How do you handle your keeper league farm teams?

[Narayan]

Its been a discussion in a few keeper leagues that Im in... Basically the current way we have it is very time consuming and annoying for the GM to update every day since there is so much activity with players being moved to the farm and to the main roster.


So does anyone have a tried tested and true way to handle farm teams in a keeper league?? pls post your rules if possible!

thanks



Our current farm rules

Farm Eligibility: Players that are 24 years old or younger and played in less than 100 NHL games before the start of the season.


Farm Player Transactions: Farm players can be moved to the active roster and back to the farm at any time during the season. When a farm player moves to the active roster, the GM will have to drop another player from the active roster, in accordance with normal Yahoo free agent rules. Any available player eligible for the farm can replace the farm player that is moved to the active roster. An eligible farm player can always be placed on the farm team during the season. When placed on the farm, another farm player must be dropped unless there is an available spot. Farm players can only be on the starting roster if they are playing in the NHL. If a farm player is on your starting roster and is sent down to the minors in the real NHL, you must drop the player and sign another or send that player down to the farm. Farm players have to clear waivers in the Yahoo system before they can be signed as a free agent to be placed on the farm. When adding/dropping farm players please post it on the yahoo msg board so no one will pick up your add/drop.

[hojusimpson]

I know what you mean: We\'ve run fun one-year leagues for 12 or so years and we decided to mould it into our first Keeper league.

Anyhow, to help the transition, when we had our auction, we were allowed to select up to 10 (with a minimum of 6) players that were 24 by September 15, 2008 and played less than 40 (Skaters) or 20 (Goalies) in any previous season.

Next year, we will be moving to a more \'realistic\' set-up so I just wasted your time with the introduction. You\'re welcome!

We will be following the same age rules but with this change:

When submitting your Opening Night rosters (we\'re weekly changes, but bear with me), you may designate Minor-eligible players to be on your Pro/Bench roster. Guys like Stamkos, etc. -- the guys likely to put up numbers would be promoted here, others like Jonathan Bernier would likely be kept in the \'Minors\'.

Under our new rules, if you promote a guy, you will be \'stuck\' with him for the year so choose wisely. This allows people to enjoy the benefits of their young stars but at the same time, brings in a risk/reward system.

The one thing you could use (which I just came up with right now) is rather than be stuck with the young guy all season long (if he\'s demoted, underperforming, etc.) is allow you to also \'demote\' him in the December 25-January 1 week (midseason). When we hold our votes on Rule changes, we may or may not use this, depending on feedback. In

The entire goal is that GMs can feel like their \'managing\' their kids but, at the same time, aren\'t handcuffed to watching kids in varying leagues bounce up-and-down (like you referred to). By having a midseason \'swap-out\', those that want to tweak can, those that don\'t or are overwhelmed don\'t have to.

It also is manageable for people of varying skill levels, something important to my league.

Feel free to critique, ignore or steal this idea.

-----
edit: I want to stress we have a 20-man Pro team (no variation) and a 5-man Bench (minimum of 3) so any promotions, demotions, etc. involving Minor players must follow our Roster rules.

If there are any other questions regarding our rules (since I tend to ramble, sometimes avoiding the point), just ask.

[mister_mcgoo]

no offense, but being \'stuck\' with a player is ******ed, I\'d never play in a league that had that kind of setup. The whole idea of having a farm team should mirror the NHL as closely as possible, it should basically be your minor league team that you draw upon when needed, you should be able to promote and demote players as needed. That said, I agree that you might want to limit the number of moves people are making to prevent managers from rolling lines, you can usually accomplish this with a limited number of transactions or a waiver period for transition, either front loaded or back loaded

[hojusimpson]

mister_mcgoo, no offense taken with the majority of your retort, however allow me to explain my position by breaking this into a few key points:

1) Narayan doesn\'t want the hassle of constant moves, our league voted to change from daily moves to weekly and you, yourself, said, \"limit the number of moves people are making to prevent managers from rolling lines\".

Note: However, due to varying structures, time zones (as in the case of ours), not all rules are created equally. Therefore, my league does (indeed) have limited moves and waiver times, amongst other tweaks based on the actual rules. I didn\'t post our entire rules since that was not asked in the original question. Furthermore, standard roster changes are not the issue: Some leagues have \'Minor\' players exempt from certain rules, some don\'t.

2) Narayan asked for suggestions on what your league uses as an alternative to daily/constant moves. You, more or less, gave a vote of confidence for what Narayan hopes to avoid.

Note: Some people, due to time (fantasy hockey isn\'t a job for all people or some people may be new to the fantasy -- or even hockey -- in general. Narayan may decide the current system is ideal but, at the moment, options are being explored.

3) My personal favourite: No rule is \'******ed\' if it hinges on the overall structure. I could say any of your league\'s rules, out of context, is ******ed, right? It\'s all a matter of the overall picture. Furthermore, unless you use the actual NHL CBA, and for minor-eligible players, the PHPA (among others), you are playing \'fantasy\' rules. Heck, unless you track anywhere from 100-500 stats, you\'re not really valuing players, aren\'t you? Are all the leagues you\'ve experienced run the same way? What about the \'Pick`em Leagues\' without moves? Should they be discounted?

\"The whole idea of having a farm team should mirror the NHL as closely as possible, it should basically be your minor league team that you draw upon when needed, you should be able to promote and demote players as needed.\"

Fantasy hockey =/= real life, meaning the whole idea of having a farm team can be whatever it is, be it mine or yours or someone else\'s. Scoring systems, roster limitations, dressing rules; fantasy hockey is the idea of repurposing the actual game, its\' rules and various structures to create an environment both fun and competitive.

--------

With this al said, I do agree with you and would not mind seeing our league have free movement back-and-forth between our minors and pro/bench rosters. However, first, it\'s not entirely my decision, since we\'ll need to vote in our year-end review. Second, free movement takes away useless stress (micromanaging players unlikely to make an impact) and allows us to focus on the valuable guys.

If one has a modified system, like I posted, the micromanagement can occur at midseason or during the offseason which, to some, is restricting and, to others, could be seen as an ideal compromise.