Anatomy of a Crazy Auction (very long read)

[cavebird]

I can see it more in an only league.

might be an example of football fantasy leaguers playing baseball? I don't know of any football leagues that make you scrape the barrel of any position. so the original Rotisserie notion of "yeah, it's hard - it's supposed to be hard!" doesn't resonate.

which is cool. am interested in other analysis of this one - and of comments on this auction!

Actually, no. This league has been around since the early 90's in one form or another. Baseball people, not football people. But they were doing 1 C long before most were, for reasons that pre-date my membership in the league. Lots of weird rules that relate to random experiences.

[ThatRogue]

12 team NL-only, and we’re a two catcher league (also two UT and ten pitchers for a 25 man roster...and with 15 reserves, the FAAB pool/waiver wire is often a wasteland). It amazes me when I hear certain catchers referred to with disdain, as many of those guys are gold in our league.

[ThatRogue]

I’m thoroughly enjoying your auction recap, Cavebird! I think we all can relate to the angst that comes with seeing prices out of line with expectations, and your draft plan in shambles.


Our auction is this Saturday (for the first time ever, it will be remote via Webex), and I may be inspired to do a recap of my own (which I haven’t done since 2015).

[wombat104]

I am enjoying the recap as well, thanks Cavebird.

[chancellor]

Our auction is this Saturday (for the first time ever, it will be remote via Webex), and I may be inspired to do a recap of my own (which I haven’t done since 2015).

Yes, please! You and Judge Jude always do a great job on these. I'm hoping Cavebird makes this a regular event also.

[Judge Jude]

this is my last winner, in 2017. funny to see some names that seem like they're from 10 years ago:

http://forum.rotojunkiefix.com/showt...hlight=anatomy

[cavebird]

The drama kicked off quickly in the auction endgame. Dave still needed a third baseman and, as noted above, was in dollar days. However, I just had one OF slot, my utility slot, and catcher to block him. He tossed Starlin Castro for a buck. One of the expansion teams bid two. I was interested, but still sitting on McCutchen and JD Davis for my last two non-catcher slots. Since Davis is 3B/OF, I could block Dave on both Davis and Castro, however, and the next best 3B left was Kyle Seager. After that, nothing more than someone like Colin Moran. I like Castro, and I figured I would never get both Cutch and Davis, so after the expansion team (not Colin) bid $2, I tried to call a timeout. Specifically, I said that I was calling a “Bobby timeout.” Bobby is another guy in the league who regularly lends me timeouts, and I was out. Bobby then duly called timeout. After the resumption, I figured that Dave didn’t get him and I was still holding out hope on Cutch and Davis, so I let him go. In retrospect, I should have bid $3, but it wasn’t a big deal, I thought.

Then someone figured out that the expansion team’s bid was illegal because he could take a SS, but not 2B or 3B (Castro’s two positions). I assumed that the bidding would just resume at $1, and I tried to bid $2. But the commish (who was auctioning most players; our usual auctioneer was not available, so he did them when he wasn’t in on a player; one of the other executive committee members (me and the defending champ) did them when he was bidding; a random league member would do it in the rare cases when all three of us were in) decided that I had already passed on Castro and just awarded Castro to Dave for $1. I objected explaining that I certainly didn’t want to let Dave get him for $1. But the commish thought that was not a legitimate motive (I am not sure why; this isn’t a salary cap league where multiple people can have the same player---part of the benefit of getting a player is that nobody else can have him.). And I got no reprieve from the third executive committee member because he thinks that borrowing timeouts from other teams should not be allowed. So Dave got Castro for $1. In a bit of a childish move, one the next player (Sam Hilliard; went to Colin for $2), I tried to hijack the auctioneering and when questioned about it by the commish, I explained that I was doing so to avoid him screwing me again. This was the longest auction we have had in my 16 years in the league by a large margin---mostly because three new teams had lots of money and were not as well versed in how we roll, but the auction degrading into a yelling match between executive committee members didn’t help either. Mea cupla. Two extra notes: me and the commish buried the hatchet after the draft and, fwiw, Dave was more or less on my side in the debate, never thought he could get Castro, and understood about blocking other teams.

