Auction Leagues | Fantasy Baseball Tools

2010 Fantasy Baseball Auctions – Determining Inflation

Posted by Todd Lammi on April 1st, 2010

One of the questions that people seem to have in relation to fantasy baseball auction leagues is how to calculate inflation. In an auction keeper league, it is very important to understand how to do this with so many players kept for under what their true dollar value is. If you use standard auction cheat sheets for your draft, you are going to miss out on quite a few players because they will go for higher dollar values than what you were expecting them to.

Here is a look at a method for calculating inflation for your fantasy baseball auction.

1. Determine the total possible money that can be spent in an auction. The formula is number of teams multiplied by the salary cap per team. So if you have a $260 cap and 12 teams in the league, then the total possible spend is $3,120.

2. Determine the total cost of the keepers for all teams. For the sake of the example, let’s say the total keepers are worth $1,500.

3. Determine the leftover available money to spend. The formula is to subtract number 1 from number 2 above, so $3,120 less $1,500 leaves us with $1,620.

4. Determine the projected cost of the keepers in a non-keeper league. Let’s say that amount came out to $1,800. We then subtract our total money spend of $3,120 from $1,800 and come up with what our remaining players to buy would have cost us in a non-keeper league, which is ($3,120 – $1,800) $1,320.

5. Determine the inflation rate. We have $1,620 left to spend on players in a keeper league compared to their true auction value of $1,320. If we divide those two numbers, we will then get the inflation percentage of roughly 22.8%

6. Take the projected salaries of the players to buy in the auction multiplied by 22.8% and you now have the new adjusted value for inflation for your auction. So a guy like Albert Pujols at $41 in a regular league becomes $50 in a league with inflation.

Just a few points to make sure your numbers come out right. The player pool and dollar values of the keepers plus the players that need to be bought need to equal out. So if you have 23 man rosters for a 12 team league, you need to make sure you have dollar values for exactly 276 players and the dollar amount comes out to exactly $3,120.

Also, if you are doing the calculations in Microsoft Excel, I would use the ROUND DOWN function to round the dollars down in value instead of up like you normally do in math. That way you aren’t moving up a bunch of players in the $1-$3 range higher. If you are short a few dollars from your total, those will usually get added on to the top tier players, not the ones that are at the bottom.

If you want to get down to a more granular level, you might want to calculate inflation rate separately for hitters and pitchers if you think there is a wider difference in the percentages. The same steps would apply as above, the only difference is you would first need to determine the dollar split between pitchers and hitters. You could use a standard 70%-30% split, or if you are in league that you have played in before, you should have historical data that will allow you go back and calculate the actual numbers.

Fantasy Baseball Auction Strategy

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 31st, 2010

I wrote an article about Fantasy Baseball Auction Strategy last year and I thought it would be a good time to revisit this in light of what I have seen the past couple of weekends.

It happened to two owners in my auction league this past weekend and I also saw it happen several times in recent “expert” auction leagues. What I am referring to is the mismanagement of money.

In my auction league last week, Jeremy Hellickson went for $16 as the last player taken for one owner because of all the money he had left over. Another owner spend $16 on Sean Rodriguez because of the same thing; way too much money left and not enough players to roster to spend it on.

To me, an auction format is 10 times better than participating in a draft. No longer do you have to worry about players sliding to you in the draft, or having the 10th pick in the first round, knowing that you have no shot at nine players in front of you, in an auction, you have much more control of what goes on around you.

For most players when participating in a fantasy baseball league auction for a first time, they usually run into one of two problems, either they run low on money with multiple players left to buy, or else they have already filled their roster, but have several dollars left to spend.

I am going to give you a couple of tips in order to prevent this from happening and to ensure that your first auction experience is a great one.

When you are preparing for the auction, make sure that the dollars you have assigned to each player add up to the total dollar amount that is to be spent for the league. For example, if you are playing in a 15-team league, and each team has $200 to spend, make sure that the combined salaries you have for the number of players that need to be bought equals $3,000 ($200 x 15). This way you will have closer to a true dollar amount of what a player is worth. So many of the cheat sheets or projections floating around out there provide dollar totals, but they do not add up to what a league total dollar amount is. Each league is different in roster size and team size so make sure that your dollar values are adjusted accordingly.

To make sure that you spend all of your allotted dollars and on the flip side, to make sure you do not run out of money, it is a good idea to go into the draft with dollar amounts assigned to each position on your roster. If your team budget is $200, determine what amount you want to spend for hitting and pitching. On average the split is roughly 70-30 skewed toward hitting. That means with a $200 budget you would plan on spending $60 on your pitching staff. Assuming you have a 10 man pitching staff, you dollar amounts would look something like this:

1Sp – $15

2Sp – $8

3Sp – $7

4Sp – $4

5SP – $2

6Sp – $2

1 Closer – $16

2RP – $2

3 RP – $2

4 RP – $2

You have $15 budgeted for an ace on your staff and $16 budgeted for a closer and so on down the line to fill out your rotation and bullpen. This gives you a good plan of attack to start with. If you happen to spend $17 for an ace starter, simply adjust by $2 another spot on your staff to make sure you hit the $60 mark if that was your allocation to build your staff with.

I usually try to leave $2 for each of the positions instead of $1. At the end of the draft when people are low on money, the auction at that point basically turns into a draft because each person is down to a dollar per player. By having $2 left per player, this ensures that you have a much greater chance of getting the players you want late in the draft.

If there are several low priced players you are hoping to snag at the end of the draft, don’t be afraid to throw them out early and roster them. If you are interested in say Shaun Marcum and Brian Matusz and are saving $8 to spend on them, if other owners run out of money, you might only have to pay $4 for them at the end of the draft leaving that money on the table. if you throw them out in the early to middle part of the draft, you should still be able to get them at the $8 you intended to spend, or else better yet, they go for a lower price and you can put those dollars toward another position instead of leaving that money on the table.

I saw several “experts” comment after recent auctions that had money left over because they were saving it for certain players. There is no rule at an auction that says all of the expensive players have to be thrown out first. If you have a targeted group of players you want to buy, don’t be afraid to throw them out early.

NFBC Auction Analysis

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 30th, 2010

This past Friday I competed in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship (NFBC) in Las Vegas in a 15-team mixed auction format. The salary cap was $260 in a Rotisserie league format with standard 5 x 5 categories. Due to the cost of the entry fees and the prizes that are paid out, all of the NFBC leagues are no trade leagues in order to avoid possible collusion.

Going into the auction, I had mocked up eight sample teams I could possibly buy in order to hit the targeted goals for each category depending on the flow of the auction. Here are the results for my team:

Hitters:

C – Victor Martinez ($25) – one of the guys I was targeting, as I have written many times before, I don’t believe in punting the catcher position.

C – Russell Martin ($11) – I wasn’t looking to get Martin, but several other catchers went for higher dollar amounts and I needed his 10 stolen bases.

1B – Lance Berkman ($16) – sometimes I am willing to price enforce a player if I think he is under the value I have set for him depending on the makeup of my roster and the other owner that is bidding on him, knowing that I am okay with rostering him if no one bids another dollar. I had $20 forecasted for Berkman so I was okay with him at $16.

2B – Brian Roberts ($17) – I was targeting him at the $16-$17 range, even if he only steals 20, I am happy to get him at a discount

SS – Derek Jeter ($22) – I had him a few dollars higher and was bidding him up, again, happy to get him at this price.

3B – Michael Young ($15) – I had him in the $17-$18 range and with this auction team, I was really trying to ensure my batting average held up to my goal.

Cor – Garrett Jones ($9) – I like being able to put his stolen bases at the corner spot.

Mid – Erick Aybar ($7) – another high average guy, he should steal 15-20 bases and score a ton of runs hitting first.

OF – Shin-Soo Choo ($19) – one of my targets, love to get 20-20 outfielders.

OF – Jason Bay ($22) – I had him a few dollars higher than this.

OF – Adam Dunn ($16) – was too cheap to pass up his power.

OF – Hunter Pence ($15) – another guy I thought was under valued.

OF – Lastings Milledge ($5) – not a huge fan of his, but needed 20 steals and he was the best fit. He is only 25 so there is still some upside there.

UT – Kyle Blanks ($5) – this was one of my main targets, I think he has a ton of upside even in San Diego, especially if he hits clean up.

Overall, I LOVE my offense. I tried to minimize risk by not going over $25 for any player so I think I was able to get a solid team and I should be first or second in every hitting category barring injuries. There was another team that drafted all closers and bought Albert Pujols, Hanley Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez as his first three hitters so his offense is loaded as well.

On the flip side, the pitching staff is not as pretty. I figured from mock drafts the way that pitchers were getting drafted several rounds higher that the prices would be higher as well and I was correct. I had set slots for 4 $10 starting pitchers, but once I saw those guys going in the $13-$15 range, I loaded up on offense and will have to scramble for pitching during the season.

Pitchers:

P – Max Scherzer ($8) – not a target, but I was happy to get his strikeouts for under $10

P – Stephen Strasburg ($5) – once I realized I was going to be short on pitching, I needed to take a chance on some strikeout pitchers that can help me later in the season. I think his numbers as far as starts / innings should mirror Tommy Hanson of 2009.

P – Aroldis Chapman ($3) – see Strasburg.

P – Jeff Niemann ($5) – picked up his strikeouts the second half of last year and has been striking out even more this spring

P – Wade Davis ($5) – hasn’t been that good in spring, but I still like his talent.

P – Hiroki Kuroda ($3) – good ratios to balance the rest of my staff.

P – Bronson Arroyo ($3) – numbers were much better the second half of the season when he put down his guitar.

RP – Jonathan Broxton ($19) – I would rather play two closers than three when possible so I wanted at least one solid guy. His price was the same as Mariano Rivera’s and I would rather have the extra 30-40 strikeouts.

RP – Leo Nunez ($5) – decent price for a second closer.

Reserves:

I had the first pick in the reserve draft so that too played into my thinking for how I built my pitching staff. I was hoping to grab Colby Lewis, Ian Kennedy, Jaime Garcia or Jeremy Hellickson here but they were all taken at the end of the auction.

So instead I went with Daisuke Matsuzaka with my first reserve pick followed by Kevin Correia and Ricky Romero. I also took a flier on Oliver Perez and added David Bush, so I have a few pitchers to possibly rotate into my rotation while waiting for Strasburg and Chapman. I grabbed two hitters in Chris Carter (Oakland) and Nate Schierholtz.

The way my offense is stacked, I don’t really need any hitters on reserve, but Schierholtz is insurance in case Berkman misses the first week and I can swing Dunn over to first base, which is another advantage of drafting / buying players that are eligible at multiple positions.

Overall, my pitching staff is a little short on some numbers, although I should be okay in saves assuming Nunez has the job the entire season. If Correia and Romero hold up, Dice-K comes back to form and Strasburg and Chapman are up by the start of June, I think my team will be in contention.

2010 Mixed Tout Wars Results

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 29th, 2010

The 2010 Mixed Tout Wars auction was held this past weekend in New York City. Tout Wars is fantasy baseball’s battle of the experts and winning one of the Tout Wars leagues is one of the more prestigious titles in fantasy baseball.

Here is a look at the 2010 Mixed Tout Wars results, the participants and their teams with my comments added.

Andy Behrens – Yahoo

Pick I liked: Jose Reyes at $21. At less than 1/2 the price of Hanley Ramirez at $45, I think that is a risk worth taking.

Pick I disliked: Taking three closers at $15+ each. I assume is going to be looking to trade a closer for a starting pitcher after he builds up a lead in saves.

POS	Name	$$
C	Jerrod Saltalamacchia	4
C	Ramon Hernandez	1
1B	Adrian Gonzalez	27
3B	Kevin Youkilis	30
CI	Aubrey Huff	2
2B	Chase Utley	42
SS	Hanley Ramirez	45
MI	Jose Reyes	21
OF	Nick Swisher	5
OF	Dexter Fowler	2
OF	Chase Headley	1
OF	Cameron Maybin	1
OF	Scott Podsednik	1
UT	Gaby Sanchez	1
P	Johan Santana	19
P	Brian Wilson	17
P	Heath Bell	17
P	Carlos Marmol	15
P	John Danks	5
P	Mark Buehrle	1
P	Ricky Romero	1
P	Erik Bedard	1
P	Carl Pavano	1
R	Mark Teahen
R	Adam Kennedy
R	Randy Wells
R	Desmond Jennings

Derek Carty -The Hardball Times

Pick I liked: Justin Duchscherer at $1. Definitely worth a buck, even if he makes only 20 starts this year.

Pick I disliked: Takashi Saito at $13. Unless he knows about an injury that Billy Wagner is hiding….what in the world? Since it was his last pitcher taken, I will assume he had extra money left and no more players to buy.

POS	Name	$$
C	Mike Napoli	15
C	J.R. Towles	1
1B	Russell Branyan	1
3B	Troy Glaus	6
CI	Martin Prado	12
2B	Ian Stewart	15
SS	Alcides Escobar	4
MI	Rickie Weeks	12
OF	Nelson Cruz	23
OF	Carlos Quentin	18
OF	Carlos Beltran	16
OF	Julio Borbon	16
OF	Jay Bruce	16
UT	David Ortiz	12
P	Tim Lincecum	32
P	Josh Beckett	17
P	Francisco Cordero	12
P	Justin Frasor	10
P	Hiroki Kuroda	3
P	Brandon Lyon	2
P	Justin Duchscherer	1
P	Colby Lewis	3
P	Takashi Saito	13
R	Ryan Sweeney
R	Mike Adams
R	Pedro Feliz
R	J.P. Howell

Alex Cushing -MLB.com

Pick I liked: Jimmy Rollins at $27 was a few dollars under what he should have gone for.

Pick I disliked: Phil Hughes at $9. As a fifth starter in the American League East, $9 was just too expensive with cheaper alternatives that were better on the board.

