ANOTHER 12tm NL Only HDID

[Teenwolf]

C - M. Pina $1
1B - B. Belt $16
2B - J. Villar $13
3B - H. Perez $3
CI - E. Thames $16
OF1 - Y. Cespedes $36
OF2 - O. Herrera $15
OF3 - N. Williams $5
OF4 - S. Schebler $14
OF5 - D. Peralta $13
UT1 - J. Pirela $10
UT2 - H. Kendrick $6

BENCH - C. Kelly $1, J. Luplow $1

SP1 - Y. Darvish $37
SP2 - C. Anderson $2
SP3 - T. Mahle $8
SP4 - Z. Davies $4
SP5 - B. McCarthy $1
P - S. Cishek $2 (will likely replace with Woodruff for week 2)
CP1 - K. Jansen $36
CP2 - B. Morrow $5
CP3 - B. Hand $3

FARM

1) L. Brinson - OF
2) JP Crawford - 3B/SS
3) B. Woodruff - SP
4) A. Reyes - SP
5) J. Soto - OF
6) S. Alcantara - SP/RP

Strategies:

1) $40 max bid. Don't get drawn into the inflation wars on studs. Target the $10-$20 market for roster depth. Build for 4th place, trade up from there. SUCCESS

2) Buy 2 stud SP's for $70+ combined. Glad to get Darvish at a fair $37, but after I let Ray $35 and Quintana $31 go, I couldn't pull the trigger on the 2nd tier (Maeda $19, T. Walker $21, Lester $24, Gio G. $21, Hendricks $28)... FAIL

3) REMEMBER! Save 2 hitting slots as $1 flyers to move L. Brinson and JP Crawford into the lineup quickly. Spent $10 and $6 as my 2 cheapest hitters. Could have easily gotten one of those 2nd tier SP's with this $$, but hard to plan mid-draft. Regardless... FAIL

Results: I'm pretty happy with my offense depth, but realize it will require serious re-working throughout the year and a few trades to fine-tune, but should keep me top-half competitive for the 1st half, and that's all I wanted. Starting pitching is slightly underwhelming, but innings eaters should pair okay with Darvish and my 3 closers.

Thoughts?

[cavebird]

I have never played a 12-team only, so I do not know how ugly it gets, but Kendrick, Thames, Pirela, and Kendrick look ugly to me. Spending on a second stud pitcher instead of $16 on Thames (who might not play that much), $10 on Pirela (who is not safe at all and if starts slow, he won't play), and $6 on Kendrick (no idea how he gets playing time regularly; but he'll be a good pinch hitter) would, just off the top of my head, make more sense. Of course, in an auction, but the time you spent that money, the pitching studs were long gone. It can be rough, but I guess if you say fail on two out of three parts of your strategy, theses things have happened.

[Teenwolf]

Kendrick, Thames, and Pirela can all be benched in favor of JP Crawford and Brinson as early as week 2, so I like having some options on offense. I'm probably the only team with no $1 hitters (oh wait, M. Pina is $1, close...) But Thames/Pirela/Kendrick is a lot better than most teams bottom 3 hitters. Lots of $1 bums in starting lineups when inflation pushes the studs to $60+.

[cavebird]

Okay. Understood. Read this post before the others from what I presume what the same draft. That was sort of ugly.

[cavebird]

And your bullpen is killer. There is that.

[Hornsby]

While having 3 closers is great, in an only league, it's really overkill, IMO. I think that you should have either dealt Kenley off, or let him go back into the auction and have that 36 bucks to spend elsewhere. Kenley is going to be tough to deal during the season at that price...not impossible, but tough.

Hitting is underwhelming, Themes might be a lost cause, and the rest have question marks. Is Pirela going to start and keep his job? Same goes for Williams. Too many guys in the middle money areas as well...they'll do fine, but nothing great.

Love the minors guys, you could have 5 of them up this season, and that may be your saving grace.

[Big Tymer]

Kenley is going to be tough to deal during the season at that price...not impossible, but tough.

I'll gladly take Kenley off his hands Seriously though, I do think there will be a bit of trades this year even between contenders as a lot of teams will be in the hunt - this one included. Brandon Belt at $16 is one of my favorite buys. I had already spent $22 on Duval and $24 on Dickerson so wasn't able to get in the bidding but Belt should have topped $20 imo. Darvish at $37 is a little rich but maybe by only a couple of bucks so no issue with that buy but agree that pairing him with Quintana would have been very nice. That said, had he done so over $100 of his budget would have been spent on 3 Pitchers which is extremely rich unless he intended to trade from strength later on.

I understand the desire to not spend > $40 on a hitter but that is very tough to do in this league where offense goes at a super premium. A lot of those $30-$40 players tend to be overvalued $20 players and I'd prefer to overpay for a stud all things considered (since with our inflation you will be overpaying in general). Cespedes can be a good buy though if healthy which is always the question.

One of many strong squads I would say though.

[harmon]

Peralta at 13 is another solid buy. I'm expecting an increase in SB from him this year.

[pitbull]

Looking at your team the offense from what I can see is power might be an issue. You need Thames getting PT to help there or the Brewers to make a trade to ease off the logjam. Your pitching is solid but you do need another starter. Good news is that you have 3 farm players you can activate. Peralta is a good price. Going to have to move a closer because 3 is an overkill but if it gets you 1st or 2nd in points then moving for a starter or offense piece that could help out alot. I also hate to say this as I have decide to be Belt-free for the rest of my life but if he ever puts together a career year $16 will be a good bargain. Did I mention how much I hate Belt - owner of him last two years and always teases me.

In this league you need a good keeper and a good farm list to bid into the upper stratosphere to get whatever studs that are out there. If you had bid Cespedes and Thames bid to get another you still would have needed another $3-9 for Rizzo, Goldy, Blackmon, Votto or Freeman so I understand the pros and cons on this. Rendon went for $45 so is he worth more than Cespedes/Thames if you had bid $46 and gotten him.