Another week is in the books in the great fantasy experiment that is the REL. Other great fantasy experiments: Tout Wars, Disney World, having Grey dress up as Princess Leia in a bikini — Oops, too far!
Really not all that much has changed, with the Nats and Cubs still the titans of the NL and the Orange Birds continuing their dominance over the AL. At least in the AL there looks to be a lot of competition at the top, vs. the race for the league cellar in the NL. #TheTankingIsReal! Here’s how week eight went down in the 2016 REL League, plus a look-in at the REL 2 League, with how it’s shaping up:
| NATIONAL LEAGUE | ||
|---|---|---|
| REL Dynasty – NL | ||
| Nationals | 128 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $100 | n/a |
| Cubs | 125 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $96 | n/a |
| San Fran Giants | 106 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $90 | Clayton Blackburn SF – SP $1 |
| Pirates | 104 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $68 | Scott Van Slyke LAD – 1B,OF $0 |
| J.T. Marlin | 93 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $100 | n/a |
| Mookie Mets | 91.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $97 | n/a |
| Suplex City Cards | 91 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $86 | n/a |
| Philadelphia | 70.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $48 | n/a |
| Knoche’s Rockies | 70 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $75 | Josh Smith Cin – SP $2 |
| Dodgers | 69 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $100 | n/a |
| Diamondbacks | 60.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $97 | n/a |
| Cincinnati Reds | 54 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $56 | n/a |
| Brewers | 53.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $57 | Michael Reed Mil – OF $0, Jhan Maríñez Mil – RP $0 |
| Wellllllllllll, not all that much to update this week. My acquisition of Dodgers reliever Louis Coleman is going well! Hah, he’s put together 3 holds in the past week and has a track record of success in the Majors, so maybe he can be a good holds source-trade chip.
What else is going on? Ummmm, well, Matt Adams is looking solid and maybe the Cards solidify him as a 1B of the future over there, so that’s been a solid development. After touting Keon Broxton’s numbers in AAA, he indeed got called up and finally got his first hit on a bunt single last night when he was just trying to bunt guys over. Nice microcosm of my initial year haha. I think I have bright young arms in the bullpen, plenty of hitting upside, it all comes down to developing a few more pitchers. Speaking of pitcher development, down on the farm Josh Hader continues to be a beacon of hope for our rebuilding process. He just continues to be unreal, going 5 scoreless yet again his last start, and has a 0.79 ERA and 59 Ks in 45.2 IP. But the biggie is Alex Reyes striking out 8 in AAA in his first start this year after smoking the reefer. There’s talk he could be up next month, but I guess that doesn’t really matter for me. But it is pretty alluring having a Hader/Reyes/Jimmy Nelson rotation compared to the junk the Brewers went in with this year. As always – all the vets except a high-priced Ryan Braun are for a discount sale to rebuild. Top 4 or 5 teams, don’t delay, stock up stats today! |
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| Braves | 43 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $84 | Nick Ahmed Ari – SS $2, Jim Johnson Atl – RP $1 |
| Jay the Wrongest | 41 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $100 | n/a |
| AMERICAN LEAGUE | ||
|---|---|---|
| REL Dynasty – AL | ||
| Orange Birds | 111 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $81 | n/a |
| The Tribe | 106.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $79 | Mike Clevinger Cle – SP (called up) |
| Mariners | 101.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $78 | n/a |
| Red Sox | 101.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $67 | n/a |
| Blue Jays | 97.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $96 | n/a |
| Looks like I’m finally getting Devon Travis back off the DL. I say finally, but I guess this is earlier than many expected he’d be back. Since I need to clear room for him at some point (though maybe Tulo goes on the DL and I don’t need to), I’m willing to part with one of Ryan Goins, Tyler Naquin, or Taylor Motter if someone is interested. Both Goins and Motter are pretty regular in the lineup at this point, and Naquin hit over .300 in the bigs and has been up and down this year. I’m just looking to get back a farm player for any of them, nobody special, so shoot me an offer if you’re interested in any of them.
A quick look at the standings and my team continues to be propped up by the 65/75 pitching points which have me in 5th place right now. If only my guys could muster some offence I think I’d really be contending. My team didn’t make any waiver moves this week, but the $0 Paulo Orlando grab continues to pay off as he’s gone 15/26 with 5 R, 1 HR, 9 RBI, and 1 SB since I picked him up last week. HELLO! I dare say he is my best hitter right now, haha. |
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| White Sox | 92.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $86 | n/a |
| Tigers | 88.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $68 | Whit Merrifield KC – OF $9 |
| Rays | 83 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $4 | n/a |
| Halos | 82 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $64 | n/a |
| Astros | 73.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $74 | J.T. Chargois Min – RP $0 |
| The rebuild has officially begun. Maybe if I had kept Rasmus and his .228 average I wouldn’t be in rebuild mode, or maybe Fister and his 4.9 K/9, or maybe Marwin and his .228 average, or maybe if I had held Logan Morrison after his .100 april with 25 Ks and 0 RBI in 60 ABs. I’m laying the sarcasm on as heavy as I can in case you couldn’t tell. What I’m trying to say is that the Astros just aren’t that good right now but with a half dozen guys on the cusp of making their debut I feel like it’s time to build toward next year, as should the major league team quite frankly. And since multiple teams have started their own rebuilds I figure I better jump on the boat before she sails away.