POS	Name	$$
C	Giovany Soto	15
C	Carlos Santana	1
1B	Joey Votto	29
3B	Evan Longoria	36
CI	Nick Johnson	1
2B	Brian Roberts	16
SS	Jimmy Rollins	27
MI	Orlando Hudson	1
OF	Carl Crawford	39
OF	Corey Hart	6
OF	Hunter Pence	15
OF	Magglio Ordonez	4
OF	Delmon Young	3
UT	Milton Bradley	1
P	Joakim Soria	18
P	Justin Verlander	21
P	Phil Hughes	9
P	Frank Francisco	10
P	Aaron Harang	2
P	Brett Myers	2
P	Matt Thornton	1
P	Justin Masterson	1
P	Gio Gonzalez	2
R	Edwin Encarnacion
R	Chris Tillman
R	Brayan Pena
R	Luis Castillo

Doug Dennis – Baseball HQ

Pick I liked: Jason Werth at $22 looks like a good buy compared to some of the other prices paid for outfielders.

Pick I disliked: He spent a total of $14 on his pitching staff, will be interesting to see how that turns out.

POS	Name	$$
C	Chris Iannetta	13
C	Kelly Shoppach	8
1B	Adam Dunn	21
3B	Ryan Zimmerman	29
CI	Mark DeRosa	4
2B	Robinson Cano	24
SS	Alexei Ramirez	15
MI	Brandon Phillips	25
OF	Josh Willingham	7
OF	Matt Kemp	38
OF	Mike Cameron	6
OF	Jayson Werth	22
OF	Andre Ethier	21
UT	Vladimir Guerrero	13
P	Ryan Madson	3
P	Andy Pettitte	2
P	Kris Medlen	1
P	Clay Buchholz	2
P	Wade Davis	2
P	Jeremy Hellickson	1
P	Mark Rzepcyzinski	1
P	Brad Penny	1
P	Brandon League	1
R	David DeJesus
R	Maicer Izturis
R	Bud Norris
R	Ike Davis

Nando DiFino – The Wall Street Journal

Pick I liked: Sean Rodriguez at $2.

Pick I disliked: Too many injury risks on his pitching staff with Rich Harden $7, Brandon Webb $7 and Ben Sheets $4.

POS	Name	$$
C	Jason Varitek	1
C	Gerald Laird	1
1B	Mark Reynolds	27
3B	Alex Rodriguez	42
CI	Daric Barton	1
2B	Freddie Sanchez	1
SS	Stephen Drew	14
MI	Akinori Iwamura	1
OF	Ryan Braun	41
OF	Nick Markakis	25
OF	Manny Ramirez	17
OF	Josh Hamilton	17
OF	Matt LaPorta	1
UT	Sean Rodriguez	2
P	Jonathan Papelbon	19
P	Francisco Rodriguez	16
P	Rich Harden	7
P	Brandon Webb	7
P	Jon Rauch	4
P	Ben Sheets	4
P	Johnny Cueto	5
P	Matt Lindstrom	3
P	Kevin Gregg	2
R	Rick Ankiel
R	Bronson Arroyo
R	Andy LaRoche
R	Luke Hochevar

Steve Gardner – USA Today

Pick I liked: Chone Figgins at $14. That is an absolute steal at that price, plus the added flexibility he will offer at second base or third base. He was able to pick up quite a few decent hitters at cheap prices.

Pick I disliked: None that I can see, it looks like he has a really solid team all around.

POS	Name	$$
C	Kurt Suzuki	14
C	Yadier Molina	9
1B	Mark Teixeira	39
3B	Chone Figgins	14
CI	Adrian Beltre	8
2B	Placido Polanco	7
SS	Miguel Tejada	10
MI	Casey McGehee	3
OF	Matt Holliday	29
OF	B.J. Upton	23
OF	Lastings Milledge	6
OF	Ryan Ludwick	8
OF	Luke Scott	2
UT	Travis Snider	2
P	Roy Halladay	29
P	Felix Hernandez	25
P	Ubaldo Jimenez	15
P	Huston Street	9
P	Franklin Morales	1
P	Edwin Jackson	2
P	Scott Feldman	1
P	Ervin Santana	2
P	Daisuke Matsuzaka	2
R	Fausto Carmona
R	Randy Ruiz
R	Cliff Pennington
R	Luke Gregerson

Dave Gonos – Opensports.com

Pick I liked: Alfonso Soriano at $10. Another player that is falling in drafts, but worth the $10 investment even if he doesn’t steal 20 bases again.

Pick I disliked: Ryan Howard at $42. He went for the same price as Alex Rodriguez which puts Howard $3-$4 higher than what he should have gone for.

POS	Name	$$
C	Russell Martin	13
C	Rod Barajas	1
1B	Ryan Howard	42
3B	David Wright	34
CI	Jeff Clement	1
2B	Jose Lopez	12
SS	Derek Jeter	22
MI	Orlando Cabrera	1
OF	Grady Sizemore	28
OF	Alfonso Soriano	10
OF	Vernon Wells	7
OF	Austin Jackson	4
OF	J.D. Drew	1
UT	Alex Gordon	2
P	Adam Wainwright	17
P	Chris Carpenter	17
P	Bobby Jenks	10
P	Rafael Soriano	12
P	Brett Anderson	12
P	Jonathan Sanchez	4
P	Chris Perez	4
P	Scott Kazmir	3
P	Brian Matusz	2
R	John Maine
R	Anibal Sanchez
R	Taylor Teagarden
R	Chris Volstad

Eric Karabell – ESPN

Pick I liked: Garrett Jones at $9.

Pick I disliked: Jorge Posada at $15. I think there were several better catchers than Posada that went a dollar or two below him.

POS	Name	$$
C	Jorge Posada	15
C	Ryan Doumit	13
1B	Paul Konerko	9
3B	Gordon Beckham	18
CI	Todd Helton	6
2B	Ben Zobrist	20
SS	Jason Bartlett	14
MI	Scott Sizemore	3
OF	Garrett Jones	9
OF	Raul Ibanez	13
OF	Jason Heyward	12
OF	Michael Bourn	14
OF	Franklin Gutierrez	5
UT	Hideki Matsui	5
P	Cliff Lee	17
P	Jose Valverde	14
P	Mariano Rivera	20
P	Javier Vazquez	19
P	J.A. Happ	5
P	Brad Lidge	7
P	Yovani Gallardo	16
P	Rick Porcello	5
P	Vicente Padilla	1
R	Chris Young (P)
R	Joel Pineiro
R	Jake Fox
R	Ryan Rowland-Smith

J.P. Kastner -Mastersball

Pick I liked: Colby Rasmus at $7. Has good upside and and a good place in the batting order.

Pick I disliked: Chad Qualls at $16. There were better closers out there at a cheaper price.

POS	Name	$$
C	Miguel Montero	14
C	Nick Hundley	1
1B	Prince Fielder	38
3B	Pablo Sandoval	27
CI	Kevin Kouzmanoff	4
2B	Clint Barmes	2
SS	Everth Cabrera	12
MI	Marco Scutaro	2
OF	Colby Rasmus	7
OF	Ichiro Suzuki	26
OF	Torii Hunter	18
OF	Jack Cust	2
OF	Brad Hawpe	9
UT	Jason Kubel	11
P	Jonathan Broxton	20
P	Jake Peavy	16
P	Cole Hamels	15
P	Chad Qualls	16
P	A.J. Burnett	8
P	Jeff Niemann	3
P	Kevin Correia	2
P	Neftali Feliz	2
P	Joe Blanton	5
R	Clayton Richard
R	Garrett Atkins
R	Jesus Flores
R	Kaz Matsui

Eric Mack – CBS Sports.com

Pick I liked: Matt Cain at $12. Cain was a good buy as he went for several dollars less than pitchers ranked below him.

Pick I disliked: John Lackey at $12. Not as good as Matt Cain yet went for the same price.

POS	Name	$$
C	Joe Mauer	34
C	Victor Martinez	28
1B	Albert Pujols	45
3B	Brandon Wood	4
CI	Carlos Pena	12
2B	Ian Kinsler	26
SS	Ian Desmond	1
MI	Mike Aviles	1
OF	Jacoby Ellsbury	34
OF	Drew Stubbs	1
OF	Carlos Gomez	1
OF	Michael Brantley	1
OF	Aaron Rowand	1
UT	Travis Hafner	1
P	Jair Jurrjens	8
P	Matt Cain	12
P	John Lackey	12
P	Jered Weaver	10
P	Roy Oswalt	8
P	Brian Fuentes	8
P	Fernando Rodney	1
P	Carlos Zambrano	5
P	David Price	6
R	Matt Guerrier
R	Joe Saunders
R	Oliver Perez
R	Wil Venable

Nick Minnix – KFFL

Pick I liked: Chad Billingsley at $11. Another case of a pitcher going at a lower price than players ranked below him.

Pick I disliked: Chris Davis at $16.

POS	Name	$$
C	Carlos Ruiz	7
C	John Buck	3
1B	Justin Morneau	26
3B	Michael Young	15
CI	Chris Davis	16
2B	Aaron Hill	20
SS	Yunel Escobar	13
MI	Rafael Furcal	3
OF	Jason Bay	20
OF	Bobby Abreu	18
OF	Johnny Damon	12
OF	Nyjer Morgan	10
OF	Denard Span	12
UT	Kyle Blanks	4
P	CC Sabathia	24
P	Billy Wagner	14
P	Ryan Dempster	12
P	Chad Billingsley	11
P	Ted Lilly	5
P	Kerry Wood	5
P	Derek Lowe	2
P	Jason Hammel	3
P	Home Bailey	4
R	Joba Chamberlain
R	David Freese
R	Felipe Lopez
R	Felipe Paulino

Paul Petera – Baseball HQ

Pick I liked: Josh Johnson at $15. A very good price to pay for an upper echelon starter.

Pick I disliked: Matt Wieters at $22. A little high for him with only half a season of major league experience.

POS	Name	$$
C	A.J. Pierzynski	10
C	Matt Wieters	22
1B	Adam LaRoche	18
3B	Aramis Ramirez	24
CI	James Loney	13
2B	Howie Kendrick	20
SS	Erick Aybar	8
MI	Kelly Johnson	8
OF	Adam Lind	24
OF	Shane Victorino	16
OF	Rajai Davis	8
OF	Conor Jackson	6
OF	Brett Gardner	4
UT	Scott Rolen	2
P	Andrew Bailey	14
P	Ricky Nolasco	15
P	Scott Baker	13
P	Max Scherzer	9
P	Josh Johnson	15
P	Octavio Dotel	8
P	Carlos Carrasco	1
P	Rick VandenHurk	1
P	C.J. Wilson	1
R	Jim Thome
R	Jason Mott
R	Seth Smith
R	Kevin Jepsen

Seth Trachtman – Fanball

Pick I liked: Carlos Gonzalez at $10. All I can say is WOW!!

Pick I disliked: Lance Berkman at $20. Went for a few dollars more than he should of with the injury concerns.

POS	Name	$$
C	John Baker	5
C	Adam Moore	2
1B	Miguel Cabrera	35
3B	Skip Schumaker	1
CI	Lance Berkman	20
2B	Dustin Pedroia	26
SS	Jhonny Peralta	5
MI	J.J. Hardy	5
OF	Curtis Granderson	19
OF	Nate McLouth	15
OF	Carlos Lee	18
OF	Chris Coghlan	8
OF	Carlos Gonzalez	10
UT	Billy Butler	20
P	Stephen Strasburg	5
P	Dan Haren	22
P	Tim Hudson	10
P	James Shields	11
P	Trevor Hoffman	10
P	Gavin Floyd	6
P	Leo Nunez	5
P	Gil Meche	1
P	Shaun Marcum	1
R	Barry Zito
R	Chris Getz
R	Jaime Garcia
R	Eric Young

Perry Van Hook – Fantasybaseball.com

Pick I liked: Adam Jones at $14. A good buy at that price as his dollar tag should have been in the high teens.

Pick I disliked: Elvis Andrus at $18. Went for about $5 more than he should have.

POS	Name	$$
C	Brian McCann	24
C	Bengie Molina	10
1B	Kendry Morales	25
3B	Chipper Jones	9
CI	Jorge Cantu	9
2B	Asdrubal Cabrera	11
SS	Elvis Andrus	18
MI	Alberto Callaspo	1
OF	Marlon Byrd	4
OF	Shin-Soo Choo	23
OF	Justin Upton	31
OF	Chris Young	7
OF	Adam Jones	14
UT	Juan Rivera	2
P	David Aardsma	12
P	Zack Greinke	25
P	Wandy Rodriguez	13
P	Matt Capps	7
P	Daniel Bard	2
P	Randy Wolf	4
P	Ian Kennedy	4
P	Aroldis Chapman	2
P	Mat Latos	3
R	Coco Crisp
R	Sergio Romo
R	Tim Wakefield
R	Daniel Murphy

Charlie Wiegert – Fanball

Pick I liked: Andrew McCutchen at $17. A good price to pay for a guy that should have gone over $20.

Pick I disliked: Juan Pierre at $16. Because he spent so much on his pitching staff, he should have worked harder to find cheaper alternatives on offense like a Nyjer Morgan at $10.

POS	Name	$$
C	Buster Posey	1
C	Miguel Olivo	3
1B	Derrek Lee	23
3B	Casey Blake	2
CI	Cody Ross	4
2B	Dan Uggla	15
SS	Troy Tulowitzki	32
MI	Ryan Theriot	6
OF	Juan Pierre	16
OF	Jeff Francoeur	4
OF	Andrew McCutchen	17
OF	Alex Rios	14
OF	Michael Cuddyer	11
UT	Nolan Reimold	8
P	Jon Lester	19
P	Tommy Hanson	18
P	Clayton Kershaw	15
P	Matt Garza	12
P	Mike Gonzalez	8
P	Francisco Liriano	10
P	Ryan Franklin	10
P	Kevin Slowey	7
P	Jorge De La Rosa	5
R	Ty Wigginton
R	Drew Storen
R	Ivan Rodriguez
R	Xavier Nady

Check out the 2010 AL Tout Wars Results.

Check out the 2010 NL Tout Wars Results.

2010 NL Tout Wars Results

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 29th, 2010

The 2010 NL Tout Wars auction was held this past weekend in New York City. Tout Wars is fantasy baseball’s battle of the experts and winning one of the Tout Wars leagues is one of the more prestigious titles in fantasy baseball.

