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Mock drafts are a staple of pre-season fantasy baseball coverage, and no magazine or website would be complete without them. It is more rare to see a mock fantasy auction, but there is still a healthy portion of fantasy players who play using the auction format. In response to this, Baseball Prospectus decided to hold mock auctions for our readers who play in auction leagues.

Since auction leagues often dig deeper, Baseball Prospectus held two auctions: an AL-only and an NL-only. Both leagues used the “standard” $260, 23 player roster (14 hitters and nine pitchers) and familiar 5×5 format. The auctions were hosted online using CBS Sports’ auction room feature.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

The Starting Lineup

  • Baseball Prospectus – Mike Gianella
  • Baseball Prospectus – Mauricio Rubio
  • Rotowire – Derek Van Riper
  • Fantasy Trade 411 – Michael Clifford
  • USA Today – Brent Hershey
  • KFFL – Nicolas Minnix
  • Fantasy Judgment – Michael Stein
  • Ask Rotoman – Peter Kreutzer
  • Fox Sports – John Halpin
  • Baseball HQ – Ron Shandler
  • Mastersball – Pasco Varnica
  • Roto Buzz Guy – Howard Bender

General Observations
For the most part, this auction played out the way you would expect an auction to play out among 12 experts. One rule wrinkle that was added to the auction was that players who played less than 20 games in the majors in 2013 were DH only. This was not intentional, but led to more teams being locked out of positions earlier in the auction. In turn, this led to some lower prices and the oddity of Nick Castellanos not being purchased at all.

On the whole, the room was “tight.” Only eight players cracked the $30 barrier, with Mike Trout predictably leading the way at $45. One surprise was that starting pitching was at a premium. Expert leagues typically don’t spend on pitching, but that was not the case here. Yu Darvish ($34), Chris Sale ($29), David Price ($27), Max Scherzer ($27), and Felix Hernandez ($26) all went for $25 or more. These prices weren’t out of line, but were not what I was expecting.

There were not quite as many reaches on the hitting side. Prince Fielder ($34) and Joe Mauer ($29) stand out, but once again the room was fairly judicious in looking for value. Carlos Pena went for $10 late, but this was more a product of a good amount of money floating around in the end game.

My Team
I don’t enter non-keeper auctions with any strategy short of trying to add value to my team. While the prices were not out of line, I didn’t buy a player until the 39th player in the auction was called out (Ben Zobrist at $18). More than one expert implored me in the auction’s chat room to spend my money, but I knew there would be players for me to get if I waited.

One of the biggest mistakes I made all day had nothing to with strategy. An owner accidentally bid $145 on a player so I backed out the bid using the site’s commissioner feature. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn off the commissioner feature (and navigate my own bidding) and couldn’t bid on Matt Moore. I had him higher than $11 in my raw bid prices but didn’t get him. This would impact my team quite a bit (more on this later).

I made one of my biggest mistakes of the day when I bought Brian Roberts for $2 two players after Zobrist (at no. 41). The price on Roberts is fine (it is a very low risk if he crashes and burns), but it locked me out of some better bargains later.

As I expected, I was able to spend my money in short order after some of the early overpays by other owners. Elvis Andrus ($25), Josh Donaldson ($20), and Ian Kinsler ($21) made for a nice infield, with Andrus providing a good deal of speed. I’m ambivalent about buying closers, but Fernando Rodney at $14 is fine. Michael Bourn ($19) provided all the other significant speed I needed, and I added my first catcher with John Jaso ($6).

If you’re playing along at home, you can see the problem that was developing. The offense looked great, but I would need to plug some arms in late and hope to get bargains. Meanwhile, the league wasn’t budging on the pitching prices. So I kept filling in everywhere else. At one point, this was what my team looked like:

With 11 roster slots filled, I had 10 hitters, one closer, and $99 to spend on 12 slots. While this makes it sound like I still could have bought a decent pitching staff, there wasn’t enough pitching left. Without going through every single pick, here is what my team looked like at the end of the day:

C

Jason Castro

16

C

John Jaso

6

1B

Mitch Moreland

9

2B

Ian Kinsler

21

SS

Elvis Andrus

25

3B

Josh Donaldson

20

CO

Justin Smoak

7

MI

Brian Roberts

2

OF

Michael Bourn

19

OF

Michael Brantley

13

OF

Josh Reddick

14

OF

Josh Willingham

13

OF

Ben Zobrist

18

DH

Corey Hart

8

P

Fernando Rodney

14

P

John Lackey

7

P

Neftali Feliz

10

P

Jake Peavy

8

P

Brandon Morrow

5

P

Zach McAllister

4

P

Erik Johnson

3

P

Miguel Gonzalez

1

P

Matt Harrison

5

There isn’t a superstar in the bunch, but 13 everyday players and Roberts makes for a solid offense. The batting average could have been better, but the variability that typically comes with category I could just as easily finish with four points as I could with 10.

The best news about the pitching was that I got a second closer. The market doesn’t believe in Feliz (his handcuff Joakim Soria went for $9) but assuming Feliz is healthy, he and Rodney make for a formidable duo.

But the rest of the staff is pull and pray. These aren’t bad pitchers, there just isn’t enough quality at the top and there is too much uncertainty in general. Morrow could be a steal, but he could pitch 20 crummy innings and disappear. Peavy has posted an ERA north of four three out of the last four seasons. Harrison is also an open question post-injury. Johnson is a rookie; his path is hard to ascertain.

This brings me back to Matt Moore. You’ll notice that I only spent $247 out of my $260. Had I not messed up the auction room settings prior to re-starting the auction, I probably would have purchased Moore. I would have gone $14 on him if his owner said $13, and Moore instead of Gonzalez makes up the $13 difference in spending. The staff still wouldn’t have been great, but the strong offense plus Moore’s strikeouts would have made a big difference.

Baseball Prospectus

Mike Gianella

Fantasy Judgment

Michael Stein

C

Jason Castro

16

Jose Molina

1

C

John Jaso

6

Kurt Suzuki

1

1B

Mitch Moreland

9

Adam Dunn

9

2B

Ian Kinsler

21

Logan Forsythe

2

SS

Elvis Andrus

25

Jose Reyes

29

3B

Josh Donaldson

20

Miguel Cabrera

41

CO

Justin Smoak

7

Manny Machado

16

MI

Brian Roberts

2

Grant Green

2

OF

Michael Bourn

19

Dexter Fowler

17

OF

Michael Brantley

13

Aaron Hicks

7

OF

Josh Reddick

14

Adam Jones

28

OF

Josh Willingham

13

Daniel Nava

10

OF

Ben Zobrist

18

Alfonso Soriano

19

DH

Corey Hart

8

Derek Jeter

1

P

Fernando Rodney

14

Jon Lester

15

P

John Lackey

7

R.A. Dickey

11

P

Neftali Feliz

10

David Robertson

19

P

Jake Peavy

8

CC Sabathia

13

P

Brandon Morrow

5

CJ Wilson

12

P

Zach McAllister

4

Luke Gregerson

3

P

Erik Johnson

3

Matt Thornton

1

P

Miguel Gonzalez

1

Colby Lewis

2

P

Matt Harrison

5

Kyle Drabek

1

Baseball Prospectus

Mauricio Rubio

Ask Rotoman

Peter Kreutzer

C

Carlos Santana

22

Salvador Perez

19

C

Derek Norris

5

Mike Zunino

7

1B

Eric Hosmer

26

James Loney

14

2B

Robinson Cano

29

Jose Altuve

20

SS

Alcides Escobar

12

Yunel Escobar

8

3B

Matt Dominguez

10

Mike Moustakas

11

CO

Jesus Guzman

2

Chris Carter

12

MI

Nick Franklin

5

Brian Dozier

11

OF

Yoenis Cespedes

24

Josh Hamilton

21

OF

Nick Markakis

13

Alex Gordon

22

OF

Matt Joyce

6

Lorenzo Cain

11

OF

Raul Ibanez

5

Brett Gardner

18

OF

David Lough

3

Anthony Gose

4

DH

Xander Bogaerts

11

Oswaldo Arcia

9

P

Max Scherzer

27

David Price

27

P

Jose Quintana

9

Jered Weaver

18

P

Clay Buchholz

13

Josh Fields

2

P

Tommy Hunter

11

Michael Pineda

4

P

Bud Norris

3

Edward Mujica

4

P

Felix Doubront

3

Alexi Ogando

7

P

Joel Peralta

3

Jake Odorizzi

4

P

Brett Oberholtzer

5

Jeremy Hellickson

3

P

Dane De La Rosa

1

Martin Perez

4

Rotowire

Derek Van Riper

Fox Sports

John Halpin

C

Matt Wieters

16

Alex Avila

12

C

Brian McCann

24

J.P. Arencibia

4

1B

Mike Carp

5

Adam Lind

11

2B

Gordon Beckham

4

Jurickson Profar

15

SS

Mike Aviles

6

J.J. Hardy

16

3B

Adrian Beltre

30

Evan Longoria

27

CO

Conor Gillaspie

1

Will Middlebrooks

12

MI

Steve Lombardozzi

1

Jose Iglesias

6

OF

Jose Bautista

26

Jacoby Ellsbury

32

OF

Alejandro de Aza

15

Jason Kubel

8

OF

Melky Cabrera

9

Jackie Bradley Jr.

10

OF

Rajai Davis

11

Craig Gentry

6

OF

Ichiro Suzuki

3

Andy Dirks

8

DH

David Ortiz

26

Nolan Reimold

1

P

Masahiro Tanaka

16

Chris Sale

29

P

Ernesto Frieri

16

Alex Cobb

18

P

Jim Johnson

16

Glen Perkins

17

P

Phil Hughes

6

Cody Allen

4

P

Hiroki Kuroda

12

Chris Tillman

9

P

Tyler Skaggs

4

Jesse Crain

7

P

Kevin Gausman

7

Scott Feldman

4

P

Ricky Nolasco

5

John Danks

1

P

Drew Pomeranz

1

Shawn Kelly

1

Fantasy Trade 411
Michael Clifford

Baseball HQ

Ron Shandler

C

Joe Mauer

29

Yan Gomes

13

C

Dioner Navarro

7

David Ross

1

1B

Mike Napoli

19

Edwin Encarnacion

32

2B

Howie Kendrick

17

Omar Infante

13

SS

Jonathan Villar

15

Alexei Ramirez

18

3B

Brett Lawrie

16

Lonnie Chisenhall

3

CO

Jeff Keppinger

2

Sean Rodriguez

1

MI

Nick Punto

2

Eduardo Nunez

5

OF

Johnny Gomes

3

Shin-Soo Choo

29

OF

David Murphy

10

Mike Trout

45

OF

Dustin Ackley

8

Dayan Viciedo

6

OF

Robbie Grossman

7

Ryan Raburn

4

OF

Justin Maxwell

1

L.J. Hoes

8

DH

Billy Butler

22

Jose Abreu

18

P

Matt Moore

11

Danny Salazar

17

P

Felix Hernandez

26

Grant Balfour

15

P

James Shields

19

Drew Smyly

12

P

Rick Porcello

9

Darren O’Day

1

P

John Axford

12

Erasmo Ramirez

5

P

Joakim Soria

9

Sean Doolitle

2

P

Derek Holland

3

Garrett Richards

1

P

Bruce Chen

1

Carlos Carrasco

4

P

Kelvim Herrera

4

Dallas Keuchel

1

USA Today
Brent Hershey

Mastersball
Pasco Varnica

C

Hank Conger

5

Stephen Vogt

1

C

Chris Iannetta

3

Ryan Hanigan

1

1B

Carlos Pena

10

Chris Davis

32

2B

Jed Lowrie

14

Dustin Pedroia

27

SS

Brad Miller

15

Asdrubal Cabrera

16

3B

David Freese

14

Matt Davidson

7

CO

Trevor Ploufe

5

Nick Swisher

16

MI

Elliot Johnson

1

Macier Izturis

1

OF

Alex Rios

28

Leonys Martin

18

OF

Shane Victorino

20

Coco Crisp

19

OF

Norichika Aoki

19

Austin Jackson

19

OF

David DeJesus

2

Avisail Garcia

16

OF

Abraham Almonte

1

Colby Ramsus

14

DH

Victor Martinez

14

Jemile Weeks

1

P

Koji Uehara

23

Yordano Ventura

4

P

Yu Darvish

34

Justin Masterson

11

P

Anibal Sanchez

20

Joe Nathan

19

P

Corey Kluber

12

Jason Vargas

4

P

Scott Kazmir

9

Jarrod Parker

13

P

Brad Peacock

4

A.J. Griffin

13

P

Ryan Cook

2

Wei-Yin Chen

3

P

Luke Hochevar

1

Ryan Dempster

4

P

Danny Farquhar

4

Mark Buehrle

1

KFFL
Nicolas Minnix

Roto Buzz Guy
Howard Bender

C

Josmil Pinto

5

Geovany Soto

6

C

A.J. Pierzynski

12

Josh Phegley

2

1B

Logan Morrison

8

Prince Fielder

34

2B

Kelly Johnson

11

Jason Kipnis

26

SS

Erick Aybar

17

Pedro Florimon

1

3B

Alberto Callaspo

7

Kyle Seager

20

CO

Albert Pujols

25

Paul Konerko

3

MI

Ryan Flaherty

1

Ryan Goins

2

OF

Desmond Jennings

20

Will Myers

24

OF

Adam Eaton

14

Carlos Beltran

24

OF

Brandon Moss

20

Michael Saunders

10

OF

Kole Calhoun

15

Jarrod Dyson

12

OF

Torii Hunter

14

Delmon Young

1

DH

George Springer

10

Mark Teixeira

14

P

Justin Verlander

24

Greg Holland

22

P

Hisashi Iwakuma

15

Sonny Gray

14

P

Casey Janssen

15

Nate Jones

13

P

Sergio Santos

4

Taijuan Walker

8

P

Ivan Nova

8

Chris Archer

11

P

Dan Straily

12

Hector Santiago

4

P

James Paxton

1

Danny Duffy

1

P

Marcus Stroman

1

Jeremy Guthrie

1

P

Scott Baker

1

Tanner Scheppers

1

NATIONAL LEAGUE

The Starting Lineup

  • Baseball Prospectus – Mike Gianella
  • Fake Teams – Ray Guilfoyle
  • Fantasy Trade 411 – Terrance Bridgett
  • KFFL – Tim Heaney
  • Roto Wire – Nick Shlain
  • Patton and Company – Keith Cromer
  • Real Time Sports – Jeff Paur
  • Roto Wire – Kenn Ruby
  • The Dynasty Guru – Ryan Potter
  • The Fantasy Fix – Brett Talley
  • Wise Guy Baseball – Gene McCaffrey
  • Regular Guy – Brian Green-Young

General Observations
Compared to the American League the night before, the National League auction was a free-for-all. 18 players cost $30 or more in the NL-only mock; only eight players crossed this barrier in the AL. Some of the $30-plus prices in the NL were not out of line, but other prices really pushed past a player’s reasonable upside. Ryan Braun ($31), Hanley Ramirez ($31), and David Wright ($33) were the first three players purchased, and their prices were all more or less in line, but then the money started flowing. Paul Goldschmidt ($43), Clayton Kershaw ($40), and Andrew McCutchen ($44) went back-to-back-to-back early, setting the tone.

Not every owner joined in the spending spree. I followed my pattern in the AL and didn’t spend more than $26 on a single player. McCaffrey and Heaney also seemed to recognize that it was better to hang back, and also stayed under the $30 barrier, both spending $28 on their big buys of the day.

A trend that did carry over from the American League mock was a shift in dollars toward the top pitchers. Kershaw, Stephen Strasburg ($34), Cliff Lee ($30), Adam Wainwright ($30), Jose Fernandez ($29), Madison Bumgarner ($28), Craig Kimbrel ($26), and Zack Greinke ($25) all cracked the $25 barrier.

With all of the spending on the front end, it logically followed that the end game would start earlier in the NL than it did in the AL, and there would be a significantly higher number of bargains. 89 players were purchased for three dollars or less. While some of these buys were merely end game filler, there were more than a few super cheap bargains due to the crazy spending early, as you will see in the chart below (even in an “expert” auction, owners can’t stop saying things like “good buy!” or “what a bargain, even though this was a product of the earlier overspending and everybody at the end was under market value).

My Team
History repeated itself in the NL mock, as I once again loaded up on offense early. This time I didn’t wait that long to jump into the fray, grabbing Starling Marte ($24), the ninth player called out in the auction. But then I bided my time and waited for the crazy spending to subside, not getting another player until 35 players later with Ian Desmond at $26.

The offensive core I bought in the NL was no less impressive than the one I purchased in the AL.

C

Carlos Ruiz

5

C

Anthony Recker

1

1B

Adam LaRoche

12

2B

Aaron Hill

20

SS

Ian Desmond

26

3B

Ryan Zimmerman

22

CO

Matt Carpenter

21

MI

Chase Utley

17

OF

Domonic Brown

18

OF

Starling Marte

24

OF

Carlos Quentin

8

OF

Will Venable

20

OF

Ryan Sweeney

1

UT

Anthony Rendon

14

Even with a backup like Recker as my second catcher, this offense projects well. When you spend $209 on your offense, this will happen. The only category where I didn’t clean up was in stolen bases. Marte is a strong start, but Desmond and Venable don’t dominate in the category and a number of the players I purchased offer little if anything in speed. Ray Guilfoyle snagged Jordan Schafer in the end game right before I was due to call out a player; I would have preferred Schafer at that point in the auction to Sweeney due to my needs.

The problem I have in the NL is the same one I had in the AL; if this league were playing out, the pitching would need fine-tuning coming out of the gate.

P

A.J. Burnett

8

P

Jim Henderson

12

P

Andrew Cashner

15

P

Yovani Gallardo

8

P

Josh Johnson

4

P

Pedro Strop

1

P

Josh Beckett

1

P

Jason Hammel

1

P

Brian Anderson

1

Cashner, Burnett, and Gallardo make for a solid enough front of the rotation, but I would need at least two of the arms behind them to step forward. I mostly took pitchers with injury recovery upside with Johnson, Beckett, and Anderson, but decided to take someone in Hammel for the innings.

The staff projects badly, particularly in ERA/WHIP. But this would be the beauty of this league if we were playing it out. There is a good chance I would swap out at least two of these back-end guys by midseason; the pitchers you start out with aren’t the ones you finish with at the end.

Despite the lack of pitching, I was satisfied with both of my mock auctions. I still believe that you can cobble together a pitching staff during the season, even in an only league. The CBS projections had me in third place, behind Nick Shlain’s Roto Wire entrant and Ryan Potter’s Dynasty Guru team. As I often do in auctions, I look at the team I built as a framework and not as a finished product. From this standpoint, I like my squad a great deal.

