Baseball Begins!!! (In four months...)

Hey, it’s the winter meetings and you know what that means… nothing. But, hey, why not talk a little baseball to remind us that the next losing season for the Royals begins in about four months. Yipee.

Mostly, I start this blog up again for three reasons: First, Erik says he has a series he wants to unleash on you so you should check back often to see what he says about you; Second, I’m writing for a Royals blog called “The Royal Treatment” so you should check that out every once in a while (I’m BlownSave…what are the odds?); Finally, I wanted to remind you of some of the changes for next season – hopefully there will be no more major changes for the life of this league.

Roster Changes

Roster size = 25 (Down from 28)

Designated Hitter = eliminated
Utility Player = added
Starting Pitching Spots = 3 (down from 5)
General Pitching Spot = 1 (up from 0)
Relief Pitching Spots = 3 (up from 2)

Notes:
The Utility player addition comes by popular demand... The amount of bench spots has been reduced by three in order to limit stockpiling of players and to maintain the value of the free agent market… The total amount of starters (hitters and pitchers) has not changed and there is no limit to how many times a player can be started or how many innings a player can play… The reduction of the two starting pitcher spot is to make room for the added relief pitcher position and general pitching position… The general pitching spot can be filled by either a starter or reliever.

Point Changes

Hitting: All hitting statistics will remain the same.

Pitching:

H = -0.5 (adjusted from –1)
BB = -0.5 (adjusted from –1.5)
K = 2 (adjusted from 3)
W = 5 (adjusted from 10)
L = -5 (adjusted from –10)
QS = 10 (adjusted from 5)

Added Statistic: Holds = 2.5

Notes:
I have heard minimal complaints about the hitting formula so I will no changes will be made… The changes to W, L, QS are being made as to better reflect a pitcher’s performance and not his team’s… I had no idea how to quantify a “hold” in fantasy terms so I just made it half a save – feel free to send suggestions on holds.

Keeper Rules for This Offseason

Total Keepers Allowed: 5
Trade Deadline with 2008 Rosters: Saturday, March 14, 2009
Keeper Deadline: Saturday, March 14, 2009
Proposed Draft Date: Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 3 p.m.
- Players drafted in the first or second round in 2008 are NOT eligible to be kept.
- View the previous post for players who are ineligible to be kept.
- Undrafted players count as a 15th round pick (Multiple undrafted players will count as a 15th, 14th, etc. round draft pick).

A correction to the list of ineligible keepers:

Jonathan Papelbon is available to be kept. That was my error.