Here is a look at the 2010 NL Tout Wars results, the participants and their teams with my comments added.

Tristan Cockcroft – ESPN

Pick I liked: Kyle Blanks at $15. I think Blanks breaks out this season with 25-30 home runs and a few stolen bases thrown in.

Pick I disliked: Cameron Maybin at $18. Still has not proven he is ready for the major leagues and there were better options at this price.

POS	Name	$$
C	Yadier Molina	11
C	Carlos Ruiz	8
1B	Fernando Tatis	2
3B	David Wright	34
CI	Juan Francisco	1
2B	Placido Polanco	16
SS	Alcides Escobar	16
MI	Brendan Ryan	9
OF	Nate McLouth	23
OF	Carlos Gonzalez	23
OF	Kyle Blanks	15
OF	Seth Smith	7
OF	Cameron Maybin	18
UT	Ryan Spilborghs	2
P	Heath Bell	18
P	Ricky Nolasco	19
P	Ubaldo Jimenez	17
P	Huston Street	9
P	Mike Adams	4
P	Franklin Morales	4
P	Rafael Betancourt	2
P	Jeff Francis	1
P	Daniel McCutchen	1
R	Wade LeBlanc
R	Mike Leake
R	Jeremy Affeldt
R	Jamie Moyer

Mike Gianella – Roto Think Tank

Pick I liked: Jose Reyes at $23. A risky pick yes, but the upside for that price is worth it.

Pick I disliked: Kenshin Kawakami at $8. It looks like they were better pitchers to buy for that price.

POS	Name	$$
C	Ronny Paulino	3
C	Yorvit Torrealba	1
1B	Albert Pujols	40
3B	Mat Gamel	2
CI	Joey Votto	28
2B	Ronnie Belliard	3
SS	Jose Reyes	23
MI	Hanley Ramirez	40
OF	Carlos Lee	24
OF	Alfonso Soriano	18
OF	Eric Young	3
OF	Josh Anderson	1
OF	Mike Stanton	1
UT	Cristian Guzman	3
P	Matt Cain	19
P	Carlos Marmol	15
P	Matt Capps	12
P	Madison Bumgarner	2
P	Chris Volstad	3
P	John Maine	3
P	Paul Maholm	5
P	John Lannan	3
P	Kenshin Kawakami	8
R	Sean Gallagher
R	Travis Wood
R	Aaron Cunningham
R	Roger Bernhidina

Phil Hertz – Baseball HQ

Pick I liked: Josh Willingham at $15. Hard to pick a player I liked as all of his players seemed to be bought right at their expected price.

Pick I disliked: Stephen Drew at $22.

POS	Name	$$
C	Ivan Rodriguez	4
C	Jason Castro	1
1B	Adam LaRoche	20
3B	Ryan Zimmerman	34
CI	Gaby Sanchez	9
2B	Akinori Iwamura	10
SS	Stephen Drew	22
MI	Kelly Johnson	17
OF	Shane Victorino	24
OF	Josh Willingham	15
OF	Chris Young	15
OF	Lastings Milledge	18
OF	Marlon Byrd	15
UT	Bobby Crosby	1
P	Chad Qualls	19
P	Chris Young (P)	7
P	Brett Myers	8
P	Aaron Harang	7
P	Derek Lowe	8
P	Jason Motte	3
P	Sean Marshall	1
P	Sammy Gervacio	1
P	Josh Lindbaum	1
R	Ike Davis
R	Todd Coffey
R	Tony Abreu
R	Scott Elbert

Peter Kreutzer – Askrotoman.com

Pick I liked: Jim Edmonds at $1. I think he ends the season with a lot more at bats than people are expecting.

Pick I disliked: Too many injury risks with Lance Berkman, Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Beltran, Elijah Dukes (cut), Brandon Webb, Edison Volquez.

POS	Name	$$
C	Ryan Doumit	11
C	Buster Posey	3
1B	Lance Berkman	23
3B	Aramis Ramirez	24
CI	Andy LaRoche	8
2B	Clint Barmes	13
SS	Yunel Escobar	18
MI	Felipe Lopez	9
OF	Ryan Braun	38
OF	Drew Stubbs	14
OF	Carlos Beltran	18
OF	Angel Pagan	5
OF	Elijah Dukes	1
UT	Jim Edmonds	1
P	Roy Halladay	30
P	Chris Carpenter	21
P	Brandon Webb	9
P	Edwin Jackson	8
P	Manny Parra	1
P	Rick VandenHurk	2
P	Edinson Volquez	1
P	Aaron Cook	1
P	Joel Hanrahan	1
R	Tyler Colvin
R	Jordan Schafer
R	Evan Meek
R	Ken Mulvey

Chris Liss – Rotowire

Pick I liked: Jason Heyward at $14. He was a better buy in the outfield that some players that went for several dollars more than him that I have ranked below him.

Pick I disliked: Jermaine Dye at $3. Hard to see him signing this late in spring, especially with a National League team.

POS	Name	$$
C	Russell Martin	14
C	Miguel Montero	15
1B	Todd Helton	15
3B	Ian Stewart	18
CI	David Freese	9
2B	Kaz Matsui	11
SS	Orlando Cabrera	15
MI	Edgar Renteria	8
OF	Justin Upton	34
OF	Jason Heyward	14
OF	Colby Rasmus	18
OF	Melky Cabrera	8
OF	Jermaine Dye	3
UT	Pedro Alvarez	4
P	Johan Santana	25
P	Aroldis Chapman	5
P	Brad Lidge	11
P	Randy Wells	6
P	Homer Bailey	7
P	Kris Medlen	3
P	Joe Blanton	11
P	John Garland	4
P	Felipe Paulino	2
R	Mike Jacobs
R	Kyle Kendrick
R	Jason Giambi
R	Pedro Martinez

Lenny Melnick & Paul Greco – Fantasy Pros 911

Pick I liked: Willy Taveras at $1. Nice late game pick for some cheap speed.

Pick I disliked: Rickie Weeks at $24. Much too high of a price to pay for someone that injury prone.

POS	Name	$$
C	Ryan Hanigan	1
C	Omar Santos	1
1B	Prince Fielder	37
3B	Scott Rolen	10
CI	Geo Blum	1
2B	Rickie Weeks	24
SS	Troy Tulowitzki	31
MI	Starlin Castro	1
OF	Matt Holliday	34
OF	Hunter Pence	28
OF	Nate Schierholtz	10
OF	Wil Venable	15
OF	Xavier Nady	3
UT	Wily Taveras	1
P	Josh Johnson	20
P	Clayton Kershaw	21
P	Carlos Zambrano	12
P	Ross Ohlendorf	2
P	Oliver Perez	3
P	Mike Pelfrey	2
P	LaTroy Hawkins	1
P	Juan Gutierrez	1
P	Kyle McClellan	1
R	Luis Durango
R	Allen Craig
R	Gary Matthews
R	Craig Counsell

Scott Pianowski – Yahoo

Pick I liked: Ian Desmond at $10. Now that he has won the job as starting shortstop, he has a good chance to hit double digit home runs with 20+ steals.

Pick I disliked: Barry Zito at $5.

POS	Name	$$
C	Bengie Molina	12
C	Chris Iannetta	11
1B	Ryan Howard	34
3B	Mark DeRosa	11
CI	Aubrey Huff	13
2B	Adam Kennedy	9
SS	Ian Desmond	10
MI	Skip Schumaker	9
OF	Manny Ramirez	21
OF	Ben Francisco	4
OF	Brad Hawpe	18
OF	Jeff Francoeur	14
OF	Willie Harris	4
UT	Troy Glaus	16
P	Adam Wainwright	24
P	Ryan Franklin	13
P	Matt Lindstrom	9
P	Johnny Cueto	9
P	Barry Zito	5
P	Bronson Arroyo	8
P	Zach Duke	2
P	Jason Marquis	2
P	Tom Gorzelanny	2
R	Omar Inante
R	Todd Wellemeyer
R	Reed Johnson
R	Sinori Takahashi

Nate Ravitz – ESPN

Pick I liked: Casey McGehee at $10. Decent batting average and some power for a decent price.

Pick I disliked: Dan Haren at $28. I love Dan Haren but there were comparable pitchers to be had for $4-$6 less.

POS	Name	$$
C	Ramon Hernandez	8
C	Jesus Flores	2
1B	Adrian Gonzalez	28
3B	Casey McGehee	10
CI	Adam Dunn	23
2B	Dan Uggla	21
SS	Ryan Theriot	16
MI	Freddy Sanchez	10
OF	Matt Kemp	38
OF	Eugenio Velez	3
OF	Tony Gwynn	7
OF	Delwyn Young	3
OF	Chris Dickerson	7
UT	John Bowker	2
P	Dan Haren	28
P	Billy Wagner	17
P	Trevor Hoffman	15
P	Takashi Saito	3
P	Mat Latos	8
P	Brad Penny	4
P	Dan Runzler	1
P	David Bush	3
P	Anibal Sanchez	3
R	Logan Morrison
R	Oscar Salazar
R	Esmailin Caridad
R	Jarrod Washburn

Larry Schechter – Sandlot Shrink

Pick I liked: Garrett Jones at $14. Has 20+ home run power, can steal a few bases and qualifies at first base and in the outfield.

Pick I disliked: Chase Headley at $17. A few dollars higher than what he should have gone for.

POS	Name	$$
C	John Baker	8
C	Miguel Olivo	6
1B	Garrett Jones	14
3B	Jorge Cantu	18
CI	Casey Blake	14
2B	Luis Castillo	9
SS	Rafael Furcal	15
MI	David Eckstein	3
OF	Nyjer Morgan	20
OF	Ryan Ludwick	18
OF	Aaron Rowand	9
OF	Chase Headley	17
OF	Kosuke Fukudome	9
UT	Jonny Gomes	7
P	Tim Lincecum	34
P	Francisco Cordero	16
P	Jair Jurrjens	16
P	J.A. Happ	8
P	Vicente Padilla	4
P	Luke Gregersen	4
P	Charlie Morton	3
P	Bud Norris	4
P	Kyle Lohse	4
R	Nick Masset
R	Alex Cora
R	Dan Meyer
R	Tim Stauffer

Cory Schwartz – MLB.com

Pick I liked: Ian Kennedy at $6. Lots of upside, with decent ratios.

Pick I disliked: Andre Ethier at $29. A few dollars higher than what he should have cost.

POS	Name	$$
C	Brian McCann	24
C	George Kottaras	1
1B	Jeff Clement	9
3B	Mark Reynolds	28
CI	Mike Fontenot	6
2B	Drew Sutton	1
SS	Juan Uribe	7
MI	Ronny Cedeno	3
OF	Jayson Werth	27
OF	Andre Ethier	29
OF	Dexter Fowler	18
OF	Chris Coghlan	17
OF	Matt Diaz	9
UT	Jody Gerut	2
P	Jonathan Broxton	25
P	Stephen Strasburg	11
P	Cole Hamels	23
P	Ian Kennedy	6
P	Hiroki Kuroda	9
P	John Grabow	1
P	Drew Storen	2
P	Brian Bruney	1
P	Billy Buckner	1
R	Hong Chi Kuo
R	Rich Hill
R	Manny Corpas
R	Kevin Pucetas

Brian Walton – Mastersball

Pick I liked: Everth Cabrera at $13 looks like a great price for a lead off hitter with the potential to steal 40+

Pick I disliked: Liked his pitching staff, he got a lot of solid guys, but I think that Jason Hammel at $7 was too much. It was almost overkill at that point with everyone he had on his staff.

POS	Name	$$
C	Chris Snyder	3
C	Gregg Zaun	5
1B	James Loney	21
3B	Chipper Jones	16
CI	Daniel Murphy	8
2B	Martin Prado	16
SS	Everth Cabrera	13
MI	Tommy Manzella	4
OF	Jay Bruce	21
OF	Carlos Gomez	12
OF	Corey Hart	17
OF	Conor Jackson	18
OF	Fred Lewis	1
UT	Gerardo Parra	2
P	Francisco Rodriguez	18
P	Chad Billingsley	17
P	Roy Oswalt	16
P	Tim Hudson	12
P	Jonathan Sanchez	10
P	Ryan Madson	5
P	Jorge De La Rosa	11
P	Jason Hammel	7
P	Jaime Garcia	4
R	Ryan Roberts
R	Chien Ming Wang
R	Freddie Freeman
R	Craig Stammen

Scott Wilderman – The Owners Edge

Pick I liked: Blake DeWitt at $5.

Pick I disliked: Pablo Sandoval at $33. Yikes !!!.

POS	Name	$$
C	Nick Hundley	6
C	J.R. Towles	3
1B	Derrek Lee	26
3B	Pablo Sandoval	33
CI	Blake DeWitt	5
2B	Jeff Keppinger	5
SS	Emilio Boniacio	3
MI	Jeff Baker	1
OF	Andrew McCutchen	24
OF	Jason Bay	26
OF	Raul Ibanez	21
OF	Michael Bourn	21
OF	Fernando Martinez	1
UT	Mike Morse	1
P	Brian Wilson	20
P	Tommy Hanson	22
P	Octavio Dotel	11
P	Yovani Gallardo	20
P	Brandon Lyon	6
P	Garrett Mock	1
P	Carlos Villanueva	1
P	Jonathan Niese	2
P	Jordan Zimmermann	1
R	Doug Davis
R	Garret Anderson
R	Clay Zavada
R	Ronald Bellisario

Todd Zola – Mastersball

Pick I liked: Scott Hairston at $6 if he can get 400+ at bats.

Pick I disliked: Too many part-time hitters on his team and he left $6 at the draft table. Cody Ross at $18 seemed too much for just his power when there were power / speed guys that went for around the same or slightly lower price.

