Ruling: Keeper Value of Drafted Players Picked Up From The Waver Wire

Fellow Managers,  

Yesterday, two teams expressed similar confusion about the keeper price of a drafted player, who is dropped mid-season, and picked up by a different team through the waver wire. The Commissioner’s Office accepts that the rules on our website do not adequitly address the valid arguments expressed by these two teams. Thus, a ruling is necessary to clarify their point of view with that of the Commissioner’s Office. This email is that ruling. 

The Issue

Two teams argued that the value of any player picked up off the waver wire is $5 (the minimum), reguarless of their drafted price. The Commissioner believes that the keeper price of a drafted player is always their draft price even if they were dropped and added by a different team. 

Example: Coco Krisop is drafted for $15 by Team A. Team A drops Coco due to injury. Team B picks up Coco from the waver wire and stashes him until the end of the season. In the subsequent season, two teams argue that Coco can be kept for the free angent price of $5. The Commissioner believes that Coco’s price is still his draft price of $15. 

Decision Making Process

  • To make this ruling I relied on the historical draft record, and conducted a polling of the managers.   
  • Historically, I have found no examples of a player kept for a lower amount than their drafted value since 2022. All kept player values since 2022 were in accordance with the Commissioner’s understanding of the rule.
    • If an example is found within this week, the Commissioner will grant all managers 24 hours to adjust their keepers.
    • Note: In 2022, Jacob DeGrom got injured and was dropped after the keeper deadline but before the draft. He did not count as a keeper and was drafted for below his would-be keeper price. This is the only example I found. 
  • Polling of the managers: I emailed a poll question to all managers with at least one year of draft experience (sorry new guys), asking for their understanding of the rule. The majority of the managers understood the rule the way the Commissioner did. Please read their replies here.  

There are a lot of other points that can be argued one way or another, but I believe ethese to be the two most relevant factors. 

The Ruling

  • For 2025, the keeper price of a player who was drafted, dropped, and later picked up off the waver wire is his drafted price.   
  • Managers of 2 Legit 2 Witt, Yankee and the Brave, and Shoeless Bro Jackson are granted a keeper deadline extension of 24 hours from the time of this email to make keeper changes based on this clarified understanding. 

Should We Introduce FAAB? 

Yankee and the Brave points out that in 2020, when our league had a FAAB budget, players kept from the waver wire could be kept for their FAAB value. He is correct about that. 

2 Legit 2 Witt also mentioned that FAAB spends are often used to determine the price of a keeper. 

Several managers expressed that while they shared the Comminsioner’s understanding of the current rules, they might prefer to change the rule and use FAAB.

The rules must be clarified for next season, and thus, we have the opportunity to change them. I am always open to rule changes, particularly if the group has a strong preference one way or another. Feel free to discuss that idea here or we can start a new thread.  

Misha

Manager: CoMeesh
Commissioner