I have to turn in my freeze list for my keeper league in a couple of weeks, and I'm having trouble making the final cuts. We keep players based on cumulative points from the previous season, fitting them into a points total based on each team's finish in the standings. I get 4700 freeze points this year. League format is full-season cumulative points, we start 25 players, up to 3 at each fielding position, plus 5 SPs and 5-6 RPs. Here is my most recent draft of all the players I really want to keep, but I have to cut another 1361 points from this. That's where you guys come in.

Utley is almost definitely being traded within a week, I just don't love the current offers on the table for him. When he is traded, it will be for either a 0-point player or a draft pick, so you can almost go ahead and take his 363 out of there, and just try to find 1000 (or more) points to hack off. Any leftover points are usable in our pre-draft 'waiver draft,' in which players who accumulated points last year can be 'bought' with unused freeze points. At least a couple of owners will be going into that draft with 1000+ points to use, so several high-pointing players could be taken out of the regular draft pool. I pick 8th (of 12) in the regular draft, so might be able to reacquire one of the players I drop, but don't want to count on it.

Any advice is appreciated. I know which way I'm leaning, but want to open it up to the crowd.

OK, quick background: 12-team, long-term keeper league. Players can be kept indefinitely, but each team gets a certain number of freeze points based on previous year's finish, and each player counts for a certain number of points towards that total based on previous year's performance.

I'm looking to move MIguel Montero, since I'm keeping Napoli at C/1B and have been offered the following package:

I give: Miguel Montero, Chase Utley, Mike Young

I get: Joe Mauer, Gerrit Cole (possibly a throw-in like James Darnell or something, nobody special)

Now, I can't really keep Utley or Young, as I have Pedroia already at 2B, and Mike Young is just too expensive and old to squeeze into my freeze team. So this trade effectively works out, for me, to giving up Montero for Mauer and Cole. I guess it just feels like I'm giving the other team quite a lot.

Another possibility, that I have yet to offer but could go over well, with a different team, is:

I give: Miguel Montero, Carl Crawford

I get: Eric Hosmer, Drew Pomeranz

Thoughts on either, or both, very much appreciated. I need to make one of these deals happen pretty soon. People are getting antsy.

So, it's time to start chopping points from my roster in my crazy keeper league. I laid out my perfect-world keeper roster, and I have to cut from 7200 points to 4700. I have depth at catcher, with both Miguel Montero and Mike Napoli (and JP Arencibia, but he's def. not keeper-level), and cannot keep them both, so I've offered to trade one of them to another owner for Nolan Arenado, who I love, and who also will eventually fill my gaping hole at 3B (started Chipper there last year, and Mike Young, when he qualified [our positional eligibility is very strict, and can change every two weeks]). My real question now is, which one to trade?

They cost about the same in total points, though Napoli has about a 15% higher per-game average, with about 30 fewer games played. Montero gets a good amount of extra points for his defense, as we score for runners thrown out and catcher complete game wins (player must play entire game behind the plate and team wins). Napoli's season was extraordinary last year, and had he played the full set of games, he would have been one of the top scorers in the league (had he played 150 games and kept up the same ppg average he would have been behind only Miggy, Pedroia, Braun, Kemp, Ellsbury, Granderson, and Bautista), but I expect significant regression in BA, which will probably lead to at least some regression across the board. Also, will he still only play 4 times a week?

Montero, however, can easily maintain his stats from last year, and even possibly improve, which would make him again one of the most valuable catchers. Plus he's two years younger than Napoli.

So which one would you keep?

I started Matt Stafford, LeSean McCoy, and Roddy White this week. NINE touchdowns between them. You'd think I'd probably be ok, right?

HELL NO. Because I went up against Tom Brady, Reggie Bush, Lance Moore, and Brent MFing Celek. Three of whom had career games.

I lost by 8 points.

I hate this game. I have no idea why we do these awful things to ourselves. I have no idea why the fantasy gods hate me so much as to pit every top-scoring player against me in the semifinals.

BRENT CELEK!!!

I got about 4 hours to pull the trigger here, so any immediate advice is appreciated. Here's the situation: I'm in 3rd place overall, 2nd in points at 6-3 in my league. We start QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, TE, K, DST. No flex. RB and WR get 1 point per 25 yards, with a 3 point bonus at 100. Rushing and receiving TDs are 6 points. 

