In my league we have a few young managers that went nuts drafting prospects. While I drafted Carlos Delgado, Brad Hawpe and J.J Hardy with my 13^th, 14^th & 15^th picks, these young managers drafted Lars Anderson, Alcides Escobar & Mat Gamel and other prospects with little chance of helping in 2009. Unless you are writing off 2009 this is a big error in H2H leagues.  Even though there is a ton of hype on these players the young managers failed to understand three key facts:

Fact#1 When prospects go back down to the minors, you have one less player to use in matchups. (our league is H2H).

Fact#2  While my opponents wait for prospects to mature, other prospects will come along that will be equally talented and ready to produce.

Fact #3 While their prospects struggle, I will have mature, capable players that are scoring points and winning matchups.

It is okay to draft at least one prospect in your keeper league, especially if you know or believe that that prospect will play immediately and help out your fantasy team. Yet it is often quite difficult to predict who will actually play and who might be sent down. Trevor Cahill, Neftali Feliz, Matt Wieters and Tommy Hanson were all taken in the 13^th round. The 13^th round is really the first round in our draft after we keep 12 players. The expectation was that all these prospect talents would start. Sadly for three out of four managers, only one prospect ended up starting and that is Cahill.

I made the big mistake last year of drafting too many "potential" type players in 2008, knowing I would not have room for all of them by the end of the 2008 season when keepers for 2009 are due. In 2008 I drafted Ellsbury, Pedroia, Alex Gordon and Billy Butler. I just did not have room to keep all four. I gambled that Butler would be better than my other keepers and in the end I had no choice but to drop him after the 2008 season. Keeping Butler on my roster for the entire 2008 season kept me from making it to the finals.  Instead of using that spot for a more productive player, I had Butler sitting there doing very little.

This is the problem with keeping “potential” type players; you run the risk of not making the playoffs because you are too busy KEEPING instead of COMPETING. In the end, managers that draft prospects who might be ready by late 2009 will have to carry them during the season and most likely will not be able to compete against teams that have all players active and able to put up fantasy points.

The players I kept after 2008 were Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Chris Young (of), Alfonso Soriano, Alex Gordon, David Wright, Miguel Cabrera, Brandon Webb, David Price, John Lackey, Cole Hamels and Bobby Jenks. After keeping those players, I felt Butler was the odd man out. This year I expect Butler to hit 20+ Home Runs and keep a 300+ average. So it hurts me to see another person own Butler in 2009 when I knew I had him and could not keep him.

Nevertheless, in the end what matters most is to use your maximum roster spots with active players. Each day that a manager has less than a full roster to choose from is another day he or she is giving away free points to their opponents. Think about it! How unfair is it in hockey when a power play is in effect? Look at the advantage in that scenario and the same is true in fantasy sports.

***Please note that this advice is not for leagues that have minor league “sections” to stash future talent without giving up any space for day to day rosters.

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I agree to an extent...
written by Chase Williams, April 07, 2009

I agree with this article to an extent, however you have to pick and choose when to fight your battles in a keeper league. It seems you traded contention in 2008 for arguably the best set of keepers going into 2009.

I think hitting the jackpot on 2 out of your 4 "reaches" (Pedroia & Ellsberry) and having a servicable third guy (Gordon) from 2008 was a success and doesn't really show where it was detrimental to your team. Where you lost out, as you mentioned, is by holding onto Butler throughout the season and not cutting ties to get a more productive replacement.

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