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It took me way too long to get this done, but I am trying to do a different take on my anatomy thread this year---comparing two different auctions where I was in somewhat similar positions. In one league, my keeper list was better and inflation was higher, but in both leagues, I had either the lowest or second lowest money stack going into auction; I kept production in both, but had value really only in one. Since this will be long enough anyway, I’ll just right into the first one without further ado.
Auction 1:
The first one is my main local league---the one with the weird rules, standard 5x5 (16-team), and $300 auction budget that I post about every year and had a post about my keepers in the off-season. FWIW, I did make the Gallen for Aaron Hicks trade, which I think was good since Gallen promptly got hurt, although Hicks is trying to make me regret it. I had the second best keeper list coming in, but the guy with the best had an insane keeper list. I’ll be following three teams for this anatomy: my team, the guy with the best keeper list (Dave), and the guy with the third best keeper list (Colin). I use the names Dave and Colin because they are in fact their real names, and I would get confused otherwise, lol. Dave’s keeper list was just sick: Betts $26, Soto $6, Robert $1, Darvish $29, Bauer $27, Richard Rodriguez $6, Yordan Alvarez –reserve round, Sixto Sanchez—reserve round, LeMahieu $27, Eugenio Suarez $29, but also Kim $6 (because he’s a Cardinals fan). He had $123 left for auction. I had Acuna $11, Albies $11, Flaherty $11, Bieber $40, Freeman $44, Bogaerts $38, Castellanos $22, Conforto $25, d’Arnaud $7, Pablo Lopez $6, Matt Barnes $8, Marquez $2 (but not locked in lineup like most keepers), and Hicks $3 (also not locked in lineup). I had $68 for 11 slots for auction. Colin had the cheap guys: Will Smith (the catcher) $1, Mancini $2, J.D. Davis $7, Adames $1, Gregorius $11, Santander $1, Solak $1, Happ $1, Bundy $5, Carrasco $12, Glasnow $21, Musgrove $9, Nick Anderson $6, Hendriks $6, LeClerc $7. He had $209 for auction.
My strategy was simple. Do nothing before lunch, then don’t spend more than $20 on anybody, except maybe low $20’s for an established closer to get a second behind my maybe closer in Barnes. Closers usually go for a lot in this league, so I knew I had to do that. I was willing to go to $25 on Luzardo because we have six SP and five RP slots and I only had one SP slot open and I wanted an extra starter to use as a platoon guy with Marquez when he was pitching at Coors. Because of our all positional eligibility from last year carries over rule, Luzardo was RP eligible until he gets five starts this year, so I could stash him at RP at auction and not use a reserve round pick for the extra starter I wanted---even $1 guys (my one free SP slot; Luzardo would be a permanent starter for me) at the end of auction are better than the reserve round SP’s. For the hitting slots (3B, CI, MI, OF, UT), I just wanted solid guys, maybe a little speed, but not too expensive since my keeper value is there. I was hoping for Edman for 3B, but didn’t have any particular targets that I was married to since I only had $68 and couldn’t really outbid anyone who really wanted a player. My hope was that the severe inflation that was inevitable would go to the top players I couldn’t get anyway and the SP’s who usually go for too much in this league that I didn’t need with five of six SP slots filled.
Early Auction: Before Lunch
The one thing that went right before lunch is that I followed my plan and did not roster a player before lunch, although maybe I should have. Everything else was a disaster for my plan. Nelson Cruz was surprisingly tossed first, and he went to the defending champ (who tossed him) for $32. Not as high as I expected given the inflation, but way too expensive for me. Then Winker went for $6 to the defending champ, too. Maybe I should have gotten involved there, too, but Cincy has too many OF for too few positions for my taste. Then Hader was tossed. I would have loved him, but I knew he would be too expensive for me. Colin got him for $33. Then the first biggie is tossed: deGrom, easily the best pitcher available (Scherzer is next best). Nightmare scenario---Dave gets him for $55, below his non-inflated value on my program. I can’t price enforce because I have a $59 max bid. I ask Dave later in the day, and he tells me he would have gone to at least $60, but would have dropped him on me to screw me up. This is not a good start for me. Trout is next, $66 in the program before inflation, and he goes to Colin, as I expected, but only for $64. Ughhh. Not only are my competitors getting what they need for good prices, this means that the inflation money will go to guys on my spending level. Next is Lance Lynn, and he goes to a non-contender for $20, $1 below his uninflated price on the program. Now SP’s, who always go for too much are getting discounts. This couldn’t really start much worse, and the problem with having a low money stack is that there is nothing you can do about it. Ozuna then goes for $40; above the uninflated price, but lower than I expected; he was my toss. Then Aroldis Chapman went for $32. After JP Crawford for $7 (no idea why he was tossed in the first round), Kimbrel goes for $16. I should have gotten in there, but I just worry that Kimbrel is done, so I don’t. That is something I will regret later. He is followed by Bellinger $50 (and would have been more but for someone bidding right as “sold” was said to me, but ruled after the sold) and Marte $34. Grandal goes next for $10, and the first round ends with a slew of expensive pitchers going with some inflation but not what I expected: Buehler $39, Nola $38, Scherzer $43.
