Who to Keep Among NL Hitters?

Looking at my NL roster and deciding who should be kept. Next up will be NL pitching and then my AL roster. It is an interesting group of players, since considerations other than the mere fact of whether they will be profitable next year are the key factors to consider.

We are getting close to the beginning of winter trading season in my high stakes league, so it is time to start dusting off the rosters and figuring out who should be kept and what my goals should be for next year. As a refresher here are contract notations and what they mean, and I previously discussed the "Z" rule here:

s2=can be kept next year.
s1=after a player is an s2 he becomes an s1 if he is not signed to a long term contract.
Ln=N is the number of years and L means he was signed to a long term contract.
X=a guy whose long term contract expired. He can be "Z"d and signed for one year at a cost of $10 added to his salary.

As an example, lets take Justin Morneau. He was auctioned for $2 five years ago. He was then a 2s3. Year two he is a 2s2. Then he was signed to a long term contract, so he became a 12L2. The next year he is a 12L1. After that he is a 12X, which means he either goes back into the pool or he becomes a $22 after he is "Z"d.

I have a few players that are marginal keepers. Generally, when I think I have a chance to win, every decision is made with the proviso that I will always err on the side of having more money in the auction. That means no extensions unless they are super valuable, and no "Z" players. I am not sure whether I will have a chance at repeating, so right now it is an open question.

It is worth pointing out that one can easily make decisions such as these based upon whether the player is profitable or not. That is an easy calculation in most cases, and won't lead one that far astray. But thinking only about this factor is far from optimal. Most times against better competition there are much more important factors. The players below all illustrate some of these other factors, and by no means is this an exclusive list. But merely considering whether a player will be "worth it" next year is the path to fourth place against better players.

Anyway here are my marginal keepers: