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This weekend marks the 26th straight year of the USA Today LABR League AL and NL Auction leagues. What first started as an idea by John Hunt to bring in 24 different industry writers into two separate auctions has blossomed into 25+ years of fun and good content.

I'm the last of the original participants who did the first AL-only auction on a phone. That's right, six hours of bidding on a phone for 276 different players followed by another hour-long reserve draft. It was fun but a bit torturous.

This weekend we'll assemble in Phoenix and draft at the Arizona News-Republic headquarters. The AL Auction is on Saturday at 5 pm PT and will be aired live on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio. The NL Auction is Sunday at 5 pm PT and will also be broadcast live on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio. The NFBC will be represented in both auctions by myself and NFBC Hall of Famer Shawn Childs.

We won the NL title in 2016, but weren't close last year. Two pitching staffs that were horrendous led to a pair of mid-level finishes. This year we need to make up for it with better players and a better strategy. I have a feeling that the stars 'n scrubs plan won't be going away, but the key is making sure our stars are stars and not scrubs like they were last year!! Let's see if we can do it.

With any luck, we'll feel good enough to post our lineups here on Sunday morning and Monday morning. Can't promise anything, but we'll try. We're going to hook up with some NFBC veterans over the weekend and certainly look forward to that. But most of all, I'm going to see sunshine and green grass for the first time since the Arizona Fall League in early November. Can't wait to see life again.

Wish us luck. The NFBC needs another LABR title this year and we'll try to bring it home.

Shawn and I have yet to win a LABR AL title with the stars 'n scrubs strategy, but we've been close enough times. You would expect nothing less from us again this year, although Shawn threw a twist into last night's plan by paying for a potential closer. It was the only time I gave Shawn the shakeoff, but he threw the fastball anyway. I hope it doesn't turn into a hanging curveball.

It was a very interesting AL auction because for the first time that I can ever remember the industry writers dove head first into starting pitching. It's as if the NFBC led this charge three years ago and the rest of the industry has come completely around to it in 2019. You are seeing it in industry drafts, industry rankings and now industry auctions. I'm sure it will be the same in tonight's LABR NL Auction.

Anyway, here's a look at our AL team:

C - Chance Sisco $3
C - James McCann $1
1B - Edwin Encarnacion $23
2B - Roughned Odor $24
SS - Carlos Correa $29
3B - Kyle Seager $15
MI -Dustin Pedroia $2
CI - Ronald Guzman $6
UT - Evan Gattis $1
OF - Mike Trout $45
OF - Eloy Jimenez $15
OF - Cristan Stewart $8
OF - Jorge Soler $9
OF - Austin Hays $1

P - Chris Sale $36
P - James Paxton $19
P - Drew Smyly $4
P - Ian Kennedy $1
P - Marco Estrada $1
P - Shelby Miller $1
P - Matt Festa $1
P - Matt Barnes $9

Reserves: Hanley Ramirez, Ryan Mountcastle, Taylor Ward, Addison Reed, Triston McKenzie, Jacoby Ellsbury

Whether you think the strategy was right or not, Shawn was determined to build the foundation around Trout, Sale, Correa, Odor and a second ace. The Twitter crowd didn't like Odor at $24, but second base is a tough position and there's a second half from last year that springs hope. We couldn't get a second ace, but Paxton fell to us at $19 and worked well. The $9 was meant to be for a third SP until Shawn went off the rails!! We'll see who closes in Boston, but it was an attempt to get a few Saves points.

Nobody left this auction with a pitching staff they were happy with, including us. The offense is solid, but we'll need to trade power for speed at some point in the season. A few teams overdid speed, so we're not alone there. I wasn't enamored with Encarnacion at $23 as we needed some speed later, but maybe that's the trade asset.

Let's see who Kansas City gets to replace Salvy Perez at Catcher. Maybe Gattis at $1 will pay off there. We also had the first pick of the Reserve Round and took Hanley with the hope for some at-bats over a prospect like Bo Bichette.

Post-draft predictions on different sites had us in the top half and as high as third, but again there will be some trading and free agent pickups needed from us and every other team in this league. But the base is there to be a factor.

Okay, have at it? What do you think? I'll follow with the top bids from this auction next.

Oh, the complete board can be found here: rtsports.com/labr-al-auction

Here's the top bids from the LABR AL Auction last night:

Mike Trout $45
Mookie Betts $44
Jose Ramirez $38
J.D. Martinez $38
Jose Altuve $36
Francisco Lindor $36
Alex Bregman $36
Chris Sale $36
Corey Kluber $34
Aaron Judge $34
Giancarlo Stanton $34
Justin Verlander $33
Gerrit Cole $33
Luis Severino $33
Whit Merrifield $31
Aldaberto Mondesi $30
Carlos Carrasco $30
Blake Snell $29

Gary Sanchez at $25 at what is now a horrendous position without Perez was interesting and Blake Treinen at $25 were interesting for sure. Craig Kimbrel was the fourth player nominated and he went for $11 to Steve Gardner with the hope that he returns to Boston or signs with someone like Minnesota. The odds, however, aren't in his favor.

Thoughts?