THE DRAFT
I broke down the entire club in a preseason piece from March.
15 team mixed league
$260 auction
14 hitters, nine pitchers start
six bench spots
5x5 with one change on offense - OBP replaces batting average
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
WAIVER MOVES
| Date | Player | Tm | Amount |
| 4.06 | ERamirez | TB | 1 |
| 4.06 | KGibson | Min | 2 |
| 4.13 | CBethancourt | Atl | 2 |
| 4.2 | RHanigan | Bos | 1 |
| 4.27 | AHechavarria | Mia | 1 |
| 4.27 | CQualls | Hou | 1 |
| 5.04 | KelJohnson | Atl | 4 |
| 5.04 | BSwihart | Bos | 21 |
| 5.04 | KGibson | Min | 1 |
| 5.11 | ERamirez | TB | 1 |
| 5.11 | EEscobar | Min | 1 |
| 5.18 | ACabrera | TB | 1 |
| 5.25 | DDeJesus | TB | 2 |
| 5.25 | MReynolds | StL | 1 |
| 6.01 | DMurphy | Cle | 1 |
| 7.17 | YSolarte | SD | 1 |
| 7.2 | TSaladino | CWS | 1 |
| 8.03 | DBrown | Phi | 1 |
| 8.03 | BHardy | Det | 1 |
| 8.03 | CSanchez | CWS | 1 |
| 8.1 | YSolarte | SD | 3 |
| 8.1 | JTazawa | Bos | 2 |
| 8.17 | JSaltalamacchia | Ari | 1 |
| 8.24 | MCanha | Oak | 9 |
| 8.31 | KJepsen | Min | 1 |
| 8.31 | EEscobar | Min | 1 |
| 8.31 | ABlanco | Phi | 1 |
| 9.28 | BFinnegan | Cin | 1 |
| 9.28 | CTillman | Bal | 1 |
| 9.28 | JParker | SF | 2 |
| * $100 total to spend | |||
I only had $78 to spend this season. Why? My team was so lame last season that I was penalized for not finishing above the league average.
As you can see from the table my best move all season was adding Erasmo right off the hop. I dropped him after he was bombed twice, but then brought him back into the fold and rode him from mid-May on. Swihart was solid, but certainly not the star I had hoped. Canha was a productive add in August, ditto Jepsen and Escobar, but overall this was a rather uninspiring group of moves.
TRADES
| Date | League Team | Player | Tm | Transaction |
| 4.27 | Ray Flowers | SChoo | Tex | Acquire |
| 4.27 | Ray Flowers | JHeyward | StL | Trade |
| 5.04 | Ray Flowers | FRodney | Sea | Acquire |
| 5.04 | Ray Flowers | JSoler | ChC | Acquire |
| 5.04 | Ray Flowers | MSaunders | Tor | Acquire on Reserve |
| 5.04 | Ray Flowers | OInfante | KC | Acquire on Reserve |
| 5.04 | Ray Flowers | LCain | KC | Trade |
| 5.04 | Ray Flowers | EAybar | LAA | Trade |
| 5.18 | Ray Flowers | MMelancon | Pit | Acquire |
| 5.18 | Ray Flowers | PSandoval | Bos | Acquire on Reserve |
| 5.18 | Ray Flowers | TWatson | Pit | Acquire on Reserve |
| 5.18 | Ray Flowers | SGennett | Mil | Acquire on Reserve |
| 5.18 | Ray Flowers | JHamilton | Tex | Trade |
| 5.18 | Ray Flowers | HKendrick | LAD | Trade |
| 5.25 | Ray Flowers | CGonzalez | Col | Acquire |
| 5.25 | Ray Flowers | CWilson | LAA | Acquire on Reserve |
| 5.25 | Ray Flowers | DNorris | Tor | Trade |
| 5.25 | Ray Flowers | JSoler | ChC | Trade |
| 6.08 | Ray Flowers | MFiers | Mil | Acquire |
| 6.08 | Ray Flowers | CYelich | Mia | Acquire |
| 6.08 | Ray Flowers | DHutchison | Tor | Acquire |
| 6.08 | Ray Flowers | BSwihart | Bos | Trade |
| 6.08 | Ray Flowers | DDeJesus | TB | Trade |
| 6.08 | Ray Flowers | SMarte | Pit | Trade |
| 6.15 | Ray Flowers | TRoss | SD | Acquire |
| 6.15 | Ray Flowers | JSamardzija | CWS | Acquire |
| 6.15 | Ray Flowers | AReed | Ari | Acquire on Reserve |
| 6.15 | Ray Flowers | TWatson | Pit | Trade |
| 6.15 | Ray Flowers | DPrice | Det | Trade |
| 6.29 | Ray Flowers | ARussell | ChC | Acquire |
| 6.29 | Ray Flowers | JSegura | Mil | Acquire |
