♫ Pitcher bunt attempts forever, for the union makes us bat ♫ – 2021 ILX Fantasy Baseball!

I made the thread on ILE, had it destroyed, and brought it back with the SAME dumb joke title because I can't do any better!

Hi everyone! The super bowl's only a week or so away, and you know what that means: pitchers and catchers report in two weeks!

Thermo's still commissioning (commissionering? commishing?) the league but I've been asked to take over "herd cats into picking keepers" duty, so here I am, making this thread that I regret the title of (as mentioned above). I love cats! This will be easy!

As a fantasy baseball GM, it is your duty to select up to five (5) eligible keepers:
• 2 of which must be 27, 28 or 29 yrs old
• another 2 players 26 or under
• one final keeper that can be either (basically anyone under the age of 30)
• age is calculated as of April 1
• for a player to be keep-eligible he must have been drafted on draft day by your team or traded to you by a team that drafted him. that means:
• free agent/waiver pick-ups cannot be kept
• if you have less than 5 keepers, you will get an extra draft pick at the end of the draft
• keep it clean (Will M's edit: alternatively, GET NASTY THIS TIME)

Looking at previous years, the draft's fallen on the Sunday before the Sunday before opening day, so let's put it at March 21, 2021 @ 4:00 PM Eastern (subject to change). I KNOW you don't have St. Patrick's plans this year, so don't even. That means keepers deadline is March 14, 2021.

If you're coming back, please let us know ASAP! If you aren't, please let us know ASAP! VORPed Minds is old enough to drink in Quebec now! How ridiculous is that! HELP US MAINTAIN THE TRADITION OF ROTISSERIE-STYLE FANTASY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL COURTESY OF OUR FRIENDS AT SPORTS DOT YAHOO DOT COM SLASH FANTASY.

i'm down

I'll be back.

I am willing and prepared to defend my victory*

Also I'll kick off the keeper picking. Note that you can change these before March 14!!

Wander Franco (20)
Zac Gallen (25)

Luis Castillo (28)
Mookie Betts (28)
Nolan Arenado (29)

Also in my copy-pasting, I forgot to bold the dates --
DRAFT March 21 2021 (tentative)
KEEPERS March 14 2021 (mostly not tentative)

thanks again for getting the ball rolling dude. drinks in Quebec are on me!

Mad Boone Rising is back!

Acuna (23) lol
Luis Robert (23)
Yoan Moncada (25)
Rhys Hoskins (28)
Wilson Contreras (28)

I have 3 obvious keepers but the last 2 spots I have 4 different options which will be very tough, may need to hold out to the deadline before making a commitment.

here are the keepers for CORROSION OF CONFORTO:

Fernando Tatis Jr (22)
Yordan Alvarez (23)
Michael Conforto (28)
Xander Bogaerts (28)
Brandon Woodruff (28)

--------------------

I was tempted to consider Glasnow (27) or Ketel Marte (27), but I don't trust either after last season's abdications of fantasy baseball duty and I have trouble not keeping any of the other three players they'd replace. Might change my mind though.

question: is the thread title supposed to be sung? and if so, to what tune??

my most likely keepers this year (fingers crossed this time it will work out, happy thoughts version):
Kris Bryant 29
Francisco Lindor 27
Ozzie Albies 24
Nate Pearson 24
Mike Soroka 23

solidarity forever

He Ain't Javy (He's My Baez) tentative keepers

Javier Baez (28)
Aaron Nola (27)
Peter Alonso (26)
Lucas Giolito (26)
Chris Paddack (25)

do i have this right from last year?

CONFIRMED from 2020 to 2021:
NA
Will M
NoTimeBeforeTime
Thermo
Van Horn
Albert
omar

TBD from 2020 to 20201:
Jimmie Lovefoxxxxxx
X
bnw
j.q higgins
francisF
Andy K

Definitely in, thanks. Keepers TBD soon.

NP: Kaito - Peace of Landscape (Kompakt)

I don’t think there’s any rush on keepers. Season probably delayed again.

if anyone hears from the other 5 plz ask em to confirm their spot! delay or no, best to know if we need a replacement or something.

Communication is complicated because ILX webmail sucks, and some of these people like higgins & bnw (& Andy K) are OGs and have no doubt moved on from those email hosts. Is there any way to reach out via yahoo! league settings?

