The Winner's Circle

[revo]

Winners check in!

[revo]

I won Hammer's 16-team HTH redraft league (OBP in place of BA) for the 4th time in my 11 years in the league.

I had a team I didn't feel great about after the draft, but ended up with the luck of the fantasy gods on my side. I didn't have any injuries until August, when Garrett Richards was lost for the year! That is stunning. I also had a few breakouts that helped my cause.

Roster:
C - Yan Gomes (claimed on waivers), Derek Norris
1B - Jose Bautista -- injury-free for the first time since 2010, gained 1B eligibility in early summer; James Loney (acquired for Dustin Ackley)
2B - Anthony Rendon -- major breakout
3B - Evan Longoria
SS - collection of mediocrities, led by Jonathan Villar, then waiver wire adds Eduardo Escobar, Didi Gregorius, and finally Joe Panik
MI - same collection as above, plus Brian Roberts
CI - Josh Donaldson
OF - Yasiel Puig
OF - Alex Gordon
OF - Brett Gardner - big power breakout
OF - Michael Brantley - huge breakout
DH - Chris Carter -- couldn't give him away, and I platooned him with Loney


P - Chris Sale
P - Jordan Zimmermann
P - Garrett Richards -- huge breakout (acquired in April for Matt Lindstrom!!)
P - Chris Archer
P - Tim Hudson -- big 1st half breakout
P - Drew Smyly -- big 2nd half breakout
CL1 - Glenn Perkins
CL2 - Francisco Rodriguez (claimed on waivers in April)

bench pitchers included - Jake McGee (claimed on waivers in July), Carlos Carrasco (claimed on waivers in August), Kevin Gausman, Trevor Bauer, Derek Holland (came up huge in September)


This was probably the best pitching staff I've ever assembled, and I got some major parts on waivers. Combine that with the lack of injuries, the luck of the waiver wire, and you have a title.

[TranaGreg]

I won my 30 year old AL league in a ridiculously close finish - I was following the last game on the west coast & tracking each at bat ... it wasn't until the 9th inning when I felt comfortable that he wouldn't make up 3 rbi.

4th win in 10 years after many years of 2nd & 3rd place finishes ... great way to go out as I decided earlier this year that this would be my final year - for a while, anyway.

[The Dane]

I won two titles this year, my 15th and 16th, I believe. (Not counting Yahoo or All-Free Agent leagues.) This was a good season, but I had never had so many obstacles to overcome in a couple of my leagues. I'm most proud of my lowest finishes. Strange.

12-team NL Champion. Was in the lead most of the season and unbroken from June. At one point, I had a 30 point lead, but it got whittled down to a mere 10 points by finish.
12-team NL Champion. I think I lead this league all except a couple of days, carried a 20-point lead all the way to the finish.
18-team Mixed 4th Place. This is the RJEL. I took second last year. I really did get hammered by injuries this year, losing Fielder and others. I'm happy to end where I did, and with still a decent keeper bunch for next year.
12-team NL 2nd Place. The guy in first was unreachable, so I didn't dump much. I'll be okay for next year.
12-team NL Ultra 6th Place. I was close to the last money spot, but slipped at the end. In this league, the first draft pick (it's an Ultra so DPs have a special value) goes to the first person out of the money and so, for the first time ever in my long fantasy baseball career, I will have the first pick in a draft next season. I'll likely trade it away because several owners in this league will give obscene amounts of value for the first pick. They are very weird that way, and it is my nature to capitalize whenever I can.

[Mithrandir]

Three peat in my 14 team mixed. I will have longer write up detailing the season if anyone wants to read it.

[Pogues]

Won a 10 team mixed H2H league. It was to be a keeper league (1st year) but apparently it was decided that's not going to happen.

I spent $60 on pitching, $68 on Trout and $54 on Cabrera. A bit of an imbalance there. I got real lucky (or was just damn good) with my pitching picks, as I finished the season with all the pitchers on my roster but two (Sabathia and Perkins...the latter I only dropped when he went out for the year).

Converting our league totals into Roto scoring, I won the league by 10.5, so the best team won...I guess?

[DMT]

12-team mixed 5x5 with OB & Slug replacing BA & HR. Took my 6th title in 12 years of our live auction era.

Here was my roster post-auction (keepers bolded).

