Waiver Wire Keeper Rule

Q: I’m a commissioner in a keeper league where you can keep players for up to three years. Recently, one of the managers dropped Ronnie Brown because he is on IR. Ronnie Brown was one of his keepers and this was his second year being kept. Additionally, our league does not allow an IR spot.

Several days ago, another manager picked up Ronnie Brown. Now the league is up in arms about how the new manager should account for Ronnie Brown. What should his status be, in terms of whether he will be counted as an free agent pickup or should he still be considered a second year keeper??? This past draft Brown was kept at the 5th round pick, so the new manager will have to definitely give up his 5th round pick at next year’s draft. In trading situations, Brown’s keeper status and attributes would have transferred to the new team, but he wasn’t traded.

A: One of our leagues had a similar situation, but the owner that dropped Ronnie Brown didn’t realize that he needed to be kept on the active roster in order to be eligible to be kept next season. Since this was the first issue of its kind, we decided to give the owner a one-time pardon on his mistake and re-acquire Brown. Then we clearly established the rule going forward that if a player is dropped he is no longer available as a keeper.

If your owner has no interest in keeping Brown (after he dropped him) then the only dispute to resolve is whether or not the second owner that grabbed Brown off the waiver wire can keep him next year. Well if you league has ever allowed any owner to keep a player the following year that they claimed off waivers, then this second owner should absolutely be allowed to keep Brown and kudos to them for a savvy pickup.

If no owner in your league has ever kept a player claimed off waivers and thus the issue has never been addressed then you unfortunately are in uncharted waters. We recommend to bring it to a league vote. If the majority feels that players claimed off waivers should be eligible to be kept, then Brown should be eligible as well and now you have an established rule going forward. If the majority votes against this keeper policy, then Brown should not be kept but neither should any other player ever claimed off waivers going forward.

Sorry but that seems like the only fair solution. Remember your fantasy league is an ever-evolving entity so get a rule in writing so you can avoid similar disputes in the future!