We’re settling into the season now, and this dumb DC-Baltimore combo is just rolling over the REL! East Coast bias! The Nats have taken over the NL by over 10 points thanks to Bryce Harper being the best hitter on the planet and great pitching. And just like the Orioles in real-life, The Orange Birds in the AL are surpassing all expectations thanks to some savvy drafting of non-Orioles that are flanking a great offense. I hope everyone is enjoying their deep dynasties this year! Here’s how week three has gone down in the 2016 REL League:
| NATIONAL LEAGUE | ||
|---|---|---|
| REL Dynasty – NL | ||
| Nationals | 120 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $100 | n/a |
| Cubs | 109.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $97 | n/a |
| Cincinnati Reds | 94 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $69 | Jhoulys Chacin Atl – SP $17, Daniel Castro Atl – 2B,SS $3 |
| Cardinals | 93 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $91 | n/a |
| Knoche’s Rockies | 88 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $91 | Gordon Beckham Atl – 2B,3B DL $3, Tony Wolters Col – C $1, Tim Melville Cin – SP $0, Adam Rosales SD – 1B,2B,3B $0, Matt Belisle Was – RP $0 |
| Well It was another good offensive week for the Rockies…go figure. I also discovered how the DL button works (It’s my first Yahoo league) and have filled my roster back up. I was able to acquire some pieces this week at minimal cost. Fantasy Studs such as Matt Belisle, Tim Melville, Tony Wolters to name a few! I am excited about Adam Rosales as it looks like he is going to get some PT with Spangenberg and Solarte out. My plan is to still look to acquire some pitching prospects and wait for my other starters to get healthy. My 6.00 ERA can only go down right? Well except for that Jon Gray first start of the year upcoming. All in all, 4th place Rockies with only 20 pitching points is solid so far in my book especially since I am learning on the fly. | ||
| Brewers | 87.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $79 | Ramón Flores Mil – OF $0, Michael Reed Mil – OF $0, Phil Gosselin Ari – 2B,3B $0 |
| As you’d expect this early on, my standing has waffled all over the place. I peaked at 3rd at one point and fell to 11th at another. The Brewers are shockingly 7-8, and I hope to follow suit and have a nice middle-of-the-pack finish. That said, I think I’ve made by far the most drastic trade in the REL to this point:
Give up: Jonathan Lucroy, Taylor Jungmann, Chase Anderson Get: Andrew Susac, and who-I’ll-eventually-leave-my-wife-for Victor Robles It’s a ton of active depth to give up, let’s start there. I lovvvvvve Jonathan Lucroy (obviously as a Brewers homer), but I think everyone agrees he’s a better real-life player than fantasy asset. Also, he was my most tradable asset, being my oldest player besides Braun while still a great producer. Lord help me, I’m gonna try to hold Braun as I highly doubt the Brewers move him before 2020, the last year of his contract. Losing a catcher hurts, but I have Willson Contreras as my C of the future, and while his power is a little iffy, he could easily give me something that Lucroy does by next year. Susac helps some depth – he was the Giants #1 prospect just last year – and I have Jacob Nottingham on my farm as the Brewers hopeful C of the future. Suffice to say, I am pretty happy at catcher. Obviously in a league like this, starting pitcher is a really tough position to replace. All the prospects are owned, every starter is owned, so I didn’t dump 2 Brewers starters lightly. But f&%*, if I have to watch 90 MPH fastballs that look like cookies get walloped anymore, I might lose my goddamn mind. The Brewers have one of the – if not the worst – ERAs in the Majors, and the starters are atrocious minus Jimmy Nelson. Given it’s early, but Jungmann has lost 2 MPH on his fastball from last year. 90.1 average velocity on 66.5% fastballs! So you’re throwing slower, but relying on your fastball as much as over-powering pitchers?! And to make it worse, he’s only throwing fastball/curveball without a third pitch. He’s 26 at that, despite being a rookie callup last year. Buh-bye. Anderson is the one that hurts though. When his change-up is off he gets murdered (like his last start against the Twins), but he can be capable. Issue is, I dunno if he’s in the Brewers long-term plans and he’s homer-prone in an awful park. My plan is to try to rebuild a rotation with Brewers K-guys (Jorge Lopez at NA and Josh Hader on the farm could be awesome) and pitchers from other teams in better parks. So to my return – Susac was kinda a throw in, but might end up being close to an everyday catcher once Posey moves to 1B full time. But yesterday will be forever known as VICTOR ROBLES DAY!!!! An inherent issue with the REL is fandom, and when I aggressively go after prospects, I think I might be inflating their value. But it was worth giving up some meh vets to get a prospect with the ceiling of Robles. If you don’t know much about him, he’s an 18-year-old CF in the Nats system. Because, ya know, they need EVEN MORE ridiculous prospects… I might be going bonkers here, but I think Robles is the next Andrew McCutchen. Pause for dramatic effect. Clearly a 5-tool guy, Robles’ speed is probably the biggest standout. He has 53 steals in 122 Minor League games, at least what is listed on his MiLB page which includes Dominican games, GCL games, etc. He also has power with 9 homers in that span, which isn’t bad at all given his age. But for me, the standout is the preposterous plate discipline given his age. He barely strikes out and is able to draw walks, while hitting well over .300 in every stop so far. His OBP jumps off the page. So far in A ball Hagerstown – and this is a league he was just promoted to to start this year – he’s hitting .348 with 9:8 BB:K in 46 ABs with 18 R 2 HR and 7 SB. His OBP is .492! And even though it might be 2019 until he’s in the Majors, the Nats don’t have a pillar at CF and as Robles climbs up prospect lists as he’s been doing, I don’t see any reason they’ll sign anyone high-profile after Revere’s contract is up and Michael A. Taylor strikes his way out of the Majors. I’m getting more and more excited for that 2019 season! Hey, it’s how a small market team is gonna have to do it… |
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| San Fran Giants | 86.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $96 | Javier López SF – RP $0, Derek Law SF – RP $0 |
| Mookie Mets | 86.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $100 | n/a |
| ILLadelphia | 80.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $91 | n/a |
| Mediocrity is our middle name!
