20 Years of Fantasy Baseball

Back in 1992, after several years of successful fantasy football league play, I launched fantasy leagues for two other major sports. Basketball survived until a few years ago, when interest waned. Baseball—thanks to other owners who stepped up to serve as commissioner—is still going strong. Now entering its twentieth season, I’ve only managed two titles myself, usually playing chump to the same multi-champion team at some point in the playoffs.

Although grad school has seriously cut into my sports time, it has felt good to rev up that part of my life again. For today’s draft, I’ll be keeping tabs here, as a live-blog. Feel free to refresh if you have nothing better to do.

Maine Squeeze

My team is coming off of a World Series loss, with a roster that was overcome with injuries down the stretch and ran out of gas. My roster has a lot of talent on it but a few key holes to fill. With 18 teams in the league (contracted from 20 a few years ago), we are allowed to keep 15 players each year (essentially a full lineup) and up to four developmental players, guys who did not appear on our major league rosters the entire previous season.

Cornermen (CM): Adrian Gonzalez (Boston), Aramis Ramirez (Chicago-NL), Pedro Alvarez (Pittsburgh)
Middlemen (MM): Jimmy Rollins (Philadelphia), Starlin Castro (Chicago-NL), Alexei Ramirez (Chicago-AL), Reid Brignac (Tampa Bay)
Catchers (C): Matt Wieters (Baltimore), Will Myers (Kansas City)
Outfielders (OF): Justin Upton (Arizona), B.J. Upton (Tampa Bay), Shane Victorino (Philadelphia), Alex Rios (Chicago-AL)
Starting Pitchers (SP): Felix Hernandez (Seattle), CC Sabathia (New York-AL), Dan Haren (Los Angeles-AL), David Price (Tampa Bay), Jameson Taillon (Pittsburgh)
Relief Pitchers (RP): Matt Thornton (Chicago-AL)

My most pressing need is in the bullpen, power in the outfield, and another starting pitcher. I have also done quite well cultivating talent through my minor leagues, with only six of those players not being protected as a developmental player in my system at some point.

Round One

Our draft system is a bit unique. It isn’t a sequential selection process; it is a free-for-all, within each round. Any player still on the board is available to select, for a minimum cost (in fantasy dollars). If someone else also selects that player, however, you have to bid. This makes the first round exciting, in that any team can go after any player. It also makes it long, since there are often a half-dozen bidding wars of note.

This year, we had battles for Chris Sale (3 teams), Stephen Drew (4 teams), and Adam Lind (2 teams). I had selected Sale, as a handcuff for Thornton but also because he’s got a primo arm for one of my favorite teams. Battling another Sox fan, though, likely makes this an expensive proposition. Surprisingly, that team dropped out before it reached $2m, but it took until $2.85m before the third team dropped. That leaves me out of any future bidding wars, most likely, but I get my insurance for Thornton and am all but guaranteed of quality production from my closer spot, as the White Sox are expected to do pretty well this year.

The losing teams selected Luke Scott, Brandon Belt, Tsuyoshi Nishika, Craig Kimbrell, Cameron Maybin, and Dexter Fowler as replacements. Also selected without competition were Nick Swisher, Casey Kelly, Manny Banuelas, Michael Pineda, Manny Machado, Carlos Zambrano, and Jose Tabata. Two teams (our perennial World Series participants) opted to use their 1st to protect an extra player, allowable by league rules.

1st Round: RP Chris Sale, Chicago White Sox, $2.85m

Round Two

That was a bit painful, to wait for over 90 minutes to make a second pick. The backroom negotiations for Stephen Drew caused the bulk of the delay. The first few rounds are often long, but this one should go quicker.

Here, I made an audible from my original plans. Because of my early cost of winning a bidding war, I’m shifting my strategy to aim a round shorter than where I would have picked players, to try to get ahead of the curve (and thus stay cheap). My short list of starting pitchers were still on the table, but I lost both of my outfield targets and the top closer. As a result, I opted to get another good young arm in Jake McGee of Tampa Bay rather than picking up a 5th starter. With a sure situation in the bullpen in Chicago now, McGee gives me some options to go with two closers (probably) and a solid future young arm.

My instincts were correct, as the guy I planned to take would have forced a bidding war. Gone without competition: Brian Duesing, Tyler Matzek, Joel Hanrahan, Jake McGee, Jordan Zimmerman, Aubrey Huff, Kyle Gibson, Mark Buerhle, Zack Britton, Asdrubal Cabrera, Hiroki Kuroda, Derek Holland, Leo Nunez, Carlos Lee, and Brett Cecil. Only one bidding war—for RP Ryan Franklin (3 teams)—which was resolved for $750 and a low-round draft pick. The replacements for the losing clubs were Fernando Rodney and David Aardsma.

