I was in New York for the mixed Tout Wars league over the weekend (I'm actually writing this at 30,000+ feet on my way home. My first column ever written from the friendly skies). My team - well I'll lay it out for you below. There were some great buys, might even have been a few that weren't too fantastico. It was a somewhat frustrating draft to be fair. Everything I did I liked when I did it. Subsequently players went to other teams for prices that would have made them better fits for my quad and what I was trying to do (so is the nature of the auction - there's just no way to completely know what is going to happen). It was like every move I made in the first 2/3 of the draft was a good move in a vacuum, but when placed in the context of the draft... let's just say that I was a wee bit ticked off until the final third of the draft helped to bring things around to the point where I don't mind how the team ended up at all.
LEAGUE RULES
15 team mixed league
$260 auction
14 hitters, nine pitchers start
six bench spots
5x5 with one change on offense - OBP replaces batting average
15 games qualification for a position (as opposed to the normal 20)
ROSTER
C: Matt Wieters ($11), Stephen Vogt (3)
1B: Freddie Freeman (25)
2B: Howie Kendrick (16)
3B: Chris Davis (23)
SS: Jose Reyes (18)
MI: Erick Aybar (5)
CI: Eric Hosmer (13)
OF: Starling Marte (24), Jason Heyward (21), Adam Eaton (12), Lorenzo Cain (3), Desmond Jennings (3)
UT: Alejandro De Aza (1)
PITCHERS: David Price (26), Steve Cishek (16), Tyler Clippard (6), Alex Wood (13), Doug Fister (9), Ken Giles (6), Kevin Gausman (3), Shelby Miller (2), Bobby Parnell (1)
BENCH: Josh Hamilton, Andrelton Simmons, Yovani Gallardo, Daniel Norris, Byron Buxton, Mitch Moreland
CLICK ON THIS LINK FOR THE FULL DRAFT RESULTS.
(you can also see the thoughts of others who participated in the draft here).
My team review...
CATCHER: Wieters will begin the year on the DL as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. Maybe his situation is more severe then we've been led to believe
but I'm assuming he will be fine in short order. His normal 20-70 effort is still doable if he doesn't miss much time. Perfect example of my draft frustrations with Vogt. He went for $3. Totally happy with that. Right after he goes to me Chris Iannetta comes up. If you saw my draft sheet you would have noticed that I bolded Iannetta as my prime target for a second catcher. He went for $2. Ugh.
FIRST BASE: Freeman is gonna suck. Ask around. All I know is that he's stable, could hit .300, and will knock in runs. Remember though, this is an OBP league. If the Braves are as bad as folks think how many walks is Freeman going to garner? Exactly. Here is the Fantasy Alarm crew talking about the move.
SECOND BASE: Kendrick at $16 was another example of a move I didn't have a huge issue with, that is until I saw Chase Utley ($4) and Neil Walker ($10) types go off the board for so much less. This was my one true mistake. If I had saved $5-6 here I would have had more control of the end game where I like to do damage and certainly could have in this draft.
THIRD BASE: Davis has that first base qualification going, and that's a nice boost. He will also rebound, substantially, from last season. Check out his Player Profile for an explanation of why.
SHORTSTOP: Reyes wasn't a target at all. Sitting there at the draft table. Cory Schwartz of MLB.com were cutting it up all draft, he was letting it rip (he was on fire), and we were often shocked at how low some of the players went for. So Reyes is tossed out there. I have no interest. Then he's sitting there... and sitting there... and I'm thinking I can't let this guy go for $15, and with Cory goading me, I just yell out $16. Reyes gets pushed to $17. I'm still thinking I can't let him go for that so I went to $18. No one else bid. Pretty surprised was I that no one did but can't be anything but pleased with the result.
MIDDLE/CORNER: Aybar is boring. I get it. He's also pretty stable and wont harm the club in any appreciable way. Would have been nicer to save a few bucks though on guys like Brandon Phillips ($1), or Arismendy Alcantara (4). Hosmer is a guy I recently profiled in the Player Profile series. As I noted in the piece, from July 1st on last season his SLG was .509.