Baseball Prospectus

Mike Gianella

Brian Green-Young

C

Carlos Ruiz

5

Travis d’Arnaud

8

C

Anthony Recker

1

Hector Sanchez

2

1B

Adam LaRoche

12

Brandon Belt

20

2B

Aaron Hill

20

Jordy Mercer

3

SS

Ian Desmond

26

Zack Cozart

7

3B

Ryan Zimmerman

22

Todd Frazier

14

CO

Matt Carpenter

21

Yonder Alonso

12

MI

Chase Utley

17

Tommy La Stella

1

OF

Starling Marte

24

Andrew McCutchen

44

OF

Will Venable

20

Jason Heyward

24

OF

Domonic Brown

18

Junior Lake

12

OF

Carlos Quentin

8

Nate Schierholtz

6

OF

Ryan Sweeney

1

Andrew Lambo

3

UT

Anthony Rendon

14

Gregory Polanco

3

P

A.J. Burnett

8

Jose Fernandez

29

P

Jim Henderson

12

Kenley Jansen

21

P

Andrew Cashner

15

Shelby Miller

17

P

Yovani Gallardo

8

Homer Bailey

17

P

Josh Johnson

4

Lance Lynn

7

P

Josh Beckett

1

Joaquin Benoit

4

P

Jason Hammel

1

Robbie Erlin

1

P

Brett Anderson

1

Carlos Martinez

2

P

Pedro Strop

1

LaTroy Hawkins

3

Fake Teams

Ray Guilfoyle

Fantasy Trade 411

Terrance Bridgett

C

A.J. Ellis

4

Devon Mesoraco

10

C

Jose Lobaton

1

Gerald Laird

1

1B

Adrian Gonzalez

26

Joey Votto

41

2B

Neil Walker

13

Martin Prado

21

SS

Troy Tulowitzki

36

Ed Lucas

1

3B

Pedro Alvarez

20

Greg Dobbs

1

CO

Gaby Sanchez

1

Mark Trumbo

25

MI

Chris Owings

3

Didi Gregorius

1

OF

Ryan Braun

31

Yasiel Puig

33

OF

Giancarlo Stanton

32

Jay Bruce

29

OF

B.J. Upton

11

Lucas Duda

11

OF

Charlie Blackmon

6

Denard Span

14

OF

Jordan Schafer

1

Scott Hairston

1

UT

Javier Baez

2

Joaquin Arias

1

P

Trevor Rosenthal

23

Hyun-Jin Ryu

17

P

Zack Greinke

25

Matt Garza

10

P

Addison Reed

13

Travis Wood

7

P

Jorge de la Rosa

4

Jason Grilli

17

P

Mike Leake

2

Tyson Ross

10

P

Drew Storen

1

Tim Linececum

6

P

Tyler Clippard

3

Ryan Vogelsong

1

P

Noah Syndergaard

1

Chris Capuano

1

P

Brian Wilson

1

Tyler Chatwood

1

KFFL

Tim Heaney

RotoWire
Nick Shlain

C

Wilin Rosario

23

Yadier Molina

20

C

Russell Martin

6

Nick Hundley

3

1B

Matt Adams

21

Allen Craig

26

2B

Josh Rutledge

6

Daniel Murphy

19

SS

Everth Cabrera

21

Andrelton Simmons

16

3B

Aramis Ramirez

16

Cody Asche

9

CO

Maikel Franco

2

Eric Chavez

1

MI

Dee Gordon

4

Alex Guerrero

6

OF

Justin Upton

28

Jayson Werth

24

OF

Matt Holliday

28

Angel Pagan

17

OF

A.J. Pollock

9

Andre Ethier

10

OF

Ryan Ludwick

7

Peter Bourjos

7

OF

Caleb Gindl

1

Juan Lagares

1

UT

Casey McGehee

1

Jake Marisnick

2

P

Cole Hamels

23

Clayton Kershaw

40

P

Kris Medlen

16

Gio Gonzalez

18

P

Marco Estrada

11

Steve Cishek

20

P

Huston Street

14

Jonathan Niese

7

P

Trevor Cahill

3

Tim Hudson

6

P

Jose Veras

7

Bartolo Colon

5

P

Ian Kennedy

8

Brandon McCarthy

1

P

Tanner Roark

1

Paul Maholm

1

P

Jenrry Mejia

3

Kevin Siegrist

1

Patton & Company

Keith Cromer

Real Time Sports

Jeff Paur

C

Welington Castillo

7

Jonathan Lucroy

19

C

Brayan Pena

1

Ryan Doumit

3

1B

Ryan Howard

15

Freddie Freeman

36

2B

Brandon Phillips

17

Darwin Barney

3

SS

Jimmy Rollins

16

Jean Segura

24

3B

David Wright

33

Chris Johnson

16

CO

Juan Francisco

1

Mark Reynolds

2

MI

Adeiny Hechavarria

2

Brandon Crawford

1

OF

Billy Hamilton

26

Carlos Gomez

32

OF

Curtis Granderson

20

Michael Cuddyer

22

OF

Eric Young Jr.