POS	Name	$$
C	Giovany Soto	15
C	Rod Barajas	5
1B	Micah Hoffpauir	1
3B	Julio Lugo	5
CI	Pedro Feliz	8
2B	Chase Utley	37
SS	Jimmy Rollins	33
MI	Brandon Phillips	29
OF	Cody Ross	18
OF	Eric Hinske	3
OF	Ryan Church	3
OF	Jerry Hairston	7
OF	Scott Hairston	6
UT	Melvin Mora	3
P	Leo Nunez	12
P	Wandy Rodriguez	18
P	Randy Wolf	11
P	Ryan Dempster	14
P	Ted Lilly	12
P	Kevin Correia	7
P	Clayton Richard	4
P	Sergio Romo	2
P	George Sherrill	1
R	Tyler Clippard
R	Edward Mujica
R	Justin Maxwell
R	James McDonald

Check out the 2010 AL Tout Wars Results.

2010 AL Tout Wars results

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 29th, 2010

The 2010 AL Tout Wars auction was held this past weekend in New York City. Tout Wars is fantasy baseball’s battle of the experts and winning one of the Tout Wars leagues is one of the more prestigious titles in fantasy baseball.

Here is a look at the 2010 AL Tout Wars results, the participants and their teams with my comments added.

Matthew Berry – ESPN

Pick I liked: Wade Davis at $7. His struggles in spring training helped suppress his price.

Pick I disliked: Brian Roberts at $23. I like Brian Roberts ever year but with his recent back problems, I would think he should have come at a little more of a discount.

POS	Name	$$
C	Matt Wieters	17
C	Tyler Flowers	1
1B	Billy Butler	23
3B	Mark Teahen	13
CI	Nick Johnson	13
2B	Brian Roberts	23
SS	Cesar Izturis	3
MI	Alexi Casilla	1
OF	Adam Lind	26
OF	Curtis Granderson	24
OF	Rajai Davis	17
OF	Rick Ankiel	6
OF	Randy Winn	2
UT	Hideki Matsui	13
P	Justin Verlander	25
P	J.J. Putz	2
P	Josh Beckett	21
P	Gil Meche	3
P	Chris Perez	11
P	Wade Davis	7
P	Tim Wakefield	1
P	J.P. Howell	1
P	Fausto Carmona	5
R	Jim Johnson
R	Fernando Perez
R	Jose Mijares
R	Joey Gathright

Jason Collete – Fanball

Pick I liked: Jacoby Ellsbury at $31. Went for several dollars less than I had him forecasted at.

Pick I disliked: Brandon League at $5. I would have rather seen him grab a starting pitcher for that price rather than speculate on David Aardsma losing his job.

POS	Name	$$
C	Jarrod Saltalamacchia	7
C	Brayan Pena	3
1B	Paul Konerko	15
3B	Edwin Encarnacion	16
CI	Russell Branyan	9
2B	Ian Kinsler	28
SS	Ramon Santiago	1
MI	Howie Kendrick	22
OF	Jacoby Ellsbury	31
OF	Michael Cuddyer	19
OF	Mike Cameron	14
OF	David Murphy	11
OF	Matt Joyce	1
UT	Mike Lowell	2
P	Bobby Jenks	16
P	Rich Harden	8
P	John Danks	12
P	Scott Kazmir	9
P	Phil Hughes	9
P	David Price	9
P	Brandon League	5
P	Francisco Liriano	12
P	Darren O’Day	1
R	Brendan Harris
R	Zach Stewart
R	Anthony Slama
R	Trevor Crowe

Jeff Erickson – Rotowire

Pick I liked: Nolan Reimold at $16. His price is about right, but he does have some upside to earn into the low $20’s.

Pick I disliked: Daisuke Matsuzaka at $7. He could miss the first month of the season and then will have to hope there is a spot for him in the rotation when he comes back.

POS	Name	$$
C	Joe Mauer	30
C	Taylor Teagarden	1
1B	Miguel Cabrera	35
3B	Ty Wigginton	10
CI	Ryan Garko	1
2B	Aaron Hill	23
SS	Derek Jeter	27
MI	Alberto Callaspo	12
OF	Coco Crisp	10
OF	Nolan Reimold	16
OF	Jeremy Hermida	6
OF	Jermaine Dye	3
OF	Desmond Jennings	1
UT	David Ortiz	12
P	Rick Porcello	10
P	Andy Pettitte	7
P	Cliff Lee	16
P	Joaquim Soria	20
P	Daisuke Matsuzaka	7
P	Joe Saunders	4
P	Ricky Romero	6
P	Gio Gonzalez	2
P	Derek Holland	1
R	Michael Taylor
R	Elijah Dukes
R	Brandon Snyder
R	Shaun Kelly

Jason Grey – ESPN

Pick I liked: Brian Matusz at $6. Has a lot of upside and has looked great in spring training.

Pick I disliked: Kelly Shoppach at $11. There must have been a bidding war for him late in the draft that drove his price up.

POS	Name	$$
C	Kelly Shoppach	11
C	Dioner Navarro	4
1B	Lyle Overbay	11
3B	Adrian Beltre	21
CI	Casey Kotchman	11
2B	Scott Sizemore	12
SS	Elvis Andrus	21
MI	Orlando Hudson	10
OF	B.J. Upton	29
OF	J.D. Drew	14
OF	Josh Hamilton	16
OF	Vernon Wells	15
OF	Franklin Gutierrez	18
UT	Vladimir Guerrero	17
P	David Aardsma	16
P	Erik Bedard	6
P	Kevin Gregg	7
P	Brian Matusz	6
P	C.J. Wilson	3
P	Colby Lewis	3
P	Chris Tillman	3
P	Brad Bergesen	3
P	Dallas Braden	3
R	Ken Griffey Jr
R	Adam Rosales
R	Tanner Scheppers
R	Mitch Talbot

Rob Leibowitz - Mastersball

Pick I liked: Jose Bautista at $3. His batting average is scary but he could see 400+ at bats this season.

Pick I disliked: Besides leaving $6 on the draft table, Joel Pineiro at $6. The move to the American League, the loss of Dave Duncan, plus there were better options at that price.

POS	Name	$$
C	Jorge Posada	14
C	Gerald Laird	3
1B	Kendry Morales	25
3B	Kevin Kouzmanoff	16
CI	Jose Bautista	3
2B	Dustin Pedroia	26
SS	Marco Scutaro	16
MI	Alex Gonzalez	3
OF	Bobby Abreu	24
OF	Torii Hunter	23
OF	Johnny Damon	19
OF	Luke Scott	9
OF	Jose Guillen	7
UT	Jim Thome	1
P	Javier Vazquez	21
P	Ben Sheets	6
P	Joel Pineiro	6
P	Mike Gonzalez	14
P	Jason Frasor	4
P	Jon Rauch	10
P	Daniel Hudson	1
P	Jeremy Guthrie	2
P	Brett Cecil	1
R	Kevin Millwood
R	Pat Neshek
R	Hector Rondon
R	Aaron Crow

Lawr Michaels – Mastersball

Pick I liked: Juan Rivera at $13. That is a decent price to pay to get a .280 average and 20+ home runs.

Pick I disliked: Jack Cust at $14. Batting average downside plus the possibility that he will lose at bats at some point this year.

POS	Name	$$
C	Mike Napoli	16
C	A.J. Pierzynski	13
1B	Carlos Pena	24
3B	Chone Figgins	22
CI	Garrett Atkins	13
2B	Nick Punto	7
SS	Erick Aybar	16
MI	Cliff Pennington	8
OF	Jason Kubel	23
OF	Juan Rivera	13
OF	Ryan Raburn	10
OF	Jack Cust	14
OF	Eric Byrnes	5
UT	Pat Burrell	2
P	Jake Peavy	17
P	Mark Buehrle	11
P	John Lackey	16
P	Scott Feldman	5
P	Brian Fuentes	19
P	Scot Shields	1
P	Carl Pavano	2
P	Brad Ziegler	1
P	Ian Snell	2
R	Landon Powell
R	Vin Mazzaro
R	Ramiro Pena
R	Gabe Gross

Steve Moyer – Baseball Info Solutions

Pick I liked: Kevin Slowey at $9. Has been outstanding in spring, injury that ended his season in 2009 probably kept the price lower than it should have.

Pick I disliked: Kerry Wood at $8. Don’t see him earning that with Chris Perez locked in at closer.

POS	Name	$$
C	Jason Kendall	2
C	Carlos Santana	4
1B	Hank Blalock	5
3B	Michael Young	19
CI	Mark Kotsay	3
2B	Chris Getz	11
SS	Miguel Tejada	15
MI	Ben Zobrist	24
OF	Ichiro Suzuki	26
OF	David DeJesus	13
OF	Magglio Ordonez	13
OF	Milton Bradley	11
OF	Ryan Sweeney	9
UT	Mike Aviles	1
P	CC Sabathia	28
P	Zack Greinke	27
P	Jeff Niemann	9
P	Andrew Bailey	17
P	Kevin Slowey	9
P	Justin Duchscherer	4
P	Kerry Wood	8
P	Koji Uehara	1
P	Dustin Nippert	1
R	Darren Oliver
R	Eric Chavez
R	Chan Ho Park
R	Justin Ruggiano

Dean Peterson – STATS LLC

Pick I liked: Chris Davis at $14. Based on the price of other players at 1B, Nick Johnson $13, Lyle Overbay $11, $14 was a good get.

Pick I disliked: All of his starting pitchers except Shaun Marcum and he also left $8 on the table.

POS	Name	$$
C	Kurt Suzuki	16
C	Lou Marson	3
1B	Chris Davis	14
3B	Gordon Beckham	23
CI	Justin Morneau	26
2B	Jayson Nix	3
SS	Alexei Ramirez	20
MI	Yuniesky Betancourt	1
OF	Alex Rios	20
OF	Nick Markakis	25
OF	Adam Jones	23
OF	Andruw Jones	2
OF	Austin Jackson	11
UT	Travis Hafner	3
P	Rafael Soriano	20
P	Frank Francisco	17
P	Matt Harrison	4
P	Shaun Marcum	7
P	Ryan Rowland-Smith	4
P	Justin Masterson	3
P	Brandon Morrow	3
P	Jake Westbrook	1
P	Nick Blackburn	3
R	Jeremy Bonderman
R	Dustin McGowan
R	Robert Andino
R	Josh Reddick

Ron Shandler – Baseball HQ

Pick I liked: Brandon Wood at $10.

Pick I disliked: Delmon Young at $14. Risk to at bats with Jim Thome in the mix.

POS	Name	$$
C	John Buck	4
C	Jesus Montero	1
1B	Kevin Youkilis	29
3B	Brandon Wood	10
CI	Brandon Inge	6
2B	Luis Valbuena	9
SS	Jason Bartlett	21
MI	Jed Lowrie	1
OF	Carl Crawford	33
OF	Nelson Cruz	26
OF	Matt LaPorta	11
OF	Scott Podsednik	12
OF	Delmon Young	14
UT	Bill Hall	1
P	Brett Anderson	17
P	Jose Valverde	20
P	Scott Baker	18
P	Matt Scherzer	13
P	Marc Rzepcyzinski	4
P	Andy Sonnanstine	2
P	Fernando Rodney	3
P	Jeremy Hellickson	2
P	Kyle Farnsworth	1
R	Jake Arrieta
R	Cam Mickolio
R	Dontrelle Willis
R	Junichi Tazawa

Joe Sheehan – Baseball Prospectus

Pick I liked: Victor Martinez at $22. Joe Mauer went for $30 and I don’t think there is that much difference between them.

Pick I disliked: Neftali Feliz at $9, Joba Chamberlain at $5. Not sure why these guys continue to get all the hype when they have no roles of value in 2010.

POS	Name	$$
C	Victor Martinez	22
C	Alex Avila	4
1B	Chris Carter	1
3B	Evan Longoria	33
CI	Brett Wallace	1
2B	Mark Ellis	10
SS	J.J. Hardy	12
MI	Maicer Izturis	12
OF	Shin Soo Choo	26
OF	Travis Snider	13
OF	Michael Brantley	12
OF	Brett Gardner	18
OF	Michael Saunders	1
UT	Randy Ruiz	5
P	Felix Hernandez	30
P	Clay Buchholz	12
P	Jered Weaver	15
P	Trevor Cahill	7
P	Scott Downs	4
P	Joba Chamberlain	5
P	Neftali Feliz	9
P	Alfredo Aceves	1
P	Matt Thornton	7
R	Josh Fields
R	Joey Devine
R	Tommy Hunter
R	Brian Bannister

Mike Siano – Mlb.com

Pick I liked: Willie Bloomquist at $1. Always a nice end game play for $1 to get 15-20 steals.

Pick I disliked: Ervin Santana at $9. There were better pitchers taken at the same price.

POS	Name	$$
C	Adam Moore	6
C	Francisco Cervelli	2
1B	Nick Swisher	15
3B	Alex Gordon	13
CI	Jake Fox	6
2B	Robinson Cano	28
SS	Asdrubal Cabrera	22
MI	Willie Bloomquist	1
OF	Grady Sizemore	29
OF	Carlos Quentin	20
OF	Denard Span	25
OF	Sean Rodriguez	10
OF	Eric Patterson	1
UT	Justin Smoak	1
P	Mariano Rivera	24
P	Jon Lester	26
P	A.J. Burnett	15
P	Ervin Santana	9
P	Michael Wuertz	3
P	Matt Guerrier	1
P	Robinson Tejeda	1
P	Carlos Carrasco	1
P	Ryan Perry	1
R	Jarrod Washburn
R	Danny Valencia
R	Josh Bell
R	Dayan Viciedo

Rick Wolf & Glenn Colton – Rotoworld.com

Pick I liked: Willy Aybar at $2. Cheap price for some decent pop in the bat.

Pick I disliked: Julio Borbon at $25. Went for $3 more than Juan Pierre who is a much more proven player. Also was the same price as Denard Span.

