Anatomy of An Auction

[76erfan]

Friday night was super auction in NYC and I shared the team with fellow auction addict Mike Edelman. We were the last team to grab a player..and there were some nervous moments early on but we got some good discounts I think as we thought the prices were high early on. I do like the team alot but batting average is probably a problem. Mike sat with me for a few hours but then moved over to the MTM super so I finished up on my own. Here is what we came up with...we werent looking for CarGo but at 16 we liked it alot. WE didnt go top tier at SP at all...got mid tier but felt we were able to afford several midtier guys and like the depth. I/Mike usually never spend big money on a closer but we decided to spend less on 2B and more on an elite closer just to try something different. Ended up good but Mike was still disappointed not to get Dozier at the time.

C Flowers 2
C Chirinos 2
1B Fielder 22
2B N.Walker 10
SS Rollins 11
3B Longoria 18
CI Pearce 8
MI A.Escobar 11
U Utley 7
OF C.Gonzalez 16
OF Cespedes 21
OF Bruce 16
OF A.Gordon 9
OF A.Jackson 9

SP Gray 16
SP Shields 17
SP Lynn 12
SP T.Walker 14
SP Quintana 9
SP Garza 2
SP B.Anderson 2
RP Papelbon 8
RP G.Holland 18

Reserve round..went after upside guys with Peraza, Solarte(replaced in FAAB with Locke), Marisnick, Tim Hudson, Ottavino, McAllister and Gray.

Thoughts?

[76erfan]

saturday night closed out the auction weekend and we finished in time to see the end of wisconsin beating kentucky which was nice. GO WISCONSIN TONIGHT!

this one i drafted solo and decided i wanted to do some things different .....wasnt sure what but wanted to see what the auction gave me....ended up heavy in SP which was fine....because i backfilled offense enough to be competitive i thought. I really didnt see rollins or alcides escobar going for less than 10 and they did so if i could have a do over i would have grabbed one of them over andrelton simmons and probably woulda gone after Brett Lawrie instead of Matt Carpenter.

Anyway..still pretty happy..here it is

C Montero 4
C Ruiz 2
1B Rizzo 28
2B D.Gordon 20
SS Simmons 3
3B Carpenter 10
CI Lind 5
MI Odor 7
U R.Howard 2
OF J.Upton 23
OF Bruce 16
OF K.Davis 13
OF Cain 7
OF Pearce 4

SP Price 28
SP Bumgarner 24
SP Zimmermann 23
SP Latos 6
SP S.Miller 5
SP Duffy 5
RP S.Casilla 5
RP Rodney 10
RP Street 10

reserve rounds....Ike Davis, JJ Hardy, Middlebrooks, Jay, Worley(replaced by faab with Locke), McAllister, H.Alvarez

love love the pitching staff....hoping I have enough power on offense.......can always plug in Hardy at SS instead of Simmons at times if needed I guess.

[mlbbug]

saturday night closed out the auction weekend and we finished in time to see the end of wisconsin beating kentucky which was nice. GO WISCONSIN TONIGHT!

this one i drafted solo and decided i wanted to do some things different .....wasnt sure what but wanted to see what the auction gave me....ended up heavy in SP which was fine....because i backfilled offense enough to be competitive i thought. I really didnt see rollins or alcides escobar going for less than 10 and they did so if i could have a do over i would have grabbed one of them over andrelton simmons and probably woulda gone after Brett Lawrie instead of Matt Carpenter.

Anyway..still pretty happy..here it is

C Montero 4
C Ruiz 2
1B Rizzo 28
2B D.Gordon 20
SS Simmons 3
3B Carpenter 10
CI Lind 5
MI Odor 7
U R.Howard 2
OF J.Upton 23
OF Bruce 16
OF K.Davis 13
OF Cain 7
OF Pearce 4

SP Price 28
SP Bumgarner 24
SP Zimmermann 23
SP Latos 6
SP S.Miller 5
SP Duffy 5
RP S.Casilla 5
RP Rodney 10
RP Street 10

reserve rounds....Ike Davis, JJ Hardy, Middlebrooks, Jay, Worley(replaced by faab with Locke), McAllister, H.Alvarez

love love the pitching staff....hoping I have enough power on offense.......can always plug in Hardy at SS instead of Simmons at times if needed I guess.