8

Darin Ruf

8

OF

Marlon Byrd

11

John Mayberry

1

OF

Gerardo Parra

9

Chris Heisey

1

UT

Rickie Weeks

2

Danny Espinosa

2

P

Rafael Soriano

15

Adam Wainwright

30

P

Jordan Zimmerman

18

Sergio Romo

16

P

Patrick Corbin

12

Matt Cain

21

P

Francisco Liriano

14

Rex Brothers

7

P

Zack Wheeler

12

Brandon Beachy

9

P

Johnny Cueto

13

Archie Bradley

3

P

Wandy Rodriguez

1

Jacob Turner

1

P

Vic Black

1

Josh Collmenter

1

P

Gavin Floyd

1

Santiago Casilla

2

RotoWire

Kenn Ruby

The Dynasty Guru

Ryan Potter

C

Evan Gattis

15

Miguel Montero

13

C

Tony Sanchez

1

Yasmani Grandal

7

1B

Garrett Jones

5

Paul Goldschmidt

43

2B

D.J. LeMahieu

6

Kolten Wong

10

SS

Cliff Pennington

1

Hanley Ramirez

31

3B

Luis Valbuena

1

Nolan Arenado

16

CO

Kris Bryant

1

Ike Davis

5

MI

Mark Ellis

1

Rafael Furcal

2

OF

Carlos Gonzalez

41

Bryce Harper

39

OF

Hunter Pence

31

Corey Dickerson

7

OF

Christian Yelich

19

Jon Jay

3

OF

Khris Davis

16

Chris Denorfia

4

OF

Cameron Maybin

9

Nate McLouth

2

UT

Donnie Murphy

1

Oscar Taveras

5

P

Stephen Strasburg

34

Gerrit Cole

22

P

Craig Kimbrel

26

Jeff Samardzija

12

P

Julio Teheran

19

Tony Cingrani

11

P

Michael Wacha

15

Alex Wood

7

P

Bronson Arroyo

5

Henderson Alvarez

2

P

Dillon Gee

4

Jhoulys Chacin

2

P

Kyle Lohse

7

Wily Peralta

5

P

J.J. Hoover

1

Mark Melancon

5

P

David Hernandez

1

Jason Motte

3

The Fantasy Fix

Brett Talley

Wise Guy Baseball

Gene McCaffrey

C

Buster Posey

29

Jarrod Saltalamacchia

11

C

George Kottaras

1

Wilson Ramos

15

1B

Anthony Rizzo

25

Justin Morneau

18

2B

Jedd Gyorko

18

Scooter Gennett

10

SS

Starlin Castro

17

Jhonny Peralta

13

3B

Pablo Sandoval

19

Chase Headley

17

CO

Mike Olt

1

Juan Uribe

5

MI

Marco Scutaro

6

Dan Uggla

5

OF

Matt Kemp

25

Chris Young

9

OF

Carl Crawford

21

Marcell Ozuna

7

OF

Michael Morse

10

Ben Revere

18

OF

Gregor Blanco

1

Seth Smith

5

OF

Drew Stubbs

4

Cody Ross

5

UT

Jose Tabata

1

Justin Ruggiano

11

P

Cliff Lee

30

Nate Eovaldi

7

P

Doug Fister

15

Aroldis Chapman

23

P

Bobby Parnell

13

Madison Bumgarner

28

P

Jaime Garcia

4

Mike Minor

18

P

Dan Haren

9

Mat Latos

18

P

Wade Miley

3

Jonathan Papelbon

13

P

Edwin Jackson

1

Charlie Morton

1

P

Brandon Kintzler

1

Jameson Taillon

2

P

Antonio Bastardo

1

Andrew Heaney

1

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johnklein
2/20
Re: the AL draft. I sort of understand the Moore problem, but you've got no power, and very little upside on either side of the ledger. Leaving that kind of money on the table is wasted value. Better to spend on at least one or two studs and follow value after that.

IMHO
MikeGianella
2/20
Leaving money on the table is inexcusable so, yes, even though the Moore thing screwed me up, neither that nor the DH set-up is an excuse for leaving money on the table. That one's on me.

I don't agree with you on the offensive proposition at all, though. I have six players who could hit 20+ HR, and this isn't wishcasting on my part. Three of my players did it in 2013, and three (Hart, Willingham, Reddick) hit 30+ in 2012.