It didn’t get any better for me for a while. Harvey Hunter came out shortly thereafter, a guy I liked, but an expansion team got him for $5 because I was still holding on to my unrealistic Cutch/Davis dream. And hey, in my defense, Colin was bidding on random players---for example, he should have ended the Castro drama quickly, he had the money to do so and nobody better to fill that slot (his 2B ended up being Dee Gordon and he left $9 on the table), but he did not. And Colin was the only guy with the slots and money to get me on them (there was one other guy with money, but he just needed pitching, he kept five OF and filled his UT with Kepler earlier in the draft). A few tosses after Harvey, Colin tossed Cutch. Uh-oh. I had a max bid of $9 at that point. Cutch is a $10 player for Colin. I grabbed Vazquez for a buck on my next toss, and shortly thereafter sort of gave up on my Davis dream and got Karinchak for $4. That left me with a $6 max bid. And, of course, three tosses later, Davis came out. I bid him up, but, of course, he went to Colin for $7. Neil wasn’t even there, and I got Neiled anyway, lol.

After that, I filled out my roster with Ian Happ for $1, not a target, but hey, I’ll take the upside at that price; Kyle Seager at UT for $2; Ryne Stanek for $1 at RP; and German Marquez for $2 at SP. I loved getting Marquez since I needed the K’s, and he’s more or less a half-time great starter if I bench him when he is at Coors (look at his splits, lol). Newcomb likely being in the rotation was a bonus since he’ll be SP only after five starts and if I am part-timing Marquez, I want as many options as possible.
Due to our league having “free” keepers on our bench, there are often minor leaguers taken in the auction in the slots that will belong to the free keepers in the majors. That happens all the time. But, wow, it happened in spades this year. It is a questionable move for most because anyone taken in the auction cannot be a free keeper (only taken in the reserve rounds at auction; no FAAB pickups allowed either) and if the player does not have a starting MLB job next year, he basically can’t be kept since he’ll be locked in the starting lineup for $6 or more. Nevertheless, Andrew Vaughn went for $3, Nate Pearson for $1, Matt Manning for $1, Kiriloff for $1 (to Dave), Dylan Carlson for $2 (Steve outbidding Dave one final time, lol), and Julio Rodriguez for $1 with the owner (who has Eloy Jimenez to take the slot) explaining that he knew Rodriguez wouldn’t be a keeper but he just wanted to fuck with everyone. Mister irrelevant in the auction was also the pick in the worst taste. Steve took Felipe Vazquez for $1 to finish things off. At least he has someone to drop when he has to move Luzardo to RP before the season starts.

I will finish this off with just noting my reserve picks (I had no free keepers; I traded both of mine as part of deals to get Montas and E-Rod): CJ Abrams (restocking the farm); Taijuan Walker (more SP options); J.J. Bleday; Piscotty; Justin Smoak; Pablo Lopez; Blake Treinen (can’t believe he was still there at that point); Eric Thames; Oneil Cruz; and Dexter Fowler.

Next, I will try to cut and paste some of the rosters in, which will probably be a formatting nightmare. But this concludes the true anatomy of the auction except for the post-script where I try to decide if my team is any good.

[Judge Jude]

great stuff again!

but does it make me a bad person if I agree with "I got no reprieve from the third executive committee member because he thinks that borrowing timeouts from other teams should not be allowed." ?

sounds like the old winkwink of the Yankees and Kansas City A's BITD

[Ken]

great stuff again!

but does it make me a bad person if I agree with "I got no reprieve from the third executive committee member because he thinks that borrowing timeouts from other teams should not be allowed." ?

sounds like the old winkwink of the Yankees and Kansas City A's BITD

I must be a bad person too. Timeouts are silly. If you didn't come to your auction prepared you don't get a reprieve for being the least prepared. And now you are using someone else's timeout? Yeah, no.

[cavebird]