Andy, wishing that I would have been more forceful in bidding on top SP's in that auction.I will be relying heavily on my $200 offense to keep me competitive in this league. I should have bid more aggressively for Jason Grilli in the first FAAB as I needed to get that 3rd closer. Sure hope that Romo wins the closer role back from Casilla at some point later this year. You got a nice boost from Price in his first start. Your staff should keep you at the top of Wins and K's and also have great ratios too. Good luck this year.

[ALL-IN JD]

Before diving into my Diamond Auction team (with Mike Edelman as my partner) I just wanted to say that for those who have never done an NFBC live auction you don't know what you are missing, especially with the new draft boards. Simply awesome!! There is nothing like the rush of an auction. It is extremely strategic and unlike snake drafts with KDS (and all the complaints of getting a crappy draft spots) if you want Trout, Kershaw or any one else all you have to do is bid $1 more than someone else. I hope the NFBC Auction Championship takes another step forward next year.

On to the team. I have a different strategy than most as I do my best to not spend over $20 on any player. Of course sometimes I let my hair down and exceed that number! I spread the dollars around and many times I unfortunately leave money on the table (sometimes because of waiting to long to jump in and sometimes because of perceived bargains). It's a tough strategy to execute as you need to be BEYOND patient. I usually spend the first 90 minutes drafting maybe a player or two. I really like the Diamond Auction team but the league was stacked with great owners so the league will be ultra competitive and difficult to win. Three teams punted saves so it even made the draft more interesting Can't wait for tomorrow and opening day!!

Catchers:

Travis D'Arnaud ($9) - One of the catchers I have targeted often this year. I expect 20 homers and hope he can up his average.
Matt Wieters - ($5) - Definitely a high risk/ high reward pick. Decided to pay the $5 and hope he is good to go by the end of April. Will pickup a catcher Sunday to replace him

1B:

Morse ($5) - As i did not pull the trigger on Belt, Adams or Hosmer I felt fortunate to get Morse at $5. He is hitting in the middle of a very good lineup and if he can stay on the field should go 20-75. Felt there was definite profit there at $5

2B:

Utley ($10) -Targeted Kinsler and Dozier but they went for $19 and $23 respectively. $10 was more than I wanted to spend on Utley but he definitely looks good so far this spring so I am hoping to coax a solid year out of Utley. Definite injury risk though

SS:

Alexei Ramirez ($15) - Rock solid SS at a very reasonable price. Very good lineup, very good hitters park and offers a nice combo of speed/power with solid BA. Targeted him often as I he fits my plan.

3B:

Kyle Seager ($20) - Wanted to get either Frazier or Seager at $20 or less so mission accomplished. Seager had a really solid season and offers a nice power/speed combo from a corner position.

MI:

Marcus Semien ($17) - He was our last player and had money left hence the $17. He probably would have gone in the 5-7 dollar range so $10-12 what was left over. Oakland is a tough pitcher's park but Semien has the every day job and offers that power/speed combo that I look for. BA could be a drag but still offers nice upside

CI:

Manny Machado ($12) - Can't seem to shake my love for Machado. He really hurt me last year but was excellent when he came back from his first injury (until he got hurt again). Even with his injury risk I like him better than Sandoval and Wright who both went for more

OF:

Cespedes ($21) - Was looking for a power bat in the $20 range and was very happy to land Cespedes. Great lineup in a great hitters park. Should get 30 homers and 90 RBI (hoping for even better)
Joc Pederson ($15) - Could run away with rookie of the year or could greatly disappoint. Definitely had to pay for his upside. Tough pitchers park but outstanding lineup. He sure raked at AAA and this spring so the power/speed combo he offers is very appealing.
Rusney Castillo ($10) - Banking on that Cuban pedigree, Puig, Abreu and now hopefully Castillo. Will back fill him for the first few weeks but I am certainly expecting much more than $10 in stats
Avasail Garcia ($11) - I usually stay away from guys that burned me the year before but this guy can rake if he can stay on the field. I think it was a fair price for him
Mike Cuddyer ($10) - Continuing the theme of "if he can stay on the field" I always seem to be chasing BA and even if Cuddyer loses 20-30 points off of his average from last year he is still a .300 hitter with plenty of pop
Pompey ($7) - Needed speed and Pompey more than fits the bill. He will be playing everyday at the top of a strong lineup and can even hit 10-12 homers, so definitely not a Judy.

