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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, although OLTM goes with 13 hitters and ten pitchers now, because it's difficult to find FAs at some positions in a standard league, given the team compositions in the real American League.) Monsters goes back to the late eighties, I believe, and OLTM is entering its eighth year. Monsters is NL-only and OLTM is AL-only. Both are 5x5 leagues with standard categories.
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 a two-day stretch 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 two owners, one a resigning one who wants to concentrate on his local leagues and another who stiffed us for fees and then went AWOL. The fee in Monsters is $50 plus your pro-rata share of the Onroto.com service, which was $9 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 owners. The auction usually occurs on the Sunday of "traditional" draft weekend, i.e., the first full weekend after Opening Day.
OLTM needs to replace either one, two, or three owners, depending on whether we go with ten, eleven, or twelve teams). One owner failed to appear at the auction last year and has not been heard from since, so we went with eleven rather than twelve. Two of last season's eleven owners can't come back unless they pay their fees. If they do, we'd look for a new owner for an expansion team; if not, we'd fill in for them if that's possible. As with Monsters, we could go in OLTM with ten 25-man teams if we must, but I'd prefer that we be at the usual twelve. In any event, the fees are peanuts, i.e., $25 plus the pro-rata apportionment of Onroto's charges. The auction date "officially" has been the Saturday or Sunday of Opening Day weekend, but, most years, we've actually drafted on a midweek evening. 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. Also, if we go with three teams needing new owners, we'll have to do a dispersal draft sometime before the start of the season.
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 who remain in OLTM and you'd be proud to beat them.
If you're interested, please private message me or email me at MikeRubin2@aol.com. Thanks for your attention. I hope to have your consideration.
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 a two-day stretch 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 two owners, one a resigning one who wants to concentrate on his local leagues and another who stiffed us for fees and then went AWOL. The fee in Monsters is $50 plus your pro-rata share of the Onroto.com service, which was $9 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 owners. The auction usually occurs on the Sunday of "traditional" draft weekend, i.e., the first full weekend after Opening Day.
OLTM needs to replace either one, two, or three owners, depending on whether we go with ten, eleven, or twelve teams). One owner failed to appear at the auction last year and has not been heard from since, so we went with eleven rather than twelve. Two of last season's eleven owners can't come back unless they pay their fees. If they do, we'd look for a new owner for an expansion team; if not, we'd fill in for them if that's possible. As with Monsters, we could go in OLTM with ten 25-man teams if we must, but I'd prefer that we be at the usual twelve. In any event, the fees are peanuts, i.e., $25 plus the pro-rata apportionment of Onroto's charges. The auction date "officially" has been the Saturday or Sunday of Opening Day weekend, but, most years, we've actually drafted on a midweek evening. 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. Also, if we go with three teams needing new owners, we'll have to do a dispersal draft sometime before the start of the season.
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 who remain in OLTM and you'd be proud to beat them.
If you're interested, please private message me or email me at MikeRubin2@aol.com. Thanks for your attention. I hope to have your consideration.