I have LeSean McCoy, LeGarrette Blount, and John Stewart at RB, and Roddy White, Larry Fitzgerald, Steve Johnson, Antonio Brown, Jerome Simpson, and Mike Williams (TB) at WR. I offered Steve Johnson straight up to the owner who has Chris Johnson, and he countered asking for Steve Johnson plus John Stewart. 

What would you do? If I win this week, I solidify my playoff slot. I don't hate Tennessee's schedule ROS, with Carolina this week, and TB, BUF, and IND left on the schedule, but can I possibly trust CJ?K. Both Steve Johnson and Stewart have outscored him so far this year. 

Alright, it's the moment I know you've all been waiting for, where I actually put to use all of the purported "knowledge" I dribble out in these threads. I was a little concerned about the CJ2K developments coming into this draft, as I was picking 7th, and really didn't want CJ to drop to me and force me to reconsider my plan. Fortunately, he went 5th, and everything fell into place. I've never left a draft quite so satisfied, and this team and I spent the rest of the weekend whispering sweet nothings to each other in the darkened corners of the beach house, sipping cocktails and preparing for a lovely and profitable 6-month affair. Here she is, in all the glory of her drafted order (12-team, basically standard scoring, but rushing/receiving 25yds/pt and passing 50yds/pt):

Rd.                                Player                              Position

1                            LeSean McCoy                          RB

2                            Roddy White                              WR

3                            LeGarrette Blount                     RB

4                            Mike Williams                            WR

5                            Beanie Wells                             RB

6                            Matt Stafford                               QB

7                            Steve Johnson                           WR

8                            Owen Daniels                            TE

9                            Ryan Fitzpatrick                         QB

10                         Johnathan Stewart                   RB

11                         Michael Crabtree                      WR

12                         Cowboys                                    DST

13                         Thomas Jones                         RB

14                         Matt Bryant                                  K

15                         Donovan McNabb                     QB

16                         Toby Gerhart                              RB

Analysis: I wanted McCoy in the first round, and kind of knew everything was going to be fine when he was there for me. Our first 7 picks went pretty much around expected, with one exception: AP, Ray Rice, Jamaal Charles, Arian Foster, Chris Johnson, and then Andre Johnson, which left McCoy for me. Blount is a guy I've been high on, and he's starting to catch the ball out of the backfield, which could be huge, so getting him in the 3rd is just about the right value for me.Beanie Wells in the 5th is a pick I don't absolutely love, but Ingram and Best were picked directly ahead of me, and I knew I wanted my RB3 to be a guy with a sole-starter job, and he's looked decent in preseason. Plus, Johnathan Stewart in the 10th is a monster value, IMO, who could put up starter's numbers here and there. Thomas Jones is another pick kind of like that, though his upside is considerably lower, unless Charles gets hurt. Gerhart doesn't need much said about him. If AP goes down, I trade him. That's about it.

I knew that I wanted two top WRs, as the field thins quickly after the loaded top two tiers, and I am thrilled with White and Williams, and Steve Johnson is just a huge-upside bonus at WR3.Crabtree in the 11th may have been a low-value pick there, but Amendola had just come off the board, and another WR wasn't picked by anyone until Malcolm Floyd more than 2 full rounds later. As a WR4, I like Crabtree's upside, and I'm hoping to never really need him.

I knew I was going to wait on QB, but a little 2nd-tier run started early, and Stafford wasn't my top choice, but he's been absolutely stellar in preseason; I just have to back him up well in case of injury. So Fitzpatrick has shown great skills, and McNabb could be in line for a Favre-like near-final season in Minnesota, especially if Bernard Berrian can get back to performing at a high level.

I love Owen Daniels coming into this year, he looked like he was back in shape late last season and has looked good in preseason. He was my #2 TE target, but Jimmy Graham got taken a round before, so I still love the value there.

Cowboys' D has potential, but I really only have to start them for the first 3 weeks, until our FA wire opens and I can start streaming DSTs based on matchups.

Matt Bryant is a kicker.