OUTFIELD: This position was a bit nerve racking for me. I usually target outfielders early to build my team around some dynamic guys, but this time I just didn't get in on anyone at the right price early on. So I'm looking at the board and identified Marte as the guy I had to have (Player Profile). I was satisfied that I was able to roster him for $24 - when compared to a few other outfielders who went for more (Bryce Harper $33, Christian Yelich $23, George Springer $31). Heyward at $21 was about my cash limit but being able to grab the soon to be free agent, who is just 25 years old, and the owner of a 20/20 season at that cost... come on Cardinals (Player Profile). Eaton was the next target I had to have. I was low on funds and realized I could go to $10 and be OK. I threw out the $10 bid when we got to that point (I was actually bidding on him earlier than that). Then the bid was pushed to $11. I decided to go the extra dollar to get him, but would I miss those two dollars? There were four outfielders left that I zeroed in on. Ben Revere, Melky Cabrera, Cain and Jennings. I just didn't have the funds to get Revere ($6) even though that was a smoking deal. Cabrera ($10) went for too much as well. That left me with two targets. Cain (Player Profile) and Jennings (Player Profile) both went for $3, which was a way better fit for my team than just Revere. the group came together spectacularly considering where I was at 3/4 of the way through the draft. I also added De Aza for a buck. He could hit at the top of the Orioles' order often, and while he's no great shakes he can be an effective offensive performer.
PITCHING: Price was the ace I wanted to get. Let me rephrase. I wanted an ace and got Price. My heart then sunk when Madison Bumgarner went for $4 less and Corey Kluber for $2 less and James Shields for $8 less. I like Price an awful lot and have zero problem with his $26 bid, but I can't do anything but think that MadBum at $23 would have been better (of course there is no way to know if I said $23 that someone else wouldn't have gone to $24, 25 etc.). Wood is one of the guys that I've written about (Player Profile) who could end up as a top-25 option on the bump. Fister at $9 was a fine buy. Of course, I grew sick to my stomach when I saw some of the late round buys on the hill (like vomit sick) that were crazy values: Jered Weaver $5, Kyle Lohse $1, Matt Cain $2, R.A. Dickey $2, Chris Tillman $2 . Kevin Gausman throws more tshan 95 mph and was really solid late last year with a 3.60 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and 7.2 K/9 his last 14 starts. He could breakout in '15 as the Fantasy Alarm crew discussed. Finally my best buy of the draft might have been Miller for $2. You can read why I think that in his Player Profile. Cishek went for the going rate for upper level closers. Clippard at $6 I really like. As stable a reliever as there is, Tyler will open the year working the 9th for the Athletics. Not really sure why Sean Doolittle went for $11. From what I've seen he's not even throwing off the mound yet because of his shoulder. Giles will close this season, wont he? The Phillies just have to deal Jonathan Papelbon at some point. Parnell was my lone $1 pitcher. He could be closing for the Mets by May and we do have DL spots in this league so I will replace him with an active hurler in our first FAAB period.
BENCH: Hamilton - what is going on there? No idea. I tend to think the longer things go without a resolution the more likely it is that his suspension will be shorter than folks think (plus, with a wonky shoulder the club could place him on the DL and I can use the active roster spot). Simmons isn't likely to do anything in the OBP column, but in the reserve rounds grabbing a young, talented shortstop who will play 150 games isn't a bad idea. Gallardo ain't great, I admit it, but with the growth in his ground ball rate the last two seasons he can still have success (Player Profile). Norris could be a home run, or a strikeout. He's an elite talent and it's still possible he could end up in the rotation with the Jays. I don't think Buxton will be up until late in the year. Maybe my club stays healthy, he hits .350 for two months, and we see him in June? Moreland is boring, but he can hit. At least that's what I tried to convince myself of after calling out his name as my last pick.
CONCLUSION
I like, but don't love the club. I've been feeling good about my pitching staffs in all my drafts this season, and I feel the same way here (especially of Norris 
ends up starting). My outfield also came together really nicely, better than I could have hoped as the draft was progressing. It may not be the most productive unit in the league but it's possibly the most talented physically. I might be a bit light on OBP when it's all said and done, and too heavy on steals (?) but there are a few folks in this league - and I'm looking at you Fred Zienke - who love to trade as much as they like to breath. Hopefully I can use that avenue to bolster the club where needed.
Oh, and I'm stealing this from Cory's writeup. Couldn't say it better myself.
P.S. – Thanks again to the fine folks at @CityCrabNYC for hosting, to @RonShandler,Peter Kreutzer (@kroyte) and @lawrmichaels for their Tout leadership, and to auctioneer @Jeff_Erickson for deftly running the draft. A great day, as always.
For those that want to see how the AL draft went, you can read the Wolfman's review.