Keeping Players on the Margins

Back in late March, T.J. made what I thought was an astute observation:

If you have an otherwise strong freeze list, you can keep a few studs at or near par, or even a couple dollars above (if inflation looks bad). Keeping $4 guys at $1 probably isn't wise, because it can tie up your slots and eliminate draft flexibility.

It always seems to me that there is a lot of value floating around at the end of my keeper league auctions, so another reason that you might not want to keep a $1 or $2 player at $1 is because something better is bound to come along in the auction.

2008 Billy Almon Brown Graduate: $3 Cost or Less

	#	Bid	Inf.	Cost	$	+/-
Hitters	31	69	80	51	111	+60
Pitchers	33	82	94	50	125	+75
Total	64	151	174	101	236	+135

I thought that T.J. was being a little too liberal with his rule (drop a $4 player at $1), but even if these players had only matched expectations (bid), they still would have turned a $50 profit and come in $73 under inflation.

It's easy to lose perspective and get too excited here. $73 under inflation for 64 players is still only a little over $1 per player. You still probably want to keep that $4 player at $1. But I agree with T.J. that you want to have a few slots available in the endgame just in case opportunities arise.