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Monsters of the NL News and One League Too Many are loosely-affiliated online keeper leagues, although there are slight rules differences between the two. (For the most part, the rules are based on the Book rules.) Monsters goes back to the late eighties, I believe, and OLTM is entering its fifth year. Monsters is NL-only and OLTM is AL-only. Monsters has been 5x5 for several years and OLTM is converting this year. Both conduct their auctions in live chat rooms and there are no fees for transactions beyond the initial membership buy-in. These are low-stakes leagues, so you aren't going to be out much if you want to try out a strategy that you'd be reluctant to use in a league that called for payment of serious money.
The only thing a bit quirky about these leagues is that we use a transactions system that operates over two days each week. On Mondays, we announce successful waiver claims and FAABs. On Tuesdays, we allow owners to pick from the remaining free agents for natural roster openings. (The rationale is that, with weekly transactions, an owner whose FAABs and waivers all were unsuccessful might find himself or herself without an active player in an open spot for a full week. The Tuesday FA claims opportunity lets the owner see how he or she does on Monday before filling in on Tuesday if necessary. It's not complicated and, I promise, you'd get the hang of it quickly.)
Monsters needs to replace a resigning owner who wants to concentrate on his local league and, probably, another who has not paid fees for the last two years. The fee in Monsters is $50 plus your pro-rata share of the CBS Sportsline service, which was $11 last year. We presently have ten teams returning and could go with ten owners and 25-man rosters, but the preference is to replace the departing owner and, if we can, the guy who is behind on the rent. The auction usually occurs on the Sunday of "traditional" draft weekend, i.e., the first full weekend after Opening Day.
OLTM is in tougher shape. Two owners have resigned, one because of time issues and the other, apparently, because he was not happy with rules enforcement last year. Two others are in arrears on fees and were often absent entirely after the auction, so I think it's time to replace them with more attentive owners. We have expressions of interest, but not commitments, from two possible new owners who are friends of existing ones, so we may still be looking for two more. As with Monsters, we could go in OLTM with ten 25-man teams but we'd prefer to remain at full complement if possible. The fees are peanuts, i.e., $25 plus the pro-rata apportionment of CBS' charges. The auction date "officially" has been the Saturday or Sunday of Opening Day weekend, but, most years, we've actually drafted a midweek evening to accommodate the two guys who did not pay. Because that goes really, really late for guys in the Eastern timezone, I'd like to shift the auction back to a weekend day. However, we'll decide this one way or the other in a few weeks.
We have some HQ guys in each league and they do well. If I had to pick one league as the more "sophisticated," I'd have to say it's Monsters, but there are some excellent, attentive owners in OLTM who you'd be proud to beat.
If you're interested, please private message me or email me at MikeRubin2@aol.com. Thanks for your attention.
The only thing a bit quirky about these leagues is that we use a transactions system that operates over two days each week. On Mondays, we announce successful waiver claims and FAABs. On Tuesdays, we allow owners to pick from the remaining free agents for natural roster openings. (The rationale is that, with weekly transactions, an owner whose FAABs and waivers all were unsuccessful might find himself or herself without an active player in an open spot for a full week. The Tuesday FA claims opportunity lets the owner see how he or she does on Monday before filling in on Tuesday if necessary. It's not complicated and, I promise, you'd get the hang of it quickly.)
Monsters needs to replace a resigning owner who wants to concentrate on his local league and, probably, another who has not paid fees for the last two years. The fee in Monsters is $50 plus your pro-rata share of the CBS Sportsline service, which was $11 last year. We presently have ten teams returning and could go with ten owners and 25-man rosters, but the preference is to replace the departing owner and, if we can, the guy who is behind on the rent. The auction usually occurs on the Sunday of "traditional" draft weekend, i.e., the first full weekend after Opening Day.
OLTM is in tougher shape. Two owners have resigned, one because of time issues and the other, apparently, because he was not happy with rules enforcement last year. Two others are in arrears on fees and were often absent entirely after the auction, so I think it's time to replace them with more attentive owners. We have expressions of interest, but not commitments, from two possible new owners who are friends of existing ones, so we may still be looking for two more. As with Monsters, we could go in OLTM with ten 25-man teams but we'd prefer to remain at full complement if possible. The fees are peanuts, i.e., $25 plus the pro-rata apportionment of CBS' charges. The auction date "officially" has been the Saturday or Sunday of Opening Day weekend, but, most years, we've actually drafted a midweek evening to accommodate the two guys who did not pay. Because that goes really, really late for guys in the Eastern timezone, I'd like to shift the auction back to a weekend day. However, we'll decide this one way or the other in a few weeks.
We have some HQ guys in each league and they do well. If I had to pick one league as the more "sophisticated," I'd have to say it's Monsters, but there are some excellent, attentive owners in OLTM who you'd be proud to beat.
If you're interested, please private message me or email me at MikeRubin2@aol.com. Thanks for your attention.
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