Evening gentlemen.

I'm going to keep this message as concise and short as I can.  With the numerous changes to our leagues rules and policies over the years - we have never gone a summer without making some type of change to our league system - I'm putting into place a freeze on any changes on league policies, effective after this year's draft.

This freeze will take place for two summers.  In 2016 we will revisit any policies or rules that people may want to change.  But in that time before then, nothing will change regarding our system or our constitution.  As commissioner of this league, I am saying that this subject is not for debate.

Carry on.

Look.  At.  That.  Thing.

That dude has to be no more than 5'2", which means that trophy has to be the same size as him.

I want that trophy.

And maybe you do too.  Well, not that trophy.  But the Michael Vick Memorial Trophy definitely.

Which brings me to the point of this message.  For me, personally, getting money from people in our league is nice.  But when I put in my $20, I consider it a sunk cost, never to see it again.  I don't know if you do the same, but I would venture a guess that all of you, at some point, just forget about the money and think about the game.

And that trophy.  That sweet, sweet trophy.

So here's my question to you guys:  Would you be ok with using this year's league fees to invest in adding to the Michael Vick Memorial Trophy?  I'm talking slapping the hydrant on to a base and making it Shiva-esque.  If you're all willing to put aside any potential winnings for roiding out the trophy, then I'm willing to set up arrangements to get that thing made larger.

Recently our league page has had 90% of its conversation centered around keepers.  It's been a bunch of "value this", "X and Y that", "drops", "pickups", and "cost".

Oh my.

But now that it's over, let's move our attention back towards some other things.  Namely, power rankings.  Because who doesn't love a good power ranking?  Oh, you don't?  Well aren't you the Madeline Albright of good moods.  I don't care if that doesn't make sense.

"And it's with that waffle recipe I got President Clinton to name me Secretary of State."

So here's the post-Dan's keeper system-a-bob Danny Devito power rankings, updated to reflect any possible changes that people may come up because of this new keeper system.  Needless to say, according to myself, I'm moving up in the rankings.  Cool.  Cool cool cool.

Here's a quick re-cap of the fantasy law decisions we have made this off-season:

We are enacting the Richter Scale for Fantasy Keepers (RiS-FaK), we are converting contracts for players currently in their 2nd year of a 3-year contract to the new system as per the proposed method, owners of said contracts have the option to extend the contract to 4 or 5 years (still in their 2nd year), and pick-ups made between draft day and the final day of the regular season may be contracted at a baseline value of 50% of the ESPN Value during the keeper year.  An updated version of all rules can be found in our league constitution.

Unless anyone else has any issues they feel are very pressing, rules discussion is concluded for 2013.  All that's left is draft date selection, so if you have any serious availability restrictions that have not been made explicit to Jose, please raise them ASAP.  Particularly relating to the currently proposed date of Sunday, August 12th.

Lastly, as the draft approaches, remember that nothing is as important as drafting: crazy draft stories.

Thanks folks, you've been a great crowd!

P.S. Check out the ESPN League page.  I made it so that if you label a blog post you make here as "ESPN", it will put the most recent post with that label as the League Manager Note.  Also there is a smack-chat board, because more smack is always good.

Oh man guys, it's almost here!  The time when I stop bothering you about rules for at least one season!*

I've got three final questions for you, followed by my quick pitch for keeping pick-ups.
If you want to see other options, feel free to let me know!
I do want to see it fairly simple to prevent multiple voting rounds, but if there is a desire out there we can accommodate.

When should pick-up keepers be allowed? (based on when they were picked up)
    a. Draft day through end of regular season. (no playoffs)
    b. Draft day through day 1 of NFL season. (no regular season/playoffs)
    c. Other.

What should be the baseline price for a pick-up keeper? (The amount entered into the first field of the calculator to determine keeper cost)
    a. 50% of the avg ESPN draft value.
    b. Other.

Do we want to allow people that currently have a 3-year deal to extend that deal to a 5-year (4 remaining)?
    a. Yes.
    b. No.

Some people put a lot of effort and thought into pick-ups. It's a major part of the game, and especially with the FAAB system it utilizes the core skill of risk management that fantasy football requires while giving everyone an equal shot at each pick-up. While you do have more recent information, that does not guarantee success (example: Brandon Jackson), it's just more info to consider in your risk analysis. With the draft we have a wealth of prior information to use as well, sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. Finally, along with the 50% baseline, the absolute cheapest you're going to get to keep a pick-up for is about 60% of what their going for on ESPN. That's on a 5-year contract which is a pretty risky deal for a pick-up who likely does not have a long track-record. For example, if a player was picked up and is going for $60 this year, the minimum one would be able to keep them for is $36 ($30 base plus contract add), and then if the player ended up being a one year wonder, the owner would face stiff penalties/steep prices.
To summarize:

• Everyone has an equal shot at, and equal access to info for each waiver player.
• Both draft and waivers have prior info available, and in this system the draft is rewarded more for a good value pick (ex. a player drafted for $5 would have a base of $5 even if they were now going for $60, vs a base of $30)
• Under this system, pick-ups could be kept at a good vale, but not a great value unless the owner also took on great risk.

Now all we have left is the actually fantasy season, pfff, boring.

*not guaranteed.

	Owner	2009	2010	2011	2012	Total
	Bryan	1171	1319	1278	1175	4943
	Sean	1076	1246	1277	1335	4934
	Siems	1208	1154	1346	1204	4912
	Katarya	1329	1172	1177	1077	4755
	Dan	1212	1272	1022	1212	4718
	Jose	1158	1108	1287	1115	4668
	Tim	1176	1055	1148	1180	4559
	Ed	1105	1193	1073	1132	4503
	Danny	1151	1035	1195	1067	4448
	Jeff	1140	1097	1114	1057	4408