We’re heading into arguably the biggest week of the inaugural REL league! Trade deadline… Is it just me, or is the rumor mill louder every year? Everyone loves just throwing thousands of strands of pasta on the wall in the hope that one sticks so they can feel smart. I never understood that method for pasta, it’s a waste of friggin’ food!
With real-life trades having an impact on REL rosters, there is still plenty of time for fortunes to change and runs to be made. However, it’s going to be tough to unseat the NL leading Nats from their stranglehold on the standings. The AL is much more wide open though, with 5 teams at 100+ points and the Tigers in striking distance as well at 98. Here’s how week 17 went down in the 2016 REL League:
| NATIONAL LEAGUE | ||
|---|---|---|
| REL Dynasty – NL | ||
| Nationals | 137 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $88 | Koda Glover Was – RP $0, Braden Shipley Ari – SP $12, Reynaldo López Was – SP (called up) |
| Cubs | 113.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $96 | n/a |
| San Fran Giants | 105 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $81 | n/a |
| J.T. Marlin | 102.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $100 | Mike Dunn Mia – RP $0 |
| Pirates | 100 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $60 | n/a |
| Suplex City Cards | 91.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $79 | n/a |
| Knoche’s Rockies | 85.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $59 | David Dahl Col – OF (called up) |
| Fairly uneventful week in Rockies world….Except for the arrival of David Dahl! I have to say this worked out perfect, as I now have a decent lineup replacement for Cargo who I traded to the Mets months ago. I gave JB the option of Dahl or Tapia in Wilkerson deal, and looks like he picked wrong one. I could still see Tapia coming if Blackmon or Gonzalez gets moved. Sorry JB.
On a side note due to some amazing fluke I had Lucas Harrell and Dario Alvarez just filling roster spots on my team and the trade to the Rangers netted me Travis Demeritte who has hit 25 HRs in the minors at High A. Not too shabby for a couple guys getting dropped when people come off the DL. Still holding my own in 7th place with an eye on 1st in 2017. |
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| Dodgers | 80 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $100 | n/a |
| Mookie Mets | 78 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $95 | n/a |
| Diamondbacks | 69.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $72 | n/a |
| Philadelphia | 62 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $46 | n/a |
| Cincinnati Reds | 61 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $5 | n/a |
| Brewers | 43 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $38 | Keyvius Sampson Cin – SP,RP $0, Martín Maldonado Mil – C $0, Keon Broxton Mil – OF $1, José Urena Mia – SP,RP $1 |
| Probably the best week I’ve had since April! Of course, it doesn’t really matter for this season, but I would like to lock up 3rd last haha. Should align me fairly close with how the Brewers do amongst the NL this year.
Contributors this past week – Ryan Schimpf went from Quad A dweeb to talked about in a mixed league context! Hit a couple of homers over the weekend and seems to contribute a counting stat every game. The day I picked him up, Martin Maldonado gets a rare start and hits a 3 run bomb. Go Martin! If Lucroy is moved, Martin should play a ton and has some power. Might hit like .210, but whatever. And the rest of the Brewers hitters in general had a pretty good week. So the Rockies apparently wants everyone to get a glimpse behind the curtain. I almost mentioned I had a choice between Dahl and Tapia last week, but didn’t want everyone to know as that might end up being a bad decision. But I really covet Tapia, and I think being in a hitter’s park as well, I’ll value his average and speed over Dahl’s power. I know Dahl has stolen 17 in the Minors this year, but Tapia is a lot faster. Tapia has about the same SB with a ton more CS, but I think he’s just refining his base-stealing instinct. Also, I was a little worried about Dahl’s K rate he has shown at stops in the Minors, and he already has 5 Ks in his first 3 games/12 ABs. Tapia is down to a 11.1% K rate and his BB rate has gone up the past few years. Last update I said I could see Tapia going .300 15 HR 40 SB one year. Dahl could easily go .280 35 HR 10 SB one year. To most teams, Dahl’s line would be more useful, but for me in Miller Park, I think Tapia’s line will be better. And it doesn’t really matter Dahl got called up first, I ain’t competing at all this year and likely won’t be too close next year. But alas, I had been offering a lot of things for Tapia previously and might have had tunnel-vision when taking him… Happy/sad emotions all over my farm. Chris Paddack, one of my most talked about prospects (well, as in I am talking about him, although who knows who reads these silly things!) had to pull himself from starting due to elbow pain in his warmup pitches this past week. Then he tweets this!!!!!!!!! Yikes. He’s on the MiLB DL now with a forearm strain. Let’s hope for the best. Happy emoji is for Alex Reyes about to be called up! Although it should be the “meh” face emoji. Probably a spot start, and it actually would help if I could just stash him on my farm… But he was going to get called up at some point this year anyway… Elsewhere, Oscar De La Cruz still looks awesome, but definitely some troublesome patches for other prospects. Brett Phillips definitely deserves a “get this guy a tennis racket!” for all the strikeouts and he’s slumping even worse, Tyler Beede has been terrible his last few starts, Jacob Nottingham has taken a step back… Get Biloxi a new hitting coach! Thankfully David Stearns had a really good draft – #5 overall pick Corey Ray is struggling a little, but is in the Minors already and I have faith in that pick. And how about our second rounder – put this guy on your radar. Lucas Erceg. 3B prospect, who had the tools to be a first rounder, but a lot of question marks after he transferred from Cal to an NAIA school and hints at make-up issues. But the Brewers scouted and talked with him extensively, felt safe with the pick, and he is absolutely destroying the ball in the professional ranks already. In 134 ABs in Rookie and A ball, he’s hitting .403 with 2 homers and 9 steals with a .445 OBP. He’s actually been BETTER in A Ball than in Rookie Ball. Since he’s a guy that came out of college and plays a position of need for the Brewers at 3B, he could be very fast-tracked. Keep an eye on him in your deeper dynasties. |
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| Braves | 36.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $84 | Ian Krol Atl – RP $0 |
| Jay the Wrongest | 35 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $100 | n/a |
| AMERICAN LEAGUE | ||
|---|---|---|
| REL Dynasty – AL | ||
| Blue Jays | 125.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $92 | n/a |
| I got the gift of a real life trade this week as the Jays made a move, this is on top of Seattle’s move last week that got me Dan Vogelbach. This week the Jays grabbed Melvin Upton for a prospect who was outside my top 10 that I kept on the farm. He’s kind of a perfect fit for me as my biggest need is speed and I think he’s top 10 in all of baseball in steals. Hell, he’s got almost as many as my entire team combined now that I look at it.