2nd Round: RP Jake McGee, Tampa Bay, minimum

Round Three

Seven of the closers on the list are gone, but I’m feeling OK about the depth there. I still want a starting pitcher (this might have been where I would have reclaimed ex-Squeeze Mark Buerhle, but he is off the board). I have a solid young catcher (Wieters) and another on the way (Myers), but it would be nice to have another veteran for insurance. Since my power is overall weaker than I’d like, I targeted the most powerful catcher I can find—which isn’t saying much—in Miguel Olivio. He is still a bit of a reach in the third, but that fits with my plan to go on the cheap.

Going without a fight: Jhonny Peralta, Casper Wells, John Lamb, Miguel Sano, Mike Pelfrey, James McDonald, Jeremy Guthrie, Bill Hall, Jarrod Saltalamaccia, Yorvit Torrealba, Gerrit Cole (sp, UCLA), Kevin Gregg, Andres Torres, and Coco Crisp. The selection of Cole is important, as it marks the first future MLB blue-chip draftee to go. I have been quite successful upping the quality of my team over time by targeting college prospects who are about to get drafted in the top 10 in June. Cole was on my short list.

As it was, Olivo was one of two bidding wars. I gave Purgatory a 7th to drop out, and Chris Iannetta went for $200K in the other war. The replacements are Neil Walker and John Jaso.

3rd Round: C Miguel Olivio, Seattle, minimum + 7th

Round Four

The choice of McDonald threw me, as he was one of the starters I had targeted (and neglected to take). Jake Westbrook, who benefited from being around pitching coach Dave Duncan after a trade last year, intrigued me enough to drop his name into the bucket. I was tempted to go with another position, but right now everything but pitching depth is a luxury.

I must say it is nice to be able to completely ignore MM for the draft. I have four starters, two of which I plan to stash in my minors to serve as potential 2012 prospects. I may take another one late in the draft, if a starter is still out there, to help give me options to keep their developmental status intact.

Players being selected in this round are: David Murphy, Rod Barajas, Omar Infante, Tim Stauffer, Jake Westbrook, Yuniesky Betancourt, Alex Gonzalez, Josh Thole, Ryan Therriot, Placido Polanco, Brent Morel, Anthony Rendon (3b, Rice), Jorge Posada, Dallas Braden, Brandon Lyon, and Sean Rodriguez. Danny Espinosa was the lone bidding war, #4 for our commissioner’s team (Purgatory), who chose Jeff Francis as a replacement.

4th Round: SP Jake Westbrook, St. Louis, minimum

Round Five

The loss of Rendon was huge. I came close to bidding on him in the fourth round. Rendon is the best true prospect entering the league this year, but at CM it may be a blessing that he is off the board now. I want to come away with at least one blue-chipper to restock my minor leagues. I’m expecting CM Pedro Alvarez to move up some time this year, and MM Reid Brignac is probably trade bait during the season. Although he wasn’t the next college player on my list, I opted for University of Connecticut’s George Springer because (a) he’s a power hitter and (b) he plays outfield, a position I want to beef up in coming seasons.

There were two bid wars this round—Peter Bourjos (2) and Joe Blanton (2)—with uncontested acquisitions of Alexi Ogando, Scott Baker, Jurickson Profar, Yonder Alonso, Ivan Rodriguez, Bud Norris, George Springer (OF, UConn), Kila Kaaihue, Seth Smith, Carlos Carrasco, Cody Ross, Frank Francisco, Chris Carter (Oak), and Evan Meek. Replacement players for the losing teams were Hong Chi-Kuo and Julio Borbon.

5th Round: OF George Springer, UConn [College], minimum

Round Six

This round was complicated by a relocation to another home, one of the downsides to having a family on the day of a long draft. I had a couple names in mind, but I felt rushed. I opted for the “safe” pick—another solid future pro in high schooler Daniel Norris.

Norris is a bit of a departure for me, in terms of long-range scouting. I have been burned on prep stars in the past, particularly pitchers. On the other hand, two outfielders in my starting rotation (the Upton brothers) were both drafted by me straight out of high school. The learning curve is a bit long for prep pitchers in a league like this, but Norris is a particularly strong prospect (“best left-handed pitching prospect to come along in the draft in a couple years”). I don’t mind sitting on him for a while, especially considering the youth of my current major league staff.

Gone this round: Simon Castro, Rich Harden, Mike Aviles, Rafael Soriano, Jonathan Singleton, Daniel Norris (SP, High School), Danny Valencia, Jonathon Lucroy, Wilin Rosario, Wilson Ramos, Aaron Harang, Cory Luebke, Nyjer Morgan, Ivan Nova, Ryan Hannigan, and Christopher Carpenter (SP, Cubs). Lance Berkman (2) was the only bidding war, with Juan Rivera eventually being the replacement player to complete the round.