POS	Name	$$
C	Josh Bard	1
C	Max Ramirez	1
1B	Mark Teixeira	35
3B	Alex Rodriguez	37
CI	Willy Aybar	2
2B	Jose Lopez	21
SS	Jhonny Peralta	18
MI	Jack Wilson	2
OF	Juan Pierre	22
OF	Julio Borbon	25
OF	Carlos Guillen	6
OF	Marcus Thames	2
OF	Felix Pie	2
UT	Daric Barton	4
P	Jonathan Papelbon	25
P	James Shields	17
P	Gavin Floyd	14
P	Matt Garza	17
P	Kevin Jepsen	1
P	Daniel Bard	2
P	David Robertson	2
P	Luke Hochevar	2
P	Freddy Garcia	2
R	Travis Buck
R	Kyle Davies
R	Jensen Lewis
R	Andy Marte

Check out the 2010 NL Tout Wars Results.

How to Build a Winning Auction Roster

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 18th, 2010

There are may ways to go about building a fantasy baseball roster when you are in an auction league format. I think the majority of owners trend toward the more stars & scrubs approach because it correlates over from the draft. If you are in a 13 team NL only draft league, theoretically you should be able to buy roughly the same team in an auction format.

I ask however that you try a different approach if you have been on the stars & scrubs bandwagon in the past. Especially in an AL or NL only league where you are dealing with only half the player pool. I am all about limiting the risk to my fantasy baseball team. It is the reason I shy away from players in a draft with injury history and a high price tag and I employ the same strategy in an auction. It would have been tough to spend $35+ on David Wright last season and see him hit only 10 home runs. That is a huge loss in value, compared to a player that you bought for $15 doing that.

Buying three or four star players also leaves you with three or four holes in your offense as we saw from the 2010 NL LABR teams last week. It cracks me up to hear the comments from some of the owners after the draft and they lament the fact they have some holes to fill on their team. But didn’t they really bring it on themselves based on the way they bought players?

I took the results from the recent NL LABR (League of Alternative Baseball Reality) auction and built my own team with a limited risk approach. I constructed this team without using stats, I simply looked for players that I felt would have had value had I been at the auction table and added them to my team. After I compiled all of the players, I totaled the budget to make sure I was at $260.

At that point I added up all of the stats based on the numbers from my FBT Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide (available for just $9.99) and compared that to the targets in a 13 team NL league. I think the results might surprise you when you look at the makeup of the roster. I also hope it gives you more confidence knowing that you can build a competitive team without having multiple superstars on it.

Here are the targets for each category with my projected stat totals and score for that category. Based on a 13 team league with 10 categories, there are a maximum of 130 points to get. Usually the top teams are in the 75-80% range of the total point total so I am using 97 points as the target.

You can see from the category points I came up with 97 points, which hits the goal. Again, this was done by simply coming up with a group of players with value based on their price and then adding up the stats. If you spent more time on it then I did and looked for more value, I am sure you could come up with a higher point total.

Category	Goal	My Team	Category Pts.
Avg.	.275	.275	11
Runs	890	979	13
HR	209	206	10
RBI	862	864	11
SB	129	119	8
W	92	86	9
SV	64	68	12
K	1200	1078	7
ERA	3.80	4.06	7
WHIP	1.285	1.312	9

You will see from my roster that I was able to come up with hitters that should be starters on offense at 13 of the 14 positions with the exception being Gerardo Parra, who still should see a decent amount of at bats in Arizona. By filling your team with all hitters that are going to play, it also limits your FAAB budget to just pitching, which limits your spending. Instead of having to cover three positions, hitting, starting pitching and closing, I have limited it to two by having a full team of hitters. I was also able to roster two closers so barring injury, I have limited the FAAB spending down to just starting pitching. This will make it easier to win the free agent starting pitcher you want during the season when you can target the majority of your budget at one group of players instead of at three.

POS	Name	$$
C	John Baker	8
C	Miguel Montero	16
1B	Derrek Lee	23
2B	Adam Kennedy	9
3B	Chipper Jones	15
SS	Jimmy Rollins	30
COR	Troy Glaus	13
MID	Rafael Furcal	15
OF	Garrett Jones	16
OF	Will Venable	7
OF	Chris Coghlan	16
OF	Conor Jackson	14
OF	Scott Hairston	7
UT	Gerardo Parra	3
P	Bronson Arroyo	3
P	Randy Wells	6
P	Ian Kennedy	4
P	Ross Ohlendorf	1
P	Randy Wolf	9
P	Ryan Dempster	13
P	Sean Marshall	1
P	Bob Howry	1
P	Chad Qualls	15
P	Trevor Hoffman	15

2010 NL LABR Results – Updated

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 14th, 2010

There was another team posted this weekend for the 2010 NL LABR from Dalton Del Don at Rotowire.com. Below is his team with my comments.

My first thought when looking at his team is wow, $16 for Placido Polanco, that is very expensive. It looks like he tried to limit risk for the most part as he rostered only one player over $30 in Chase Utley ($35). He is going to have to hope that Chipper and Troy Glaus play full seasons. With four holes in his offense with Bobby Crosby, Tony Gwynn Jr., Aaron Cunningham and Mat Gamel, losing Jones or Glaus for an extended period of time woudl wreck his offense.

He was able to land five starters in his rotation, although again, Santana and Oswalt have some injury risk to them. He grabbed a couple of handcuff closers in Motte, Storen and Dan Meyer so he should be able to squeeze 10-15 saves from that trio by the end of the year.

POS	Name	$$
C	Chris Ianetta	12
C	Ryan Doumit	11
1B	Bobby Crosby	1
2B	Chase Utley	35
3B	Chipper Jones	15
SS	Orlando Cabrera	14
COR	Troy Glaus	13
MID	Placido Polanco	16
OF	Carlos Gonzalez	24
OF	Nyjer Morgan	22
OF	Scott Hairston	7
OF	Tony Gwynn Jr.	3
OF	Aaron Cunningham	1
UT	Mat Gamel	3
P	Johan Santana	22
P	Roy Oswalt	15
P	Tim Hudson	12
P	Stephen Strasburg	9
P	Kenshin Kawakami	3
P	Brad Lidge	11
P	Jason Motte	3
P	Drew Storen	4
P	Peter Moylan	1
P	Pedro Martinez	3
R	Andrew Miller
R	Jason Giambi
R	Dan Meyer
R	Jeff Samardzija
R	Simon Castro
R	Jason Michaels

Check out more teams from the 2010 AL LABR Auction and the 2010 NL LABR Auction.

2010 AL and NL LABR Results

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 10th, 2010

Just a quick note that I will continue to add updates to the previous articles for the 2010 AL LABR and 2010 NL LABR results.

I currently have results for four teams each in both leagues as well a bunch of individual player prices. You can click the links below to get quick access to those articles.

2010 AL LABR

2010 NL LABR

Auction Keeper League – How to Rebuild

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 9th, 2010

If you are new to fantasy baseball auction leagues or have been playing in an auction league for a few years but have not had much success winning, this article will take you on a step-by-step guide of how to rebuild in an auction league format.

The majority of keeper auction leagues have contract limits which means you are likely going to be able to be competitive for a certain amount of years before you have to rebuild. Some owners think they can draft every year and have a shot at winning, but that is not the case. In an auction league with keepers, there is too much inflation to prices to be able to draft a team and make a run at the title unless you get extremely lucky, it is a shallow league and the rest of the owners are not very good.

Your best chance at rebuilding is by doing it from day one of the season. That way you can focus on which rookies you want to target in the draft as well get first dibs on the best keepers in trade from other owners. If you wait until June before deciding to throw in the towel and rebuild for next year, you are already behind the other rebuilding teams. At that point, you are rebuilding for two years away instead of being competitive the following season.

Heading into the auction there are two types of players you are trying to draft. Players that will help your team next year and form your core and the second group are players that you can trade to bring back in return younger players and draft picks.

Here is a look at my team from a NL only auction league from last season. This is a 14 team league with a $275 salary cap plus a six round reserve draft where the draft picks can be traded. I went into the draft knowing I wanted to rebuild from day one.

My keepers:

Ryan Doumit – 11
John Baker – 10
Rickie Weeks – 25
Cameron Maybin – 16
Tim Lincecum – 22
Chad Qualls – 6

Out of this group, the only players I wanted to keep for this year were Lincecum, Qualls and Doumit; the other players were traded.

Drafted:

Edgar Renteria – 13
Matt Kemp – 36
Jake Peavy – 31
Aaron Cook – 13
Ricky Nolasco – 26

This entire group were players I wanted to trade. While Kemp was at a good price, there are always outfielders in the $30 range I knew I could grab in 2010.

Core: these were the main players I targeted to form the cornerstone of my team for the next few years:

Alcides Escobar – 2
Carlos Gonzalez – 3
Jonny Gomes – 3 (did not plan on him being a core guy but at $3 for 15-20 home runs makes him a core guy)
Jason Heyward – 1
Pedro Alvarez – 7
J.A. Happ – 2 — I was able to get him as a relief pitcher due to our rules based on a certain number of appearances as a starter / reliever.
Tim Hudson – 3 — injured players are a great place to look for keepers when you are rebuilding. If you are in an NL only league this season and are rebuilding, you should be targeting guys like Edison Volquez and Jordan Zimmermann.
Stephen Strasburg – 5

Farm System:

Before the auction I had several other players I did not want to keep going into the draft so I flipped those for draft picks, so instead of the usual six picks per team, I went into the draft with close to 20 picks to search for players that would be able to have an impact for me in 2010. As from my previous articles, I am always looking for players that have the best chance of helping me the following year so I am targeting guys that are in Triple-A or in Double-A with a shot to get to the major leagues based on the guys ahead of them at their position. Here is who I got:

Drew Stubbs – 5
Chris Coghlan – 5
Everth Cabrera – 10 – his salary was higher because he started the year in the major leagues
Gerardo Parra – 5
Bud Norris – 5
Aroldis Chapman – 10 – picked up September 1 when rosters expanded. Again, it pays to know and understand the rules of your league. In my league in September we can add three slots so I look for guys that may be coming over from Japan or were drafted in the June draft and could make a direct leap to the major leagues.

Picked up in trade:

Bronson Arroyo – 8
Omar Infante – 3
Eric Young Jr. – 5

In addition I have 23 out of the 84 draft picks in the reserve round. Six of my own picks plus 17 I picked up in trade, including three additional first round and second round picks.

So overall my team looks something like this heading into 2010:

C – Doumit – 11
C – open
1b – open
2b – Infante 3 / E. Young 5
ss – A. Escobar 2, E. Cabrera 10
3b – open
of – C. Gonzalez 3, Gomes 3, Stubbs 5, Coghlan 5, Parra 5,
utility – Heyward 1, P. Alvarez 7
sp – Lincecum 22, Arroyo 8, Norris 5, Strasburg 5, Happ 2, Hudson 3, Chapman 10
rp – Qualls 6

You can see from the roster layout that there are several trade opportunities I will have to improve the team by moving a shortstop, outfielder and starting pitcher.

With the additional draft picks I will also be able to use those to trade for guys from other teams that will be rebuilding this season.

2010 NL LABR Results

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 8th, 2010

Every year in early March fantasy baseball “experts” from around the world gather in Arizona for the NL LABR (League of Alternative Baseball Reality) auction. Categories are 5 x 5 with 23 man rosters, including two catchers and 13 teams.

Here is a look at some of the results that have been posted in regards to National League teams.

Dalton Del Don – Rotowire

There was another team posted this weekend for the 2010 NL LABR from Dalton Del Don at Rotowire.com. Below is his team with my comments.

My first thought when looking at his team is wow, $16 for Placido Polanco, that is very expensive. It looks like he tried to limit risk for the most part as he rostered only one player over $30 in Chase Utley ($35). He is going to have to hope that Chipper and Troy Glaus play full seasons. With four holes in his offense with Bobby Crosby, Tony Gwynn Jr., Aaron Cunningham and Mat Gamel, losing Jones or Glaus for an extended period of time woudl wreck his offense.

He was able to land five starters in his rotation, although again, Santana and Oswalt have some injury risk to them. He grabbed a couple of handcuff closers in Motte, Storen and Dan Meyer so he should be able to squeeze 10-15 saves from that trio by the end of the year.

POS	Name	$$
C	Chris Ianetta	12
C	Ryan Doumit	11
1B	Bobby Crosby	1
2B	Chase Utley	35
3B	Chipper Jones	15
SS	Orlando Cabrera	14
COR	Troy Glaus	13
MID	Placido Polanco	16
OF	Carlos Gonzalez	24
OF	Nyjer Morgan	22
OF	Scott Hairston	7
OF	Tony Gwynn Jr.	3
OF	Aaron Cunningham	1
UT	Mat Gamel	3
P	Johan Santana	22
P	Roy Oswalt	15
P	Tim Hudson	12
P	Stephen Strasburg	9
P	Kenshin Kawakami	3
P	Brad Lidge	11
P	Jason Motte	3
P	Drew Storen	4
P	Peter Moylan	1
P	Pedro Martinez	3
R	Andrew Miller
R	Jason Giambi
R	Dan Meyer
R	Jeff Samardzija
R	Simon Castro
R	Jason Michaels

Greg Ambrosius / Shawn Childs – NFBC

It looks like they have a similar problem to their AL team where there are going to be short four hitters to open the season, after drafting two catchers from the Houston Astros, Pedro Alvarez, Jermaine Dye (hard to see him signing in the NL) and Mike Jacobs (unless he wins the New York Mets first base job). In a NL only league, it is so crucial to get the most at bats in order to accumulate counting stats. If you check the at bat totals for the top three winners each year in an only format, the majority of the time those three teams will have led the league in at bats.

Pitching staff looks okay but just like their AL team, it looks like they will be chasing saves all season long.

POS	Name	$$
C	Jason Castro	3
C	J.R. Towles	2
1B	Ryan Howard	35
2B	Rickie Weeks	16
3B	Pedro Alvarez	3
SS	Tory Tulowitzki	31
COR	Juan Uribe	6
MID	Jose Reyes	26
OF	Matt Holliday	32
OF	Chris Young	14
OF	Melky Cabrera	10
OF	Ryan Spilborghs	1
OF	Jermaine Dye	1
UT	Mike Jacobs	2
P	Tim Lincecum	36
P	Edwin Jackson	11
P	J.A. Happ	10
P	Homer Bailey	5
P	Chris Volstad	2
P	Jason McDonald	2
P	Kyle McClellan	1
P	Juan Gutierrez	3
P	Ryan Madson	6
R	Rich Hill
R	Ryan Hanigan
R	Gary Matthews
R	Chad Tracy
R	Freddie Freeman
R	Aaron Poreda

Bob Radomski – Sandlot Shrink

He did a good job of getting players that should be getting at bats throughout the season outside of David Ross at catcher, but his team is short on steals. Has three solid starters and was able to roster two closers relatively cheaply although both might only hold onto the job for half the season.

