In 2012 I finished in second place in my first year in the league.
In 2013 I finished in third place.
In 2014 I finished in ninth place.
I needed to return to the form I displayed the first two seasons after my disastrous effort last season. Did it work out?
THE DRAFT
Here are the results of the initial draft held back in March.
AL-only
12 teams
$260 auction for 23 starters
5x5 scoring
14 hitters, nine pitchers
Six bench spots (rostered by a snake draft)
* Number in parenthesis is the $ amount spent.
C: John Jaso (11), Josh Phegley (3)
1B: Mark Teixeira (9)
2B: Marcus Semien (13)
3B: Lonnie Chisenhall (11)
SS: Jose Reyes (24)
MI: Dustin Pedroia (22)
CI: Alex Rodriguez (6)
OF: Josh Hamilton (5), Shin-Soo Choo (18), Adam Eaton (17), Desmond Jennings (15), Shane Victorino (7)
UT: Ike Davis (3)
PITCHERS: David Price (27), Jered Weaver (15), Yordano Ventura (13), Kendall Graveman (5), Wade Davis (7), Tyler Clippard (10), Joakim Soria (8), Andrew Miller (8), Josh Fields (3)
RESERVES (# in parenthesis is round taken): Juan Francisco (24), Grant Green (25), Ernesto Frieri (26), Mike Morin (27), David Murphy (28), Chris Young (29)
TRADES
People really don’t trade in this league but I was able to work out one deal. On June 28th, and remember it’s a difficult AL-only league so it’s not like super exciting or anything, but I dealt 
Desmond Jennings to Eno Sarris for Marwin Gonzalez and Shane Greene. Deal worked out for me even with Greene being a total bust as Marwin had a nice push in the second half (.313/.364/.480 with six homers over 56 games). Oh Des J.
WAIVER MOVES
On April 5th I added Erasmo Ramirez. He finished the season with a 1.13 WHIP on the year and after his first two starts his ERA was 3.02 over 31 outings. He pitched great if you remove those first two trips to the hill.
In Week 2 I added Roberto Perez at catcher for $14. He didn’t come through while Yan Gomes was out.
In Week 4 I added Cody Ross ($2) on a prayer. It wasn’t answered.
In Week 5 Ezequiel Carrera was added for a buck. That was money well spent. Ryan Goins was added for $2 and gave me a nice little boost before he was cut loose.
Week 6 brought my best add of the year off waivers. Danny Valencia was added for $8. From May 13th on, Valencia hit .283 with a .528 SLG. He also hit 18 homers, drove in 62 and scored 53 times.
Week 10 I bid $56 for Mark Trumbo but lost out to Steve Gardner who won the slugger for $67. Trying to fix my backstop issue I spent $4 on Carlos Perez. It didn’t’ work.
Week 11 brought Efren Navarro for $2. Nope.
Week 12 was a barn burner. Josh Fields and Mark Lowe were added to the mix for $1.
Week 18 was trade deadline time. I had the ability to spend $51 on a player. Troy Tulowitzki went for $54. I knew I was unlikely to get him. Johnny Cueto went for $55, the same price as Cole Hamels. I knew I wouldn’t get either of them. I was targeting Carlos Gomez or Gerardo Parra at the dish. I added Parra for $50 while Gomez went for $49. Here is how each man did after the deal.
Gomez: .242-4-13-19-10 with a .670 OPS
Parra: .237-5-20-30-5 with a .625 OPS
Both stunk. At least I made the right decision by rostering Parra...
In Week 23 Jonny Gomes was added for my last dollar.
BREAKDOWN
My staff killed it. I finished fifth in wins but first in ERA, first in WHIP, first in saves and sixth in strikeouts. How could I not have success when I spent $10 on Clippard (1.13 WHIP, 19 saves), $7 on Davis (0.94 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, 17 saves), $8 on Miller (1.90 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 100 Ks and 36 saves in 61.2 innings) and $8 on Soria (2.53 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 24 saves)? I don’t know officially, but I may have set an all-time record with 96 saves. That was 20 more than anyone else. If only this league traded more…
Offensively injuries crushed me. Hamilton appeared in 50 games, low even for him. Pedroia was solid but he appeared in a mere 93 games. Tex was killing it, and I’m not complaining about 31 homers and 79 RBIs, but he only appeared in 111 games. Davis was only out there 72 times for the Athletics. Reyes was on the field for 116 rather uneventful games (.274-7-53-57-24). Hard to put together a great offense with all those woes. Still, Tex/A-Rod (.250-33-86-83) were massive contributors given their cost of $15.
FINISH
Another third place finish for yours truly. In three of my four seasons in the league I’ve finished in the top 3 in the rat race. I’m going on record right now. I’m coming for you League of Alternative Baseball Reality, 2016 is gonna be my year.
Here’s a link to the final standings.
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