2019 Fantasy Baseball Keeper Rankings

1. Good stuff, Kerry. I’m in a bit of a rebuilding year in my keeper (keep 5, OPS, SV+HLDS, NSB) league, but had our draft yesterday and here’s what I wound up with:

   (keepers indicated with a *):

   C – Posey 1B – Rhys 2b – Altuve* SS – Mondesi* 3B – Andujar OF – Benintendi* , Dahl, Rosario, Cutch Util – Piscotty, Schoop Bench – Laureano, Bader, P. Alonso, Hiura

   SP – Beuhler* , Marquez* , Taillon, Ray, Darvish, Maeda, McHugh RP – Miller, Hicks, Seranthony, Minter

   Would love to hear thoughts from you or anyone else.

   • @HarryMay This is a solid balanced team. I think Hicks, Seranthony and Minter end the season as closers. McCutchen is someone who is going to have a surprise huge year if he plays the whole season. I’d be looking out for one more solid SP — you could trade from your Piscotty/Laureano/Bader OF depth if a major OF goes down on someone else’s team.

2. I really coulda used this for yesterdays draft. My one regret was drafting Pollock instead of Rosario.

   6×6 OPS, HLDS, H2H Keep Forever

   Realmuto, Goldy, Gleyber, Bregman, Moustakas, Gallo, Pollock, Braun, Buxton. Try to trade Moose and Pollock for a better 3b/OF? Or upgrade pitching?

   Corbin, Wheeler, Morton, Woodruff, Andrew Miller, Cody Allen, Julio Urias, Corbin Burnes, German.

   • Yea — I’d definitely take a look at who is hurting at 3rd and make an offer for a solid OF.

3. Curious as what your peak-Eloy comp. is?

   • Alright — don’t kill me anyone. But if the hit tool is as good as it seems and the power potential stays what it is — think Juan Gonzalez. Maybe not 45+ HR power — but 35-40 power with a great average above .290. No speed really.

   • Nice write-up! I have been waiting for this article.

     I made a pretty big overhaul to my keeper team this past season.

     I made it to the finals last year but injuries and poor performance caused me to finish second. I traded off some jice pieces to make a push(Robles and Jimenez) but unfortunately it didnt pay off.

     I traded away Votto, Altuve, Abreu and Kluber this offseason in different trades and got Trea Turner, Ozzie Albies, Royce Lewis and draft picks for the main draft in return

     12 team keeper league. Keep 10MLB players, 7 minors

     Obp, r, RBI, sb, total bases
     Era, whip, k, quality starts plus wins, holds plus saves.
     My team

     C,C-
     1b-
     2b- Ozzie Albies
     Ss- Trea Turner
     Mi-
     3B- Arenado
     Ci-
     OF- Acuna, Harper, Marte, Mazaro, Of
     U
     Sp- Snell, Beuhler, Corbin, sp,sp,sp
     3 rp-

     Minors- Royce Lewis, Trammel, Bohm, Khalil lee, E. Florial, Keller, Graterol

     Thoughts on my team? I’ll likely target a 1B with my first pick.

     Thanks

     • I know all about injuries — I had Sale, Bauer, Doolittle and Morrow heading into the playoffs……………………That is a solid mix of speed and power on offense.
       Going 1B is a good bet considering the shallowness of the position and the top guys are probably being kept — If there is a top flight SP available I’d also consider going that route.

4. Daniel Murphy is 33, but in two weeks he’ll be 34.

   At some point, I’m not sure he’s a .320 hitter even in Coors. Father Time has a way of doing such things to guys. Just wanted readers to be aware of his age for the upcoming season.

   • Definitely true. Time makes fools of us all. But he’s a .326 hitter over the last three years an his BABIP dropped about .035 points from 2016/2017 — if that BABIP goes up I still give him two more years of production

     • Yeah, I think he’ll still hit this year. I’m not sure if he’ll hit next year really. Age 35 next year, bad knee and all, I could see some regression.

       Hey, I got a question since this is a Keeper piece. Why no love for Shane Bieber. In Keeper leagues, I would think he might be someone to grab now before the train gets going … because it’s going to get going this season. Everyone, including Grey, seem to love the Biebs!!!

       • I’ve got Bieber fever too, but he only has 114 major league innings. He’s right outside the top 100.

5. What are your thoughts on this team that I drafted the other night? Any holes or areas to improve? Will take advice from anyone here.

   For context, it’s a 10-team, h2h categories league (OPS and holds as the 6th categories). Each team is able to keep up to 6 players without any restrictions. We are upping that number to 8 for next year and I think I have more than enough options to consider.

   As for the draft itself, I had a lot of early round draft picks that I acquired by selling off excess keeper options.

