Anatomy of an auction - my little PONY adventure

[Mithrandir]

I will attempt to document my draft this Sunday. As others have said, it is quite enjoyable to read the dynamics of drafts.

[Hornsby]

I don't see your pitching at all...it's neither fish nor fowl. As far as two closers go, you may have none by May. And Mgwiz22 nailed it pretty well, IMO...you have to hope to be really strong in the ratios, because you're really going to struggle elsewhere.

I do like your hitting though, so there's that...

[chancellor]

Great read, JC.

[Silentmist]

Not sure why some are saying that you'll struggle in saves. You have two closers, which seems perfectly adequate in a 15 teamer.

I also think it might have been a good move to leave Yadier and grab a second pitching stud but I never see the value in catchers that others do.

Great read, man. Thanks a ton!

The Cubs closer is the only one I see. Hawkins won't get many save chances, and after his first 3 or 4 attempts, it's likely that Brothers will own the job.

[cavebird]

The Cubs closer is the only one I see. Hawkins won't get many save chances, and after his first 3 or 4 attempts, it's likely that Brothers will own the job.

Brothers, in his breakout season last year, had a 4.81 BB/9 and an x-FIP of 3.49 (ERA: 1.74). I agree that Hawkins is likely to be a gascan, and Brothers is second in line, but if he continues to walk half of creation, I don't know how far he'll be allowed to run with it.

[mgwiz22]

Brothers looks just okay to me, to be honest. He's not awful and is a useful piece in the pen but that's kind of it. He, like many other lefties, absolutely owns left handed batters but doesn't fare nearly as well against righties. Unfortunately for him, there are a hell of a lot of righties around.

It's not like Hawkins is great but he's the closer for now. Therefore he plus Veras make two closers. Will that change? Hell, since closer is the most volatile position in all of baseball by an enormous long shot, yes I'd guess it will change. But JC only spent $6 on two closers making that potential outcome much more palatable.

Overall, if you're going to go into the season light on something I think going in light on pitching and steals is the way to go. It's infinitely easier to farm for pitchers (especially closers) than it is to unearth power hitters.

Agreed, but an honest assessment of this team has to state that it currently has to look for more pitching.

[Lucky]

Nice read, thanks.

I think they call this the Santana plan, with the single ace approach. I've used it in "only" leagues, but I'll be interested to watch and see how it plays out in a mixed league.

Good luck with some of those end game gambles!

[joncarlos]

Well the speed problem has been semi-addressed, I flipped Rendon for Altuve.

[chancellor]

Well the speed problem has been semi-addressed, I flipped Rendon for Altuve.

Nice! That's a great move for your team.

[joncarlos]

It's been an interesting month for my team.

I flipped Loney for Angel Pagan, who got off to a great start. Unfortunately my offense is "anchored" by Miggy and Cutch who have both been terrible. Oh, and Kyle Seager has been way worse, Hill has been bad, and Pence hasn't been great either. And my pitching has been (predictably) bad, even in spite of the great start that Latroy Hawkins got off to.

So then I traded prospect Robert Stephenson for Aoki and Mike Leake, and flipped Pagan for a $1 Jon Niese. We have an in-season cap, so some of these deals have put me over and forced me to keep some good talent on the bench.

At this point my pitching staff almost resembles a competent staff and I'm honestly a little more worried about my offense.

This morning's lineup looks like this:
C Castro/Yadi
CI Miggy, Moss, Uribe
MI Hanley, Altuve, Hill
OF Cutch, Pence, Brantley, Aoki, Parra
UT Seager

BN Markakis, Carp, Rutledge, Alcantara

SP Zimmermann, Gray, Niese, Eovaldi, Leake
RP Hawkins, Santos, Strop, Cody Allen

BN Hughes, Veras, Ottavino, Chris Withrow, Gausman, Heaney

[Mithrandir]

It's been an interesting month for my team.

I flipped Loney for Angel Pagan, who got off to a great start. Unfortunately my offense is "anchored" by Miggy and Cutch who have both been terrible. Oh, and Kyle Seager has been way worse, Hill has been bad, and Pence hasn't been great either. And my pitching has been (predictably) bad, even in spite of the great start that Latroy Hawkins got off to.

So then I traded prospect Robert Stephenson for Aoki and Mike Leake, and flipped Pagan for a $1 Jon Niese. We have an in-season cap, so some of these deals have put me over and forced me to keep some good talent on the bench.

At this point my pitching staff almost resembles a competent staff and I'm honestly a little more worried about my offense.

This morning's lineup looks like this:
C Castro/Yadi
CI Miggy, Moss, Uribe
MI Hanley, Altuve, Hill
OF Cutch, Pence, Brantley, Aoki, Parra
UT Seager

BN Markakis, Carp, Rutledge, Alcantara

SP Zimmermann, Gray, Niese, Eovaldi, Leake
RP Hawkins, Santos, Strop, Cody Allen

BN Hughes, Veras, Ottavino, Chris Withrow, Gausman, Heaney

Your hitting just has to pick up, right? I think you have a very solid chance at getting to the summit of Mt. PONY this year with that squad. Just need the big boys to play like big boys.