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.
