My final auction of the year started last night around 7 PM Est. I think JC and I are now the only 2 members that have been in the league since 2000. I was a sophomore in college who spent most of my days sleeping in until 11 and most of my nights wondering up and down Court Street drunk off my ass. I am now a "responsible" father of 3 who has been teaching high school for 12 years. Anyway, onto the craziness that is a 12TO auction.
You just haven't seen insane hitting inflation until you have sat in on one of these. I knew it would be bad with a number of teams carrying over $200 into the auction, I came in with around $170. Here were my keepers...
Yonder Alonso 5
Dee Gordon 11
Anthony Rendon 5
Jhonny Peralta 16
Andrelton Simmons 5
Charlie Blackmon 3
Aroldis Chapman 10
Mark Melancon 8
Madison Bumgarner 15
Stephen Strasburg 15
So i have attached the actual results of the auction, if I can I'll attach the full rosters in a different post. So the big name hitters went fast and furious...
Tulo 59
C Gomez 63
Ian Desmond 47 (SS was really thin)
R Braun 53
M Kemp 54
J Upton 49
B Posey 45 (We are a 1 catcher league)
A few pricey pitchers went as well
Scherzer 49
S Cishek 34
I sat through all of this even though I really needed an OF'er as I came in with only 1. I just couldn't convince myself that paying over 50 for one of those guys was worth it. Hell I threw Tulo back at 43 because I was too risk averse to own him. Anyway, my first buy wound up being Joey Votto for $41. This is by no means some great value, but you have to get your money in somewhere and Votto has been healthy this spring. I think it was the very next player I was back in on, Yadier Molina. I wound up winning with a bid of $18, as I mentioned we are one catcher, but I thought the price was still pretty fair.
You can usually get decent pitching deals and in the end I thought I missed out on two I probably should have bid an extra few bucks for Jordan Zimmerman, he went for 31 and Adam Wainwright went for 27. I had come in with 2 top 10 starters and was hesitant to invest money here. I probably should have bought one of them even if it cost me a hitter.
Anyway the auction rolled on as we hit the point where a lot of us had punched our selves out of hughe cash, but there was still money to be spent and most of the studs were gone, but a few remained and money was spent....
R Zimmerman 43
Mark Trumbo 44 (this one surprised even me)
Ben Revere 37
Matt Holliday 39
David Wright 38
Jay Bruce 36
Neil Walker 33
Howie Kendrick 31
J Morneau 31
Then some more pitching prices
James Shields 26
Gio Gonzalez 27
K Jansen 30
J Papelbon 24
J Lester 31
This is where we reach the flawed player phase. Since I didn't spend over 50 on a player this year I decided I would fill my offense out with these flawed players that would come cheaper. I needed OF'ers so that is where I looked. I now own Hunter Pence in 2 leagues, this time for 31. Pence for 31 or bidding more on a guy like Bruce is something I will regret if Pence never comes back fully healthy, but in this league sometimes you have to chase a guy like Pence. The next flawed guy I grabbed was Jayson Werth for 28. Again, not a great deal, but he should be back by week 2 and will hit in an RBI position on a team that when healthy will have a pretty good lineup. These two aren't perfect, but I got them for 59 which I don't see as too bad.
Pitching you ask? You mean I can't just trot those 4 out there and win whip, era, and saves? Ok fine I admit it I bought some guys that call themselves pitchers. The first one I bought was another flawed guy, Hun-Jin Ryu for 11. It isn't a buy I am jumping up and down about, but I had to buy someone. Next up Mat Latos for 17. As the auction moved along I had decided I needed to buy Cashner (18), Latos (17), or L Lynn (21). I regret not going an extra buck on Cashner, but maybe the move to Miami and the NL East will do Latos some good. I only had 2 non $1 buys after that, Brad Ziegler for 2 and Scott Van Slyke for 9.
Now to some of those entertaining we have money left to spend and no one to spend it on buys and other interesting buys I forgot to mention
Dexter Fowler was the last big name OF'er and he went for 26
Nick Markakis was the best OF'er after Fowler and he went for 21
Will Myers went before these two for 27, but he has upside so maybe not too bad
Derek Norris 16, made me feel better about Yadi.
Pedro Alvarez 29, this one was much earlier and even as a Pirate fan I don't know how i feel about this one.
Martin Prado 21, this one was later and one of the last guys worth spending on, not too bad can't remember who had what to spend
D Span 28, another flawed guy with a flawed price, good or bad? We will see.
T Lincecum 2, how the mighty have fallen
Cliff Lee 1, IF he pitches this could help someone. I just don't see him pitching again.
Y Tomas 10, poor Steve can't catch a break on these rookies. Tomas got sent down so he loses him.
Kang 11, he's a Bucco so I had to list him as interesting
Ok so what does that make my team look like...
Y Molina 18
Y Alonso 5
D Gordon 11
Jh Peralta 16
A Rendon 5
A Simmons 5
J Votto 41
C Blackmon 3
H Pence 31
J Werth 28
S Van Slyke 9
M Den Deker 1
J Francouer 1
J Maxwell 1
RSV
D Kelly
Pitching
Bumgarner 15
Strasburg 15
Chapman 10
Melancon 8
H Ryu 11
M Latos 17
J Motte 1
B Ziegler 2
J Hellickson 1
RSV
J Marquis 1
Bry Morris 1
JJ Hoover 1
Possible Farm help this year
T Glasnow
JP Crawford
J Winker
Jon Gray
N Kingham
Ok I hope you enjoyed that, I know auction season is over and it likely won't help you, but I wanted to write it. 15 years of keeping a keeper league together is not too bad. Especially since they have had me in charge for almost 10 years now. Good luck everyone!
