As a youngster I used to wait with breathless anticipation for my Baseball Weekly to arrive each March with a review of the NL and AL-only events (this is the 23rd year of the league). I aspired to be those guys, the ones in the pages of that paper that I would read about every March. I believe this is the 4th season I’ve been fortunate enough to be invited to the League of Alternative Baseball Reality (LABR) by Steve Gardner and USA Today helping to fulfill that childhood dream. In my previous three attempts at a title I’ve finished second and third, I believe the other time I was sixth, so I told Steve that this was the year I move up from bronze and silver to gold. How did things shake out this season? Before I break down the team let me lay down for you the rules of the event.
PARTICIPANTS
Here are the 11 other teams that were involved in the festivities besides yours truly.
AL owners Affiliation
Steve Gardner - USA TODAY Sports
Rick Wolf/Glenn Colton - Fantasy Alarm
Ray Flowers - SiriusXM
Lawr Michaels* - Mastersball
Greg Ambrosius/Shawn Childs - NFBC
Chris Liss - Rotowire
Tristan Cockcroft - ESPN
Brandon Funston - Yahoo
Tim Heaney - USA TODAY Fantasy Sports
Larry Schechter - Winning Fantasy Baseball
Dave Adler - Baseball HQ
Eno Sarris - Fangraphs
*-new to the league in 2016
SETUP
AL-only
12 teams
$260 auction for 23 starters
5x5 scoring
14 hitters, nine pitchers
six bench spots (rostered by a snake draft)
All of that is pretty standard stuff. However, there's one significant difference with LABR.
You draft 23 starters. The only way to remove any of those players from your lineup is to do one of the following.
(1) Drop a player onto waivers.
(2) Put him on the DL if he is hurt.
(3) Put him on your reserve list if he is sent to the minors.
*NOTE: Free agents are eligible to be drafted, though if they sign in the other league you cannot keep them on your roster.
That's it. As you can see this setup could pose some issues. Do you hold on to a guy who is struggling early on or do you let him go knowing that, over the long run, he'll likely produce? Obviously this format is very restrictive and makes drafting a solid roster paramount (trades are allowed, but the league isn't exactly flush with a myriad of deals most of the time).
One other note about the reserve rounds. Players drafted as bench options can be freely moved in an out of the lineup with no penalty. Of course, you have to have an opening in the starting lineup - one of the three options listed above must be present - in order to activate the bench players.
MY ROSTER
* Number in parenthesis is the $ amount spent.
C: Curt Casali ($2), Chris Iannetta (2)
1B: Albert Pujols (19)
2B: Rob Refsnyder (3)
3B: Evan Longoria (21)
SS: Troy Tulowitzki (22)
MI: Tim Anderson (3)
CI: Carlos Santana (17)
OF: Adam Eaton (22), Hanley Ramirez (21), Leonys Martin (9), Brad Miller (12), Chris Coghlan (8)
UTIL: Billy Butler (2)
PITCHERS: Yordano Ventura (14), Danny Salazar (22), Jordan Zimmermann (13), Anibal Sanchez (7), Jose Berrios (7), David Robertson (14), Andrew Miller (7), Dellin Betances (7), Joakim Soria (2)
RESERVES: Austin Jackson, Alex Avila, David Freese, Tyler Saladino, Drew Stubbs, Miguel Gonzalez
Don’t forget to pick up your copy of the 2016 MLB Draft Guide which includes more than 600 Players Ranked, auction values, .png)
rookie reports, hitting and pitching targets as well as all the info you need if you’re ready to start playing DFS.
HOW THE DRAFT WENT
I had a plan heading in, one that Jeff Mans and I hatched as we sat around the pool at our hotel (it was a beautiful 78 degrees). It was a good plan tailored to my strengths. I felt that I always crushed the reserve rounds so Jeff, astutely, suggested taking a few more risks at the draft since I always seem to be able to dig up something of value late. It was a great plan. The execution though… not so much.
The plan was to be aggressive and get in on some of the high dollar, $30+ type talents.
Two players into the draft my strategy had to be adjusted.
Albert Pujols $19 and Troy Tulowitzki $22 were not on my target list. So why did I end up with them? Cost. I’m sitting there and Pujols is languishing at a price well below expectations (I had him tabbed at $24). So I thought I would jump in and either get him at a discount or force others to bid. No one else bud, so hello Albert Pujols. In 14/15 seasons he’s had 95 RBIs and he’s hit at least 28 homers in 14/15 seasons as well. I’m fine with the $19, but it wasn’t the plan.
Same deal with Tulo. At $22 there is tons of room for profit. There’s a potential AL MVP award for Tulo in that fantastic Blue Jays lineup. There’s also the downside of 59 games played. Everyone in the room knew that, but I was still very surprised that the bidding stopped at $22. Again, not my plan, but Tulo was still seven dollars less than peak value so I was fine with rostering him, though it did change my thought process/plan.
I was able to roster HanRam, again at a few dollars below my max bid for him (the positional flexibility he will gain certainly adds a couple of dollars in a league only setup), but Hanley and Troy as a duo meant I needed stability elsewhere. In came names like Carlos Santana an Evan Longoria. I also tabbed Eaton who has been very solid the past couple of seasons with a strong overall game. Liking that foundation.
