek Lee
Manny Ramirez
Garret Atkins (two years left of keeper eligibility)
Fausto Carmona
Daisuke Matsuzaka
Joe Mauer (two years left of keeper eligibility)
Derek Jeter
Jake Peavy (two years left of keeper eligibility)
Lance Berkman

Round Five
Yovani Gallardo
Alfonso Soriano
Tim Hudson
J.J. Putz
Carlos Guillen
Chipper Jones
Jimmy Rollins (two years left of keeper eligibility)
Bobby Abreu
Adam Dunn
Roy Halladay

Round Six
Hunter Pence
Jeff Francis
Michael Young
Matt Holliday (two years left of keeper eligibility)
Hideki Matsui
Adam Wainwright
Chris Young
Francisco Rodriguez
Eric Byrnes
Alex Gordon

Round Seven
Matt Kemp
Robinson Cano
Mike Lowell
Miguel Tejada
Brad Penny
Brian McCann
Takashi Saito
Carlos Pena
Chone Figgins
Joe Nathan

Round Eight
Chad Billingsley
Khalil Greene
Aaron Rowand
Javier Vazquez
Ben Sheets
James Shields
Brett Meyers
Brad Hawpe
Matt Cain
Ian Kinsler

Round Nine
Ryan Zimmerman
Chien-Ming Wang
Conner Jackson
Torii Hunter
Francisco Liriano
Orlando Hudson
Chris B. Young
Mariano Rivera
Placido Polanco
Adrian Gonzalez

Round Ten
A.J. Burnett
Jose Valverde
Jorge Posada
Pat Burrell
Johnny Damon
Billy Wagner
Kelvim Escobar
Gary Sheffield
Jim Thome
Adrian Beltre

Round Eleven
Jeremy Bonderman
Bobby Jenks
Jered Weaver
Pedro Martinez
Francisco Cordero
Gil Meche
John Maine
Justin Verlander (two years left of keeper eligibility)
Geovany Soto
Kenji Johjima

Round Twelve
Howie Kendrick
Brad Lidge
Billy Butler
Dustin Pedroia
James Loney
Kevin Youkilis
Dan Haren (two years left of eligibility)
Rich Hill
Phil Hughes
Joe Blanton

Round Thirteen
Ivan Rodriguez
Jason Varitek
Kosuke Fukudome
Dustin McGowan
Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Jason Isringhausen
Cory Hart
Todd Helton
Clay Buchholtz
Zack Greinke

Round Fourteen
Oliver Perez
Dontrelle Willis
Mark Buehrle
Huston Street
Rafael Soriano
Al Reyes
Derrek Lowe
Ian Snell
Ubaldo Jimenez
Greg Maddux

Round Fifteen
Rich Harden
Trevor Hoffman
Scott Kazmir (two years left of keeper eligibility)
Jeremy Guthrie
Brian Bannister
Jacoby Ellsbury
Jeff Francoeur
Jon Lester
Randy Johnson
Joe Borowski

Round Sixteen
Mark Prior
Juan Pierre
Shane Victorino
Josh Beckett (two years left of keeper eligibility)
Hiroki Kuroda
Jacque Jones
Micah Owings
Vernon Wells
Homer Bailey
Andy Pettitte

Round Seventeen
Nick Swisher
Chad Cordero
Tom Gorzelanny
Coco Crisp
Magglio Ordonez (two years left of keeper eligibility)
Edgar Renteria
Dan Uggla
Bronson Arroyo
Joakim Soria
Josh Hamilton

Round Eighteen
Jay Bruce
Ty Wiggington
J.J. Hardy
Dave Bush
Paul Konerko
Jason Bay
Michael Bourn
Shaun Marcum
Evan Longoria
Andruw Jones

Round Nineteen
Joba Chamberlain
Erik Bedard (two years left of keeper eligibility)
Jeremy Accardo
Michael Cuddyer
Matt Capps
Jorge Cantu
Delmon Young
Manny Corpas
Matt Garza
J.D. Drew

Round Twenty
Kevin Kouzmanoff
Jeff Kent
Melky Cabrera
Barry Zito
Kevin Gregg
Frank Thomas
Todd Jones
Kelly Johnson
Kerry Wood
David DeJesus

