Rather than recap my entire rosters in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship, National League Tout Wars and Xperts Fantasy Leagues where I represent CREATiVESPORTS, instead I am going to recount some of my draft-day twists and turns, hoping you readers can relate to a glass half-empty view instead of the usual rosy assessments.
After all, you’d have to be pretty clueless not to have drafted a team that doesn’t come out projecting strongly in the standings based on whatever valuation system you had chosen. It is what happens during and after the draft that immediately changes things...
NFBC
Returning to the NFBC this March for the fifth consecutive season, I came into my draft in Orlando League 3 with a firm resolve. Gone would be the weak pitching staff that generally consisted of tenth-round and up picks. Instead, I would grab an ace, an anchor, in the first four rounds.
While I was not alone in this misfortune, disaster struck quickly. I had rostered Los Angeles Angels starter John Lackey in the fourth round. By the time the first break occurred after the tenth round of the draft a week ago last Saturday, I learned that Lackey had just been diagnosed with an injury. A strained triceps will keep him out until mid May. We are talking about a pitcher who had never missed a start in six previous MLB seasons!
Not appreciating the seriousness of the Lackey situation, I took what I thought was a small risk on his injured teammate Estaban Loaiza in the 14th round. Bad move. On Tuesday, we learned he had suffered a major setback and could be done for the season and perhaps his career. That puts two of my top four starters out before a single game had been played.
Sure, it can be overcome and alone, it wouldn’t have warranted an article. Even if we writers don’t often admit it, more often than not, tomes such as this are often therapeutic tonic to relieve local pain. There is more pain ahead.
http://www.fantasybaseballchampionship.com/home.asp
NL Tout Wars
In my fourth annual National League Tout Wars draft this past Saturday, I loaded up on pitching with an acknowledgement that I needed to minimize any mistakes with my offense. Getting speed was key to stretching my limited money as was selecting several players who would be unavailable to start the season and would be undervalued as a result.
One could assert that placing any hopes on the San Francisco Giants would be demonstrating questionable judgment. Yet, there is where I saw value. Spring stolen base sensation Eugenio Velez was quickly rostered onto my team for $7. Near the end game, I also picked up hobbled teammate Kevin Frandsen for $3 to fill my shortstop position initially. I figured that with his second base-shortstop eligibility, Frandsen might claim the at-bats if Velez flames out. For those precious ABs as well as position versatility, I probably would have selected utilityman Rich Aurilia, too, if I would have had the money.
Again, even before I returned home on Saturday, I learned more bad news. San Francisco had just claimed former Pirates infielder Jose Castillo off waivers from the Florida Marlins. The Giants assuming his salary of $850,000 meant he was going to stick even before what happened next.
It got worse. On Monday, Frandsen, testing his recovery from an Achilles injury in a minor league game, ruptured that tendon, putting his entire season in jeopardy. While I may be the first Tout player to exercise FAAB reclaim this year, I will lose my starting shortstop.
Two players I selected knowing they would be unavailable to start the season are outfielders Mike Cameron (25-game PED suspension) for $13 and Moises Alou (4-6 weeks due to a hernia) for $9. Short-term, along with a Frandsen replacement on the middle infield, I need a temporary outfielder plus a DH from my reserves immediately.
Therein lies the rub.
In my opinion, the most underrated aspect of Tout Wars is the reserve draft. Unlike the auction format of the main draft, the reserve rounds are a simple snake draft in which each of the 13 teams select six players.
Making matters more complicated is the fact that the order of the reserve draft is totally random and not predetermined. Names are simply drawn from a hat shortly before the reserve phase begins that morning.
The combination of this being an extremely deep draft (again, getting ABs is key) and my having two injured starters (turning to three) coming out of the gate, meant I was hoping and praying that I would get an early draw.
No such luck. Auctioneer and ringleader Ron Shandler pulled my name 12th out of 13.
Had I known that coming in, I may have taken one of Alou and Cameron, but probably not both.
As a result of my bad seed, here are the reserve pick outfielders I missed prior to my turn: Brandon Jones, Brian Barton, Angel Pagan and Josh Anderson, not to mention Kenny Lofton. Greg Dobbs or Damion Easley could have helped, too.
Instead, I was left with Gabe Gross, So Taguchi and Darin Erstad as the three reserve picks I have to play initially. (At least I drafted for position flexibility, which allows me to shift Mark Loretta from 1B to SS to cover for Frandsen.)
One small bit of good news is that Tout does have a disabled list, meaning I can park Alou there and FAAB a replacement. Since the Tout constitution does not state how players on the suspended list are handled, I asked for a ruling, requesting these players be handled the same as DLed ones.
If so, I could have stashed Cameron there, too, while picking up a replacement player. No luck. Unlike MLB, the Tout gods believe owners of bad behaving players should be punished, too. As a result, Cameron has to be one of my six reserve players until his suspension is served.
As an aside, let this be a reminder to you to not wait until a rules concern arises. Try to head off ambiguity by keeping your league constitution fresh at all times.
Needless to say, taking this all into consideration, I am going to have to be aggressive with my soon-to-be $103 FAAB dollars early this season and be ready for a lot of mixing and matching offensively. Our first FAAB period is this Friday and I will be ready!
Initial National League Tout Wars rosters can be seen at the link below. Weekly FAAB bidding occurs on Fridays, which allows you readers to see what we are up to each week a few days before your local transaction deadlines. Make sure you check it out regularly and avoid our mistakes!
http://www.toutwars.com/
XFL
I really enjoy competing in the XFL, Xperts Fantasy League, with many of the brightest analysts and writers in the game. It is a 5x5 mixed league with OBP replacing BA. We auction draft our 23-man roster in November face-to-face with no supporting materials – no paper or laptops – just what is in our heads, mano-a-mano.
It is a keeper league, with a 17-man snake reserve draft held just before the season. Future keeper prices of players originally taken in the reserve rounds grow at a slower rate than players drafted in any given year, $3 vs. $5, encouraging one to invest in the future. For example, I have David Wright at $13 this year, after being at $10 last. (He started at $1 his first year, then $4, then $7…) Obviously, Wright will be on my team for a long time, pending a late-season dump trade that is another feature common in this 15-team league.
Alex Patton recently penned a fine guest article at Shandler’s BaseballHQ site about the XFL here: http://www.baseballhq.com/free/free080307.shtml
Our reserve draft is tonight, Wednesday, March 26. I find this draft the most fascinating of any in which I compete. Do I go for it this season and select players who might put my team over the top this season or invest in a Rick Porcello who could be a star in two or three years?
There are plenty of very good players out there, including emerging outfielders like Michael Bourn, Adam Jones and Carlos Gomez along with four closers, including Kerry Wood. Like most, I try to walk the line between the present and the future in this draft. Yet some go in all the way.
Looking back at last year’s draft, Steve Moyer of Baseball Info Solutions went totally for prospects from the very first round. His initial three picks were Evan Longoria, Reid Brignac and Hunter Pence. He finished in 13th place last season. Yet, with a smart draft last fall and a stud prospect list, Steve has now positioned himself among the 2008 league contenders.
2007 XFL champion Doug Dennis took three MLB-ready pitching prospects in his first three rounds and they played a key role in his win – Phil Hughes, Tim Lincecum and Andrew Miller. Two of them are now $4 players for Dennis this season and the third was flipped in a trade during last season.
Guys, the rest of us took notice!
http://www.fantasyxperts.com/
Another draft tonight! I can’t wait. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to preparing…
Brian Walton’s work can also be found daily at stlcardinals.scout.com.