C Castro 4
1B Goldschmidt 14
3B Beltre 29
CI Miggy 58
2B Kipnis 8
SS A Escobar 1
MI Schoop 1
OF Bautista 20
OF Marte 5
OF Holliday 36
OF Castellanos 5
OF Grossman 1
UT V Martinez 1 (I tried hard to deal him and thankfully no one was interested....easily my MVP)
P Darvish 18
P Strasburg 13
P Bailey 9
P Kazmir 11
P Porcello 1
P Skaggs 1
P Jansen 1
P Robertson 14
P Qualls 1
Res Gomes 2
Res Bryant 3
Res A Garcia 1
Res Taveras 1
Res Polanco 1

I had a great keeper list and I made up for a mediocre auction in the end-game by nabbing Escobar, Porcello, Taveras and Polanco for a buck each. I had some good early pick-ups like Mesoraco, Ozuna (who I dropped before he took off), Aybar (ditto), Paxton (who got hurt after a couple great starts), Lackey, and Jesse Chavez. I was a very active trader.

4/28 Traded Polanco & Castellano for Bruce & Ev Cabrera
6/6 Traded Taveras, Bruce, Bettances & Balfour for J Upton, Cuddyer, K-Rod & Grilli
6/8 Traded Grilli & Bauer for Street
6/30 Traded Jansen, Skaggs, Paxton, Holliday, B Miller & Willingham for Felix, Cespedes, Pedroia & A Reed
7/28 Traded Mesoraco, Lackey & Cuddyer for C Santana

I traded away some great keepers but I still feel pretty good about my keeper list for next year.

[Jefe]

I won the H2H portion of my 15-team mixed and came in 3rd in the overall points race, making me biggest money winner.

Team comparison, week 1 to week 26, keepers bolded:

C B McCann --- J Lucroy
1B C Santana --- C Santana
2B H Kendrick --- H Kendrick
3B E Encarncion --- E Encarncion
SS J Lowrie --- J Reyes
LF C Gonzalez --- J Harrison
CF C Gomez --- J Bautista
RF M Cuddyer --- M Cuddyer
DH J Willingham --- Y Cespedes

SP D Price --- D Price
SP J Shields --- J Shields
SP A Sanchez --- M Scherzer
SP M Buehrle --- J Locke
SP W Miley --- W Miley

RP S Santos --- P Neshek
RP S Doolittle ---- S Doolittle

Adam Laroche spent a lot of time in my starting lineup, too. I'll be hesitant to spend any money on CarGo again, that's for sure.

[Sharky]

NL-only 12 team 5x5 keeper league 2014 champ. Now have 2 titles, 2 Second place finishes in 10 years of the league. Not bad considering how willing teams are to "burn it all down" for a title.

My starting roster (keepers in bold)
C Wilson Ramos $10
C Brayan Pena 1
1B Adrian Gonzalez $37
2B Neil Walker $20
SS Ian Desmond $19
3B Nolan Arenado $8
MI Martin Prado $22
CI Juan Uribe $6
OF Carlos Gomez $12
OF Mark Trumbo $29
OF Andre Ethier $10
OF Joc Pederson $8
OF Chris Heisey $1
UT Casey McGehee $2
P Kenley Jansen $11
P Michael Wacha $5
P Bobby Parnell $1
P Hyun-Jin Ryu $20
P Doug Fister $15
P Carlos Torres $1
P Ervin Santana $15
P Rafael Montero $1
P Tanner Roark $1

Some very good keepers to start, which didn't hurt. Some excellent auction buys (Roark $1, McGehee $2), some"overpays" that proved very productive (Adrian Gonzalez $37, Neil Walker at $20), and a few duds (Trumbo $29, Prado $22). But on balance I think it was a strong auction.

Just before the auction, I dealt Samardzija and Harvey for Bobby Parnell (got one bad inning from Parnell before Tommy John). That hurt!

Dealt Arenado in a package for Rizzo. Then flipped Rizzo and Wacha for Dee Gordon late in the season (Gordon was still huge for SB). Trades helped, but on balance trades didn't make the difference.

Health is always huge. If you catch a break there, it makes up for a lot.

Thank you to the 'pen for input along the way!

[Sour Masher]

I won my 16 team mixed points league, and more importantly became a dad for the first time over the weekend too! He came 6 weeks early, and we had to leave him in the NICU when we discharged today, which sucks, but he is doing great. I guess he wanted to make it into the world to see Derek Jeter's last game, or Zimmerman's no hitter...IDK. Off to go back to visit him.

[Gregg]

12-team mixed 5x5 with OB & Slug replacing BA & HR. Took my 6th title in 12 years of our live auction era.

Here was my roster post-auction (keepers bolded).

