Introducing a League: The Larry Wayne Jones Tournament of Fantasies

I figured I'd start this blog off with a basic introduction to each of my leagues/teams, so you'd have a better idea of where I come from and what my leagues look like.  We'll start with my "biggest" league in terms of staying power and competitiveness, my 12 team ESPN keeper league.  Here are some basic stats for the league:

Years active: 2 (It was formed by the schism of a former league killed by cheating)
League Type: ESPN, Auction, Keeper, with 12 Teams
Buy-in: $20 per person
Divisions: 3
Playoffs: 3 division winners and best overall points of the leftovers get in
Scoring: Head to Head Points, based heavily on Fangraphs
Positions: C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, 3 OF, 5 SP, 2 RP, 10 bench, and 2 DL spots
Salary Cap: $250, keep as many guys as you want for up to 3 years
Depth of the League: Fairly deep - the top guys on the wire at year's end were Kendry Morales, David Peralta, and Josh Reddick.  The top pitchers on the wire were Erasmo Ramirez, Chris Heston, and Mark Buehrle
Any weird quirks: We have an arbitration system for guys signed after August 1st and guys on expiring contracts.  We also keep an Excel spreadsheet where you can trade money along with players as needed.
How have I done: Champion 2 (3 if you count the old league) years running

So I do REALLY well in this league despite it being fairly competitive.  I'm a waiver wire junkie (as I've mentioned before), so 10 bench spots is nice for me, plus I tend to stream relievers so it really feels like I have 12 bench spots at any given time.  In my first year in the league, I finished the year with none of the players I began it with.  In this past season, I held on to Sonny Gray ($11 through the end of the 2017 season) and Jordan Zimmerman ($20, 2017) all year but traded or cut everyone else.  The end result was obviously nice, and it was helped along mostly by prospects.  I traded away Joc Pederson, Kris Bryant, AND Corey Seager this year, but ended up with guys like Clayton Kershaw, Tyson Ross, and Jason Kipnis in their place.  I also signed a $1 J.D. Martinez out of free agency early in the year, so life should continue to be good.

I'll cover this team periodically throughout the offseason to talk offseason strategies, but in the meantime I wanted to share my dumbest trade of all last year.  It was preseason (obviously), and I felt the need to add a decent ceiling starting pitcher for my OF excess.  So I ended up trading

A.J. Pollock

FOR

Danny Duffy.

Duffy ended up in relief and cost me $1 when I cut him.  Pollock ended up a top 5 OF and is $1 keepable through 2018.  Can't win 'em all!