I'm in

ok, i'm back for more fantastical action. What are the odds we play 162?
will have my keepers in soon

Not sure who Jimmie Lovefoxxxxxx is (what's his alt?) but I may have ways of contacting bnw & j.q higgins via mutuals (those guys are OGs).

did a little poking around and jimmie is aka "this cannot be changed"

anyway they have plenty of time -- maybe they just haven't been active. i'll wait a bit before i try yahoo mail, but it should work i think?

Don’t sweat it. Lots of time, and we’ll probably get bonus time when things are delayed. Usually first week of March I will send out a reminder mail. But everyone knows the drill.

I am in. Had no idea you guys played last year tbh. I’m sure my keepers are garbage, oh well.

well you got about a week to let us know what garbage you want to keep!

Billy Childish Bambino tentative keepers:

Juan Soto (22)
Kyle Tucker (24)
Adalberto Mondesi (25)
Matt Olson (27)
Nick Castellanos (29)

impressed bnw managed to finish 7th, despite not touching his team all season!

so – i've officially moved the draft date on the league page to the afore mentioned 21st – for 4pm edt

for anyone who doesn't have their selects in by the 14th, i will let Will select their keepers – and he's *crazy*!
the sooner we get them in, the sooner i can post the draft order.

not as pure garbage as i worried. surely i will manage them worse then 7th now.

Julio Urias (24)
Shane Bieber (25)
Josh Hader (26)
Trevor Story (28)
Eugenio Suarez (29)

Snitker Conspiracy

Rafael Devers 24
Franmil Reyes 25
Austin Meadows 26
Noah Syndergaard 28
Mike Trout 29

keepers/who has responded tracker

i've sent a webmail to the two non-confirmed, hopefully they get those -- i'll also try yahoo to see if there's some way to reach out there...

(xp: will update with that one now!)

and sorry i've been so inactive. a combination of online exhaustion and valheim have made me extremely bad at everything. doing the work now tho!

Andy – Meadows is 25. you got him for another year!

I did a little websleuthing based on my longterm knowledge of higgins... he is on Facebook so I could try to ping him there if we get desperate.

Sorry for the wait! My keeper picks:

LuvWilTeheranUsApart

Alex Bregman (27)
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (22)
Bo Bichette (23)
Carson Kelly (26)
Jonathan Villar (29)

Villar is horrible but I literally don't have anyone else (all the other keeper eligible guys I drafted were dropped).

hi hi sorry hi hello i am 'any kestons?' this year

Keston Hiura, 24
Walker Buehler, 26
Cody Bellinger, 27
Tim Anderson, 27
Jorge Soler, 29

Jimmie Love – Bellinger is only 25!

Andy – Meadows is 25. you got him for another year!

Thanks for the correction. Firing my assistant.

https://cdn.mlbtraderumors.com/files/2018/10/dave-dombrowski-red-sox-1024x697.jpg

But other than my bad math, my list is still good, right Thermo?

yup!

https://i.ibb.co/z5x1LNd/Jeffress-Fire.jpg
BURN YOUR FIRE FOR NO JEFFRESS

FLAHERTY, Jack (<27)
MAY, Dustin (<27)
MACHADO, Manny (27-29)
GALLO, Joey (27-29)
JIMÉNEZ, Eloy (<30)

Hopefully my keepers are admissable! Pretty sure

finally - a reference i get!!!

ayyyy that's everyone confirmed! just need keepers from two teams (unless i missed em). the hardest part of fantasy baseball is almost done! wait what do you mean i have to do a draft

I did a little websleuthing based on my longterm knowledge of higgins... he is on Facebook so I could try to ping him there if we get desperate.

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Saturday, March 6, 2021 10:35 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

they responded on the yahoo forums and will be returning!