Catchers were too expensive in this league as they all seemed to be going for max bid or over that price. I simply chose not to get involved in that high level bidding. The result was two uninspiring, power bats that only cost me four dollars (more on catcher below).
I took a shot on Refsnyder and Anderson in the infield. You gotta go cheap somewhere folks. Anderson could be up sooner than some think (can’t trust Jimmy Rollins can you?), and though Refsnyder has no path at the moment an injury/trade could force him into a role of prominence. Could. It’s a risk, but two strong young talents.
And then there is Billy Butler. For some reason people are getting on me for Butler at $2. Childs/Amborious threw him out for $1 right in the first round of bids. It was quiet. No one was in. I tossed out $2 and Butler was mine. I fail to see why that was a bad selection? I think people look at this like it’s a 10-team mixed league. It’s not. We’re talking a 12-team, AL-only setup folks. If Butler picks up 450 at-bats and goes .260-12-60, a very reasonable estimate, I will be getting a guy who blows past is draft day cost. Plate appearances matter in only setups.
Finally, I rostered B. Miller who I think could really emerge this season (see his Player Profile). Not only am I a believer in his skills, but it was imperative that I rostered a capable shortstop to support Tulowitzki. It’s a win-win as they call it.
As for the pitching staff... rock-flipping-star.
I love Salazar as my top dog (see his Player Profile). He and Ventura are a couple of young, dynamic arms. Zimmermann showed some skills slippage last season and moves to the American League, but as third starter he’s as good as it gets in an only league. He also offers some workload stability that the other two don’t necessarily bring as well as he consistently piles up innings. Sanchez isn’t sexy and is dealing with some physical woes at the moment, he’s the perennial wildcard, but if healthy he is a strong four. I took my shot on the guy I offered in the Fantasy Alarm Draft Guide as the potential AL Rookie of the year. I was in on the bidding on Blake Snell, I went to four dollars before Chris Liss pushed things to $5, but I chose to wait on Berrios who I figured would go at about the same price (totally fine am I with the extra two dollars it took to get Berrios). Love that kids arm.
Let’s talk bullpen arms.
I crushed it.
Period.
Aroldis Chapman went for $15 to Colton, The Wolfman and Stern. I picked up Betances and Miler for seven each meaning the duo cost me $1 less than Chapman. If B/M get me 12 saves this season I will be OK with it. Obviously that number could be higher, but if it isn’t that’s fine. Why? B/M are going to throw 140-innings with 200 strikeouts, a 2.50 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP (those numbers are actually worse than the duo did last season). Those numbers also make them look an awful lot like Chris Sale over a few less innings – with saves potential as well. They are an amazing duo and at least I stuck to that part of my initial plan.
‘But Ray, they aren’t closers.’ Miller is for now, at least for April, and don’t overlook that I picked up David Robertson and his great arm as well. He could easily be a top-5 AL-only closer, maybe even top-3. I rounded out the rotation with Soria who could fall into saves if Wade Davis struggles (unlikely) or is hurt.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I couldn’t have done a worse job in enacting my offensive plan right from the start with Pujols/Tulo. Still, the value was there and I adjusted on the fly. I’ve got both youth and stability on offense, and I took my shot on guys like Anderson and Refsnyder. I really like how the group came together. On the hill, things went exactly according to plan and I couldn’t possibly be happier. I’ve got dominating arms throughout, two of the top-5 relievers in baseball the past two seasons actually (not talking saves but overall skills), and I would put this staff up against any, anywhere, in an AL-only setup.
Oh, and that bench round that I teased earlier? I feel like I crushed it… again.
I took Austin Jackson with my first selection in the snake draft. Sixteen hours later he signed with the White Sox offering me a massive bonus in the outfield (this also softened the blow of failing to roster Avisail Garcia in the auction with my fallback option turning out to be Coghlan). I also was able to scoop up Avila who gives me tremendous coverage at catcher in case of injury or poor play at that position. Freese still needs a team and who knows, but I wouldn’t put it past him to rack up 400 plate appearances with someone. Stubbs was a dart throw, but with Josh Hamilton a total mess is it insane to think that Stubbs could hit 5-10 homers with 10 steals? I don’t think so. Saladino could get a lot more work in Chicago than folks think and Gonzalez is a nice little hurler without upside. Again, a strong group in this setup.
Thanks to Steve Gardner for the invite (here is his review of the draft).
Game on folks.
TO SEE HOW THE DRAFT PLAYED OUT HERE IS A LINK TO THE DRAFTBOARD.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Here is some audio from the event from the draft I covered – the National League – for SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio.
Why striking quickly in a draft might be a good plan.
How is it possible that Giancarlo Stanton cost $37?
Should Clayton Kershaw gone for more than $38? If you do roster Kershaw, how do you build the rest of your staff?
Is spending big on Anthony Rendon a mistake?
Does the scarcity of the catcher’s position cause a hike in prices?
NOTE: If you want to see the results of the NL Draft, here is that link.