Pitchers:

Wainwright ($18) - Looking for an ace in the $18-20 range and settled on Wainwright. He is a bulldog and should certainly deliver across the board
Pineda ($13) - I am very high on Pineda and have him A LOT. I know he is a bit of injury risk but they way he pitched last year and this spring he looks like a strong number two
Ventura ($12) - A solid number three with a ton of upside. K's and W's should be very solid but do worry about the WHIP
Weaver ($11) - Looks like a rock solid number four. Numbers should be solid across the board
T. Walker ($12) - I am ALL IN in on Walker. He was my breakout pitcher early on and unfortunately his big spring had him zooming up draft boards. Great stuff, great pitchers park, looking forward to see what he does this year.
Archer ($7) - Can do a heck of a lot worse than Archer as a number six starter. Offers quite a bit of upside and would expect a very solid season from him
Britton ($9) - I love Britton. He was tremendous last year and I have no reason to think he will not be just as effective this year. I think he is a steal at $9
Casilla ($6) - Another closer I really like. I know all about Romo but Casilla was lights out in the playoffs and World Series and the giants play a ton of one run games. Another steal at $6
Feliz ($5) - For what I paid I can live with him as a third closer, Rangers may not win much but if Feliz has his velocity back he should be miore than good as a third closer

Bench:

Bradley and Warren - Definitely two plus bench pitchers with oodles of upside
Swiher and Ike Davis - Potential power bats off the bench
Swihart - Callup in June/July?
Peraza - Will hold him as long as I don't need the roster spot
Ackley - Will probably back fill Castillo with him for the first few weeks.

All in all I really like the team. Probably missed out on a few guys but overall a very good team with a tremendous amount of upside. The pitching should garner a lot of points so winning will come down to how well the offense performs.

Thankfully the first week of carnage is in the books!! Amazingly I lost zero closers which is an accomplishment by itself. That being said it was uneven week. I knew that pitching HAD to lead this team to victory and with Weaver and Walker having a rough first week I was happy with how the week turned out, all things considered.

The offense, now that's another story. Cuddyer. Pompey and Pederson are showing signs of life but much of the team doesn't have much of a pulse yet. Then again it is only one week into the season so it's safe to say that time is on my side.

This week I took a flier on Tim Beckham and Yonder Alonso and jettisoned a powerless Bethancourt behind the plate for Roberto Perez (who can't provide less pop). On the pitching front decided to move Bradley in for a start and went two closers (sat Feliz) in Casilla and Britton, who can still get 4-6 saves if the opportunities are there.

Good luck this week to everyone, actually good health to everyone this week!!

[Doctor Who]

That's when you know you are spoiled with closers... When you decide to sit one week 2 of the season!!!!!

[ALL-IN JD]

That's when you know you are spoiled with closers... When you decide to sit one week 2 of the season!!!!!

More like a hunch! I figured as bad as the Rangers are they could easily go winless for the week so sitting Feliz wouldn't be a killer!!

[ALL-IN JD]

What an ugly first four weeks! Have to keep saying it's a marathon not a sprint. If only I believe that!

Adam Wainwright going down was crushing to say the least. Went out and got Jesse Chavez for $124 to fill his spot. He could/should be solid but he is certainly no Waino. Archer, Ventura, Bradley and T. Walker will now have to carry the load. Time to see just how far "upside" can take a team. Oh yeah, amazingly, one month in and I STILL have three closers on my team. Haven't stubbed a toe or lost their job yet!

Offense continues to struggle mightily but with 93 points overall I certainly think that my fortunes can change in a hurry. To make matters worse is Pederson, Pompey and Semien all hitting 8th or 9th in the lineup. Rusney Castillo can hopefully get healthy soon and Wieters and D'Arnaud could certainl provide a shot in the arm. Then again AJ Pierzinski has been mashing!! Drank the Hecchevaria Kool Aid this week and plugged him right in the lineup. Hoping guys like Cespedes, Seager, Utley and Machado start to pick it up this week. Still 22 weeks to go (at least I will keep telling myself that).