| 6.29 | Ray Flowers | CSeager | LAD | Acquire on Reserve |
| 6.29 | Ray Flowers | KGibson | Min | Trade |
| 6.29 | Ray Flowers | JReyes | Tor | Trade |
| 7.27 | Ray Flowers | MHolliday | StL | Acquire |
| 7.27 | Ray Flowers | ANola | Phi | Acquire |
| 7.27 | Ray Flowers | DHutchison | Tor | Trade |
| 7.27 | Ray Flowers | CDavis | Bal | Trade |
Big move in April when I sent out Heyward and got back Choo. It’s an OBP league and Choo had a .385 OBP and .489 SLG over 134 games on my squad.
Rodney picked up just eight saves for me. Obviously losing Cain in that deal didn’t work out, at all. I was a genius for drafting him.
The move on May 18th was a rock star move for my club. Well, Sandoval was horrible. But Melancon, who at the time had everyone panicked with a loss of velocity, destroyed the opponents while on my squad. Melancon racked up 42 saves for my club.
CarGo to my squad on May 25th was another killer move. All he did was hit 36 homers with 84 RBIs, a .350 OBP and .600 SLG over a mere 113 games. Wow is right.
June 8th the additions were Fiers (3.50 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 108 Ks in 118.1 innings) and Yelich (.400 OBP and .472 SLG with 51 runs and 12 steals in 85 games). Both were solid, though giving up Marte was not an easy call.
June 15th I got my guy, Tyson Ross. He made 20 starts for my squad with a 2.99 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and 129 strikeouts over 120.1 innings. Samardzija was a total bomb who was also added at the same time. At least I did, pat on the back, an excellent job of choosing when to start him (4-2, 3.70 ERA, 1.05 WHIP over nine starts). What an arm. What a dreadful campaign overall.
I added Seager on June 29th. Only played that last month--he was the lone elite prospect who wasn’t called up before then--so the trade didn’t work out. Obviously I needed help up the middle. Reyes didn’t turn out well either.
The July 29th deal I made with Fred Zinke did two things. (1) It gave Fred the championship (of course that’s an exaggeration given that no one works harder than Fred, who is tireless in his drive to construct the best squad. Truthfully the deal was a minor part of his victory). (2) The deal cost me multiple spots in the standings. See below. Oh, and a third point: Matt Holliday played two games for me before he blew out his leg. Great deal Ray.
BREAKDOWN
Not much went right with a whole host of players. Wieters was on the DL longer than thought, and didn’t perform when off it.
Freeman spent tons of time on the DL.
Reyes never found his footing, for either team he played for.
Jennings was a total waste.
Cishek went from years of success to struggling to stay in the big leagues.
Wood didn’t take the next step.
Fister bombed.
Gausman was supposed to open the year in the rotation. For the second straight year the Orioles jerked him around and that didn’t help anyone. On the bench only one player performed (Moreland).
On the plus side Vogt turned into a borderline fantasy stud at catcher.
Davis was solid until I dealt him.
Hosmer was impressive.
My Top-4 outfielders were as good as any in the league.
Price was amazing, Clippard and Giles were great values. Meanwhile, Miller was an amazing find for $2, even if he never won games because the Braves offense had no idea how to support him.
FINISH
You can find the final results right here.
