Hurler readers:

I am in a league (Standard 5 x 5, MI, CI, 9P w/ 1500 inning limit, 8 keepers) where draft rounds are attached to keeper cost, meaning that I can keep the following players for next year:

Round Player
1 Wright
2 Sabathia
3 Kemp
5 Dunn
7 Lincecum
8 Votto
28 Zobrist

My dilema comes in that 8th keeper between the following players/cost:
Pablo Sandoval, 11th round pick
Houston Street 15th round

Or the following players that cost a 27th round pick:
Miguel Montero
Andrew McCutchen
Franklin Gutierrez
Carlos Gonzalez
Jered Weaver
Stephen Strasburg

Feedback is welcomed

Interesting league! To answer your question ... I think my avatar speaks for itself.

It is a really cool league, as trades are a much more complicated animal. Guys who were picked up on the waiver wire have no draft round attached, so they count from the last round upward. Keepers held over from previous years have their original rounds attached to them. That's why Lincecum is a 7th rounder for me. There's an owner who has Kinsler with 18th round value. Talk about untouchable.....Somehow I knew that would be your answer, Bob. I see Sandoval going really high in drafts and I am set at third with Wright, but Panda is hard to ignore at that price....I also feel like Zobrist at that price is a no-brainer, but I would be open to hearing other opinions about that as well.

Sounds like a great price for Panda, but I just don't know how you keep him with Wright, Votto and Dunn already on your roster. I actually really, really like Montero this year, but I doubt you can keep a mid-range catcher, even at good "draft round value," unless catchers are absolutely hoarded in this league.

Then there's Strasburg, who, if you kept, it would be for 2011, not this year. How is he on your roster already anyway?

This league sounds awesome.

where do you pick in your draft? if the other owners ahead of you have must keep players at round 1 cost , then you can release wright and draft him back. this would allow you to keep one of those cheap outfielders like mccutchen. but you must keep panda because of all the guys you list he is least likely to be available to you in the draft. he will be a rock at ci for you and you will need his good ba to offset dunn(of).

Bob, I had picked up Strasburg at the end of the year, he was available in CBS leagues after he signed. I held onto him as a flier to consider because he cost me nothing. I like Sandoval but I don't love him because that .330 average is not sustainable. His BABIP was .356 but his XBABIP was .321. That means he had some luck on his side. I know he's getting a lot of ink right now, but I am stacked already with corners as you mentioned. Plus, I don't trust his girth to avoid injury. Spike, I appreciate your idea but I can't necessarily pick Wright back up because I won the league last year and will be picking last even if I let Wright go. Granted, there's not gonna be 12 first round picks but I am not prepared to let Wright go just to keep Panda. We only had five keepers in this league last year and started the draft in round six. This year we are keeping eight so this round/cost strategy is going to make the draft really weird. This league started three years ago as a Fantasy Baseball Mafia League. When they disappeared, ten of the twelve teams migrated over to CBS and we kept 11 of those twelve this year. Our only dropout had a good excuse- he passed away. We've had some good back and forth with developing some of the additional rules and I've never had roster challenges quite like the ones posed in this league. I am really looking forward to the draft, thanks for the feedback.

BTW, what would you think if I told you I was considering trading Panda for Bourn (18th round)?

You just need to open your heart and admit to yourself that you want to keep Cutch.

agreed you should keep wright under the circumstances , but also keep panda who is well worth an 11th round pick in this format even if he regresses somewhat. you can get street and the rest back (if you want them)in the draft. just saying