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Well, another fantasy baseball season brings another opportunity to waste a roster spot on Chase Headley, and SPOILER ALERT, I did not disappoint. And yes, if you had to know, I was also able to draft R.A. Dickey… which would bode very well for me if this were a 20-team league format. But yeah, it’s not. It’s a 12-team auction format with two catchers and seven reserve spots. But you know me when it comes to Headley and Dickey. [Insert sexual innuendo joke here.] But yeah, this should turn out well! Regardless, when an invitation for an expert league pops up in my general direction, I usually verify with Grey to check if it’s some kind of mistake. If it wasn’t, I accept the invitation in a very vigorous fashion. Vigorous, like your mother. Whatever you think of the nomenclature (I prefer to be called a “fantasy writer”, not a “fantasy expert”), it’s difficult not to try-hard in a league that has such recognizable names as Scott White, Adam Aizer, Chris Towers, and Al Melchior. And boy did I try-hard… [Instert another sexual innuendo joke here.] But was it good enough? Only time will tell. And alcohol. A heavy regiment of alcohol. (Note: It doesn’t really tell you anything, but I like alcohol. So whatever.) Here’s the team:

If you’d like to check out the complete draft, you can find the breakdown here.

This league includes Adam Aizer, Al Melchior, Brian Flood, Chris Towers, Daniel Kelley, Myself, Jeff Boggis, Jeff Tobin, Keith Cromer, Mike Kuchera, Phil Ponebshek, and Scott White.

 

Batters

  PLAYER BID
C Wilin Rosario C | COL $5.00
C John Jaso C | TB $2.00
1B Adam LaRoche 1B | CHW $10.00
2B Dustin Pedroia 2B | BOS $6.00
3B Evan Longoria 3B | TB $18.00
SS Jean Segura SS | MIL $11.00
MI Xander Bogaerts SS | BOS $5.00
CI Chase Headley 3B | NYY $1.00
OF Jose Bautista RF | TOR $33.00
OF Justin Upton RF | SD $23.00
OF Kole Calhoun RF | LAA $10.00
OF Gregory Polanco RF | PIT $15.00
OF Shin-Soo Choo CF | TEX $8.00
DH Mark Trumbo 1B | ARI $9.00

First thing you should know, I don’t pay for catchers in two-catcher leagues. I waxed something poetic about this in my second post ever for Razzball (and yes, that probably explains why I still draft Jaso to this day), but suffice it to say, it just doesn’t make sense. You are probably dealing with the worst pool of players in fantasy baseball, and you have to overpay for two of them if you really want to avoid rostering someone like Jeff Mathis. Evan Gattis went for $28.00 for instance. I’m telling you, it’s okay to semi-punt this category. Not Jeff Mathis-type punt, but Wilin Rosario and John Jaso? Yeah, I’ll take that for $7.00 combined.

I like the Evan Longoria pick up for $18.00. Yes, he took a step back, but I still think there’s plenty reason to expect a bounce-back year and paying at last season’s price tag is a win-win.

The same can’t really be said with Jean Segura or Kole Calhoun. I felt iffy on both, but for different reasons. I wanted to go Jason Kipnis (who went for $15.00) instead of Segura, but I noticed the two teams bidding for them had around the same cap space as myself. I leaned towards earning purchasing power for the upcoming pool of players, but in retrospect, I might regret the decision. I do gain some stolen base potential, which is always nice. For Calhoun, I just like him, simply put. I’ve liked him for quite a while (as explained in my 2014 Bold Predictions post), but with Jayson Werth going for $5.00, I probably should have passed.

I like the prices on Choo and Trumbo, who I think will rebound from injury-riddled seasons, and I hope that Xander Bogaerts becomes a sneaky-good play. The kid can adjust, and while the hype-train has picked up Mookie Betts, Bogaerts has just as much potential. I also like the values for Jose Bautista and Justin Upton as well. Both have their own inherent risks (injury and environment, respectively), but if you notice a trend with my team, it’s that I don’t like spending elite money for elite production. For me, the auction draft is about value and value only. You have the ability to land the players you want (unlike a snake) which is why I always prefer auctions, but I not only win them by targeting “my guys”, but by also locating value where-ever and whenever possible. Mistakes will be made, of course, but spreading out the money helps negate that.

And while it’s obvious why I have Headley on my team, I don’t think there’s really a weak spot. Average could be an issue, but I rarely pay attention to it. It affects one category, and when you draft for power, that affects three categories (HR, RBI, R) at a higher percentage. I have some speed with guys like Polanco and Segura, with the hope that Pedroia, Upton, and Choo pepper in some more stolen bases here and there. There’s not one true top-10 guy (Bautista is negotiable), but the potential is here for a pretty good offense.

 

Pitchers

  PLAYER $
P Masahiro Tanaka SP | NYY $10.00
P Zack Greinke SP | LAD $20.00
P Jacob deGrom SP | NYM $16.00
P Jake Arrieta SP | CHC $17.00
P Andrew Cashner SP | SD $8.00
P Addison Reed RP | ARI $5.00
P R.A. Dickey SP | TOR $1.00
P Drew Storen RP | WAS $6.00
P Zach Britton RP | BAL $5.00

There’s a lot here to like and some not to like. First, let’s take care of some of my hiccups, as I’d like to finish this post off by patting myself on the back, much like my lovemaking.

Zack Greinke was an aggressive move on my part. At the time, I only had Tanaka (I love that value), and David Price had just gone for $25.00. With Greinke up, I rationalized that my limit would be $20.00… and of course I stayed true to the course. And I don’t feel terrible about it. After all, Adam Wainwright went for $18.00 and Jordan Zimmermann went for $19.00, which in both cases, I would have rather have Greinke. But when Sonny Gray ($11.00) was picked up about 50 spots later, I thought that passing might have been the wiser choice.

I’m not sure how I feel about Addison Reed, but nearly all the closers went for over $10.00 (with Aroldis Chapman going for $19.00) and I admit, I did what Razzballers do best and sat on the position for nearly the entirety of the draft. Doing so allowed me to net Storen and Britton for what I thought were really deflated price tags.

I love Arrieta at $17.00, and while I might have over-paid for deGrom, if you believe in him like I do, the number spent doesn’t seem like anything crazy. Tanaka and Cashner are your typical “high-risk/high-reward” options, and I intend to have plenty of Alka-Seltzer on hand for their starts.

 

Reserve

Player
Noah Syndergaard SP | NYM
Jung Ho Kang SS | PIT
Jon Singleton 1B | HOU
Robert Stephenson SP | CIN
Maikel Franco 3B | PHI
Daniel Norris RP | TOR
Alex Meyer SP | MIN

Note: The reserve draft was completed using a snake format, reverse order from the auction draft order. 

There are different schools of thought when it comes to a reserve. There are those who strictly draft MLB players for injury depth and whatnot. There are some who mix-and-match. And then there is a strictly upside reserve strategy. While it’s pretty obvious what direction I went, no one else really did in this draft. Why? You’ll have to ask them. I would note that this does carry some risk. If injuries do occur, I’ll be replacing from a smaller pool of talent, but since I made sure to target players who all should see a substantial amount of time this year. Well, at least I hope they do… things should be okay. I do like Kang and Syndergaard a lot, and Stephenson, Meyer, and Norris (especially with Stroman’s unfortunate injury) all have a good chance to pitch this season.

I’d like to thank Scott White and Grey Albright for the invitation.

 

 

Want more of the Jay? Don’t we all folks? Don’t. We. All. Well, you, in fact, can have more. AMAZING. I know. You can find Jay enjoying his dig’s over at the Football side of Razz.