I hear the term upside bandied about often. This topic might be better suited for a future article, but while upside is nice, you also want stats. This is particularly true in an only league where if your "upside" guy goes belly up the replacements in the free agent pool are often going to provide little to no help.
Deadheadbrewer
2/20
Thank you for doing this--it helps a lot as I try to analyze the auction pool in my AL-only league (with keepers). I've been running a mock auction of my own the past few evenings, but this really helps me figure what the players might actually go for.
sbnbaseball
2/20
Ray here - nice work, Mike.

I drafted for Faketeams in the NL mock auction, and wanted to see what my pitching staff would look like with one ace. Not great.
Looking back, I should have saved the $23 on Rosenthal and grabbed a solid SP. I usually come out of auctions with one closer and a few possible closers, but here I have two closers with a chance for another with Clippard and Storen. Soriano's drop in K rate scares me, along with his age. I think he loses his job this season as the pressure to win under new manager Matt Williams could be huge after last season's disappointment.
I spent on offense and liked how the offense I drafted, but am lackking speed after Upton and Braun (?).
I have enough power, but my BA may suffer with Alvarez and Upton.
dcapofari
2/20
Did you target Recker because you don't like Travis d’Arnaud for 2014? or was he all that was left?
MikeGianella
2/21
More the fact that it was thin, though I thought about the potential that D'Arnaud might fail.
Robotey
2/21
I always love checking out the NL only rosters to get a gauge on players' values.

Corbin looks a little low. Folks aren't convinced he's for real or did he pass through at a quiet time in the draft?

Any chance there's a link to the order of the draft? I like to follow the trends of a draft as well, to see where the lulls and spikes are. Thanks.
MikeGianella
2/21
I can find the order and put it in a Google doc at some point.

MG
Robotey
2/21
great - thanks
bgreenyoung
2/21
Thanks for this Mike. As the regular guy drafting, I'm one of those who was caught up in the early spending. In retrospect, I overpaid early for some pitching and despite some nice end game bargains, my offense is suspect. If this league played out, I would be looking to make a deal with a pitching needy team for a bat to shore up offensive deficiencies.

To Robotey: My remembrance is that Corbin came through during a lull when teams who overspent early were hanging back and there was limited involvement in the bidding. Some good values came through at that point.
Robotey
2/21
Regular guy - (is your logo and uniform designed by Rodney Dangerfield?)) thanks for the Corbin info. I noticed there were quite a few bargains in SP--AJ Burnett seemed to go cheaply too - I find part of the fun of being in a keepr leagues is monitoring how each team reacts to the previous year's auction. In other words if everyone blew money early last year, this year many teams' might hold back and the bargains will be found more earlier than later.
CRWharton
2/21
Am I missing Brad Ziegler in the NL draft results?
MikeGianella
2/21
He wasn't taken. In the CBS NL-only expert auction I participated in yesterday, he was a reserve pick.