After the first round, inflation picked up with the $20-40 players, so I stayed out. The relevant players for me were Holland for $15 (still early, and I didn’t think he had full control of the job with Davis around), Rasiel Iglesias $29, Edwin Diaz $35, Rosenthal $21 (but he was already known to be out for a couple of weeks—still, Diekman went for $1 shortly before that—a total steal; not sure why I wasn’t in on him; I was reeling and not drafting well), Hand $26, Karinchak $27 (oops), Jansen $28, Romano $24 (oops again), and Gallegos $15 (!!—the other two St. Louis closer contenders were all kept by the same team who had no RP slots left for auction, lol). Speed with talent went nuts---$47 for Whit Merrifield (he also had 2B eligibility in this league, which did jack up the price). Luzardo also went during this time frame, but I already knew what was going to happen. The person drafting next to me had asked me very early (or before the start, I don’t remember) if I thought she could get a certain player for a certain price at auction. It was Luzardo for $30. I explained that no, I was getting him for less. So, when he came up, I bid her all the way up to $30 because I was annoyed at how everything was going. She got him for $30; this shows the danger of being friendly and asking such questions---you might be asking the only other person keying on your player. Keeping tabs on Dave and Colin, Dave got Blackmon for $27 (not a bad price, unfortunately) before lunch, and Colin got Edwin Diaz for $35 (apparently, he was paying for closers) and Stanton for $33 (that didn’t bother me) before lunch.
It's late, so that is all for Part I. Next up, Part II, where I actually get some players!
Auction 1:
The first one is my main local league---the one with the weird rules, standard 5x5 (16-team), and $300 auction budget that I post about every year and had a post about my keepers in the off-season. FWIW, I did make the Gallen for Aaron Hicks trade, which I think was good since Gallen promptly got hurt, although Hicks is trying to make me regret it. I had the second best keeper list coming in, but the guy with the best had an insane keeper list. I’ll be following three teams for this anatomy: my team, the guy with the best keeper list (Dave), and the guy with the third best keeper list (Colin). I use the names Dave and Colin because they are in fact their real names, and I would get confused otherwise, lol. Dave’s keeper list was just sick: Betts $26, Soto $6, Robert $1, Darvish $29, Bauer $27, Richard Rodriguez $6, Yordan Alvarez –reserve round, Sixto Sanchez—reserve round, LeMahieu $27, Eugenio Suarez $29, but also Kim $6 (because he’s a Cardinals fan). He had $123 left for auction. I had Acuna $11, Albies $11, Flaherty $11, Bieber $40, Freeman $44, Bogaerts $38, Castellanos $22, Conforto $25, d’Arnaud $7, Pablo Lopez $6, Matt Barnes $8, Marquez $2 (but not locked in lineup like most keepers), and Hicks $3 (also not locked in lineup). I had $68 for 11 slots for auction. Colin had the cheap guys: Will Smith (the catcher) $1, Mancini $2, J.D. Davis $7, Adames $1, Gregorius $11, Santander $1, Solak $1, Happ $1, Bundy $5, Carrasco $12, Glasnow $21, Musgrove $9, Nick Anderson $6, Hendriks $6, LeClerc $7. He had $209 for auction.
