As we roll over to year 11 of The Franchise, there's been a major change. This marks the first year that there are no keepers left from that afternoon we spent draftin in Roland's living room, watching some no name guard shoot the lights out for Davidson in the NCAA tournament (it was Steph), and hoping Zhou didn't notice that sharpie I was using on the posterboard had bled straight through onto the wall (He did).
Over the last three years, we've seen three legends from that draft all dropped from their respective teams, Russ with Longoria in 2015, Mark with Braun in 2016, and now finally, Eddie with Miguel Cabrera. A little tribute to each...
Longoria was pick 182 in that first draft, selected in the 16th round, a hyped up rookie that went on to win rookie of the year and become an unsung hero in Russ' lineup for 8 years. While playing wing man to Pujols, he made it to 4 championships with Russ, and one more with Greg (infamously winning none of them), and also had 2 third-place finishes with Russ. Throughout his 10 years in the league, his teams have made the playoffs 9 times, but he's never won a title. He went with pick 164 to Eric this year.
Ryan Braun was the defending rookie of the year in 2008, coming off a season of .324, 34 homers, and 15 steals in just 113 games. It was Pflanz, not Mark, who snatched Braun up in round 2, but on April 28th, he was swapped straight up for Carlos Beltran, and became the Tim Duncan to Mark's Spurs. 8.5 years and 4 rings later, he's probably (didn't look it up) the most successful individual player in the history of the Franchise. On July 28, 2016 he was traded to Eric for Leonys Martin and a 3rd round pick, Mark finished the year in 11th. Last season, in his first year back in the draft, he went 3rd overall, 15 picks before he did in 2008, he ended up on Dan's team, and finished 11th again. Greag grabbed him this year in round 5.
Already an establiushed all-star and MVP threat in 2008, Migueal Cabrera somehow fell to #10 in that first draft, which probably had something to do with the fact that we didn't even know it was a keeper league then. Eddie snatched up the 25 year old star and enjoyed one of the best 10 year stretches from a single player in any fantasy sport. Seven all star appearances, 5 times in the top 5 of MVP voting, and back to back MVP wins in 2012 and 2013, culminating in a god-damn-triple-crown. It wasn't until 3 years after the triple crown that Eddie and Miggy were able to hoist a Franchise Championship, but after 8 years together, they got it done. In the ten years of ownership, Eddie only made the playoffs three times, but after 2015's championship, I don't think he would do anything different. Cabrera was never dropped or traded, and went to Richie this year with the last pick of round 4.
And now for the rest of them, here's my annual, 'How We Got Our Keepers' write-up that's so fun to write, and hopefully to read. It always serves as a great testament to our league's longevity and continuity, and is part of the reason I will never vote to add keeper rules or keeper values. It's fantasy, you get attached to your guys, when you get a Longoria, or a Braun, or a Miggy, it's a better experience; that's your guy, in some cases since high school, and you get to decide when and how things end.
The first part is a graphic which shows every keeper in the history of the league. I didn't list them by manager, but by organization, so Fitz/Dan, Zhou/Bart/Eric, Zack/Richie, Keeves/Scanlon are in there as well as the original 7 plus Andy (Pru wasn't around long enough to have keepers). I think it's a cool way to check out your team history.
I tried to colorize them by whatever team the player was on at the time. If the colors look weird, keep in mind I'm slightly colorblind.
Now onto some of the more numbers based analysis. It's got all the usual categories, plus an early mock of round 1 of Sunday's draft!
The longest Kept Players in League history (maximum 10 years):
AKA, the guys you've almost never been able to draft in Franchise history
1. Miguel Cabrera - 9 seasons, all with Eddie
2. Ryan Braun - 8 seasons, one month with Pflanz, the rest with Mark
3. Joey Votto - 8 seasons, all with Pflanz
4. Evan Longoria - 7 seasons, all with Russ
5. Hanley Ramirez - 7 seasons, 2 with Zack, 5 with John
6. Felix Hernandez - 7 seasons, 1 with Dan, 1 with Mark, 1 with Richie, and two different stints with Keeves/Scanlon spanning 4 years (5 different owners have kept Felix Hernandez)
7. Jose Bautista - 7 seasons, all with Andy