POS	Name	$$
C	John Baker	8
C	David Ross	1
1B	Derek Lee	23
2B	Blake DeWitt	2
3B	Chase Headley	17
SS	Yunel Escobar	19
COR	Aubry Huff	13
MID	Daivd Eckstein	2
OF	Hunter Pence	27
OF	Carlos Lee	26
OF	Skip Schumaker	10
OF	Nate Schierholtz	9
OF	Gerardo Parra	3
UT	David Freese	7
P	Yovani Gallardo	20
P	Matt Cain	19
P	Jair Jurrjens	16
P	Derek Lowe	8
P	John Maine	5
P	Jared Burton	1
P	Bobby Howry	1
P	Matt Lindstrom	8
P	Matt Capps	14

Derek Carty – The Hardball Times

Mr. Carty is going to have a hard time defending his NL title based on his auction results. It looks like he is short on steals and has a tremendous amount of downside in batting average with Ian Stewart, the LaRoche’s, Nick Hundley and Elijah Dukes. Also was able to grab only two solid starting pitchers and went with a spaghetti approach to his reserve squad. Spaghetti as in throw a bunch of starting pitchers against the wall and hope a few are able to stick.

POS	Name	$$
C	Gregg Zaun	4
C	Nick Hundley	3
1B	Prince Fielder	37
2B	Ian Stewart	22
3B	Andy LaRoche	10
SS	Ronny Cedeno	3
COR	Adam LaRoche	24
MID	Adam Kennedy	9
OF	Jay Bruce	23
OF	Elijah Dukes	20
OF	Ryan Ludwick	18
OF	Kosuke Fukudome	6
OF	Angel Pagan	2
UT	Jeff Clement	8
P	Ricky Nolasco	26
P	Joe Blanton	10
P	Clayton Richard	8
P	Edison Volquez	1
P	John Smoltz	1
P	Takashi Saito	4
P	Pedro Feliciano	3
P	Kiko Calero	1
P	Joe Thatcher	1
P	Francisco Rodriguez	16
R	Chien-Ming Wang
R	Kevin Hart
R	Livan Hernandez
R	Fernando Nieve
R	Carlos Silva
R	Brian Moehler

Perry Van Hook – Fantasy Baseball.com

I really like the squad that Perry was able to assemble getting a great deal on Pujols at $41 and getting steals from Castillo, Milledge, Jones and Heyward. He also got two great catchers which is always a plus in an only type format.

POS	Name	$$
C	Brian McCann	21
C	Miguel Montero	16
1B	Albert Pujols	41
2B	Luis Castillo	10
3B	Mark Reynolds	30
SS	Tommy Manzella	2
COR	Hank Blalock	2
MID	Emilio Bonifacio	2
OF	Lastings Milledge	16
OF	Jason Heyward	14
OF	Garrett Jones	18
OF	Aaron Rowand	9
OF	Fred Lewis	2
UT	Starlin Castro	2
P	Wandy Rodriguez	19
P	Tommy Hanson	22
P	Mike Pelfrey	1
P	Aroldis Chapman	6
P	Doug Davis	1
P	Scott Elbert	1
P	Leo Nunez	14
P	Brandon Lyon	9
P	Sammy Gervacio	2
P	John Grabow	2
R	Garrett Anderson
R	Ryoto Igarashi
R	Scott Mathieson
R	Brandon Allen
R	Brad Lincoln
R	Blake Parker

Here are a few other prices that were posted for certain players.

Hanley Ramirez $42
Ryan Braun $39
Matt Kemp $38
Prince Fielder $37
David Wright $36
Chase Utley $35
Justin Upton $34
Troy Tulowitzki $31
Jimmy Rollins $30
Ryan Zimmerman $30
Pablo Sandoval $30
Joey Votto $30
Roy Halladay $29
Hunter Pence $27
Adrian Gonzalez $27
Jonathan Broxton $26
Aramis Ramirez $25
Andrew McCutchen $24
Stephen Drew $23
Yunel Escobar $19
Alcides Escobar $19
Kelly Johnson $18
Martin Prado $16
Ryan Theriot $16
Placido Polanco $16
Carlos Beltran $16
Cameron Maybin $15
Akinori Iwamura $13
Russell Martin $10
Stephen Strasburg $9
Madison Bumgarner $5

See also the 2010 AL LABR results.

2010 AL LABR Results

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 8th, 2010

Every year in early March fantasy baseball “experts” from around the world gather in Arizona for the AL LABR (League of Alternative Baseball Reality) auction. Categories are 5 x 5 with 23 man rosters, including two catchers and 12 teams.

Here is a look at some of the results that have been posted in regards to American League teams.

Chris Liss – Rotowire

Notice if you add the salaries up that he left $7 on the draft table. It is very hard to target players in a one league year league and save money for them because inevitably you are going to miss the mark. It is something you can do in a keeper league if you are rebuilding to ensure you get rookies for the future of your team, but not in a one year league. Lucky for him these leagues allowing trading so he will have some chances to fix his team.

POS	Name	$$
C	Joe Mauer	30
C	Jarrod Saltalamacchia	7
1B	Kendry Morales	27
2B	Dustin Pedroia	29
3B	Brandon Inge	8
SS	Derek Jeter	25
COR	Casey Kotchman	6
MID	Alex Gonzalez	3
OF	Grady Sizemore	29
OF	Austin Jackson	6
OF	Ryan Sweeney	10
OF	Desmond Jennings	5
OF	Michael Brantley	5
UT	Hideki Matsui	11
P	Scott Baker	16
P	David Price	12
P	Ervin Santana	6
P	Erik Bedard	6
P	Gio Gonzalez	4
P	Ricky Romero	3
P	Jake Westbrook	2
P	Jeremy Guthrie	2
P	Jeremy Hellickson	1
R	Brandon Snyder
R	Dustin Ackley
R	Danny Valencia
R	Scot Shields
R	J.J. Putz
R	Ryan Strieby

Greg Ambrosius / Shawn Childs – NFBC

The key to winning an AL or NL only league is by accumulating the most at bats to get the highest number of counting stats. It becomes a lot harder to do when you take rookies and injured players with 25% of your offensive picks. Playing in an only type format really limits the free agent pool unless someone is traded over from the other league. It looks like they have some work to on their offense after picking Justin Smoak, Michael Taylor, Adam Moore and Mike Aviles.

It also looks like they got into a bidding war for B.J. Upton who went for $31. That is part of the problem when trying to find speed in an only format, the cost tends to be slightly higher than you would expect. Especially if a player is thrown out in the mid to late part of the draft and two or three teams are short on steals, you end up over paying to get the steals you need, as it looks like was the case with Upton.

POS	Name	$$
C	Matt Wieters	18
C	Adam Moore	2
1B	Billy Butler	26
2B	Jose Lopez	19
3B	Evan Longoria	34
SS	Mike Aviles	2
COR	Justin Smoak	1
MID	Jack Wilson	2
OF	B.J. Upton	31
OF	Matt LaPorta	9
OF	Delmon Young	14
OF	Eric Byrnes	3
OF	Michael Taylor	3
UT	Vladimir Guerrero	16
P	Justin Verlander	28
P	Jake Peavy	16
P	Rich Harden	11
P	Phil Hughes	10
P	Kevin Millwood	2
P	Daniel Hudson	2
P	Jason Frasor	7
P	Chris Perez	3
P	Joey Devine	1
R	Ian Snell
R	Clete Thomas
R	Matt Tolbert
R	Mike Aubrey
R	Zach Stewart
R	J.P. Arencibia

Larry Schechter – Sandlot Shrink

Looks like he was able to pick up a lot of speed on his team with four outfielders than can steal bases plus the addition of Willie Bloomquist in the infield. The recent injury to Joe Nathan means he will luck into some saves after grabbing Jon Rauch.

POS	Name	$$
C	John Buck	5
C	Jason Kendall	2
1B	Mark Kotsay	2
2B	Aaron Hill	21
3B	Willie Bloomquist	2
SS	Miguel Tejada	16
COR	Jose Bautista	6
MID	Mark Teahen	10
OF	Jacoby Ellsbury	34
OF	Shin-Soo Choo	24
OF	Torii Hunter	23
OF	Franklin Gutierrez	18
OF	Rick Ankiel	4
UT	Travis Hafner	3
P	Zack Greinke	30
P	John Danks	13
P	Joe Saunders	7
P	Nick Blackburn	3
P	Brad Bergesen	1
P	Alfredo Aceves	2
P	Jon Rauch	3
P	Mariano Rivera	27
R	Matt Guerrier
R	Brian Bannister
R	Grant Balfour
R	Pedro Martinez
R	Dan Wheeler
R	Tommy Hunter

Lawr Michaels – Mastersball

Lawr got a steal with Ian Kinsler at $27 and was able to roster some speed between Kinsler, Figgins, Pennington and Aybar. had a tough break losing Nathan for the season with injury but still has a closer in Fuentes plus his handcuff in Rodney.

POS	Name	$$
C	A.J. Pierzynski	13
C	Landon Powell	1
1B	Lyle Overbay	13
2B	Ian Kinsler	27
3B	Chone Figgins	24
SS	Erick Aybar	16
COR	Kila Ka’aihue	1
MID	Cliff Pennington	7
OF	Jason Kubel	21
OF	Juan Rivera	13
OF	Jack Cust	8
OF	Jeremy Hermida	11
OF	Carlos Guillen	8
UT	Randy Winn	3
P	CC Sabathia	28
P	A.J. Burnett	14
P	Dice-K	10
P	Trevor Cahill	6
P	Justin Masterson	3
P	Carl Pavano	3
P	Fernando Rodney	3
P	JoeNathan	17
P	Brian Fuentes	14
R	Matt Harrison
R	Chad Gaudin
R	Gabe Gross
R	Jeff Mathis
R	Robb Quinlan
R	Armando Galarraga

Here are a few other prices that were posted for certain players.

Alex Rodriguez $42
Miguel Cabrera $37
Mark Teixeira $36
Evan Longoria $34
Jacoby Ellsbury $34
Carl Crawford $33
Felix Hernandez $31
B.J. Upton $31
Kevin Youkilis $30
Joe Mauer $30
Zack Greinke $30
Grady Sizemore $29
Justin Morneau $29
Dustin Pedroia $29
Robinson Cano $28
Nelson Cruz $28
CC Sabathia $28
Justin Verlander $28
Ian Kinsler $27
Josh Beckett $27
Mariano Rivera $27
Adam Lind $27
Gordon Beckham $24
Julio Borbon $22
Jonathan Papelbon $21
Elvis Andrus $20
Howie Kendrick $19
Josh Hamilton $17
Alex Gordon $16
Brandon Wood $15
Francisco Liriano $14
Ben Sheets $11
Wade Davis $9

See also the 2010 NL LABR results.

National League Auction Dollar Values – Pitchers

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 6th, 2010

Here is a look at the 2010 National League auction dollar values for pitchers for the 2010 fantasy baseball season. These values are based on a 12 team league with 9 pitchers using the standard 5 x 5 categories and a $260 budget per team. I used a 70%-30% split for hitting and pitching so the total pitcher pool is 108 players for a total of $936.

The dollar values are a blended mix of what I think the player will earn mixed with what I think the player will go for at an actual auction. So you will notice that some of the player rankings are different then my 2010 fantasy baseball rankings, but the dollar values will give you a good idea of pricing so you are not surprised when the real auction rolls around. Especially if this is the first season you are participating in a fantasy baseball auction league.

Starting Pitchers
Rank	Name	$$
1	Tim Lincecum	31
2	Roy Halladay	29
3	Dan Haren	27
4	Johan Santana	25
5	Adam Wainwright	23
6	Josh Johnson	22
7	Tommy Hanson	21
8	Chris Carpenter	20
9	Yovani Gallardo	19
10	Matt Cain	18
11	Ubaldo Jimenez	18
12	Clayton Kershaw	18
13	Cole Hamels	17
14	Ricky Nolasco	17
15	Chad Billingsley	16
16	Wandy Rodriguez	16
17	Jair Jurrjens	15
18	Ryan Dempster	15
19	Ted Lilly	14
20	Roy Oswalt	14
21	Carlos Zambrano	14
22	Brandon Webb	13
23	Tim Hudson	13
24	Jonathan Sanchez	13
25	J.A. Happ	12
26	Randy Wolf	12
27	Hiroki Kuroda	11
28	Jorge de la Rosa	11
29	Stephen Strasburg	11
30	Johnny Cueto	10
31	Edwin Jackson	10
32	Randy Wells	10
33	Joe Blanton	8
34	Aaron Harang	7
35	Bronson Arroyo	7
36	Kevin Correia	6
37	Brett Myers	6
38	Mat Latos	5
39	Madison Bumgarner	5
40	Ian Kennedy	5
41	Derek Lowe	4
42	Clayton Richard	4
43	Bud Norris	4
44	Barry Zito	4
45	Chris Young	4
46	Ross Ohlendorf	4
47	Homer Bailey	4
48	John Maine	3
49	Paul Maholm	3
50	Oliver Perez	3
51	Vicente Padilla	3
52	Jason Hammel	3
53	Brad Penny	3
54	Kyle Lohse	3
55	Chris Volstad	3
56	Aroldis Chapman	3
57	Zach Duke	2
58	Anibal Sanchez	2
59	Aaron Cook	2
60	Mike Pelfrey	2
61	John Lannan	2
62	Jon Garland	2
63	Kenshin Kawakami	2
64	Jon Niese	2
65	Jason Marquis	1
66	Dave Bush	1
67	Sean West	1
68	Doug Davis	1
69	Manny Parra	1
70	Charlie Morton	1
71	Jaime Garcia	1
72	Wade LeBlanc	1
73	Jeff Francis	1
74	Daniel McCutchen	1
75	Chien-Ming Wang	1
76	Felipe Paulino	1
Relief Pitchers
Rank	Name	$$
1	Jonathan Broxton	23
2	Francisco Rodriguez	19
3	Heath Bell	18
4	Huston Street	17
5	Brian Wilson	17
6	Francisco Cordero	16
7	Billy Wagner	15
8	Trevor Hoffman	15
9	Chad Qualls	14
10	Carlos Marmol	14
11	Ryan Franklin	13
12	Brad Lidge	13
13	Matt Capps	12
14	Leo Nunez	12
15	Octavio Dotel	10
16	Brandon Lyon	9
17	Matt Lindstrom	8
18	Ryan Madson	5
19	Drew Storen	3
20	Ryota Igarashi	2
21	Kris Medlen	2
22	Bobby Howry	2
23	Luke Gregerson	1
24	Takashi Saito	1
25	George Sherrill	1
26	Mike Adams	1
27	Jason Motte	1
28	LaTroy Hawkins	1
29	Ramon Tronosco	1
30	Rafael Betancourt	1
31	Ronald Belisario	1
32	Brian Bruney	1

National League Auction Dollar Values – Hitters

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 5th, 2010

Here is a look at the National League auction dollar values for hitters for the 2010 fantasy baseball season. These values are based on a 12 team league with 14 hitters (includes two catchers) using the standard 5 x 5 categories and a $260 budget per team. I used a 70%-30% split for hitting and pitching so the total hitter pool is 168 players for a total of $2,184.