Awesome! There are only so many ace surf guitarists in the DC area, I'll have to tease him when he shows back up.

ha!

also i was brainstorming new team names and decided to base it on the guy who might not even play this year, wander franco... i went wander... what sounds like wander... one direction? that's it! wanderection!

my brain vetoed this almost immediately, but then i came up with WanderVision so I'll go with that!

thought stacking my draft with youths would give me a better keeper than alex verdugo but here's alex verdugo:

Alex Verdugo (<27)
Corey Seager (<27)
Bryce Harper (27-29)
Aaron Judge (27-29)
Blake Snell (27-29)

emailed guns of buxton for keepers, that'll be the last list we need!

might need you to reach out after all albert, need those keepers from higgins

so sorry for spacing out

correa, berrios, turner, ramirez, laureano

All good m’dude. Still got it in on time.

ok gang. draft order is set and picks are in. please, for the love of all this is holy, double check i got your keepers right (it's easy to mess up this stage)!

you can view the order and selects HERE.

You got mine right!

Thank you so much Thermo for doing this.

I don’t think anyone could have predicted Turnbull. He’s still available in my 9-team (8 team now I guess) AL only league. I had him for a brief stint, but he wasn’t even up to that leagues diminished standards.

benched rodon today cause i wanted to go easy on all of you, you're welcome

;_;

Jesus. Who is this guy all of the sudden?! 13 Ks?!

Good trade A+ for both sides.

Does anyone need Steals? I've decided to punt the category and have Garrett Hampson for trade and he excels in Runs Scored, XBH & Steals (and plays half his games in Denver). Looking for a decent RP arm in return.

https://i.imgur.com/quWHeu3.png

i just assumed everyone punted NSB every year?!

I mean I will probably end up negative at this rate.

Therefore I am petitioning for ASB* next year: Absolute Stolen Bases

lol steals are my second-best category

Well let me rephrase that then, I have a 2B/SS/OF for trade who scores runs and hits for XBs (and also steals bases) if you need flexibile-positional help, just looking for a similar ranked RP arm.

Didn't really realize that trade was still on the table, tbh! Oh well. Romano just needs the opportunities and he's great

Thermo, I'm interested in your offer, lemme mull it over a bit

👍

Was all set to say goodbye to Bryant! He’s on fire this year - has been with my team since he broke in but will be 30 soon. Shame I wasn’t able to give the man a ring in his time with me since this year is a write off.

check yr mails if you value Bryant's chances

oh! ya. thought about him, but thought you'd like the other guy more...

I just threw my hat into the Bryant ring if it's not too late.

lol, nevermind I guess.

was happy to accept the trade i was offered but wondering for future trades -- is there like a messaging platform everyone is on? for most of you, the only way i can communicate is, uh, literally making offers lol

there's an ilx slack if that works for anyone... but i know slack isnt everyone's cup of tea (i can barely handle checking it lol i have two separate work slacks which have focus most of the time)

or does the yahoo chat function not suck? i haven't tried it in years (it sucked back then)

Still sucks. I can only see messages if I’m using the app. And it’s still showing a message from five years ago as being unread, no matter how many times I open it.

I honestly don’t see slack as an option (I have 4 accounts for work, since I freelance for a bunch of places and would rather gouge my eyes out than add another). Sending emails back and forth worked fine for myself and Francis.

Each pair of owners should have their own board on ilxor.com that only they have access to

I'm requesting that Thermo & I's trade be forced through, if it's in the league's conscience. it was canceled because I would've been over max roster size. That's my bad, I didn't think it would be canceled, just that I wouldn't be able to use the new players until brought down to size or something.

that's weird it didn't force you to select players to drop... maybe it's because Flaherty went onto the DL after the trade was accepted?
at any rate - I've resent the offer. accept it for now and if no one objects, I'll force it through. worst case scenario we have a couple more days to wait before the trade goes through properly. i'm worried about just barging ahead with using the mod tools on my own trade and then as soon as i do, i have a bunch of managers pissed at me for abusing mod powers.

Yeah of course, no problem either way

Wow. Some serious action today. Wandervision stockpiling young shortstops! Wondering who gets transitioned to 2b!

wooow

Haven't thought that far ahead. Just getting my guys

Wild trade guys! Looks like a good old fashioned challenge trade?