I won this league last year, and have only missed the playoffs twice in 10 years, but this is the best draft I've had yet. I love my chances at a repeat, and if Stafford stays healthy the league has admitted I will be hard to beat. Now let's play some football!

PS. just because I'm seriously stroking my own team here doesn't mean I don't want opinions, criticism, laughs about how I actually did go with the loading up on one bye week strategy after saying it was untenable (week 8 is my gift to the league), etc. Let me have it.

a can of Joose, 39 bottles of booze, a huge cooler full of Harpoon IPA cans, 8 of my closest homeboys, a hurricane bearing down on my beach house, and a hurricane-themed playlist that starts with Bob Dylan and ends with the Scorpions and turns you inside out in between.

And a fantasy football team I just drafted that makes me want to molest it in the corner all night.

So, how are YOU coming on Irene?

Any chance we can have an adults-only version of this site? I'd really love to see a thread with lots of comments that are well-reasoned, with respect for opinions that are backed up by logic, facts, statistics, and analysis. Will this all get better once school starts back? 

I fear for the future, as online interaction becomes more and more the norm, and social constructs such as manners, intelligent debate, respect, and even basic spelling are tossed out the window by successive generations. 

OK, I know you have one real stinker in the closet somewhere. What was your worst-ever fantasy football team/season, and how did it arrive there?

Mine is the 2009 team/season. I finished 2-11, and, after some objective statistical analysis, was determined to be the worst team ever in the 10-year history of our league. I was laughably bad, confirmed by the amount of actual laughter my sad shambles of a team generated. I drafted, in order, Steve Slaton, Greg Jennings, Jason Witten, Matt Ryan, Leon Washington, Darren McFadden, Donovan McNabb, Devin Hester, Steve Breaston, Matt Hasselbeck, Titans DST, Lance Moore, LeRon McClain, Rob Bironas, Joey Galloway, and Kevin Faulk.

God, it pained me to even type that. That is the most wretched, repugnant vomit of a draft I have ever seen. Not only were Slaton, Jennings, and Witten huge busts that year, my draft strategy seems to be "what are we doing here, again?" I deserved everything I got that year. Funny thing is, the other league I was in that year, I won the whole thing, and I won this league last year, so I'm clearly not incompetent, I just really, really stunk up this draft.

Hey, I'm interested in knowing about any odd rules you have in your fantasy football leagues, why they were instituted, and if they seem to work. In the league that I have been in the longest, we have one big rule that I've never seen anywhere else, which I formulated a few years back. A little background - we have three four-team divisions, you play your first three and last three games each season within your division. Divisional record is important for tiebreakers when it comes time to see who makes the playoffs. 

Here's the rule: No FA pickups until after week 3. No transaction deadline (trade or FA) until the playoffs.

Why we instituted it: our FA pickups are based on reverse order of standings, and we started to notice that people who lost in week 1 were greatly benefitting from their position in the FA order, often to the detriment of the league as a whole. There was even one owner (who I have tried and tried to get kicked out of the league, he's a real piece of work, but he's the commissioner's brother) who clearly stated that he was not above throwing his week 1 matchup in order to get first FA picks after week 1. We also had one scenario where an owner had a particularly awful draft (drafted Marcel Shipp after he retired, drafted Correll Buckhalter while he was on a season-long holdout, and drafted somebody else equally laughable), lost week 1, was able to replace all of those players with quality FAs, and ended up winning the championship. I think that year was anomalous for the high quality of FA players available early-season, but whatever. 

So what this rule prevents is two-fold; it keeps owners with top-quality teams from losing (purposefully or not) week 1 and unfairly improving their already-good team, because, while some might throw one game, nobody is going to throw three divisional matchups, and it keeps owners who draft like crap from avoiding the consequences of a crappy draft after just losing one game. If you start the season 0-3 in our league, you are in serious trouble, and you need that first position in the FA order. Basically, by the time free agency opens up, you've got a pretty good picture of who is good and who is bad in the league and, thus, the FA order reflects a proper picture of who needs the most improvement. 

So far, this has worked great. It keeps the league more competitive and increases the importance of the draft, which I think should be the most important factor in the quality of your team. Yes, savvy waiver-wire pickups can make or break a team, but they shouldn't be the most important. You should have to live with your draft, more or less, for at least a little bit.