I haven’t done a Write-Up yet, as I didn’t think I had much to discuss besides the draft itself. Of course, based on my core keeper selections provided to me by my beloved Phils parent organization, I was one of the few teams heading into the draft with a no-nonsense approach of stashing prospects and building for a better tomorrow! As much as JB wishes he could steal Amir Garrett from me, I love my younger fellas and am quite excited to see them grow and prosper into future studs, despite just clogging my bench at the moment. Currently, my team stands in the middle of the pack, and rightfully so. Our offense is atrocious, with a few sparks here and there. Howard’s on his way out, but it’s nice to at least see him still provide a bit of power, and to assess the team honestly, we are young players still learning to play the game properly. (Base-running guys…it’s not that difficult…) If my pitching staff can retain this early-morning-glimmer they have about them, then I may be able to fight off the early offensive woes, and retain some scrappy levels of respect in regards to this rebuilding effort. And whenever anyone is ready for a trade…lemme know! |
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| Pirates | 77.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $88 | Ryan Buchter SD – RP $2, Michael Broadway SF – RP $0 |
| So the highlight of my week was having my two Rockies pitchers go into Chicago, throw 13 combined innings with 11 K, 2 wins and zero earned runs. Then my “studs” Cole and Liriano get lit up. Oh well, just waiting on Glasnow and Taillon to rescue my starting staff. My plan to maximize innings is working well, being near the top in wins and K, and being middle of the road in whip and era. My constant rotation at MR continues, dropping Hinojosa and grabbing Russell who was promptly DFA’d. Greaaaaaat. Melancon, Watson and Caminero haven’t gotten to the S+H I expected, but I think that will change. The hitting categories I expected to do well in, SB and Avg, have been excellent. However, somehow, I have as many team home runs as Story had the first week. Kutch finally hit his first two, Marte has a couple and Freeman hit one opening day and nothing since. Runs and RBI are lacking because Pirates haven’t started slow. I’m willing to trade for some power if anybody is willing to move some. | ||
| Dodgers | 71.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $100 | Craig Breslow Mia – RP $0 |
| Diamondbacks | 62 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $99 | Matt Joyce Pit – OF $1 |
| J.T. Marlin | 60.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $100 | Chris Rusin Col – SP $0 |
| Jay the Wrongest | 47 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $100 | n/a |
| Braves | 36 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $90 | Trevor Brown SF – C $6, Hunter Cervenka Atl – RP $2 |
| AMERICAN LEAGUE | ||
|---|---|---|
| REL Dynasty – AL | ||
| Orange Birds | 115 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $95 | Marco Hernández Bos – SS $5 |
| Honestly, I am very surprised I am in first right now especially since I am dead last in steals. The Orioles’ offense is clicking and should continue to do so (hopefully Adam Jones gets healthy). The biggest surprise of all is that my starters have been stepping up (minus Pelfrey) and that is without Gausman contributing at all. I don’t think it continues, but I’ll enjoy it while it lasts. My bullpen has been performing at solid level as well. As long as the Orioles continue to win games, I should be in good shape.I am in the market for steals and a full time SS or 3B. I’d be willing to move some MiLB players, so let me know if there is any interest. | ||
| Blue Jays | 103.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $99 | n/a |
| Not too much has changed since last week. My team dropped down to the middle of the pack in the standings, but shot right back up to second place again behind only the Orioles. This despite the fact that my teams hitting has been pretty horrendous considering, well, you know. This is supposed to be hands down the best offence in baseball. At the moment my guys are hitting .225 and I’m middle of the pack in home runs. Who wants to be that will change before too long. It’s still far too early to make many changes to pre-season expectations for this line-up clearly.