not at all, this was me getting all up in Burneson and Guns's emails demanding they take my team away in exchange for two of my favourite players (xander and trea). (and me staring at spreadsheets figuring out what they needed so i could offer them both the best packages for their needs). burnesen really took me to the cleaners for xander though lol

now that the real is made though, i have the (nice) problem of 6 stud keepers for next year. def entertaining any offers to upgrade in a two for one scenario or something. Wander, Trea and Xander at short, Betts Eloy and Grish at OF lol. Who has the elite young SPs?! hit me up that never goes poorly for me *sweeps luis castillo's 2021 stats under a rug*

the deal* is made

Will, I got your message on my phone, I honestly can't find out how to pull it up again to reply, but just want to say, yeah, I'm always up to entertain offers. any player is available. But I'm trying to win this thing atm and need SP for one of my 4 keeper OFs if anyone has ideas hit me up

FWIW I do not understand this Xander deal

Initial haul was to be Bogaerts for (unkeepable) Kimbrel, Cruz, and Arenado. Pollock and Smith were throw-ins because CB was going to drop them anyway (and I might drop them but we'll see). But then CB added Rizzo for Rendon because Rendon's been bad and he knows how to squeeze me lol. Everyone I am sending back is unkeepable and Xander is consensus top-20 dynasty player based on a lot of lists I've seen. and im dogshit this season so having unkeepable players is worthless to me

Yeah, I can see it. Got a lot of big names flying around this year, it's interesting

I figured with my team constructed as it is, I wasn’t likely to catch you! I was already thinking that I would be trading Xander to secure multiple non-keeper quality bats before I was approached by Will. My batting has been pretty disappointing, at least in a few categories. Xander has been awesome but I was going to lose him after next season if I even play again, which I may not. We’ll see. Rendon has been weak, Pollock injured, fresh prince has the saves but not the rest...if these guys play as well as they have thus far and Rizzo steps up a bit, maybe I’ll catch up enough to...finish half a dozen points back.

I think I liked the idea of going into next season (if I play) with a rotation already set, plus Tatis. Alvarez is tempting too but he’s a potential injury waiting to happen. If one of the SPs gets TJ I’ll likely just hang onto him instead.

If shit starts to go south get ready for me to dangle some heavy hitters.

I think the baffling part was the big names coming along with Xander - but they all seem to be struggling this year.

I was kind of figuring that Will Smith is a guy who is extremely useful in saves leagues, but in this league he’s perfectly average and there are a lot of guys his equal in terms of S+H in the free agent pool. Pollock could pick it up and do what he did last season on a full season scale but I can’t count on it. I feel like Rendon has maybe been unlucky but also maybe just sucks this year and will continue to do so, and Arenado is an upgrade regardless, and with Cruz I wouldn’t have anywhere else to put Tony. Santana has been great at first but a lot less great lately, and Rizzo may likely be better going forward. And if not I’ll just stick Carlos back in there.

I look forward to all of this blowing up in my face.

Interesting to hear how this came about -- a trade for Xander that snowballed into a trade involving infield stars past their primes (Rendon/Rizzo) and elite relievers.

I'm feeling the pressure to make another trade, but I already parted with my best bargaining chip (Vlad Jr). I might need to upgrade at SP (it depends on Bauer's spin rate going forward ... ugh) and sooner or later my six RP have to start picking up saves and holds.

I’m curious who’s gonna find themselves out an ace once mlb starts handing out fines/suspensions etc

I thought MLB was only "gathering information" this year? I think they'll save the fireworks for the off-season -- coincidentally this happens to be a bargaining year and this is just more ammunition for putting the screws to the players.

Oh so much for that -- new enforcement policy and likely suspensions starting on June 21.

Just noticed the posts on the PED thread.

In other news, I'm putting Trevor Bauer on the trading block you guys! You don't want to pass this up! Cy Young winner -- going cheap!

well, i can't imagine having anything to worry about w/ cole...

Glasnow is down now, I can't afford this.. 😑

Apparently because he had to stop using sunscreen for grip!!

Tyler Glasnow just went off about the midseason crackdown. He stopped using sunscreen a couple starts ago and felt sore afterwards due to difficulty with grip. Same last night. Says it contributed to his current injury. He’s hopeful to be back at the end of the season.

— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) June 15, 2021

well, looks like i picked the wrong day to sit ryan mountcastle.

I added Brett Anderson, so I feel like this will end the Diamondbacks losing streak.

You’re welcome, Arizona.

Fractured hand after 3 games back! Buxton is a total lemon, holy sh*t haha it's almost mystifying

Ok this bogaerts-turner thing is great but wander Franco is making things very complicated. I know I know champagne problems