   C – Willson Contreras
   1b – Jose Abreu
   2b – Travis Shaw
   3b – Alex Bregman (K)
   SS – Adalberto Mondesi
   MI – Manny Machado (K)
   CI – Kris Bryant (K)
   OF – Ronald Acuna (K)
   OF – David Dahl
   OF – Domingo Santana
   OF – Harrison Bader
   U – Carlos Correa (K)
   Bench Bats – Eloy Jimenez, Shohei Ohtani, Marwin Gonzalez

   The exact arrangement of my batters is going to be in flux until Machado gains 3b eligibility, Eloy gets called up, and Ohtani becomes the regular DH. Once all that happens, my ideal roll out will have Correa replacing Machado at MI, Machado going to CI, Bryant going to the OF, Eloy being my 4th OFer, and Ohtani being my regular U bat.

   P – Chris Sale (K)
   P – Jack Flaherty
   P – Blake Treinen
   P – Zack Wheeler
   P – Yu Darvish
   P – Jose Leclerc
   P – Masahiro Tanaka
   P – Zack Britton
   Bench Arms – Joey Lucchesi, Matt Barnes, Nick Pivetta, AJ Minter, Dylan Bundy

   Thanks in advance for any help!

   • Bleh

   • Love this team. OF has a little bit of risk Dahl (injury,) Domingo (2018,) Bader (platoon vRH?,) Eloy (when?)
     I’m not loving Darvish/Tanaka — but Sale, Flaherty, Wheeler, Lucchesi, Pivetta is really nice.

6. 12 team 5×5 H2H redraft. Got the following proposal:

   I trade Wheeler and Bellinger and get back Guerro and Pivetta.

   Who wins?

   • Ohhh that’s a tough one…Guerrero and Pivetta are great if you’re looking for a longer term build. However, if you’re trying to compete more for this year I’d go with Wheeler and Bellinger.
     My obvious concern with Vlad is the Blue Jays front office — how long will they hold him down?

7. I’ve got an embarrassment of riches in an NL-only roto league. I can only keep five: Acuna, Baez, Goldschmidt, Soto, Bryant, deGrom. It’s keep forever, so I’m looking long-term as well as this year.

   Who do I let go? Who can I afford to trade without it biting me in the butt?

   • Here’s the thing about me and keeper leagues. I’ve been in a league since 2003 that became a keeper league in 2007. That year I kept Jeremy Bonderman. I haven’t kept a pitcher since.
     I realize that makes me the crazy one however. Out of those 6 I’d say I’d throw back Goldy. Acuna and Soto are locks based on age and production. I think Bryant bounces back big this year (and the future) plus he’s still only 27. Baez has his risks but went 30/20 last year and is also still young at 26. Keeping a pitcher is a good idea if you have 4 offensive studs.

8. Nice! Love the Kyle Tucker commentary. Hoping he gets some ABs this year and takes over.

   Why so low on Dahl? That park. That lineup. Those prospects. A team that spends money. Solid avg and power upside. Some injury risk, but that could be a blanket statement for many players. I think he’s a few tiers too low here.

   • 2015: Spleen, knee
     2017: Ribs, back
     2018: Foot

     The injuries are just stacking up with this guy unfortunately. He’s like Eugene from Hey Arnold!
     Even if he is claiming he’s 100% I worry about any adjustments/over-compensations he might do to avoid getting hurt again. Some players are just injury-prone unfortunately regardless of how skilled they are. Eric Chavez always comes to mind for me…he had a few good years in the early 2000s, but then couldn’t get/stay healthy and all the injuries just stacked up.

9. Howdy! Long time lurker, first post…

   12 Team H2H 6×6 ESPN

   Won it all last year, after an extensive rebuild (finally)!

   Everybody keeps 8, no round implications

   Was planning on keeping: Machado, Acuna, Judge, Benintendi, Mondesi, Springer, Severino, and Berrios

   Other possibilities: Travis Shaw, Villar, Amed Rosario, David Dahl, Robbie Ray, Moustakis

   Do I have the right 8, or would u swap one of the others in?

   Thanks!

   • Wow — you have the right 8. Severino is my only concern — but he did make some throws recently which is a good sign for a baseball pitcher.

10. In a 9 team keeper league, im definitely in a rebuild year after a last place finish, 6×6 ops and qs league. curious on your thoughts on my building blocks, not expecting huge things this year but think i have some pieces

    C-Cervelli
    1b-olson
    2b-odor
    3b-donaldson
    ss-lindor
    ci-alonso
    mi-moncada
    of-stanton
    of-cain
    of-laureano
    util-andrus
    bench-eloy
    bench-tyler white

    p-strasburg
    p-clevinger
    sp-darvish
    sp-e rod
    rp-knebel
    rp-alvarado
    bench stripling

    Eloy takes over for andrus once he gets the call and white is insurance in case alonso starts the year in the minors

    • 12 team, 9 keeper*

    • My biggest concern is your starting pitching — Strasburg, Darvish and E-Rod have a lot of injury concerns for me. Stripling only concerns me from an IP perspective. The Dodgers have 7 viable starting pitchers and Stripling did well in the pen last year so it might be an easy transition to just stick him there once Kershaw returns.

