Yukon asked for my opinion on his possible keepers for 2008 Fantasy Baseball Seaon. Ask and you shall receive. It is that time of year when we are all looking forward to next year. Here is what he wrote in the comments section of the previous keeper post that I did:

My oldest league has voted unanimously to move this offseason to a keeper league. I think I know what I’d do today, but interested in your take.

11 team (5×5+OPS+CG) 5 Keepers

Offense: McCann, Hafner, Figgins, Braun, M Young, C Lee, Berkman, Holliday, Morneau

Pitchers: Sabathia, Hamels, C Zambrano, Myers, Capps, Valverde, plus others - who really aren’t considerable.

First of all, let me say that you will not regret moving your league to a keeper format. If you have solid owners from year to year, this is the best way to do a league. Secondly, i think you have quite the list of players available to you especially for an 11-team league.

The way I see it, you have three obvious choices, and whole lot of interchangeable ones. The obvious one are Braun, Morneau, and Holliday. Morneau and Holliday are in the prime of their careers, and are MVP type players. Braun has so much upside, and is in the middle of an outstanding young Brewers lineup, and since errors don’t count against you, there is no down side. All three of these players are especially good in the OPS rankings as well, and Braun will pitch in a decent amount of steals.

The players that I would eliminate from the keeper list are also a bit easier to determine. I would not keep Figgins, because speed and batting average can be had cheaply in the draft. McCann would also get cut, just because it would too high of a price to pay for a catcher. I would also eliminate Michael Young because there are some younger up and coming shortstops to grab next year in the middle rounds. Travis Hafner would also get chopped. His 2008 fantasy value is dependent of what site your league is hosted on. In yahoo, Pronk has 1B eligibility, and has more value then in a CBS league where he still only has Utility eligibility. On the pitching side I would eliminate Myers, Capps, and Valverde due to the volatile nature of closers. Remember how late Valverde was draft in 2007? Do you also remember that he was sent back to the minors for control issues in 2006? Dominate one year, and gone the next. I would also eliminate Zambrano because of his control issues. Anyone who has a BB/9 ratio over 4.00 for the last two season will never touch my team.

So now I am down to Lee, Berkman, Sabathia, and Hamels for two more slots. This is the tough part. I would personally keep Lee and Sabathia. I would be very tempted to keep Hamels and Sabathia, but Lee offers more for 2008. Here is the reasoning; Lee can hit for as much power as Berkman and still add in some steals. Carlos Lee has reached double digit steals in 7 of the last 8 seasons. The hardest part for me is to recommend Sabathia above Cole Hamels since I am a huge Phillies fan. However, 2008 fantasy value is higher for Sabathia, especially since you have complete games as a stat category. C.C. has had 10 complete games over the last two years, and he has established himself as a dominate pitcher in the American League. Hamels may be younger, and his best years may be ahead of him, but he has some durability issues that Sabathia doesn’t seem to be showing right now. Three years from now, I would reverse this recommendation, but keep a pitcher in his prime while you can.

So I would keep: Holliday, Braun, Morneau, Lee, and Sabathia

What do you guys think? Keep the Keeper questions coming!