The dollar values are a blended mix of what I think the player will earn mixed with what I think the player will go for at an actual auction. So you will notice that some of the player rankings are different then my 2010 fantasy baseball rankings, but the dollar values will give you a good idea of pricing so you are not surprised when the real auction rolls around. Especially if this is the first season you are participating in a fantasy baseball auction league.

Catchers
Rank	Name	$$
1	Brian McCann	24
2	Russell Martin	17
3	Miguel Montero	16
4	Geovany Soto	15
5	Ryan Doumit	13
6	Bengie Molina	12
7	Yadier Molina	11
8	Chris Iannetta	10
9	John Baker	8
10	Miguel Olivo	5
11	Rod Barajas	4
12	Carlos Ruiz	4
13	Ramon Hernandez	4
14	Buster Posey	2
15	Ivan Rodriguez	2
16	Nick Hundley	2
17	Gregg Zaun	2
18	Ronny Paulino	2
19	Jesus Flores	2
20	Omir Santos	1
21	Chris Snyder	1
22	Brian Schneider	1
23	Jason Castro	1
24	Yorvit Torrealba	1
First Base
Rank	Name	$$
1	Albert Pujols	46
2	Ryan Howard	41
3	Prince Fielder	41
4	Joey Votto	34
5	Adrian Gonzalez	33
6	Lance Berkman	27
7	Derrek Lee	26
8	James Loney	21
9	Todd Helton	16
10	Adam LaRoche	15
11	Aubrey Huff	13
12	Daniel Murphy	7
13	Logan Morrison	5
14	Chad Tracy	2
15	Micah Hoffpauir	1
16	Gaby Sanchez	1
Second Base
Rank	Name	$$
1	Chase Utley	42
2	Brandon Phillips	31
3	Dan Uggla	21
4	Rickie Weeks	17
5	Martin Prado	15
6	Placido Polanco	14
7	Clint Barmes	13
8	Kelly Johnson	11
9	Luis Castillo	10
10	Kazuo Matsui	9
11	Felipe Lopez	8
12	Akinori Iwamura	8
13	Skip Schumaker	7
14	Adam Kennedy	7
15	Ronnie Belliard	6
16	Freddy Sanchez	4
17	Juan Uribe	4
18	Jeff Baker	4
19	Omar Infante	3
20	Jerry Hairston	3
21	Mike Fontenot	3
22	Eugenio Velez	2
23	David Eckstein	1
24	Eric Young	1
25	Delwyn Young	1
Shortstops
Rank	Name	$$
1	Hanley Ramirez	47
2	Jimmy Rollins	36
3	Troy Tulowitzki	37
4	Jose Reyes	30
5	Stephen Drew	18
6	Yunel Escobar	17
7	Everth Cabrera	16
8	Alcides Escobar	15
9	Orlando Cabrera	13
10	Ryan Theriot	12
11	Rafael Furcal	12
12	Cristian Guzman	11
13	Edgar Renteria	5
14	Brendan Ryan	5
15	Ian Desmond	4
16	Julio Lugo	4
17	Ronny Cedeno	2
Third Base
Rank	Name	$$
1	David Wright	35
2	Mark Reynolds	34
3	Ryan Zimmerman	33
4	Pablo Sandoval	29
5	Aramis Ramirez	26
6	Ian Stewart	19
7	Jorge Cantu	18
8	Chipper Jones	18
9	Casey Blake	15
10	Mark DeRosa	14
11	Casey McGehee	13
12	Scott Rolen	12
13	Troy Glaus	11
14	Chase Headley	10
15	David Freese	7
16	Andy LaRoche	5
17	Pedro Feliz	3
18	Emilio Bonifacio	2
19	Mat Gamel	2
20	Melvin Mora	2
Outfielders
Rank	Name	$$
1	Ryan Braun	43
2	Matt Kemp	42
3	Matt Holliday	35
4	Justin Upton	33
5	Jason Bay	31
6	Jayson Werth	31
7	Carlos Lee	28
8	Andre Ethier	27
9	Adam Dunn	26
10	Shane Victorino	26
11	Andrew McCutchen	26
12	Manny Ramirez	25
13	Raul Ibanez	24
14	Carlos Beltran	22
15	Hunter Pence	22
16	Michael Bourn	21
17	Alfonso Soriano	20
18	Carlos Gonzalez	19
19	Nate McLouth	19
20	Jay Bruce	19
21	Brad Hawpe	18
22	Corey Hart	18
23	Nyjer Morgan	18
24	Chris Coghlan	15
25	Garrett Jones	15
26	Ryan Ludwick	14
27	Jeff Francoeur	14
28	Marlon Byrd	14
29	Colby Rasmus	14
30	Cody Ross	13
31	Dexter Fowler	13
32	Conor Jackson	13
33	Drew Stubbs	13
34	Josh Willingham	12
35	Jason Heyward	12
36	Kyle Blanks	12
37	Scott Hairston	9
38	Seth Smith	9
39	Chris Young	9
40	Elijah Dukes	9
41	Carlos Gomez	8
42	Lastings Milledge	8
43	Melky Cabrera	7
44	Cameron Maybin	7
45	Kosuke Fukudome	6
46	Matt Diaz	6
47	Will Venable	5
48	Aaron Rowand	4
49	Xavier Nady	3
50	Gerardo Parra	3
51	Jonny Gomes	3
52	Reed Johnson	2
53	Nate Schierholtz	2
54	Ben Francisco	2
55	Angel Pagan	2
56	Ryan Spilborghs	1
57	Willie Harris	1
58	Fred Lewis	1
59	Wladimir Balentien	1
60	Tony Gwynn Jr.	1
61	Aaron Cunningham	1
62	Chris Dickerson	1
63	Jim Edmonds	1
64	Ryan Church	1
Utility
Rank	Name	$$
1	Jeff Clement	3
2	Mike Jacobs	1

Coming next will be the National League auction dollar values for pitchers.

American League Auction Dollar Values – Pitchers

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 4th, 2010

Here is a look at the 2010 American League auction dollar values for pitchers for the 2010 fantasy baseball season. These values are based on a 12 team league with 9 pitchers using the standard 5 x 5 categories and a $260 budget per team. I used a 70%-30% split for hitting and pitching so the total pitcher pool is 108 players for a total of $936.

The dollar values are a blended mix of what I think the player will earn mixed with what I think the player will go for at an actual auction. So you will notice that some of the player rankings are different then my 2010 fantasy baseball rankings, but the dollar values will give you a good idea of pricing so you are not surprised when the real auction rolls around. Especially if this is the first season you are participating in a fantasy baseball auction league.

Starting Pitchers
Rank	Name	$$
1	Zack Greinke	33
2	CC Sabathia	31
3	Felix Hernandez	28
4	Justin Verlander	26
5	Jon Lester	25
6	Cliff Lee	23
7	Josh Beckett	23
8	Javier Vazquez	22
9	Jake Peavy	19
10	James Shields	18
11	Matt Garza	18
12	Jered Weaver	17
13	Brett Anderson	17
14	Scott Baker	17
15	Max Scherzer	16
16	John Lackey	16
17	A.J. Burnett	16
18	John Danks	15
19	Gavin Floyd	15
20	Kevin Slowey	13
21	Francisco Liriano	13
22	Daisuke Matsuzaka	12
23	David Price	11
24	Rich Harden	11
25	Clay Buchholz	10
26	Scott Kazmir	10
27	Rick Porcello	10
28	Ervin Santana	9
29	Mark Buehrle	9
30	Andy Pettitte	9
31	Wade Davis	8
32	Jeff Niemann	7
33	Neftali Feliz	7
34	Shaun Marcum	5
35	Phil Hughes	5
36	Joba Chamberlain	5
37	Erik Bedard	5
38	Joe Saunders	4
39	Gil Meche	4
40	Kevin Millwood	4
41	Ricky Romero	3
42	Nick Blackburn	3
43	Justin Duchscherer	3
44	Marc Rzepczynski	3
45	Scott Feldman	3
46	Brian Matusz	3
47	Ryan Rowland-Smith	2
48	Dallas Braden	2
49	Jeremy Bonderman	2
50	Brandon Morrow	2
51	Joel Piniero	2
52	Brad Bergesen	2
53	Justin Masterson	2
54	Colby Lewis	2
55	Freddy Garcia	2
56	Chris Tillman	1
57	Derek Holland	1
58	Jake Westbrook	1
59	Trevor Cahill	1
60	Luke Hochevar	1
61	Brett Cecil	1
62	Carl Pavano	1
63	Tommy Hunter	1
64	Jeremy Guthrie	1
65	Doug Fister	1
66	Brian Bannister	1
67	Fausto Carmona	1
68	Aaron Laffey	1
69	Ian Snell	1
70	Jeremy Hellickson	1
Relief Pitchers
Rank	Name	$$
1	Joe Nathan	28
2	Jonathan Papelbon	27
3	Mariano Rivera	26
4	Joakim Soria	24
5	Andrew Bailey	21
6	Brian Fuentes	19
7	Jose Valverde	18
8	David Aardsma	17
9	Rafael Soriano	16
10	Bobby Jenks	16
11	Frank Francisco	15
12	Mike Gonzalez	14
13	Kerry Wood	13
14	Jason Frasor	8
15	J.P Howell	6
16	Scott Downs	5
17	Kevin Gregg	4
18	Chris Perez	4
19	Fernando Rodney	4
20	Matt Thornton	3
21	Daniel Bard	3
22	Michael Wuertz	3
23	Joel Zumaya	3
24	Jim Johnson	3
25	Alfredo Aceves	3
26	Brandon League	2
27	Kyle Farnsworth	2
28	Brad Ziegler	2
29	Ryan Perry	1
30	J.J Putz	1
31	C.J. Wilson	1
32	Hideki Okajima	1
33	Phil Coke	1
34	Kyle Davies	1
35	Juan Cruz	1
36	Matt Guerrier	1
37	Darren Oliver	1
38	Jose Mijares	1

Up next will be the 2010 National League auction dollar values for hitters.

American League Auction Dollar Values – Hitters

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 3rd, 2010

Here is a look at the American League auction dollar values for hitters for the 2010 fantasy baseball season. These values are based on a 12 team league with 14 hitters (includes two catchers) using the standard 5 x 5 categories and a $260 budget per team. I used a 70%-30% split for hitting and pitching so the total hitter pool is 168 players for a total of $2,184.

The dollar values are a blended mix of what I think the player will earn mixed with what I think the player will go for at an actual auction. So you will notice that some of the player rankings are different then my 2010 fantasy baseball rankings, but the dollar values will give you a good idea of pricing so you are not surprised when the real auction rolls around. Especially if this is the first season you are participating in a fantasy baseball auction league.