1st I traded away Steve Pearce for Casey Gillaspie. Pearce is a solid contributor and when Forsythe went down I knew the competing Rays needed an everyday 2B. Pearce is 33 and a career platoon player, he is obviously not part of the rebuild. Casey Gillaspie currently sports a triple slash of 301/434/559, nearly as many BB as Ks, and 8 HRs. He’s considered the Rays best defensive 1B in their system, he’s a switch hitter with power from both sides, he’s a 1st round pick, and related to 2 other MLBers. I imagine Morrison’s 1-year contract won’t result in another and Gillaspie should be able to compete for the starting 1B job in spring next year. Maybe they delay him a bit but as a 24 yr old next year I’ll be banking on a 20+ HR season with a solid average. I know Reed should be my everyday 1B but my preference is still to play a 1B at Util if I can so I don’t think I’ll get overloaded at that position. 2nd I traded Bedrosian and Furbush for Cuthbert. Deep league trades can be fun too! Just not this one. I don’t care about Furbush. Bedrosian may be the closer of the future in LA so I get why the Indians wanted him, but he hasn’t pitched in too many high leverage situations yet this year. Cuthbert was sent down when Mouse came back but he’s still working at 2B everyday and with Colon optioned to AAA and Infante being Infante there’s an everyday spot that is begging for a decent bat to take over. At 23 and showing a much improved power stroke this year at AAA I liked the gamble given how little I thought I gave up. 3rd I traded Renato Nunez, Taylor Gurrieri, and Tony Kemp for Kole Calhoun and Colby Lewis. I know this doesn’t look like a rebuild kind of trade but I’ve yet to be impressed by Guerreri, Kemp looks like avg/runs only and might not ever be a full time starter, and Renato I truely believe will be an everyday player for Oakland with good power. He is the real loss here. However if Renato stays at 3B, unlikely with Chapman in AA a better defender, I’ll have an overloaded position once Bregman is up. If Renato moves to 1st then I’ll really be overloaded with Gillaspie and Reed being so close. OFers on the other hand is a bit of an issue. Springer is obviously good, and I assume Fisher will be up late next year, but Tucker and Marisnick are struggling mightily, I don’t have Rasmus, and who knows what I’ll get from Gomez moving forward. Also Gattis is going to get C eligibility soon so I’ll need another OFer to cover that eventuality. In comes Calhoun, yeah 28 isn’t a youngster but he’s reliable and should have another year or 2 left playing at a high level after this one. Colby Lewis is a SP who has been pitching well, he has trade value especially considering I doubt anyone is hitting the 1700 innings cap. Finally I added J.T. Chargois – RP/Min this morning. The 25 yo former 2nd round pick missed all of ’13 and ’14 with TJ surgery and struggled mightily with command in ’15, but the Twins added him to the 40-man roster in the offseason and he has been nothing short of dominant this year. He sports a FB that touches triple digits, a power slurve that gets Ks, and a changup that has shown flashes of dominance. In other words, a closers arsenal. Recently he was promoted to AAA in which he’s thrown 7.0 innings with 15 Ks, 3 hits, 2 BBs, and nothing else. He’s closed at every level and for his milb career he’s a perfect 30/30 in save opportunities. |
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| Royals | 67.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $97 | Jake Smolinski Oak – OF $1, Franklin Morales Tor – RP $0, Tommy Hunter Cle – RP $0, Matt Purke CWS – RP $1 |
| Yankees | 67 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $72 | n/a |
| Power Rangers | 57.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $74 | Dan Otero Cle – RP $9, César Ramos Tex – SP,RP $14 |
| Athletics | 48.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $83 | Jon Singleton Hou – 1B $0 |
| Minnesota Twins | 22 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $80 | Bobby Wilson Tex – C $0 |
REL 2 – NATIONAL LEAGUE
REL 2 – AMERICAN LEAGUE
Red Sox – Obviously I got where I am today through sound drafting and a Nostradamus-like ability to predict the unfurling MLB landscape. That, or I was lucky enough to grab the Red Sox, and haven’t screwed up my remaining 8 or so roster spots too badly (15 if you include the DL and Minor League spots).
In a league this deep, the only things you can really spec for on the wire are save/holds or potential starters. And thanks to blowing my FAAB load on some early season moves, I would also be leading the ‘old/shitty, damaged pitcher’ category if there was one — by rostering Mike Minor, CJ Wilson, and Chris Young. In addition to the Sox starters I kept (Price, Porcello, Kelly, Clay and E-Rod), I’m currently rolling out Pat Dean and Jhoulys Chacin (whom I got for a $0 bid somehow when he switched leagues, which was all my money at the time…) and hanging onto Drew Hutchison/Brian Johnson in the minors.
I’m just hoping several arms from this absolute pile of shitty pitchers turn out to be halfway serviceable and keep me up there in K’s, and maybe Wins, while hanging onto leads in the offensive categories — hopefully allowing me to keep the Papi farewell tour going ’til the fall duckboating season.
Athletics – Half of our team is on the DL. It’s a miracle we’re not in last place.
We are definitely sellers though, and are looking for trades.
Rangers – I’m feeling pretty comfortable right now sitting in 4th place with 95 points. Nomar Mazara got called up quickly thanks to the ever hurt Choo suffering an injury during batting practice. He’s looking like the easy pick for AL rookie of the year. Very excited for Yu Darvish to come back Saturday. I’m pretty middle of the pack in Wins, so hopefully he’ll be a good shot in the arm. My DL is completely full which is quite a bummer. Chirinos is slated to return quicker than expected in mid june, but Salty and Ianetta have been pretty decent for me so I don’t expect a huge upgrade there when he comes back. AJ Griffin was pitching great for me until going on the DL for shoulder soreness. Never a good sign when someone is coming back from Tommy John to only last a month. All in all, I like where I sit currently. Still lots of baseball to be played, and I’m praying for the Red Sox offense to cool off!
