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Thursday, March 28, 2024

This week, I attended three different auction drafts for AL/NL keeper leagues, and while a recap of every single player might bore both of us, I think the highlights and observations might be useful to those of you who play in these formats (and if you don’t now, you should try and do so next year as they are, in my opinion, the best types of fantasy baseball leagues).

For those of you who are asking about the drafts being after opening day, it is really the only good option for keeper leagues because everyone needs to know which players made ML opening day rosters and which players are still minor leaguers. It is also very important to know which players started the season on the DL.

Tuesday was the draft for my AL keeper league, which is based in Los Angeles, where I lived before I moved to Arizona (so I could have baseball ten months a year). The Great American Rotisseleague (GAR) held its 28th auction at Taix Restaurant in Los Angeles and welcomed three new teams, as we not only had to replace two owners, whose business schedules forced them to make a tough choice, but also deal with the arrival of the Houston Astros in the American League. Those three teams drafted from the two existing rosters, both of which were in contention all year long, and in addition we gave them the benefit or rolling back any D11 players to D12 so they would not have to make any long-term contracts in their first year and would have the players for at least two seasons. If they drafted D12 players or players already contracted, those would not change. This innovative option gave them all different paths to be competitive in their first year or build their roster for future seasons and did not disrupt the rosters of the existing eight owners.

The league plays much deeper than most AL-only leagues because in addition to very deep (unlimited as long as you are willing to pay $5 for each retained player) minor league FARM rosters, we allow each team to draft three reserves after the auction. These players, which salary/contract wise are equal to any other free agents, can replace players who started the year on the disabled or suspended lists or just have some replacements as the league does not start the FAAB process until after the second week of the season.

Okay, you want to know the high bids. First remember that, as in most keeper leagues drafts, inflation is very high (this year almost thirty percent in the GAR) and secondly that many stars – Miguel Cabrera (52D11), Justin Verlander (37D11), Prince Fielder (51D12), and Josh Hamilton (42D12) to name a few were kept. I thought going into the auction that Albert Pujols, Robinson Cano, Adrian Beltre, Jose Reyes, and Jacoby Ellsbury would fetch the highest prices and fully expected both Cano and Reyes to go for $50 or more. There were also two other very good second basemen – Ian Kinsler and Dustin Pedroia – in the auction as well as SP Jered Weaver and AL newcomer Michael Bourn.

Cano in fact did go for $50 (to the league’s defending champion who had him last year and returned with a very good keeper list). Reyes fell just short, the gavel ending at $48. I wasn’t surprised by Pujols fetching $45 despite some tarnish last year and this spring to the future HOF, but the surprise of the night was Weaver also going for $45 – and to the same team that rostered Reyes and also spent $41 for Pedroia. Good thing he entered the auction with $215 to spend.

I purchased Beltre for $45, and I’m glad I didn’t have to go higher for him, which I thought I should have. Both Kinsler and Ellsbury went for $39 while Bourn and Shane Victorino both fetched $37. The next highest price for a pitcher was $33 for R.A. Dickey.

On Wednesday night, the Splendid Splinter NL keeper league held its auction. I am unsure exactly when this “sister” league first drafted. I think it was a year or two after I started the GAR, and almost half the teams still playing were the original members of both leagues, so it is always a competitively edged but fun night of getting back together, and there are still barbs from the previous evening to deal with.

I don’t have all the prices from that auction but I can tell you what the top hitters available went for – Matt Kemp went for $48, Joey Votto for $47, and Troy Tulowitzki for $46. The elite starting pitchers were also in demand – Clayton Kershaw went for $44 while Matt Cain was rostered for $36 and Cliff Lee for $34.

There were two extremely good freeze lists in that league, so I was taking my rebuilding chips into their second year and hoping to add enough talent to finish in the money this year. Things went well for most of the auction, although that is a story for another day, but unraveled slightly this week as my new $33 third baseman, Aramis Ramirez was placed on the DL, hopefully for just a few weeks.

On Saturday, I auctioned the 30th auction draft for the Bowling Rotisserie League commissioned by Mastersball’s Don Drooker. Don has an excellent group - three who have been in the league the entire time and one who joined in the second year. Fatherhood, children, work and other things conspire against us keeping leagues together over time, so that is an even more remarkable achievement. $44 was the high bid in that league and fetched both Carlos Gonzalez and Joey Votto for different owners.

The Bowler’s league (originally all the participants were at least tangentially in the bowling business, now I doubt any are) didn’t have the inflation of the Splinter, so it was interesting that the Ginkos paid the same $22 for the Brewers’ shortstop on Saturday afternoon as I had paid on Wednesday night. But Don’s league is an original Rotisserie Baseball Handbook league, so in a 4X4 league the Old Duck had to pay $36 for Rafael Soriano while I got him for $21 earlier in the week in a 5X5 league.

At all three drafts, there was the added complexity and nuances that make auction leagues so much the better rotisserie experience as well as the elements added by keeper leagues over redraft leagues. But one thing remained constant in all three places – a great camaraderie built by years of friendly competition.{jcomments on}