Now that I think about it, however, it seems we voted this offseason to allow trading from the beginning of the season, which I actually do support. Can't remember if that means we're re-instituting the trade deadline after week 10.

Anyway, thoughts? Weird rules in your leagues?

OK, so I'm in a super-well-informed, deep, long-term keeper league, members of which are well-known names. We pride ourselves on scouting top young talent, and there is often a good premium paid for youth, based on our keeper rules, which value a breakout over a slow learning curve. 

I would like you guys to chime in on a trade that happened a few years ago in our league, simply because it was a fairly controversial trade at the time, but it also involved a very famous member of our league and I'd like to know if you think our resident celebrity got a bit of a star-stroke in this one.

Trade was: Bryce Harper for Troy Tulowitzki, Nelson Cruz, and Justin Verlander. 

Now, this happened two years ago, after Verlander had been having a poor year, Cruz was still a bit of an unknown, but had followed up his callup with a great early season, and Tulo was pretty much being Tulo. 

Bryce Harper has cost his new owner exactly zero as a keeper (unlimited keepers, based on points accrued), but is this trade in any way worth it? The guy (famous rock star, constantly on tour) who gave away Harper has won the league since the trade, and always finishes near the top. The guy trading for Harper has not finished in the top half recently. 

This trade has generated insane amounts of talk in our league, I'm wondering what outside opinions might be. It's been two years or more, and I still think giving up this amount for Bryce Harper was insane, but there was probably no other way to pry him away from the owner who drafted him at AGE 14!!!. 

Was hoping you guys could provide some insight into some 2nd-3rd tier prospects at third base. The top tier is easy, these guys are a little more difficult. Please add as much commentary as you like for any or all of them. 

Nolan Arenado

Nick Castellanos

Zach Cox

Jedd Gyorko

Will Middlebrooks

Josh Vitters

I know there is a bit of an age/experience gap, so these guys may not all be directly comparable, but which would you rather have as your 3B of the future, and why?

Mat Gamel was once rated one of the top bats in the minors, but could never get playing time in the majors because he's a clod in the field. Now, with Prince Fielder likely out of Milwaukee this offseason, nothing will be blocking Gamel from being called up and playing 1B. He's batting .321/.380/.577 in AAA this year, but still has struggled in his brief 10-game stretch with the Brewers. Any thoughts on his potential for next year, if given sufficient playing time on a likely-rebuilding team?

OK, so Mike Trout is up now, for however brief a moment, and he looks pretty decent. Dustin Ackley has been raking since being called up. Hosmer has been decent, at times brilliant. 

Who's next? Who is the next offensive callup to produce immediately? The Diamondbacks have done nothing to stymie speculation about Paul Goldschmidt. Desmond Jennings has been on the tip of everyone's tongue all season. Leonys Martin has nothing left to prove in the minors, and Texas could use another OF, especially with the injury-prone nature of their starters. Jesus Montero is another one who has been mentioned since Opening Day, and, while he hasn't had a great season in AAA so far, could easily join the Yanks for the stretch. And Brett Lawrie was all but sitting on a plane to Toronto when he broke his hand, and figures to get the call quickly once he returns. 

So who do you see as the next important offensive callup? Who's first, who has the biggest impact, who sticks for good? 

Thoughts? He could end up the #1 overall pick in the first-year player draft. He has hit 100mph multiple times in high school. He also swings a pretty sweet bat. But he has also stated that he doesn't want the Royals or Pirates to draft him, and has requested a $30M signing bonus as a play to deter those teams from drafting him. There's a great thread about him over at minorleagueball.com.

In a long-term keeper league, would you consider picking him up? Was he on anybody's radar before this week?

Backstory: 12-team long-term keeper league, 40-man rosters, I just traded Eric Hosmer for Carl Crawford and Hunter Pence, I currently have Mark Trumbo and Mike Napoli at 1B.