Catchers
Rank	Name	$$
1	Joe Mauer	36
2	Victor Martinez	29
3	Matt Wieters	19
4	Jorge Posada	15
5	Kurt Suzuki	14
6	Mike Napoli	13
7	A.J. Pierzynski	11
8	Kelly Shoppach	6
9	Jason Kendall	4
10	John Buck	3
11	Jarrod Saltalamacchia	3
12	Gerald Laird	3
13	Lou Marson	3
14	Jason Varitek	2
15	Dioner Navarro	2
16	Ramon Castro	2
17	Carlos Santana	2
18	Alex Avila	2
19	Jeff Mathis	2
20	Rob Johnson	1
21	Taylor Teagarden	1
22	Jose Molina	1
23	Jose Morales	1
24	Josh Bard	1
First Base
Rank	Name	$$
1	Mark Teixeira	39
2	Miguel Cabrera	37
3	Kevin Youkilis	31
4	Justin Morneau	28
5	Kendry Morales	27
6	Billy Butler	24
7	Carlos Pena	19
8	Paul Konerko	16
9	Chris Davis	15
10	Nick Johnson	12
11	Lyle Overbay	10
12	Casey Kotchman	7
13	Russell Branyan	6
14	Daric Barton	5
15	Willy Aybar	5
16	Ryan Garko	3
Second Base
Rank	Name	$$
1	Ian Kinsler	33
2	Dustin Pedroia	31
3	Brian Roberts	29
4	Robinson Cano	25
5	Ben Zobrist	24
6	Aaron Hill	24
7	Jose Lopez	19
8	Howie Kendrick	17
9	Scott Sizemore	11
10	Maicer Izturis	9
11	Mark Ellis	8
12	Orlando Hudson	8
13	Luis Valbuena	7
14	Alberto Callaspo	7
15	Chris Getz	5
16	Jayson Nix	4
17	Nick Punto	4
18	Ramon Santiago	1
Shortstops
Rank	Name	$$
1	Derek Jeter	28
2	Alexei Ramirez	21
3	Jason Bartlett	21
4	Elvis Andrus	20
5	Asdrubal Cabrera	19
6	Miguel Tejada	15
7	Erick Aybar	14
8	Marco Scutaro	13
9	J.J. Hardy	12
10	Cliff Pennington	7
11	Yuniesky Betancourt	6
12	Cesar Izturis	6
13	Alex Gonzalez	4
14	Jack Wilson	3
15	Willie Bloomquist	3
16	Adam Everett	2
17	Reid Brignac	2
18	Mike Aviles	2
19	Omar Vizquel	1
Third Base
Rank	Name	$$
1	Alex Rodriguez	42
2	Evan Longoria	35
3	Chone Figgins	25
4	Michael Young	22
5	Gordon Beckham	22
6	Adrian Beltre	16
7	Alex Gordon	14
8	Jhonny Peralta	13
9	Edwin Encarnacion	11
10	Kevin Kouzmanoff	11
11	Mark Teahen	10
12	Garrett Atkins	9
13	Brandon Inge	8
14	Brandon Wood	7
15	Jake Fox	5
16	Jose Bautista	5
17	Mike Lowell	5
18	Brendan Harris	4
19	Ty Wigginton	4
20	Josh Fields	2
21	Bill Hall	2
22	Brett Wallace	1
Outfielders
Rank	Name	$$
1	Carl Crawford	37
2	Jacoby Ellsbury	36
3	Grady Sizemore	31
4	Ichiro Suzuki	31
5	Nick Markakis	29
6	Adam Lind	28
7	Curtis Granderson	28
8	B.J. Upton	27
9	Nelson Cruz	25
10	Shin-Soo Choo	25
11	Bobby Abreu	25
12	Torii Hunter	23
13	Denard Span	22
14	Josh Hamilton	21
15	Alex Rios	20
16	Johnny Damon	20
17	Adam Jones	20
18	Carlos Quentin	19
19	Julio Borbon	19
20	Jason Kubel	18
21	Michael Cuddyer	18
22	Juan Pierre	18
23	Vernon Wells	17
24	Nolan Reimold	17
25	Rajai Davis	16
26	Franklin Gutierrez	16
27	Nick Swisher	15
28	Mike Cameron	15
29	Magglio Ordonez	15
30	Juan Rivera	14
31	Travis Snider	14
32	Delmon Young	13
33	J.D. Drew	13
34	Jack Cust	12
35	Scott Podsednik	12
36	Milton Bradley	12
37	Coco Crisp	12
38	Luke Scott	11
39	Jose Guillen	11
40	David Murphy	11
41	David DeJesus	10
42	Matt LaPorta	10
43	Carlos Guillen	10
44	Austin Jackson	9
45	Michael Brantley	9
46	Ryan Sweeney	8
47	Brett Gardner	8
48	Randy Winn	7
49	Matt Joyce	6
50	Rick Ankiel	6
51	Marcus Thames	6
52	Ryan Raburn	5
53	Gabe Gross	4
54	Eric Byrnes	4
55	Jeremy Hermida	4
56	Desmond Jennings	3
57	Joey Gathright	2
58	Mark Kotsay	1
59	Wilkin Ramirez	1
60	Felix Pie	1
Designated Hitters
Rank	Name	$$
1	Vladimir Guerrero	19
2	David Ortiz	17
3	Hideki Matsui	15
4	Jim Thome	9
5	Travis Hafner	8
6	Pat Burrell	8
7	Randy Ruiz	4
8	Andruw Jones	3
9	Ken Griffey	3

Coming next will be the American League auction dollar values for pitchers.

2010 Fantasy Baseball Auction Leagues – Mixed Format

Posted by Todd Lammi on February 20th, 2010

Today we are going to take a look at some numbers for a 2010 fantasy baseball auction league in a mixed 15 team format. I use 15 teams as the standard with the increasing number of high stakes fantasy baseball leagues that continue to appear every year as the sport continues to grow.

One thing to keep in mind when looking at a magazine’s auction dollar values is you need to determine the league size. Some magazines will use 15 team, some use 12, or some only post dollar values for a AL or NL only type format. Be sure to read the fine print before using those dollar values in preparation for any draft you are doing.

You also need to factor in that some magazines use a dollar amount for what they think a player will earn. In a lot of cases, the player in a real auction will get bid higher than the amount in a magazine because of the position scarcity factor. For example, a player like Joe Mauer at catcher, his dollar value in a magazine for a 15 team league will be around $20, but his price in a real auction will be closer to $30. So you need to plan for that when you are doing your preparation.

Also, the majority of magazines use dollar values but they don’t equate to a real auction. If you are in a 15 team with 23 player rosters, then a total of 345 players and only 345 players need to have a dollar value and the maximum dollar value there can be assuming a $260 budget is $3,900 (15 x 260).

If you are looking for 15 team dollar values where the numbers are true to a real auction and add up to real numbers, you can get those in the next update to the FBT Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide which is on sale now. The new update will be sent out this Monday, 2/22 and is only available to those that purchase the draft guide.

Also in an auction, players with stolen bases tend to go for a few dollars more than players that don’t run. This means that just because player A goes higher than player B in a fantasy baseball draft, there is a good chance that if player B can steal bases, the price at an auction will push player B higher than player A.

So let’s take a look at some numbers from a 15 team mixed auction league from the NFBC last season. In the dollar range from $20 – $60, there were 60 players selected for a total of $1,759 which accounted for 45.3% of the total available auction dollar values. The 60 players work out to a nice round number because if you convert that over to a draft, 15 teams by 60 players comes out to exactly four rounds. So give or take a player or two, the first four rounds of a 15 team draft will have all of the players in this dollar range.

In the next dollar range of $10-$19, there were 105 players selected for a total of $1,482. Again, from a draft standpoint, this converts perfectly to seven rounds of players. So right now we have a total player pool of 165 players taken (11 rounds) for $3,241.

In the dollar range of $1-$9, that leaves 180 players for a total of $638. You will notice if you add up all of the dollars, that comes out to $3,879 which means there were $21 left on the draft table that were never used.

Looking strictly at $1-$2 players, there were 86 players selected, or 5.7 players per team. Knowing this, you can plot out in advance of the draft what positions you are willing to take a dollar player at. Some people are willing to tank catchers and spend $1 each there (not a good idea!!), or go with two to three dollar starters or a couple of dollar outfielders. It is up to you on the strategy, but if you want to control the draft, it is best to plan for $2 per roster spot.

By leaving $2 per roster spot, you guarantee yourself of getting the players you want in the end game. For example, there were 55 players bought at $1 last year. When it comes down to the end of an auction, it turns into a draft at that point. Your team will be much better off if you are able to own players 1-4 in the final 55 by having $2 saved per position than by waiting for players with only $1 left which means if you are 8th in the auction order, you end up with player 8, 23, 38, 53.

2009 Fantasy Baseball Auctions – Advanced Strategy

Posted by Todd Lammi on April 2nd, 2009

by Todd Lammi

In my previous post, I talked about some basics surrounding fantasy baseball auctions. Now it is time to delve a little deeper into some more advanced strategies for success in your fantasy baseball league auction.

1) Be Patient – during the early part of the auction, it can get somewhat frenzied, because usually the big names are thrown out and the dollar amounts are being thrown out back and forth at a rapid pace. Don’t get caught up in the excitement and spend several dollars more than what a player is worth. Remember, you are trying to buy the best value for your team. If you have $260 as your team budget, by the end of the year, you are hoping that $260 team returned $300-$350 worth of value. If the players you bought end up only returning $260 worth of value, the same as what you paid for them, chances are you are not going to finish in the top three places of your fantasy baseball league unless you get extremely lucky with your in season free agent pickups.

There will at some point come a lull in the auction where a group of players will go for less than what their value is. That is the point of the auction that you want to be ready to grab those players. Don’t be worried if there are 20 players already gone from the auction board and none are on your team. You might find yourself buying the next two to three players in a row because their final dollar amount is under the value you assigned to them.

2) Be Prepared – in an auction league you don’t have the time between bids to look through your sheets, or flip through a magazine as you do in a draft where there is some set time between draft picks. In an auction, the action is non stop, so be prepared with all of your information so you do not have to reference it between or during bids. There are usually several breaks in the auction, this is your time to regroup, look up information and double check your dollar totals per team.

The second area to be prepared in is in terms of understanding each teams depth chart, especially in you are participating in an NL or AL only auction league. Being able to grab two to three players for under $5 who will get 400 at bats compared to getting stuck with three players that do not end up making the major league roster could be the difference between whether your team finishes in the money or not. In an NL or AL only auction, the more roster spots you have filled with players that have starting jobs and are able to accumulate stats for the entire course of the season, the better your chances of winning become.

3) Be careful price enforcing – usually in every auction there are a couple of owners that try to price enforce. If David Wright’s value is around $40 and the bidding starts slowing down around $37, an owner in an effort to price enforce might say $38, feeling that someone will bid $39 because Wright’s value is $40. Also, letting an owner accumulate players below their draft value means that owner is already getting that extra value we talked about earlier. The one caveat to price is enforcing is to make sure you can afford the player if you get stuck with him and two, make sure it is a player you want on your roster. I have seen far too many times where an owner tries to price enforce, there are no other bids and he gets stuck with player and ends up grumbling to himself, as he has now thrown his auction strategy out of whack.

4) Vary your nominating strategy – some fantasy baseball owners nominate the same type of player every time, but it is a good idea to change up the way you nominate players so other owners do not get a read on what your strategy is and what players you might be interested in. For example, an owner might only nominate players he is interested in buying, some owners nominate only players they have no interest in buying. For me, I try to employ several different tactics. If I am planning on spending say $25 at second base in an NL only auction league and I have targeted two players for that spot, Brandon Phillips or Rickie Weeks. If there is a second baseman in the $18 range that I don’t have interest in, like Kelly Johnson, I throw him out there. Doing that does two things, it sets the price market a little bit, you can see what Johnson is bought for compared to his value and two, it somewhat eliminates the owner from bidding on one of the two second basemen that you want later on, unless said owner plans on sinking $40+ dollars into his second base and middle infield position which is not too likely. If there is an end game player you are looking at in the $5 range, say an Erick Hinske, nominating him early in the draft might allow you to acquire him a little bit cheaper because other owners don’t want to waste a roster spot that early in the auction process.

5) Be aware of who else likes your players - if you play in a league that allows trading, for every player that you buy, right down next to that player who was the last owner bidding against you. That way during the season, if you decide to trade a player, you might have a potential trade partner already lined up based on the other owner showing interest during the draft.

2009 Fantasy Baseball Auctions

Posted by Todd Lammi on April 1st, 2009

by Todd Lammi

If your favorite day of the year is your fantasy baseball draft, I am about to introduce you to something that is ten times better, and that is a fantasy baseball auction. No longer do you have to worry about players sliding to you in the draft, or having the 10th pick in the first round, knowing that you have no shot at nine players in front of you, in an auction, you have much more control of what goes on around you.

While there is the extra excitement of bidding on players and trying to slip through your favorite sleeper for $2, there are also additional challenges presented in an auction that you do not face in a draft. In addition to tracking the players that have been picked, the players still left on the board and your own team and its stats, in an auction format, you also have to track dollars for your roster and the entire league.

For most players when participating in a fantasy baseball league auction for a first time, they usually run into one of two problems, either they run low on money with multiple players left to buy, or else they have already filled their roster, but have several dollars left to spend.

I am going to give you a couple of tips in order to prevent this from happening and to ensure that your first auction experience is a great one.

When you are preparing for the auction, make sure that the dollars you have assigned to each player add up to the total dollar amount that is to be spent for the league. For example, if you are playing in a 15 team league, and each team has $200 to spend, make sure that the combined salaries you have for the number of players that need to be bought equals $3,000 ($200 x 15). This way you will have closer to a true dollar amount of what a player is worth. So many of the cheat sheets or projections floating around out there provide dollar totals, but they do not add up to what a league total dollar amount is. Each league is different in roster size and team size so make sure that your dollar values are adjusted accordingly.

To make sure that you spend all of your allotted dollars and on the flip side, to make sure you do not run out of money, it is a good idea to go into the draft with dollar amounts assigned to each position on your roster. If you team budget is $200, determine what amount you want to spend for hitting and pitching. On average the split is roughly 70-30 skewed toward hitting. That means with a $200 budget you would plan on spending $60 on your pitching staff. Assuming you have a 10 man pitching staff, you dollar amounts would look something like this:

1Sp – $15

2Sp – $8

3Sp – $7

4Sp – $4

5SP – $2

6Sp – $2

1 Closer – $16

2RP – $2

3 RP – $2

4 RP – $2

You have $15 budgeted for an ace on your staff and $16 budgeted for a closer and so on down the line to fill out your rotation and bullpen. This gives you a good plan of attack to start with. If you happen to spend $17 for an ace starter, simply adjust by $2 another spot on your staff to make sure you hit the $60 mark if that was your allocation to build your staff with.

I usually try to leave $2 for each of the positions instead of $1. At the end of the draft when people are low on money, the auction at that point basically turns into a draft because each person is down to a dollar per player. By having $2 left per player, this ensures that you have a much greater chance of getting the players you want late in the draft.

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2010 Fantasy Baseball Auctions – Determining Inflation

Fantasy Baseball Auction Strategy

NFBC Auction Analysis

2010 Mixed Tout Wars Results

2010 NL Tout Wars Results

2010 AL Tout Wars results

How to Build a Winning Auction Roster

2010 NL LABR Results – Updated

2010 AL and NL LABR Results

Auction Keeper League – How to Rebuild

2010 NL LABR Results

2010 AL LABR Results

National League Auction Dollar Values – Pitchers

National League Auction Dollar Values – Hitters

American League Auction Dollar Values – Pitchers

American League Auction Dollar Values – Hitters

2010 Fantasy Baseball Auction Leagues – Mixed Format

2009 Fantasy Baseball Auctions – Advanced Strategy

2009 Fantasy Baseball Auctions

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