Ah, man, why do I only get credit for the first proposal? Btw, those numbers were arbitrarily proposed. No logic went into it.
But to expand on why I put these proposals out there, as I was looking over the 2012 Tigers I was kind of surprised by how many career keepers I have (11). That's a lot of guys to have on my roster before I ever make a selection. I imagine this will be the case for a lot of teams in the first few years. Problem is some of these guys are pretty bad; I can't imagine what it must be like for some other teams. Nick Blackburn, anyone?
Anyway, when we were rolling through the 90s, I genuinely felt bad as I unveiled the Mariners' new career keepers each season: Bob Wolcott, Ken Cloude, and Jim Converse stand out. I also think my Phillies would have had a much better opportunity to win it in the late 90s if we hadn't been so restricted by our keepers. In 1998, for instance, Matt Beech, Carlton Loewer, Mike Grace, and Tyler Green combined for 491 IP and all had ERAs over 5. It didn't really matter that I had Schilling, Moyer, and Millwood, with those other guys taking up spaces on my roster I couldn't develop my bullpen. Just some thoughts for folks to consider. It's fun regardless.