POS $ Me $ Jeff $ Dave $ Commish $ Steve $ Colin $ Mike (other guy with good keepers)
C 1 Vazquez,Christian 2 Jansen,Danny 1 Molina,Yadier 2 Narvaez,Omar 1 Smith,Will D. 9 Grandal,Yasmani 7 Perez,Salvador
1B 44 Freeman,Freddie 4 Voit,Luke 30 Goldschmidt,P 1 Moreland,Mitch 1 Tellez,Rowdy 9 Walker,Christian 14 Bell,Josh
CI 13 Cron,C.J. 7 Murphy,Daniel 55 Bellinger,Cody 2 Urshela,Gio 6 La Stella,Tommy 7 Davis,J.D. 2 Mancini,Trey
3B 19 Turner,Justin 23 Donaldson,Josh 1 Castro,Starlin 40 Rendon,A 16 Bregman,Alex 2 Diaz,Yandy 22 Chapman,Matt
2B 25 Moustakas,Mike 29 Merrifield,Whit 11 Albies,Ozzie 13 Lowe,Brandon 3 Odor,Rougned 2 Gordon,Dee 6 Biggio,Cavan
MI 21 Rosario,Amed 10 Segura,Jean 11 Mondesi,Ad 5 Berti,Jon 2 Profar,Jurickson 1 Adames,Willy 6 Wong,Kolten
SS 33 Bogaerts,Xander 21 Lindor,Francisco 6 Gregorius,Didi 35 Baez,Javier 26 Correa,Carlos 1 Simmons,Andrelton 14 Tatis,Fernando
OF 11 Acuna,Ronald 16 Benintendi,A 26 Betts,Mookie 57 Yelich,Christian 6 Gurriel,Lourdes 4 Peralta,David 1 Senzel,Nick
OF 33 Meadows,Austin 36 Harper,Bryce 6 Soto,Juan 6 Reynolds,Bryan 6 Brinson,Lewis 2 Hilliard,Sam 13 Soler,Jorge
OF 22 Castellanos,Nick 12 Buxton,Byron 1 Reyes,Victor 11 Braun,Ryan 32 Judge,Aaron 10 McCutchen,Andrew 10 Reyes,Franmil
OF 7 Anderson,Brian 13 Upton,Justin 1 Heyward,Jason 5 Akiyama,Shogo 23 Pham,Tommy 1 Santander,Anthony 7 Grisham,Trent
OF 1 Happ,Ian 3 Puig,Yasiel 1 Kirilloff,Alex 6 Garcia,Avisail 3 Polanco,Gregory 7 Renfroe,Hunter 6 Peraza,Jose
UT 1 Seager,Kyle 3 Bohm,Alec 1 Solak,Nick 12 Ohtani,Shohei 2 Carlson,Dylan 8 Davis,Khris 16 Andrus,Elvis
SP 11 Flaherty,Jack 20 Clevinger,Mike 11 Wheeler,Zack 44 Verlander,Justin 58 DeGrom,Jacob 35 Bieber,Shane 6 Giolito,Lucas
SP 6 Montas,Frankie 20 Castillo,Luis 57 Scherzer,Max 23 Woodruff,B 56 Buehler,Walker 22 Bauer,Trevor 37 Strasburg,Stephen
SP 11 Rodriguez,Eduardo 14 Ryu,Hyun-Jin 29 Darvish,Yu 5 Tanaka,M. 27 Nola,Aaron 21 Glasnow,Tyler 14 Paddack,Chris
SP 4 Musgrove,Joe 13 Urias,Julio 1 Kim,Kwang-H 1 Mikolas,Miles 17 Luzardo,Jesus 12 Carrasco,Carlos 26 Syndergaard,Noah
SP 2 Sanchez,Anibal 7 Weaver,Luke 1 Fiers,Mike 1 Hill,Rich 1 Pearson,Nate 17 Gallen,Zac 6 Smith,Caleb
SP 2 Marquez,German 2 Samardzija,Jeff 1 DeSclafani,A. 1 Montgomery,J 1 Gibson,Kyle 5 Bundy,Dylan 8 McCullers,Lance
RP 1 Stanek,Ryne 1 May,Trevor 1 Liberatore,A 1 Lindblom,Josh 1 Vazquez,Felipe 7 Leclerc,Jose 9 Jimenez,Joe
RP 2 Newcomb,Sean 2 Harris,Will 1 Suter,Brent 1 Petit,Yusmeiro 1 Garrett,Amir 20 Iglesias,Raisel 2 Oberg,Scott
RP 4 Karinchak,James 2 Kahnle,Tommy 24 Giles,Ken 1 Stammen,Craig 1 Davis,Wade 23 Kimbrel,Craig 6 Kintzler,Brandon
RP 6 Anderson,Nick 14 Kela,Keone 12 Martinez,Carlos 5 Betances,Dellin 4 Givens,Mychal 31 Yates,Kirby 16 Doolittle,Sean
RP 7 Kennedy,Ian 19 Hand,Brad 6 Hendriks,Liam 7 Rogers,Taylor 1 Burdi,Nick 35 Hader,Josh 28 Osuna,Roberto
RES 0 Abrams,C.J. 0 Dominguez,J 0 Witt,Bobby 0 Happ,J.A. 0 Larnach,Trevor 0 Luciano,Marco 0 Tsutsugo,Yoshitomo
RES 0 Walker,Taijuan 0 Skubal,Tarik 0 Sanchez,Sixto 0 Longoria,Evan 0 Downs,Jeter 0 Robinson,Kristian 0 Long,Shed
RES 0 Bleday,J.J. 0 Quintana,Jose 0 Means,John 0 O Neill,Tyler 0 McKay,Brendan 0 Brujan,Vidal 0 Tauchman,Mike
RES 0 Piscotty,Stephen 0 Cabrera,Miguel 0 Pujols,Albert 0 Ahmed,Nick 0 Adell,Jo 0 Jones,Nolan 0 Dyson,Jarrod
RES 0 Smoak,Justin 0 Stripling,Ross 0 Pineda,Michael 0 Bishop,Hunter 0 Pache,Cristian 0 Green,Riley 0 Aquino,Aristides
RES 0 Lopez,Pablo 0 Kikuchi,Yusei 0 Winker,Jesse 0 Eovaldi,Nathan 0 Gore,Mackenzie 0 Peralta,Freddy 0 Mahle,Tyler
RES 0 Treinen,Blake 0 Kendrick,Howie 0 Hayes,Ke'Bryan 0 Gonzalez,Gio 0 Kieboom,Carter 0 Margot,Manuel 0 Alberto,Hanser
RES 0 Thames,Eric 0 Lopez,Reynaldo 0 Robert,Luis 0 Nimmo,Brandon 0 Mize,Casey 0 Taylor,Chris 0 Wright,Kyle
RES 0 Cruz,Oneil 0 Bichette,Bo 0 Mesa,Victor 0 White,Evan 0 Puk,A.J. 0 Mauricio,Ronny 0 Diaz,Yusniel
RES 0 Fowler,Dexter 0 Bart,Joey 0 Alvarez,Yordan 0 Lux,Gavin 0 Whitley,Forrest 0 Pena,Erick 0 Astudillo,Willians