The Jays also made another move in DFAing Drew Storen. I don’t know how it came to this, but he certainly deserved it based on his time with the Jays. I know I had zero trust every time he took the mound. I do think he’ll turn it around somewhere else, which works well because….they then proceeded to trade him to the Mariners for Benoit, but not before I traded him along with Mason Williams to get my SP insurance back in Drew Hutchison. He’s not in the bigs but if there’s an injury to one of my starters or Sanchez goes to the pen, you know, Cy Young contender Aaron Sanchez (shaking my head at the thought of sending a legit Cy Young candidate to the pen mid season) then he’s probably the guy. A mediocre guy, but the guy none the less. As far as the leaderboard, I’m still hanging on up top, the bats are still hitting, the arms are still throwing, and all is right with the world. Even my minor leaguers are looking pretty good lately, though I don’t think they help much this year since they’re basically all in A ball. My roster looks to be in good shape right now, and that 2 for 1 trade helped clear a spot for Melvin. I am looking to trade either Paul Orlando or Jorge Bonifacio for a starting pitcher if anyone is interested though. Hit me up! |
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| Orange Birds | 119 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $79 | Ubaldo Jiménez Bal – SP $0 |
| The Tribe | 114 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $79 | n/a |
| Red Sox | 107 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $22 | n/a |
| Astros | 105 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $55 | n/a |
| Tigers | 98 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $40 | Drew Stubbs Tex – OF DL $2, Tom Wilhelmsen Sea – RP $1 |
| Mariners | 85.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $20 | n/a |
| White Sox | 78 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $63 | Joe Biagini Tor – RP $10, Rusney Castillo Bos – OF $9, Tim Beckham TB – 2B,SS $2 |
| Yankees | 69 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $59 | n/a |
| Halos | 67.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $47 | Carlos Pérez LAA – C $0 |
| Power Rangers | 62 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $12 | n/a |
| Rays | 59 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $4 | n/a |
| Royals | 53 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $59 | n/a |
| While I did execute one trade this week, sending Drew Huchison to the Jays in exchange for Mason Williams and Drew Storen, seems like everybody, including myself, is in a “holding pattern” waiting to see how the real-life trade deadline plays out. Glad to see the Royals finally came around to the conclusion that they are not a playoff contender this year and they plan to be sellers at the deadline. Congrats front office guys for your astute grasp of the obvious. Not sure why it took them so long though and if they had just called me, I could have told them the same thing 8 weeks ago!I’ve been aggressively shopping Wade Davis in REL, but if the real-life Royals complete an interleague trade, it could work out even better for me. Some crazy trade possibilities being bantered about include Davis to the Nat’nals for either Giolito or Trea Turner (guess I would “settle” for that outcome) or even to the Dodgers for Urias. Who knows how it will ultimately play out, but if Wade Davis is not traded in real life pretty soon, I’ll be the really sad guy sending out REL trade proposals after midnight on Sunday.
At least it’s a good feeling that for the first time, it seems like me and the real-life Royals are finally getting aligned on our strategy. As Slim and others pointed out last week, it’s kind of crazy how we have 10+ sellers in our REL league when there are only a couple of buyers. Makes it tough to get any kind of trade return for aging, yet still productive veterans like Kendrys Morales, Volquez, and Hochevar, but it looks like the Royals have also put all of them on the market at the deadline. Good luck real-life Royals and hopefully your trade discussions around those guys will be more productive than mine have been! |
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| Athletics | 42 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $62 | Jered Weaver LAA – SP $21 |
| Minnesota Twins | 15.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $70 | n/a |