Looking to snag another heavy-hitting 1B prospect to attempt to fill the Hosmer hole. The guy who owns Paul Goldschmidt is interested in moving him, but probably wants someone who will contribute this year. I am thinking of offering him Mat Latos. My starting pitching consists of Jered Weaver, Tommy Hanson, Alexi Ogando, Jeremy Hellickson, Latos, Wandy Rodriguez, and Johnny Cueto, with Randy Wells coming off the DL soon.

Is this too much value to offer for Goldschmidt? Should I ask for another prospect thrown in? What's your general opinion of Goldie's bat and future potential? What's your view on Latos ROS?

In my 12-team, long-term keeper league with 40-man rosters and a fairly complicated points-scoring system (not roto, not H2H) I have been offered

Carl Crawford and my choice of Hunter Pence or Trevor Cahill for Eric Hosmer.

The owner making the offer is out of the hunt this year, while I am right behind the leader. Now, I'm fairly set at SP, with Weaver, Hanson, Ogando, Hellickson, Wandy Rodriguez, Cueto, Latos, and Randy Wells coming off the DL soon, but Cahill is a stud and I could certainly flip an SP for something useful.

Pence, well, I know what I'm getting with him (.280, 25 HR, 90 RBI, or thereabouts).

My problem lies in the fact that I'm weak at 1B, with Trumbo and Napoli my only viable options after Hosmer (though Kendrys Morales will be a cheap freeze this off-season, provided he ever plays again). I'm really not looking forward to being gutted at 1B for the foreseeable future, and have projected Hosmer as my long-term 1B option for a couple of years now. I'm not thrilled to sell the farm for a chance to win this year, but is this trade really one I can say no to?

So, I love reading fantasy baseball sites, and have for years, but I find that much of the advice, especially on waiver-wire pickups, simply doesn't apply to the league I play in. It's all well and good to read about "sleepers" like Brennan Boesch, but doesn't really help much when Boesch was drafted in the middle rounds in my league, and was owned all of last year, as well. Does anyone know of any sites specifically geared toward very deep, long-term keeper leagues? Like the kind of league where Bryce Harper has been owned since he was 13? Not that I need a ton of help, but it would be nice to read about a sleeper who might actually have an outside chance of being available in my league. 

So, this past offseason in my 12-team long-term keeper league, I traded Neil Walker for Jered Weaver. Obviously, Weaver is a giant, radioactive fantasy monster right now, but will his value ever be higher? My current pitching staff beyond JW stands at Mat Latos, Tommy Hanson, Jeremy Hellickson, Alexi Ogando, Carlos Carrasco (may be dropped next FA pickups, in 12 days, depending on seriousness of injury), and Wandy Rodriguez, with Johnny Cueto and Randy Wells on the DL, and Jarrod Parker, Jordan Lyles, and Mike Montgomery in the minors. I feel like my staff can stand on its own w/o Weaver, especially once Cueto and Wells return, and Latos settles in and his bad luck fades.

I can definitely use offensive help at 1B (Trumbo and Napoli keeping it warm for Kendrys to come back), 3B (no depth behind Chipper at all), and help at RP, since I just lost Neftali Feliz and Jose Contreras over the weekend, so do I deal Weaver now? Do I wait a few more weeks and see if he sustains this level, then deal him? Or hold on to him and keep him as the anchor of my rotation for years to come, and try to deal off one or two of my other SPs? And if you deal Weaver, what would you accept in return? I've also got Eric Hosmer and Wil Myers as potential big trading chips if I decide to sell out and throw the kitchen sink at winning this year.

OK, with my keeper league team due at the end of the week, I have a bit of a logjam of young CFs and can only keep one. Points league, 12 teams, 40-man rosters, 25 active, unlimited minor leaguers (provided you field a fully active lineup), and power and average are weighted similarly, while SBs aren't huge, but not insignificant. Freeze teams are determined by point value for each player. Unused freeze points are used in a pre-draft waiver draft.

Here are the three, with keeper cost in points. Pick ONE. 

Austin Jackson  DET    459

Drew Stubbs   CIN       447

Chris Young     ARI       513

Their costs are very close, so it's really most about who do you think has the best year this year, and who would you rather have for the future? My team is built to win now, but also well-stocked with top future prospects for next year and beyond.

