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DownloadOne of my longtime “home” leagues has been a 15 to 18 team, mixed league auction, based in Los Angeles. Like many other leagues, the annual live auction was a victim of social distancing, courtesy of COVID-19.
Our commissioner for over 30 years, while hoping he can eventually get the league together for the live draft once MLB has a firm start date, floated the idea of doing an online auction on Sunday, April 5. While the question met with tepid responses from some, many of us, confined to quarters and jonesing for baseball quickly signed up and eventually we had 15 teams ready to draft from home and enjoy a rare day with fellow fantasy baseball players.
It was a win all the way around. We enjoyed the auction and banter even if we couldn’t see each other and the commissioner got his first experience running an auction online, something he hopes doesn’t have to do for the elder mixed league and an NL only league he also runs. If we can’t draft in person for an abbreviated MLB season, we are all hoping for, he now knows how to conduct the draft and many of his leaguemates have at least one online auction under their belt.
So last Sunday started with a practice round, every team getting one nomination and everyone learning to navigate the site. Then the bell rang and the surprise nomination of J.T. Realmuto went for $20 before we got to the usual suspects. Remember that auction prices for every league are unique. Much like ADP if you use AAV you really don’t know how close the many leagues that make up the figures are to the specific league you are ready to draft, or how old some of those figures are. In this league the top hitters, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Mike Trout both went for $48. Christian Yelich was just a few dollars back at $45 while Trea Turner was the only other player in the 40s at $41. The top pitchers were Jacob deGrom at $36 followed by Gerritt Cole at $38. That doesn’t mean that the prices in this league were lower than in other leagues, the next wave of both hitters and pitchers went at prices above Todd’s projected earnings. The total for the first round was $510, an average of $34 per player despite two catchers nominated, while the second round saw $424 spent, an average just above $28 despite someone sneaking Anthony Santander through for a dollar.
Suffice it to say that after the first two rounds of nominations I had no players on my roster and a few picks into the third round I was the only team that still had $260 to spend. I can’t give you the prices on every single player in this article, but I am more than glad to answer with the prices paid on specific players in the Subscriber Forum.
And I know you are all dying to see my team but let’s first extract some auction pointers, both general and from this draft and my prep for it.
I mentioned the hitting/pitching split I was using. This was in conjunction with an approach to my tiered ranking sheet that I did not mention above. Once you have the sheets set up and have your lines below the presumed players who will be drafted at each position it Is imperative that you go through the hitters below that line by position to see if there are players you would be comfortable taking in the end game for a dollar so that you can have spent more on key players earlier in the draft. Here are some of the players that I had in that group:
C – James McCann & Tony Wolters
1B – Miguel Cabrera & Yandy Diaz
3B – Diaz & Maikel Franco
2B – Robinson Cano & Freddy Galvis
SS – Galvis & Willy Adames
Only Miggy ended up on my roster for a dollar and I backed him up with a higher ranked corner in the reserves. Most of the others were rostered in the reserve rounds.
Back to the auction. My first purchase was Keston Hiura for $23 in the third round. Second base is a tough position this year and I was glad to get one of the top tier for a reasonable price. Plus, I think Hiura will exceed Todd’s projections.
I was now going to go on a buying spree adding fourteen players for $223 over the next eight rounds. Part of the reason was that prices had dropped to match or be less than projected values The other thing to remember is that is you wait for several rounds to buy your first player and have the most buying power, you need to use it while you have it lest you are back to competing with other teams who have the same amount or more which incites bidding wars on players not worth the higher prices.
When the eleventh round of the auction ended, I had $14 left for eight players – four hitters and four pitchers. That puts one in a tough position to get to the end game. Nominate a player you would be okay rostering for a dollar and hoping you don’t have to react for a player you really need or want. Sometimes to do that you have to nominate players you would love to have but realize you don’t have to dollars left to get them so force your opponents to spend their dollars. It seemed like forever to get through rounds 12-13-14-15-16 without spending. Probably just an hour but felt longer. At that point there was one starter I hoped to land, the Dodgers Alex Wood. There were also two minor leaguers I had my eye on for both their positions and skills – White Sox 2B Nick Madrigal and Blue Jays SP Nate Pearson. It was unlikely I could get either of them or other top prospects in the reserve draft as I would have the last pick in the first round. Neither player would likely have been on Opening Days roster in March … but in late May or June? Both are possible. So how would this play out? And I still needed a CI, OF, and UT besides the MI and four more pitchers.
Now how to get through the final seven rounds.
At 17.15 I nominated Dodger Pitcher Dustin May for a dollar – after all this is mostly an LA crowd.
Crickets
A friend of mine says “Nice one Perry” in the chat box.
I said Thanks but that wasn’t my plan.
Don’t get me wrong – I like May and have him on a couple of other teams. But I wanted some teams to bid on him and leave me the dollar and the roster spot.
But fortunes change quickly – late in the 18th round a friend of mine put up Nate Pearson for $2 his max bid and my quick $3 won the bid and shortly thereafter early in the 19th Madrigal was nominated for a dollar and my $2 was quick and a winner. At my turn at the end of the round I decided now was the time to make my play for Alex Wood. With $7 for four players, my max was $4 and I put it all on Wood and won again. Now I could finish out the team with three one dollar players (Miguel Cabrera, Trent Grisham, and Tony Watson) and almost everyone was down to a dollar per player.
So here is the team I bought in the auction, and the reserves I drafted.
C – Yadier Molina ($5) and Sean Murphy ($5)
1B – Carlos Santana ($11)
3B – Anthony Rendon ($32)
CI – Miguel Cabrera ($1)
2B – Keston Hiura ($23)
SS – Corey Seager ($12)
MI – Nick Madrigal $2)
OF – Luis Robert ($19)
OF – Tommy Pham ($19)
OF – Jeff McNeil ($15)
OF – Michael Brantley ($10)
OF – Trent Grisham ($1)
UT – Nick Solak ($1)
P – Trevor Bauer ($17)
P – Aaron Nola ($23)
P – Nick Anderson ($13)
P – Brandon Woodruff ($22)
P – Mike Soroka ($19)
P – Dustin May ($1)
P – Nate Pearson ($3)
P - Alex Wood ($4)
P – Tony Watson ($1)
Reserves Rounds
24-15 Austin Riley, OF
25-01 Tony Gonsolin, P
26-15 Adam Frazier, 2B
27-01 Eric Thames, 1B
28-15 Blake Treinen, P
29-01 Brusdar Graterol, P
Perhaps the one player who stands out from the more moderately priced is Anthony Rendon. While I had budgeted to buy one top hitter (low 30s), I didn’t find the right opportunity in the first three rounds. At the end of the 4th round one nomination presented that challenge. With Nolan Arenado off the board at $35 and Jose Ramirez gone at $33 should I go for Anthony Rendon or hope that Alex Bregman or Rafael Devers would offer a discount later? (they didn’t) As I actually think Rendon is under projected hitting 3rd behind the Angels leadoff hitter and Trout or 4th behind leadoff, Trout and Ohtani, I decided to get him for low 30s and ultimately won at $32. Rendon is a strong four category hitter and I expect 30+HR, 100+R and RBI, and a batting average over .300 thus my paying up for him (slightly).
Again, always glad to answer question about this draft or the players in the Subscriber Forum. Now we just need to flatten the curve of the virus and get the players back on the fields so we can have some live drafts.