My strategy was simple. Do nothing before lunch, then don’t spend more than $20 on anybody, except maybe low $20’s for an established closer to get a second behind my maybe closer in Barnes. Closers usually go for a lot in this league, so I knew I had to do that. I was willing to go to $25 on Luzardo because we have six SP and five RP slots and I only had one SP slot open and I wanted an extra starter to use as a platoon guy with Marquez when he was pitching at Coors. Because of our all positional eligibility from last year carries over rule, Luzardo was RP eligible until he gets five starts this year, so I could stash him at RP at auction and not use a reserve round pick for the extra starter I wanted---even $1 guys (my one free SP slot; Luzardo would be a permanent starter for me) at the end of auction are better than the reserve round SP’s. For the hitting slots (3B, CI, MI, OF, UT), I just wanted solid guys, maybe a little speed, but not too expensive since my keeper value is there. I was hoping for Edman for 3B, but didn’t have any particular targets that I was married to since I only had $68 and couldn’t really outbid anyone who really wanted a player. My hope was that the severe inflation that was inevitable would go to the top players I couldn’t get anyway and the SP’s who usually go for too much in this league that I didn’t need with five of six SP slots filled.
Early Auction: Before Lunch
The one thing that went right before lunch is that I followed my plan and did not roster a player before lunch, although maybe I should have. Everything else was a disaster for my plan. Nelson Cruz was surprisingly tossed first, and he went to the defending champ (who tossed him) for $32. Not as high as I expected given the inflation, but way too expensive for me. Then Winker went for $6 to the defending champ, too. Maybe I should have gotten involved there, too, but Cincy has too many OF for too few positions for my taste. Then Hader was tossed. I would have loved him, but I knew he would be too expensive for me. Colin got him for $33. Then the first biggie is tossed: deGrom, easily the best pitcher available (Scherzer is next best). Nightmare scenario---Dave gets him for $55, below his non-inflated value on my program. I can’t price enforce because I have a $59 max bid. I ask Dave later in the day, and he tells me he would have gone to at least $60, but would have dropped him on me to screw me up. This is not a good start for me. Trout is next, $66 in the program before inflation, and he goes to Colin, as I expected, but only for $64. Ughhh. Not only are my competitors getting what they need for good prices, this means that the inflation money will go to guys on my spending level. Next is Lance Lynn, and he goes to a non-contender for $20, $1 below his uninflated price on the program. Now SP’s, who always go for too much are getting discounts. This couldn’t really start much worse, and the problem with having a low money stack is that there is nothing you can do about it. Ozuna then goes for $40; above the uninflated price, but lower than I expected; he was my toss. Then Aroldis Chapman went for $32. After JP Crawford for $7 (no idea why he was tossed in the first round), Kimbrel goes for $16. I should have gotten in there, but I just worry that Kimbrel is done, so I don’t. That is something I will regret later. He is followed by Bellinger $50 (and would have been more but for someone bidding right as “sold” was said to me, but ruled after the sold) and Marte $34. Grandal goes next for $10, and the first round ends with a slew of expensive pitchers going with some inflation but not what I expected: Buehler $39, Nola $38, Scherzer $43.
After the first round, inflation picked up with the $20-40 players, so I stayed out. The relevant players for me were Holland for $15 (still early, and I didn’t think he had full control of the job with Davis around), Rasiel Iglesias $29, Edwin Diaz $35, Rosenthal $21 (but he was already known to be out for a couple of weeks—still, Diekman went for $1 shortly before that—a total steal; not sure why I wasn’t in on him; I was reeling and not drafting well), Hand $26, Karinchak $27 (oops), Jansen $28, Romano $24 (oops again), and Gallegos $15 (!!—the other two St. Louis closer contenders were all kept by the same team who had no RP slots left for auction, lol). Speed with talent went nuts---$47 for Whit Merrifield (he also had 2B eligibility in this league, which did jack up the price). Luzardo also went during this time frame, but I already knew what was going to happen. The person drafting next to me had asked me very early (or before the start, I don’t remember) if I thought she could get a certain player for a certain price at auction. It was Luzardo for $30. I explained that no, I was getting him for less. So, when he came up, I bid her all the way up to $30 because I was annoyed at how everything was going. She got him for $30; this shows the danger of being friendly and asking such questions---you might be asking the only other person keying on your player. Keeping tabs on Dave and Colin, Dave got Blackmon for $27 (not a bad price, unfortunately) before lunch, and Colin got Edwin Diaz for $35 (apparently, he was paying for closers) and Stanton for $33 (that didn’t bother me) before lunch.
It's late, so that is all for Part I. Next up, Part II, where I actually get some players!
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