C Castro 4
1B Goldschmidt 14
3B Beltre 29
CI Miggy 58
2B Kipnis 8
SS A Escobar 1
MI Schoop 1
OF Bautista 20
OF Marte 5
OF Holliday 36
OF Castellanos 5
OF Grossman 1
UT V Martinez 1 (I tried hard to deal him and thankfully no one was interested....easily my MVP)
P Darvish 18
P Strasburg 13
P Bailey 9
P Kazmir 11
P Porcello 1
P Skaggs 1
P Jansen 1
P Robertson 14
P Qualls 1
Res Gomes 2
Res Bryant 3
Res A Garcia 1
Res Taveras 1
Res Polanco 1

I had a great keeper list and I made up for a mediocre auction in the end-game by nabbing Escobar, Porcello, Taveras and Polanco for a buck each. I had some good early pick-ups like Mesoraco, Ozuna (who I dropped before he took off), Aybar (ditto), Paxton (who got hurt after a couple great starts), Lackey, and Jesse Chavez. I was a very active trader.

4/28 Traded Polanco & Castellano for Bruce & Ev Cabrera
6/6 Traded Taveras, Bruce, Bettances & Balfour for J Upton, Cuddyer, K-Rod & Grilli
6/8 Traded Grilli & Bauer for Street
6/30 Traded Jansen, Skaggs, Paxton, Holliday, B Miller & Willingham for Felix, Cespedes, Pedroia & A Reed
7/28 Traded Mesoraco, Lackey & Cuddyer for C Santana

I traded away some great keepers but I still feel pretty good about my keeper list for next year.

Congrats on the win!

[Gregg]

I won my 16 team mixed points league, and more importantly became a dad for the first time over the weekend too! He came 6 weeks early, and we had to leave him in the NICU when we discharged today, which sucks, but he is doing great. I guess he wanted to make it into the world to see Derek Jeter's last game, or Zimmerman's no hitter...IDK. Off to go back to visit him.

Wow congrats on the biggest news a man can have! And the birth of your first son too.

All kidding aside, great news DAD! Glad to hear he is doing well. What are you a Mrs. Sour Masher going to name him?

[revo]

I won my 16 team mixed points league, and more importantly became a dad for the first time over the weekend too! He came 6 weeks early, and we had to leave him in the NICU when we discharged today, which sucks, but he is doing great. I guess he wanted to make it into the world to see Derek Jeter's last game, or Zimmerman's no hitter...IDK. Off to go back to visit him.

Congrats on both accounts!!

[mjl]

RJEL (18-team mixed): first place. I was in a tight race with Strikers (who I am embarrassed to admit I am not sure which RJ'er that is) for about a month and then the dam burst around the beginning of August and I pulled way ahead. I'm pleased with how my team looks for next year too - I probably have too many major league keeper-quality players right now, partly because I had a couple trades where I got throw-ins that turned out to look very good later ($5 Duda, $4 DHolland). I have almost no minors though.

[overkill94]

11-team NL-only keeper league with a couple RJ folk (GladHeAteHer and tinitoys). 2nd title in the last 3 years, pretty nice payout. Already talked about it in one of the other threads, but here it is again:

"Ended up pulling off the title 88.5-84. My excellent starting pitching (Kershaw, Cueto, and Zimmerman primarily) led to 50 pitching points while a 2nd place finish in steals (thanks to Revere, Rollins, JHay, Heyward, and Wong) buoyed an otherwise mediocre offense dragged down by some overpaid "stars" (Bruce mostly). It looked to be in the bag when I had a 10+ point lead a couple weeks ago but my hitting completely tanked, losing me a handful of points in OBP, and Soriano lost the closer gig which also cost me a couple points.

Anyway, it was a gratifying season and I still have some good keepers going into next year since I didn't really have to make any blockbuster deals (only dealt away Archie Bradley and Matt Wisler). It's been a long time since this league has had a back-to-back winner (if ever, I've only been in it 8 years) but with some savvy drafting hopefully I can do it!"

I'll still have Kershaw for one more year and Cueto was a draftee at a mere $10 so they'll be $50 worth of anchors. Zimmermann was in his last year and I could use my discount on him (minus $3 of the final price) but I'm guessing he'll go for $30+ and I don't want to use up that much of my budget on pitching. Hitting as always will be tough, especially since I don't have any stud keepers, just a lot of cheap young talent (Wong, Ozuna, JHay, Lamb) so hopefully my big money draftees will work out better this year.

Congrats to all the other winners!