It's never too early, right?

[Steve]

OK - here we go. We probably won't have to nominate keepers until auction day next year (probably just before the season starts), but I need something to occupy my mind until then.

Rosters this year were:

C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, CI, MI, OF, OF, OF, Util, SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P.

Scoring categories were:

Runs (R), Home Runs (HR), Runs Batted In (RBI), Stolen Bases (SB), Strikeouts (K), Batting Average (AVG), On-base Percentage (OBP), Games Started (GS), Wins (W), Losses (L), Saves (SV), Strikeouts (K), Earned Run Average (ERA), (Walks + Hits)/ Innings Pitched (WHIP).

These could change. e.g. we were supposed to have a 4th OF this year, but it never happened. Bearing all that in mind, here's what I had left at the end of the year, with prices to keep 'em in brackets.

C Buster Posey $5
1B Joey Votto $26
2B Robinson Cano $15
3B Mat Gamel $5
SS Stephen Drew $20
CI Ian Stewart $5
MI Alexei Ramirez $10
OF Dexter Fowler $5
OF Curtis Granderson $15
OF Carlos Gonzalez $5
Util Shane Victorino $17
BN Sean Rodriguez $5
BN Nolan Reimold $5

Max Scherzer $14
Matt Cain $15
Derek Holland $5
Fernando Rodney $5
Andrew Bailey $5
Jose Valverde $16

From the guys I bought I'd already kicked Zimmerman ($30), Rios ($25), Vlad ($25) Soto ($25), Beckett ($28) and Peavy ($33) to the curb.

Your early thoughts on who to keep, would be much, as always, appreciated.

[Grey]

OK - here we go. We probably won't have to nominate keepers until auction day next year (probably just before the season starts), but I need something to occupy my mind until then.

Rosters this year were:

C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, CI, MI, OF, OF, OF, Util, SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P.

Scoring categories were:

Runs (R), Home Runs (HR), Runs Batted In (RBI), Stolen Bases (SB), Strikeouts (K), Batting Average (AVG), On-base Percentage (OBP), Games Started (GS), Wins (W), Losses (L), Saves (SV), Strikeouts (K), Earned Run Average (ERA), (Walks + Hits)/ Innings Pitched (WHIP).

These could change. e.g. we were supposed to have a 4th OF this year, but it never happened. Bearing all that in mind, here's what I had left at the end of the year, with prices to keep 'em in brackets.

C Buster Posey $5
1B Joey Votto $26
2B Robinson Cano $15
3B Mat Gamel $5
SS Stephen Drew $20
CI Ian Stewart $5
MI Alexei Ramirez $10
OF Dexter Fowler $5
OF Curtis Granderson $15
OF Carlos Gonzalez $5
Util Shane Victorino $17
BN Sean Rodriguez $5
BN Nolan Reimold $5

Max Scherzer $14
Matt Cain $15
Derek Holland $5
Fernando Rodney $5
Andrew Bailey $5
Jose Valverde $16

From the guys I bought I'd already kicked Zimmerman ($30), Rios ($25), Vlad ($25) Soto ($25), Beckett ($28) and Peavy ($33) to the curb.

Your early thoughts on who to keep, would be much, as always, appreciated.

Maybe I missed it, but how many keepers do you keep?

[Steve]

Nah you didn't. I'm a plonker. We can keep a max of six and the cost of the keepers comes off a total budget of $300.

[Grey]

OK - here we go. We probably won't have to nominate keepers until auction day next year (probably just before the season starts), but I need something to occupy my mind until then.

Rosters this year were:

C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, CI, MI, OF, OF, OF, Util, SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P.

Scoring categories were:

Runs (R), Home Runs (HR), Runs Batted In (RBI), Stolen Bases (SB), Strikeouts (K), Batting Average (AVG), On-base Percentage (OBP), Games Started (GS), Wins (W), Losses (L), Saves (SV), Strikeouts (K), Earned Run Average (ERA), (Walks + Hits)/ Innings Pitched (WHIP).

These could change. e.g. we were supposed to have a 4th OF this year, but it never happened. Bearing all that in mind, here's what I had left at the end of the year, with prices to keep 'em in brackets.

C Buster Posey $5
1B Joey Votto $26
2B Robinson Cano $15
3B Mat Gamel $5
SS Stephen Drew $20
CI Ian Stewart $5
MI Alexei Ramirez $10
OF Dexter Fowler $5
OF Curtis Granderson $15
OF Carlos Gonzalez $5
Util Shane Victorino $17
BN Sean Rodriguez $5
BN Nolan Reimold $5

Max Scherzer $14
Matt Cain $15
Derek Holland $5
Fernando Rodney $5
Andrew Bailey $5
Jose Valverde $16

From the guys I bought I'd already kicked Zimmerman ($30), Rios ($25), Vlad ($25) Soto ($25), Beckett ($28) and Peavy ($33) to the curb.

Your early thoughts on who to keep, would be much, as always, appreciated.

Plonker, nice term, never heard that before.

Fowler, Gonzalez, Victorino, Cano, Cain then Bailey, Stewart or Votto, but we'll need to revisit this next year.

[Steve]

Plonker, nice term, never heard that before.

Yeah - it's a goodie. It's a British term, thought you might have come across it when you were there. I guess putz is the closest US equivalent - in both senses!

Keeper-wise, whichever way I go, I'm going to have to pursue some power fairly aggressively, no?

Oh - and have you read this? Only just started it, but it's hilarious.

[Grey]

Re: Keepers -- Yeah, you're going to have your fill of 20 steal guys, will need some power.

Haven't heard of that book. Currently reading the Mark Fidyrich book, No Big Deal

[Steve]

That looks great - amazing how sport is littered with all these "one-hit wonders".

Just ordered James Ellroy's "Blood's A Rover" - can't wait to get my hands on that. Maybe American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand can be off-season projects for you

[Grey]

The Tigers really abused this kid. They were worse than Dusty. He threw 24 complete games out of 29 starts and threw 10 and 11 inning complete games on some nights.

[Steve]

Gotcha. Sounds like he could have been something if not for that.

[Grey]

This was a great moment from his season:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMSDo3BX ... re=related