Yeah! Formatting only took 15 minutes. When I get bold later, I will bold the keepers so it makes more sense. Then I'll maybe even take a look at the teams and decide who I like.

Well, crap, that didn't work. Looks great on my page before I post. I guess I need more formatting time for this.

[cavebird]

I must be a bad person too. Timeouts are silly. If you didn't come to your auction prepared you don't get a reprieve for being the least prepared. And now you are using someone else's timeout? Yeah, no.

Hey, I have no problem if they make it a rule. Just don't decide in the middle of an auction to change a practice that has gone on for years; that's my objection. If it is an announced change, that's fine. And no amount of preparation makes there be no requirement for thinking after your plan has its first encounter with the enemy. Some people think faster than others. I am a crappy blitz chess player.

[cavebird]

Hey, I have no problem if they make it a rule. Just don't decide in the middle of an auction to change a practice that has gone on for years; that's my objection. If it is an announced change, that's fine. And no amount of preparation makes there be no requirement for thinking after your plan has its first encounter with the enemy. Some people think faster than others. I am a crappy blitz chess player.

And I note that everyone uses them. At least most of the contenders. Dave did only use one, but he was in dollar days before lunch. No need when you can't bid, lol.

[Judge Jude]

cb, the issue isn't three 'timeouts' - we have 3 allowed passes, which I think dates back to the original book.

it's why do you get a satellite collection of bonus timeouts when others don't. we have as collegial a group of owners as you'll ever see - all of us with 17+ years on this league in now - but if someone tried to offer a rival owner a 'freebie' like that, both owners would be laughed out of the room.

[wombat104]

If it makes you feel any better I would agree with you on Castro. Bidding should have been rolled back to the last legal bid (Dave for $1) and then anyone should have been able to bid.

[cavebird]

cb, the issue isn't three 'timeouts' - we have 3 allowed passes, which I think dates back to the original book.

it's why do you get a satellite collection of bonus timeouts when others don't. we have as collegial a group of owners as you'll ever see - all of us with 17+ years on this league in now - but if someone tried to offer a rival owner a 'freebie' like that, both owners would be laughed out of the room.

And, hey, if they wanted to make that the rule, that would be fine with me. (I am hardly the only one who has ever used one of these, so it is not like I am the only one who has them. Hell, some people preemptively call timeouts when others looking like they are considering bidding to try to draw more money out. On rare occasion, someone will call timeout when he has the high bid because they got caught price enforcing or whatnot. Those next work but always provoke a good round of laughter.) It would make some sense to have such a rule. I just don't think you do it in the middle of the auction. And, really, the timeout didn't mean anything because I passed on bidding $3 anyway.