Round Twenty-one
Cole Hamels (two years left of keeper eligibility)
Johnny Cueto
Yorvit Torrealba
Rick Ankiel
Curtis Granderson (two years left of keeper eligibility)
Chris Duncan
Jack Cust
Carlos Marmol
Rickie Weeks
Chad Tracy

Round Twenty-two
Rafael Furcal
Jason Giambi
Aaron Cook
Jake Westbrook
Tony Pena
Nate Robinson
Kyle Kendrick
Josh Fields
Jermaine Dye
Kevin Correia

Round Twenty-three
Cameron Maybin
Adam Miller
Freddy Sanchez
Jhonny Peralta
Franklin Morales
Colby Rasmus
Bengie Molina
Bartolo Colon
Andrew Miller
Chris Sampson

Round Twenty-four
Joey Votto
Chuck James
Scott Baker
Brandon Lyon
Ervin Santana
Hideki Okajima
Tom Glavine
Steven Drew
J.R. Towels
Adam Jones

Round Twenty-five
David Price
Scott Hatteberg
Ryan Church
Ramon Hernandez
Kenny Rogers
Braden Looper
Josh Willingham
Daniel Cabrera
Tim Wakefield
Jhonny Estrada

Round Twenty-six
Clayton Kershaw
Yunel Escobar
Hank Blaylock
Pat Neshek
Lastings Millage
Troy Glaus
Aubrey Huff
Jon Garland
Brandon Wood
Jeff Suppan

Round Twenty-seven
Andre Either
Cliff Lee
Paul Byrd
Gustavo Chachin
Ryan Garko
Jair Jurrjens
Willie Blumquest

Round Twenty-eight
Carlos Delgado
Shawn Hill
Mark Mulder

All players who are not listed under rounds three through twenty-eight are not eligible to be kept. Undrafted players are not eligible to be kept.

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When a player is kept, the draft pick lost is dependent on consecutive years kept and original draft position. A draft pick will be lost up to three rounds higher of the original draft position. It will go on this scale:

First year kept: one draft round higher
Second year kept: two draft rounds higher
Third year kept: three draft rounds higher

Example: Jake Peavy was drafted in the fourth round of 2007. If he were to be kept again this season, he would cost a second round pick.

A player can be absent from draft eligibility (i.e. "kept") up to three consecutive years before being required to return to the draft pool. Consecutive years kept is NOT contingent on what team kept said player.

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If there is a situation where two or three players all land on the same round, the rules will go as such:

Two players: said round plus the round above it
Three players: said round plus the round above it and the round below it

Example: Justin Verlander and Russell Martin were each drafted in the 10th round in 2007 and were kept by Andrew. If Andrew decides to keep both again they would each be worth an eighth round pick. Because Andrew currently does not have two eighth round picks, he would lose his seventh round pick in addition to his eighth round pick.* If a third player was involved – such as Andrew’s ninth round pick from this year, Mariano Rivera – Andrew would lose his seventh, eighth and ninth round picks.

Players drafted in the third round will cost a second round pick their first year kept and a first round pick the next two seasons if kept.

If two players are valued at a first round pick, said team will lose their first and second round pick.

If three players are valued at a first round pick, said team will lose their first, second and third round picks.

If a first round player and two second round players are kept, it will cost said team their first, second and third round picks.

* If Andrew were to make a trade to obtain an additional eighth round pick, he would have the option to lose either the added draft pick or the seventh round pick.

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The reasoning for not allowing undrafted players and top two round players to be kept were for the following reasons: to maintain the value of top round draft picks, to promote strategy in the latter rounds of the draft and to maintain league competitiveness.

I am considering one option to allow undrafted players to be kept. Undrafted players may be kept under the following conditions:

1) Said player must have at least 150 MLB plate appearances or 50 MLB innings pitched.
2) The value of the draft round lost will be voted on by the league.
3) A player cannot be worth lower than a 15th round pick or higher than a third round pick.

The plate appearances and innings pitched numbers do have a purpose and are not up for negotiation. The official stat will be found at baseball-reference.com if there is a dispute.

Let me know what you think about this or if you have any suggestions.