Devin Williams

[whalewang]

Devin Williams is pretty darn good. I'm trying to justify keeping him at $10 in a 5x5 NL-only 9 team league with $260 draft day budget. I'm thinking that he would give, at most, marginal draft day value at that price? This is assuming Hader is the closer going into the draft.

Thoughts?

[revo]

It’s tough to keep middle relievers as they’re very inconsistent from year to year. Unless he’s the closer, I’d pass.

[harmon]

The Hader owner may have trade interest. Assuming that's not you, maybe give that a go.

[Judge Jude]

9-team is a crucial piece here.

if that's 81 pitchers chosen, that's out of about 200 NL pitchers.
about 60 of those are expected to be starter and maybe 50 of them will go off the board, let's say.
that would leave about 30 relievers, or on average, 2 per NL team.

Williams will be the second Brewer at this point.

BUT keeping him includes an "opportunity cost" - significant in a 9-team league.

many of those 30 or so RPs will go for a buck or two, including some that will cost more in a 12-team for example.

there also is a shoulder soreness issue at end of season. then again, HQ likes his skills just fine - may have a "Mariano pitch" and that could mean closing.

if he's a stock, I'd HOLD til March. with any luck, he either clearly is a keep or doesn't make much sense to do so. but you can test the market as well.

I tend to find that if I hear crickets on such a keeper after those feelers AND I don't freeze the guy, well, us owners are naturally loathe to bid way beyond the price where he could have been had on the cheap on Auction Eve.

[chancellor]

I agree with Judge Jude to wait as long as you can - the Brewers are actively shopping Hader - though they're still asking for a lot, and with Knebel gone, Williams would slot into the closer role if Hader is dealt.

[Judge Jude]

I'm not convinced the Brewers would have traded Knebel if they still planned to deal Hader.

There's not a lot left in that 'pen after Hader. in other news, who is 29-year-old Eric Yardley who had a 1.54 ERA (but a 4.09 FIP)?

[chancellor]

There's not a lot left in that 'pen after Hader. in other news, who is 29-year-old Eric Yardley who had a 1.54 ERA (but a 4.09 FIP)?

Right handed side-armer, picked up on waivers from the Pads. Almost like a right-handed Alex Claudio. Yardley did say they found a mechanical issue that helped clean up his delivery - I'm always skeptical of that, but his BB:K ratio did improve notably later in the year.

If they get something near or at the return they were looking for Hader last year, they'll deal him in a minute.

[ssmallz]

Whenever we talk about value, we always need to consider the replacement. This is easy with starting pitchers and closers b/c the good ones are all rostered. With middle relievers its much trickier b/c there are more of them so you cant just analyze their stats figure out the value of those stats and walk away. The key here is knowing what type of waiver pool you have and how much middle relievers cost during your draft. If your league is the type where there's always MRs around during the season or they can be rosterd then his value is pretty low. If everyone keeps a few on the roster and they can be difficult to find then I would go ahead and keep him

[Gregg]

Devin Williams is pretty darn good. I'm trying to justify keeping him at $10 in a 5x5 NL-only 9 team league with $260 draft day budget. I'm thinking that he would give, at most, marginal draft day value at that price? This is assuming Hader is the closer going into the draft.

Thoughts?

How did he get to 10 this year? I am guessing FAAB?

Certainly wait to see if he closes, but if not you should get him cheaper in the end game at the next auction.

[whalewang]

How did he get to 10 this year? I am guessing FAAB?

Certainly wait to see if he closes, but if not you should get him cheaper in the end game at the next auction.

Correct, FAAB. All of the unsigned FAs are $10 in our league.

Also, I'll have until a week before our draft day to make cuts.

Thanks all for the feedback.

[Judge Jude]

fwiw, my 12-team NL 5x5 loves guys like this - he'd go for about 15 if 100 pct healthy

[Teenwolf]

Nope.

Too much depth in a 9 teamer to spend $10 on a MR. No harm in waiting with fingers crossed for a Hader trade until spring, but I doubt you get any decent trade offers until that happens.