6th Round: SP Daniel Norris, [High School], minimum

Round Seven

A quick breather, courtesy my trading away this pick to acquire Olivio in round three.

My minor league rosters are in great shape. I’ve got four guys who I don’t need out of the gate but who could help me during the season, and I’ve got another three who are firmly in contention for a developmental slot next year. With teams willing to deal these slots for picks and cash in the offseason, I could find a way to protect everyone in this core group. More likely, the shine will leave a couple of these guys, and a few will get promotions during the season, making them ineligible for the extra franchise slots.

What I’m still lacking is power in the outfield, depth in my starting pitching rotation and maybe another reliever (you can never have too many).

In the seventh, Engel Beltre, Johnny Giavotella, Christian Colon, Juan Uribe, Ty Wigginton, Will Rhymes, Barry Enright, Jason Kipnis, Paul Janish, Freddy Garcia, Paul Maholm, Homer Bailey, Derek Norris, and Chipper Jones were all taken off the board. Both Tommy Hunter (2) and Matt Dominguez (2) had bidding wars, leading to two more players being claimed, Trey McNutt and Joel Peralta .

7th Round: Traded

Round Eight

The talent thins out quickly by this point. Most of the players left on the board are injured veterans on the decline, journeymen with tenuous holds on starting jobs, or prospects too far away to be useful. As tempted as I always am to select prospects, I need some depth. Even risky players can be serviceable during the season.

After much deliberation, I opted for the top SP on my remaining list, Randy Wolf. His numbers are somewhat suspect, but he also has some help in the rotation that might take the pressure off. I’m hoping for a Jamie Moyer kind of resurgence, just enough to make him a viable alternative if he has two starts in a week.

The one prospect I would have considered—Matt Purke, of TCU—was taken this round, along with Alex Avila (a target for the 9th round), Delin Betances, Jean Segura, Wil Venable, Randy Wolf, Danny Duffy, Justin Duchsherer, Joe Saunders, Michael Kirkman, Chris Carter (TB), Brandon Wood, Brandon League, Scott Kazmir, and David DeJesus. Jose Iglesias was in a three-way bidding war, with the runners-up selecting Jeff Mathis and Chris Young as replacements.

8th Round: SP Randy Wolf, Milwaukee, minimum

Round Nine

Still looking for some power—and with a potential starting hole to fill in my DH slot—I opted for Jack Cust, a reliable slugger, especially this late in the draft. He’s the kind of guy I would aim for after the draft, in the free agent frenzy that will be needed to round out the roster, but I was worried someone else may see his 20-plus homer projection and think he’d be helpful as a pinch hitter.

Michael Brantley (2) and Gary Sanchez (2) were the lone bidding wars, with the losing teams claiming XXXX as replacements. Cust was uncontested, along with Chris Archer, J.P. Howell, Jason Vargas, Chris Snyder, Brad Penny, David Hernandez, Brian Fuentes, Mike Morse, Wilson Betemit, Brad Bergeson, Devin Mesoraco, Dan Johnson, and Magglio Ordonez. Mags, a former starter with my club until I let him go last year in a bubble cut, was my target for the tenth round. It would have been nice to have him back on the roster.

9th Round: DH Jack Cust, Seattle, minimum

Round Ten

The final round is not the end of the player acquisition. Thanks in part to my earlier deal, I still have some holes to fill in the roster, which caps out at 25 major league spots, 10 minor league spots, and up to 5 disabled list slots. My strategy is to try and find some injured players to stockpile on a couple of the DL slots, but to leave those open for real emergencies.

I’ll go over my lists this week and submit five more names to the Commish. Those are free signings … provided no one else claims them, in which case we have to bid just like always. Beyond that, I’ll need to sign at least two additional players just to get to my 35.

For my final pick of this draft, I went with SP Ross Ohlendorf. He’ll be a part of the rotation and will probably do a better job than a few of the spare parts I gathered for depth last year. Ross was one of the uncontested players—allowing me to escape the day without further incident to my team’s bank account. Other players taken are: Zach Wheeler, Chris Volstad, Aaron Cook, Luis Durango, Casey Blake, Jordan Walden, Austin Romine, Mark Lowe, Brad Hawpe, Jason Kubel, John Lannan, and Miguel Tejada. Three teams went after Jonny Gomes and two more went after Nick Franklin. The replacements were Alberto Callaspo, Lorenzo Cain and one more for an owner who wasn’t around to pick a new player.

10th Round: SP Ross Ohlendorf, Pittsburgh, minimum