8. Carlos Gonzalez - 7 seasons, all with Russ
9. Andrew McCutchen - 7 seasons, 3 with Keeves, 3 with Richie, 1 with Eddie
10. Giancarlo Stanton - 7 seasons, all with Dan
12. Clayton Kershaw - 7 seasons, 2 wih Roland/Eric, 2 with Brad, 2 with John, 1 with Richie
13. Robinson Cano - 6 seasons, 4 with Russ, 2 with Mark
14. Troy Tulowitzki - 6 seasons, 5 with John, 1 with Brad
15. Dustin Pedroia - 6 seasons, 3 with Greg, 3 with Zack
16. Albert Pujols - 6 seasons, 5 with Russ, 1 with Pflanz
17. David Wright - 6 seasons, 5 with Brad, 1 with Richie
18. Jacoby Ellsbury - 6 seasons, all with Fitz/Dan
10. Prince Fielder - 6 seasons, 4 with Brad, 1 with Eric, 1 with Greg
20. Max Scherzer - 6 seasons, 1 with Richie, 5 with Brad
21. Bryce Harper - 6 seasons, all with Greg
22. Mike Trout - 6 seasons, all with John
23. Zack Greinke - 6 seasons, all with Andy (but non-consecutive)
24. Edwin Encarnacion - 6 seasons, 1 with Brad, 5 with Eric
25. Chris Sale - 6 seasons, 2 with Eddie, 4 with Richie
26. Justin Verlander - 6 seasons, 5 with Eddie, 1 with John
27. Madison Bumgarner - 6 seasons, 1 with Greg, 5 with Pflanz
Each team's longest kept player (all-time):
Perk - Miguel Cabrera (2009-2017)
Pflanz - Joey Votto (2011-present)
Mark - Ryan Braun (2009-2016)
Dan - Giancarlo Stanton (2012-present)
Russ - Evan Longoria (2009-2015) & Carlos Gonzalez (2011-2017)
Andy - Jose Bautista (2011-2017)
Greg - Bryce Harper (2013-present)
John - Mike Trout (2013-present)
Brad - Max Scherzer (2014-present) & David Wright (2009-2013)
Eric - Edwin Encarnacion (2014-present)
Richie - Chris Sale (2015-present)*
Scanlon - Felix Hernandez (2011-2013; 2015)*
*No one has stayed on either team for more than 4 years, must be the facilities/ownership changes
Teams with highest percentage of seasons kept (through 10 years - includes repeat players)
1. New York Yankees...5.86% (Cano, A-Rod, Ellsbury, CC, Teixeira, Soriano, Granderson, Chapman, Sanchez, Judge, Stanton)
2. Boston Red Sox....5.86% (Youk, Pedroia, Betts, Bogey, Ellsbury, Gonzalez, Hanley, Sale, Devers, Benintendi)
3. Washington Nationals....5.63% (Strasburg, Harper, Turner, Morse, Scherzer, Murphy, Zimmerman, Desmond)
4. Detroit Tigers...5.63% (Cabrera, Verlander, Kinsler, Scherzer, Fielder)
5. Los Angeles Dodgers...5.18% (Kemp, Greinke, Puig, Hanley, Ethier, Gonzalez, Kershaw, Seager, Bellinger)
Teams with lowest number of seasons kept (through 10 years)
1. Kansas City Royals....0.25% (Billy Butler)
2. San Diego Padres......0.25% (Jake Peavy)
3. Oakland Athletics.....0.51% (Josh Donaldson, Sonny Gray)
4. Atlanta Braves.............2.25% (Freeman, Upton, Teheran, McCann, Acuna)
5.Baltimore Orioles....2.25% (Jones, Machado, Davis, Cruz)
Longest Current Tenured Keepers (with one team)
1. Joey Votto - 8 years
2. Giancarlo Stanton - 7 years
T3. Bryce Harper - 6 years
T3. Mike Trout - 6 years
Many tied at 5
2018 Keeper Breakdown
Draft: 52% (down from 58% last year)
Trade: 29% (same as last 2 years, 29%)
Free Agency: 15% (up from 8% last year)
Keeper Draft: 4% (down from 6% last year)
Details Below:
Greg
DRAFT: Harper ('12, pick 126), Marte ('14, pick 18), Dozier ('16, pick 28), Strasburg ('17, Pick 14)
Andy
DRAFT: Greinke ('13, pick 36), Rizzo ('14, pick 35), Springer ('17, pick 1)
FREE AGENCY: Donaldson ('13, April)
Scanlon
DRAFT: Lindor ('16, pick 43), Turner ('16, pick 79)
TRADE: Arenado ('15, from Richie), Blackmon ('15, from Eric)
Pflanz
DRAFT: Votto ('10, pick 19), Betts ('15, pick 69)
TRADE: Bumgarner ('13, from Greg)
FREE AGENCY: Machado ('14, September)
Dan
DRAFT: Stanton ('11, pick 13), Freeman ('16, pick 23), Bogaerts ('15, pick 130)
FREE AGENCY: Devers ('17, July)
John
DRAFT: Verlander ('17, pick 2), Ramirez ('17, pick 63)
TRADE: Trout ('12, from Greg), Bryant ('17, from Richie)
Brad
DRAFT: Murphy ('16, pick 94), Lester ('17, pick 5)
KEEPER DRAFT: Scherzer ('14, pick 8)
TRADE: Yelich ('14, from Russ)
Mark
DRAFT: Abreu ('14, pick 60), Benintendi ('17, pick 29)
TRADE: DeGrom ('17, from Eddie)
FREE AGENCY: Bellinger ('17, April)
Russ
DRAFT: Moncada ('17, pick 82)
TRADE: Kluber ('16, from John), Goldschmidt ('14, from Mark), Darvish ('17, from Greg
Perk
DRAFT: Pollock ('15, pick 174), Odor ('17, pick 20)
TRADE: Syndergaard ('17, from Mark)
FREE AGENCY: Hoskins ('17, July)
Eric
DRAFT: Altuve ('14, pick 48), Seager ('16, pick 20)
KEEPER DRAFT: Encarnacion ('14, pick 13)
FREE AGENCY: Judge ('17, April)
Richie
TRADE: Sale ('14, from Perk), Kershaw ('17, from John), Correa ('17, from John)
FREE AGENCY: Acuna ('17, September)
Maybe a preview coming this weekend, maybe not.