11. Stuck with sevy because I traded for him so I have to keep him. Should I still keep him in the 28th round? I could probably trade him for Gleyber, taillon, Brantley, Merrifield in late good rounds or Stanton maybe 3rd round.

    Already have 28th round Bauer and 12th round Nola to go along with trout rendon and judge for the rest of my keepers. Should I feel good about hanging onto sevy with the keepers I have or roll the dice on one of these trades to play it more safe?

    • 28th round isn’t really terrible from a risk perspective. But you seem okay to me with Bauer and Nola. If you could get Gleyber or Taillon for him I’d look into that. Taillon could be just as good as Sevy.

12. So I have quite the dilemma…I get 3 keepers, but we lose the round 2 spots ahead of where they were picked in and it continues that way yearly…..I’m keeping Harper and Yelich and using up my 1st and 2nd round picks. My dilemma is this. Do I keep Correa in the 14th round (would move to round 12 next year), or do I keep Soto in the 21st? It would seem a no brainer to go for Soto right now, but I already am keeping 2 outfielders…I’m so torn. Elite SS’s are hard to come by. Advice please?!

    • For me its Soto at his age/round. As a Correa owner in a keeper league I’m optimistic about him, but there’s some risk there. Also the lack of stolen bases takes him out of the elite tier for me unless he can unload 35+ HRs.

      • Thanks for the reply. I was leaning that way too…you think Soto gets me some extra bags this year maybe as a bonus?

13. LOVE IT! GREAT ARTICLE!

    Keeper Question:

    This player will be kept for 2019 only. I will lose the draft pick this year from the same round the player was drafted in last year. I get 5 keepers and have 4 picked out already (Baez, Snell, Buehler, Suarez) … but having trouble deciding my 5th:

    Albies (Round 9)
    Villar (Round 20)
    Leclerc (Undrafted)

    I can make a good case for any of them… currently leaning Leclerc due to him being undrafted last year… but, ya know, #somuchcloserturnover… Thanks so much in advance for any advice!!!

    • I wrote this whole long thing about why it SHOULDN’T be LeClerc….but at that value you’re fine to keep him.
      Here’s what I wrote before I changed my mind:

      I get the Leclerc love based on his skill set…but here are the projected win totals for the Rangers:

      Bleacher Report: 64
      Fangraphs: 67
      Rotochamp: 70
      BetOnline: 70.5
      Sporting News: 70.5
      USA Today: 70
      Sports Gambling Podcast: 71

      In a 67 win season last year they had the third-fewest save opportunities with 56. They converted 75% of those opportunities, however, their starting rotation this year is looking like:
      Mike Minor
      Lance Lynn
      Shelby Miller
      Drew Smyly
      Edinson Volquez

      How many leads do you really think the Rangers bullpen are going to be handed?
      I’d prefer Villar.

14. I’m in a pick 10 or 12 keeper league (you get comp picks for the 11th and 12th if you only keep 10) – Head to Head league

    Thoughts on my keepers? I am debating the last positions.
    C – Realmuto
    1b –
    2b –
    3b – rendon
    ss – bregman
    of – JD
    of – soto
    0f –
    util – bogaerts
    util –
    sp – sale, nola, bauer, flaherty

    other options available to keep – Cain, Encarcion, Pham, Votto, Clevinger

    Thanks

    • I love what you have — dang. Clevinger would be next up – but you’ve got a beastly core there. You’re going to have to be on the hunt for speed though.

15. How does everyone factor age into their dynasty rankings? I have a snake draft for a 1st year dynasty league coming up and am having trouble figuring out how to factor age into the rankings. I’m trying to determine if a % adjustment to their one year value would work somehow. (i.e. a 21 year old player would get an x% bump in their valuation, vs a 24 year old player that would get a x% decrease in their valuation). Any thoughts would be appreciated.

    • Calculating a percentage is difficult because every player’s skills age differently. Some players bodies are older based on injuries.
      I did include the keeper by age sort of for this reason — to show you the bell curve of where you should be taking your keepers.
      20: 3,
      21: 2,
      22: 4,
      23: 7,
      24: 13,
      25: 7,
      26: 13,
      27: 10,
      28: 10,
      29: 7,
      30: 6,
      31: 8,
      32: 4,
      33: 1,
      34: 1,
      35: 2,
      36: 1

      After age 28/29 I’m starting to fade my keepers.

16. amed rosario or tim ainderson in a dyntasy

    • Amed Rosario for me.

17. what kind of return can i get for the busted up kershaw in a dynasty?

    are tatis jr, mondesi, robles and flaherty good targets

    thanks

Comments are closed.