Fantasy baseball never rests ... even after the final pitch of the World Series is thrown.
Many fantasy managers have already begun analyzing next season, even with this one only a mere few games away from reaching its conclusion. It's those who get a head start on their competition who do the most to boost their 2019 championship prospects.
To help you on your way: Below is the latest edition of my tri-annual Dynasty 300 rankings. It serves an effective "price guide" for dynasty or keeper leagues, whether you have a pre-existing one or plan to start one from scratch in 2019.
The rankings formula
The Dynasty 300 uses the following player valuation formula:
2019 performance: 20 percent
2020 performance: 20 percent
2021 performance: 20 percent
2022 performance: 20 percent
2023 performance and beyond: 20 percent
The rationale for these weights is to provide a long-term projection of player values, in order to help fantasy managers in dynasty/keeper leagues who might be required to make critical roster decisions before the offseason arrives.
For those in redraft/single-year leagues, my preliminary rankings for the 2019 season alone are already available here, and will be updated regularly throughout the offseason. In addition, I -- and ESPN Fantasy as a whole -- will publish plenty of 2019 rankings, projections and profiles in the coming months to help you in your title quest next season. This page, however, is aimed at those fantasy managers who need to speculate further into the future.
Remember that other factors influence these values, beyond simply your league's scoring system. The list below is a starting point, but you need to do your own manual adjustments to account for the following:
Number of keepers: How many players can you keep, and must every team keep the same number of players?
Player pricing: Is your league draft or auction format, and do you keep players in the round they are picked, for the auction price paid, or are players simply kept without prices attached?
Contract factors: Are there limits on the number of years you can keep a player and/or are there guaranteed contracts, and is there price inflation?
Farm teams: Does your league include minor leaguers and how are these players factored into the keeper system?
Team competitiveness: Are you a contender, rebuilder or something in between? At midseason, a firm answer to this is much more crucial.