You just haven't seen insane hitting inflation until you have sat in on one of these. I knew it would be bad with a number of teams carrying over $200 into the auction, I came in with around $170. Here were my keepers...
Yonder Alonso 5
Dee Gordon 11
Anthony Rendon 5
Jhonny Peralta 16
Andrelton Simmons 5
Charlie Blackmon 3
Aroldis Chapman 10
Mark Melancon 8
Madison Bumgarner 15
Stephen Strasburg 15
So i have attached the actual results of the auction, if I can I'll attach the full rosters in a different post. So the big name hitters went fast and furious...
Tulo 59
C Gomez 63
Ian Desmond 47 (SS was really thin)
R Braun 53
M Kemp 54
J Upton 49
B Posey 45 (We are a 1 catcher league)
A few pricey pitchers went as well
Scherzer 49
S Cishek 34
I sat through all of this even though I really needed an OF'er as I came in with only 1. I just couldn't convince myself that paying over 50 for one of those guys was worth it. Hell I threw Tulo back at 43 because I was too risk averse to own him. Anyway, my first buy wound up being Joey Votto for $41. This is by no means some great value, but you have to get your money in somewhere and Votto has been healthy this spring. I think it was the very next player I was back in on, Yadier Molina. I wound up winning with a bid of $18, as I mentioned we are one catcher, but I thought the price was still pretty fair.
You can usually get decent pitching deals and in the end I thought I missed out on two I probably should have bid an extra few bucks for Jordan Zimmerman, he went for 31 and Adam Wainwright went for 27. I had come in with 2 top 10 starters and was hesitant to invest money here. I probably should have bought one of them even if it cost me a hitter.
Anyway the auction rolled on as we hit the point where a lot of us had punched our selves out of hughe cash, but there was still money to be spent and most of the studs were gone, but a few remained and money was spent....
R Zimmerman 43
Mark Trumbo 44 (this one surprised even me)
Ben Revere 37
Matt Holliday 39
David Wright 38
Jay Bruce 36
Neil Walker 33
Howie Kendrick 31
J Morneau 31
Then some more pitching prices
James Shields 26
Gio Gonzalez 27
K Jansen 30
J Papelbon 24
J Lester 31
This is where we reach the flawed player phase. Since I didn't spend over 50 on a player this year I decided I would fill my offense out with these flawed players that would come cheaper. I needed OF'ers so that is where I looked. I now own Hunter Pence in 2 leagues, this time for 31. Pence for 31 or bidding more on a guy like Bruce is something I will regret if Pence never comes back fully healthy, but in this league sometimes you have to chase a guy like Pence. The next flawed guy I grabbed was Jayson Werth for 28. Again, not a great deal, but he should be back by week 2 and will hit in an RBI position on a team that when healthy will have a pretty good lineup. These two aren't perfect, but I got them for 59 which I don't see as too bad.
Pitching you ask? You mean I can't just trot those 4 out there and win whip, era, and saves? Ok fine I admit it I bought some guys that call themselves pitchers. The first one I bought was another flawed guy, Hun-Jin Ryu for 11. It isn't a buy I am jumping up and down about, but I had to buy someone. Next up Mat Latos for 17. As the auction moved along I had decided I needed to buy Cashner (18), Latos (17), or L Lynn (21). I regret not going an extra buck on Cashner, but maybe the move to Miami and the NL East will do Latos some good. I only had 2 non $1 buys after that, Brad Ziegler for 2 and Scott Van Slyke for 9.
Now to some of those entertaining we have money left to spend and no one to spend it on buys and other interesting buys I forgot to mention
Dexter Fowler was the last big name OF'er and he went for 26
Nick Markakis was the best OF'er after Fowler and he went for 21
Will Myers went before these two for 27, but he has upside so maybe not too bad
Derek Norris 16, made me feel better about Yadi.
Pedro Alvarez 29, this one was much earlier and even as a Pirate fan I don't know how i feel about this one.
Martin Prado 21, this one was later and one of the last guys worth spending on, not too bad can't remember who had what to spend
D Span 28, another flawed guy with a flawed price, good or bad? We will see.
T Lincecum 2, how the mighty have fallen
Cliff Lee 1, IF he pitches this could help someone. I just don't see him pitching again.
Y Tomas 10, poor Steve can't catch a break on these rookies. Tomas got sent down so he loses him.
Kang 11, he's a Bucco so I had to list him as interesting
Ok so what does that make my team look like...
Y Molina 18
Y Alonso 5
D Gordon 11
Jh Peralta 16
A Rendon 5
A Simmons 5
J Votto 41
C Blackmon 3
H Pence 31
J Werth 28
S Van Slyke 9
M Den Deker 1
J Francouer 1
J Maxwell 1
RSV
D Kelly
Pitching
Bumgarner 15
Strasburg 15
Chapman 10
Melancon 8
H Ryu 11
M Latos 17
J Motte 1
B Ziegler 2
J Hellickson 1
RSV
J Marquis 1
Bry Morris 1
JJ Hoover 1
Possible Farm help this year
T Glasnow
JP Crawford
J Winker
Jon Gray
N Kingham
Ok I hope you enjoyed that, I know auction season is over and it likely won't help you, but I wanted to write it. 15 years of keeping a keeper league together is not too bad. Especially since they have had me in charge for almost 10 years now. Good luck everyone!
Comment