My pitching on the other hand continues to do what I’d hoped they would. I’m top 5 in all pitching categories and despite having Stroman on the bench accidentally for an 8 inning gem, my guys are up 20+ innings on anyone else. Sanchez (9 k/9 | 1.35 |0.85), Happ (1.89 | 1.21), Stroman (3 W | 0.99 whip), Dickey (8.3 k/9), and Estrada (2.77 | 1.23) have been anchors for my rotation. I’ve also managed to do the seemingly impossible and find half way decent starting pitching on the wire with Surkamp (3.68 era) and Worley (9.7 k/9 | 1.31 whip). Not too many changes to my minor league situation or my bench. I haven’t had to make any moves lately since everyone is playing and I’m not overcrowded at any position either. Reymond Fuentes was recently sent down by the Royals to make room for Cain to come off the DL. I was a little surprised it wasn’t Gore sent down, but I guess they want to have Fuentes playing everyday and Gore is more of a one dimensional speedster which plays well on a big league bench. This is a marathon and not a sprint though, so anything going on now may be pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. What’s more relevant is probably the discussion on parity between large and small market teams. Which in my opinion will work itself out in this league without the need for any changes I’d bet. |
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| Power Rangers | 102.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $97 | n/a |
| The Tribe | 92.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $100 | n/a |
| Rays | 92 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $63 | Jerry Sands CWS – 1B,OF $3 |
| White Sox | 91 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $88 | n/a |
| Tigers | 90 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $90 | Ryan Pressly Min – RP $1 |
| Royals | 89.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $99 | n/a |
| Red Sox | 80 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $69 | Jake Petricka CWS – RP $0 |
| Halos | 74.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $89 | Rafael Ortega LAA – OF $4 |
| Astros | 68.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $86 | n/a |
| This Astros are starting to piss me off, instead of thinking about things that were, or things that are, I prefer to think about some things… that have not yet come to pass. I’m going to now take my turn looking into the mirror and hopefully I don’t see… the eye. When I look this is what I see.
First I see a future batting order of Altuve, Bregman, Correa, Reed, Springer, White, Tucker, a faceless catcher, and a speedy CFer. Bregman is certainly doing his job in AA. A 395/480/767 triple slash seems solid, 5 HR/2 SB, a 6:3 BB:K ratio, 14 RBI in 11 games. He’s OK. Reed isn’t fairing nearly as well, too many 0-fers, too many Ks, it might be a while till we see him in the majors. As the bats pass a starting rotation begins to materialize – Keuchel, McCullers, Martes, Musgrove, and Feliz. Martes struggled last time out after a superb 1st start. Feliz faired better yesterday than his 1st start allowing only 2 hits in 5 innings but the BBs are turning into a problem. That’s a problem Musgrove does not have. Through 3 games, 12.1 in, he’s allowed 2 BBs, 7 hits, and 14Ks. His career 1.02 whip looks like the high end with how he’s been throwing lately, oh and he’s sporting the ever sexy 2.00 GO/AO, and from what I’ve seen plays a phenomenal defensive SP. At 23 years old and on the 40-man roster it’s nearly a guarantee we see him up this year. So you can probably tell I’ve watched about as much AA Corpus Christi as I’ve watched Houston Astros, at least when I watch them play I get to see my team win… |
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| Mariners | 57 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $86 | n/a |
| Maybe some signs of life form the Mariners finally. From the pitching side we got our 1st save of the year this week and picked up a second last night. The SP’s have been decent but of course they get no run support. King Felix has 1 win, 1 loss with a ND. All that and he has a stellar ERA at 1.00.
This team can HR with just about anyone but trying to get a base knock with RISP…forget about it. The Mariners have the worst HR/RBI ratio in the bigs. Without the long ball this team is stagnant at pushing across runs. Only one starter is hitting above .259 and he is in a platoon situation. As far as speed I knew this team was weak. The starters have only generated 3 SB to date. The one problem with this type of league format is that it hurts teams with platoons and the Mariners have 2 righty/lefty combos they incorporate religiously. Base on those platoon players, they seem to always get switched out on opposing pitcher changes and I lost 12 ABs last week on 7th inning and later switches. Those ABs cost me a couple of RBI and Runs. Over the course of the year that is a lot of counting stats going nowhere. Haven’t kept tabs on other teams in this situation but I know it hurts. Going forward this team can only get better offensively. If they can draw a few more walks, some timely hitting and give their SPs some run support the Mariners should start a climb in the standings. |
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| Yankees | 54.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $89 | Joel Peralta Sea – RP $3 |
| Athletics | 50.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $97 | n/a |
| Minnesota Twins | 39 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $100 | Terrance Gore KC – OF $0 |
