If you read my Mastersblog post about my American League LABR auction over the weekend, you may have sensed that all did not go according to plan.
And that is true but only to a point. After leaving my 20-20 strategy to get Kevin Youkilis to anchor my hitting and corner infield, I did a pretty good job of acquiring a lot of talent for twenty and teen investments. The most important thing was that all of them had room for growth (in their projected stats/values) and thus could add profit.
Two thirds of the way through the draft, I had the following players rostered:
Hitters
- Kevin Youkilis ($33)
- Alexei Ramirez ($22)
- Ben Zobrist ($20)
- Mike Napoli ($20)
- Austin Jackson ($18)
- Curtis Granderson ($20)
- Daric Barton ($13)
- Juan Rivera ($10)
Pitchers
- Neftali Feliz ($21)
- Jose Valverde ($15)
- Jeremy Hellickson ($13)
- Brian Duensing ($8)
Putting Zobrist at second would give me two-thirds each of my middle and corner spots handled, one of my good catchers, and three very nice outfielders. I have more power than it appears at first blush and good run and stolen base product. On the pitching side, Feliz is really a wild card at this point: Will he be a top AL starting pitcher, or one of the best closers? Irrespective, I have two good starters to two closers,or three good starters and just one closer.
Then the tough part came. I had a solid target list for the corner/middle infielde spots and decided my third base target would be Kansas City’s Mike Moustakas. Unfortunately I waited a little too long to grab a middle infielder early enough to clarify that picture, and when J.J. Hardy went for $18 (not that everyone agrees that he will be a great rebound target, just that he was far and away the best shortstop at that point in the auction) I was forced to do battle with the dark grey side and go to $14 for the Twins Alexi Casilla. But, at least Casilla has both second and shortstop eligibility, and finally the chance to be a full time player in Minnesota this year. And that could lead to plenty of stolen bases.
When Moustakas came up he was unbeknownst to me the primary target for Lawr. While he was outbid when the NFBC team of Greg Ambrosius and Shawn Childs decided to go to a dollar per player for the rest of the draft by bidding $13, I had a quandary. Do I go to $14 and win the player? If so, I will be crippled on adding better players for the remainder of the auction. Ultimately for me this decision was based on the fact that I don’t think "MooseTacos" will be the starting third baseman on Opening Day (if he was an everyday player Moustakas probably wouldn’t have still been available, but then I would have gone the extra dollar or two.
Unfortunately all this meant there was no good third baseman left to draft.
Enter Plan B – and while not centered on third base specifically it did include a hopeful there. What I decided to do was upgrade my reserve roster during the auction. Now I know this may not be legal in your league but under LABR rules I could buy minor league players in the auction. True, I could hope to get some in the six round reserve draft but everyone would be looking for those same players. I had enough dollars to adequately fill out my pitching staff and still get two or three very good minor league players that I believe will contribute this season. And contributing will be the key. As an aside for this type of team or plan, while Mike Trout the young Angels phenom may be a far more valuable fantasy player to own over the next three to five to ten years, I doubt he will get anywhere near the at bats in 2011 that Moustakas or Dustin Ackley or others will. And 2011 production is all you are interested in for redraft leagues.
So I got Ackley for $7 – I can move Zobrist to the OF when the young Mariner arrives.
I bought Lonnie Chisenhall who has been absolutely scorching the ball so far in spring training as a third baseman. Sadly the Indians are so confused about whether to fish or cut bait that they spent millions on Orlando Cabrera and are playing him out of position instead of letting one of their good young prospects get the at bats. So, I don’t think Chisenhall will be in Cleveland on opening day – I just hope he is up by June. And really that is my view with all three of the minor leaguers in my lineup – I don’t need all of them to play this year. I don’t need any one of them to play all year. I need two of them to be up by June and play well (or some combination that exceeds that stat wise).
So here is the team:
C – Mike Napoli and Yorvit Torrealba (better than most teams at catcher)
CI – Kevin Youkilis, Lonnie Chisenhall, & Daric Barton (with Andy LaRoche up for Chisenhall in March)
MI – Alexi Casilla, Alexi Ramirez, and Dustin Ackley (with Wil Rhymes or Luis Valbuena in for Ackley to start)
OF – Austin Jackson, Curtis Granderson, Ben Zobrist, Juan Rivera, and Nolan Reimold (or Jarrod Dyson)
DH – Eric Hosmer (with a reserve taking his place until then)
SP – Jeremy Hellickson, Brian Duensing, Brad Penny, Ivan Nova, Bartolo Colon, and Mike Montgomery (for now)
SP/RP? - Neftali Feliz
RP – Jose Valverde and Joaquin Benoit
Drafted reserves were – Andy LaRoche (3B/OAK), Wil Rhymes (2B/DET), Luis Valbuena (2B/CLE), Jarrod Dyson (OF/KC), Sergio Santos (RP/CWS), and Eric Hurley (SP/TEX).
On Opening Day, I have all the slots covered. If Hurley doesn’t win a spot in the Rangers rotation he will be dropped for another pitcher. Similarly if Dyson doesn’t open with the Royals he will likely be dropped for a more useful hitter or pitcher. I really only need one of Nova or BFB Colon (yes I was severely reprimanded during the auction for just saying “Colon for $1” instead of using the full handle of Big Fat Bartolo--otoh he has pitched well so far – and yes I know it’s only March, but any starter with the Yankee offense behind him is a plus in AL only leagues). And if Colon doesn’t make the team he is another easy drop.
And then I just wait for my young guns to arrive – and hopefully have the team in contention for them to help with. At least that was my plan Saturday and I still think it has a solid chance today.
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