So JP Arencibia gets called up and has a ho-hum debut for the Jays, going 4-5 with 2 HRs and 3 RBI, basically continuing the tear he has been on all season at AAA Las Vegas, and nobody has anything to say about it?  I've been high on the guy for a while now (in fact, just traded Jon Broxton for him and Eric Hosmer) and, while I didn't expect quite such a spectacular debut, I definitely wasn't completely shocked.  You have to think he's pretty much locked up the starting job in Toronto. Of course, it's the smallest sample size possible, but I think he can keep up a well above average pace. 

My question is, what do you see coming from him as pitchers start to figure out his weaknesses?  He certainly can improve his BB/K ratio (which he already drastically did from '09 to '10 at Las Vegas), but surely he's major league ready.  Do yuo see him as one of the top young catchers in the game going forward?  Or was this just an anomalous first game and he'll be an all-or-nothing power hitter with a weak average?

OK, here's the deal:  I'm in a 12-team keeper league w/ 40-man rosters, 25-man starting lineups, and no limit on minor leaguers, college, or high-school players, as long as you start 25 active major leaguers.  The players we can keep are based on a points system, each player accumulates points based on our scoring system throughout the year, then you get a certain number of "freeze points" inversely relative to your final standing.  I was leading the league nicely until Ethier, Pedroia, Manny, Kendry, and Latos all got injured.  Now I'm in 6th, and holding pretty steady, and trying to decide if I'm better off trading off high-pointing players for top prospects, thus finishing lower and getting more freeze points, or trying to climb the ranks when Pedroia, Kendry, and Latos come back (top 4 get one supplemental draft pick next year).

I have been offered the following trade:

I get:  Eric Hosmer and J.P. Arencibia

 I give:  either Jonathan Broxton or Neftali Feliz

 The question is, do I make either trade, and, if so, which? 

Broxton is 4 years older, but his K/9 and BB/9 are currently much better, but Feliz has so much talent and room to grow, and could still end up an ace starter, which is far more valuable in my league.  Plus, keeping both of them will cost me 20-25% of my total freeze points.  I currently have Wil Myers as my top prospect at C (free to keep), and I'm going to keep Kendry at 1B at a huge discount because he is missing so much time. 

Closers aren't hugely valued in general in the league, so I'm unlikely to get a top-tier prospect for any closer, and I'm limited at the moment to trading with contenders who have room to give in Saves v. Wins.

Also, what are your opinions on Hosmer and Arencibia?  Both are currently tearing up the minors.

Alternatively, I have just been countered with EITHER Arencibia or Hosmer for Francisco Cordero.  Cordero is definitely not a keeper, and I'll be hard-pressed to justify keeping both Broxton and Feliz, so I'll most likely be looking at trying to move Broxton in the off-season.  Which prospect do you like better, in the context of my having a top team next year, barring another ridiculous rash of freak injuries to my top players?

OK, here's the deal:  I'm in a 12-team keeper league w/ 40-man rosters, 25-man starting lineups, and no limit on minor leaguers, college, or high-school players, as long as you start 25 active major leaguers.  The players we can keep are based on a points system, each player accumulates points based on our scoring system throughout the year, then you get a certain number of "freeze points" inversely relative to your final standing.  I was leading the league nicely until Ethier, Pedroia, Manny, Kendry, and Latos all got injured.  Now I'm in 6th, and holding pretty steady, and trying to decide if I'm better off trading off high-pointing players for top prospects, thus finishing lower and getting more freeze points, or trying to climb the ranks when Pedroia, Kendry, and Latos come back (top 4 get one supplemental draft pick next year).

I have been offered the following trade:

I get:  Eric Hosmer and J.P. Arencibia

I give:  either Jonathan Broxton or Neftali Feliz

The question is, do I make either trade, and, if so, which? 

Broxton is 4 years older, but his K/9 and BB/9 are currently much better, but Feliz has so much talent and room to grow, and could still end up an ace starter, which is far more valuable in my league.  Plus, keeping both of them will cost me 20-25% of my total freeze points.  I currently have Wil Myers as my top prospect at C (free to keep), and I'm going to keep Kendry at 1B at a huge discount because he is missing so much time. 

Also, what are your opinions on Hosmer and Arencibia?  Both are currently tearing up the minors.