Last week I gave you my thoughts on my freeze list heading into the XFL auction draft last Friday at First Pitch AZ in Phoenix Arizona. So did I turn that list into a contending team? You tell me….here are the players I bought and thoughts about the auction in general.
I had $108 in the auction to buy
As expected I had to wait a while to make my first purchase – there were eight teams with $130 plus and four of them had more than $160 – and there were some highly prized free agents like Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, Ryan Zimmerman, and pitchers Roy Halladay and C.C. Sabathia. Pujols went for $66, Holliday 40, Zimmerman 39 (I was in until the mid-30s); Halladay cost 42 and Sabathia surprisingly only 27.
I wanted to start the afternoon with Mike Napoli but while I think he will have more at bats and thus possibly more RBI and Runs, likely a much lower OBA and surrendered to Rotowire’s Jeff Erickson when he continued beyond Napoli’s earning this year and spent $29 to roster him. So my first opportunity came when Alex Rodriguez was finally nominated. How much would this astute group discount the injury plagued 2011 season? I was surprised (would said pleasantly but that will be a function of ARod’s 2012 season) to roster him at $29. When you need to take some chances this is the type of bet to place. If ARod rebounds he will earn a profit and in this league would be eminently keepable at $34 maybe even a third year.
The good catchers were expensive and even though I was willing to spend at that position, I felt Napoli (29), Brian McCann (25), Victor Martinez (24), Miguel Montero (24?), and Chris Iannetta (15) were overvalued by my opponents, so I settled for Russell Martin at $8. Martin should easily earn that and can bring home a profit even if he gets fewer AB in 2012.
I was happier when I rostered Adam Jones at $21. While that might be slightly over actual earned dollars he could take another step up next year and even a repeat of 2011 adds 20+ HR, double digit SB, and an OBA of almost .320 to my team.
Asdrubal Cabrera wasn’t my first choice for a MI, but Jose Reyes at $38 was a bet I didn’t want to make and Chase Utley went for $26, so when AsCab was nominated I was interested. No, I don’t think he will repeat all last year’s numbers or earn the $24 I paid for him but the drop to the level of Jeter, Peralta, Furcal, and Aybar wasn’t where I wanted to settle AND you have to use your available funds where you can before the auction gets to the point of several players having more money than there is value and you are trying to compete with less (trust me I thought that might happen and it did).
In the mid auction, I was very glad to roster Michael Cuddyer (regardless of where he signs) for just $11 and Ivan Nova for $6 (as I think any Yankee SP who can go six inning most outing has added value and Nova certainly had a promising second half of the season.
The end game was bargain city. Who knew there were two teams who would not use a significant portion of their dollars? Plus several other owners would have different targets in a rich environment than I had my sights set on. I really like Pittsburgh outfielder Alex Pressley – he was very impressive in his debut last season and if not for the injury which cost him several weeks and AB he would have been more attractive. So roster him for a dollar in a keeper league was, at least in my opinion, a plus. I didn’t need to roster saves with Jonathan Papelbon and Heath Bell on my roster but a cheap potential closer would have significant value and while I don’t see Atlanta’s Craig Kimbrel losing his job any time in the near future, Jonny Venters has a ton of REAL value on that team. Venters had six wins and five saves with a great ERA and WHIP (1.84 and 1.09), but the 96 strikeouts in 81 innings is a very big plus and I believe Todd had him valued at $8 for last year. That will be a very nice profit on my $2 purchase with great upside.
I had a handful of names of starting pitchers who I think have very good situations for next year that I would be able to get for a dollar or two. Assuming the Kansas City Royals are smart enough (yeah I know that is not guaranteed) to put RHP Aaron Crow into the rotation in March I think he will have success so I was glad to roster him even if I was force to pay $4 and I had the money.
That brings me to a final thought from the XFL auction that might help you in leagues where you have an in season salary cap that you might well go up against. If the end game targets you have get very cheap and you would have paid $5 but got the targeted player (a real target – not just a player you like and overpaid for) for a dollar or two, you didn’t necessarily waste the three dollars you left on the table – you will have that much more room if you trade up and near the cap. Please note I am in no way suggesting you did well to leave double digit dollars on the table by misjudging the auction. Hopefully you see the difference.
We will revisit my XFL roster when the supplemental draft arrives in early March.{jcomments on}