They are probably trying to discourage any scoring complications of actually placing a keeper on the rack, as they would have to define all the ways in which it is treated like a ringer. Also they would have the potential to make ringers safe by preventing a spoiler from being placed while not necessarily canceling out the teams first ringer.
That being said there is a lot of rules about how the keepers are handled after the autonomous period:
Quote:
<G14> Late KEEPERS - After the AUTONOMOUS PERIOD ends, ROBOTS may not HANG any
KEEPERS for the remainder of the match. Any KEEPERS that a ROBOT may POSSESS
must be immediately released and dropped to the floor. If necessary, referees may validate
placement of KEEPERS during the pause following the end of the AUTONOMOUS
PERIOD. The referees may remove any KEEPERS that are not HANGING. If a ROBOT
HANGS a KEEPER after the AUTONOMOUS PERIOD, it will result in a disqualification. If
the “late KEEPER” is placed on a SPIDER LEG on which an opposing RINGER is already
HANGING, the “late KEEPER” will be ignored during the calculation of the match score. If
the “late KEEPER” is placed on a SPIDER LEG on which a RINGER from the same alliance
is already HANGING, the two will cancel each other and both will be ignored when
determining if the SPIDER LEG is SCORED. Note: as RINGERS and SPOILERS can be
HANGING only after the end of the AUTONOMOUS PERIOD, any KEEPERS HANGING on
a SPIDER LEG after a RINGER or SPOILER will automatically be determined to be a “late
KEEPER.”
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So even though they can change the game if placed outside of auto, you will get dq'd for hanging them.