As you can see, another year with a lack of success in Tout Wars as I finished seventh out of 15 teams. To show you just how close things are, let me do just one thing. Let’s say I didn’t deal Chris Davis to Fred Zienke. How would that one move effected my club? I mean, what if I had just kept Davis on my roster?
Davis appeared in 89 games on my squad. In that time, he had a mere .320 OBP and solid .463 SLG. He went deep 19 times with 53 runs scored. After I dealt him on July 27th he blew up. Over his last 64 games he was a monster.
Davis hit 25 homers and had 57 RBIs and 51 runs scored with a .295/.416/.687 slash line. Over the course of a 150-game season that would equate to a .295-59-134-120 line. Massive.
What I’m about to do isn’t exact, but close. In Davis’ place I used guys like Mitch Moreland and Mark Canha to cover the corner spot. Of course, when Freeman went down, I had to slot one of those guys at first base and use a guy like Solarte on a daily basis. I’ll just say this: If you look at the overall standings you will note if I had 10 more homers I would have gained two points. Davis would have done that for me. I was five RBIs from one point gained in the standings and 24 from first. Could have gained two there. I was so close to first in OBP (.3366 to .3364). I would have gained a point there if I had kept Davis. I was one run behind second spot. I would have gained a point there. Add that all up and that's six points. Adding six points to my 89.0 mark would lead to 95.0, pushing me up to third place, one point ahead of Zach Steinhorn who would fall behind my squad in homers.
Amazing how close things can be at season's end, isn’t it?
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Orioles acquired RHP Luis F. Castillo from the Mariners for cash considerations.
Castillo heads to Triple-A Norfolk as quality extra starting pitching depth for the Orioles, who are struggling to find solutions for the back of their rotation which currently features struggling veterans Charlie Morton and Kyle Gibson. The 30-year-old righty holds a career 5.06 ERA in five appearances (two starts) in the majors.
Orioles designated LHP Walter Pennington for assignment.
Pennington has been jettisoned from Baltimore’s 40-man roster to make room for the club to acquire Luis F. Castillo from the Mariners. The 27-year-old lefty was claimed off waivers last week from the Rangers.
J.T. Realmuto is day-to-day with a left foot contusion.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson told reporters following Realmuto’s early exit from Wednesday’s contest after fouling a ball off his left foot that his level of concern is basically zero before adding that he won’t even need to undergo precautionary X-rays. It doesn’t sound like a serious concern for now.
Cristopher Sánchez allowed just one hit and no runs with three walks and five strikeouts over six innings to earn the win 7-0 over the Rays on Wednesday.
Spotted a huge lead early, Sánchez barely broke a sweat in this quality start and victory against the Rays’ paltry lineup. He didn’t force many swings-and-misses, but the Rays literally didn’t make any dangerous contact all game. Yes, literally: of their 14 balls in play, 12 were hit on the ground and the other two were simple pop-ups. It’s nice that he seems to have put the forearm injury scare of a few weeks ago behind him and he’s scheduled to face the Pirates and Cardinals in what should be nice a two-start week coming up.
Trea Turner went 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored, and two RBI on Wednesday against the Rays.
Has Turner’s power finally returned? His 107.8 mph home run was the third hardest ball he’s hit all season and his fourth inning single was hit harder than 100 mph as well. Other than the power, he’s had an excellent season to this point with a .307 batting average and eight stolen bases as a key cog in the heart of the Phillies’ talented lineup.
Shane Baz allowed eight hits and six earned runs with two walks and three strikeouts over 3 1/3 innings in a loss to the Phillies on Wednesday.
The Phillies were all over Baz in their third time around the order. They wound up scoring five runs during that fateful fourth inning which started with a walk, single, fielder’s choice, and safety squeeze before Bryson Stott, Trea Turner, and Bryce Harper had consecutive base hits to chase him from the game. All three of those batted balls were hit at least 100 mph and it felt like they were seeing him very clearly by that point. Turner himself had two batted balls over 100 mph, with the other being a home run. While Baz’s velocity was up, his command was off and he left far too many knuckle-curves in the middle of the zone. Baz now has an ugly 4.93 ERA after this poor start and he’ll have to get his command back before his next scheduled start against the Blue Jays.