2012 Champions Club fantasy baseball draft

My draft plan going in was to wait at 1B, and take Dunn in the 11^th, and Morales in the 13^th, but those plans ended early when I went 1B. I still wanted one of them, but Dunn went in the 10^th, and Morales in 12^th surprisingly. I wanted 2 stud pitchers, and wanted to beat the runs (take OF when others were grabbing P’s, etc…)

1^st – Tulo – I had Kemp #1 on my board, but thought that was overpaying for last years production. Felt Tulo’s position was the key.

2^nd – Sabathia – A bit of a tilt pick, my wish list here was Kinsler then Granderson…..both were gone. Arc screwed me over a few times. Went with my top rated P. Guess he is a safe pick if nothing else.

3^rd - Teixiera – Original plan was P here, but after going P in the 2^nd, took best hitter available. Tex was that by a longshot, and there was a big dropoff after him at 1B on my board.

4^th – Shields – This one makes me a bit nauseous, was always high on him, but hate paying 4^th round for him. He was next on my board, so I stuck to my pre-season work.

5^th – Wright – I planned on waiting at 3B. But I didn’t like any OF’s or P’s for this spot. Was hoping for Uggla here…maybe I should have grabbed him in the 4^th.

6^th – Hudson – Was planning OF here, but didn’t really like anyone. Des Jennings was tops on my list, but thought he might last until the 8^th. I do potentially have 3 great P’s, but two of them are at risk of regression.

7^th – Bourne – I hated this spot. I had Werth queued up, but I just don’t like the guy. Almost went Mauer, but was targeting Wieters in the 8^th/9^th slot. At least SB’s don’t slump.

8^th – Mauer – Was very surprised he was still here. Like Wieters but had Mauer way above him. First pick since the 3^rd round that I actually felt good about.

9^th – Darvish – Have him very high on the board. He is a risk…the good news is that these guys tend to do very well early as hitters aren’t used to them. Hopefully the mystery lasts a whole season.

10^th – Gardner – Well, Dunn just went a few picks before. I need an OF, and Gardner is really underrated in this format. A ton of steals and 100 runs is likely. I had Upton highest, but with his injury I figure I’ll hope I can grab him later, but not really counting on it.

11^th – Walden – Not a fan of closers early, but this isn’t really early. I had him 5^th at RP, with the Angels winning a lot more games this year, more S opps are possible.

12^th – Morrison – An injury risk for the opening week. Think he’s in for a big jump in production this year with a season of experience, a new ballpark, and improved lineup.

13^th – Upton – Said it in the draft, he is a headache, and almost never performs to his expectations. But he is still only 27, and again SB’s don’t typically slump. Can have some explosive weeks as well. DL early again, so not counting on him first month.

14^th – McCarthy – Had him last year in other league. Maybe he is finally putting it together. Pitching in Oakland will help as well.

15^th – Espinosa – Might as well grab my 2B now. Decided to wait after Uggla went off the board. He almost went 20/20 last year, and his average should improve. Thinking he may be a steal.

16^th – Howard – As I said in the draft room….pure lottery ticket. If he hits like last year, he’s probably 4^th-5^th round material. They still claim early May target, though I think that’s optimistic. Either way could be a real sweet addition to my lineup when he gets healthy.

17^th – Lilly – Meh….At least he is in LA. Had a down year last year and still had an ERA of 3.98.

18^th – Bedard – When healthy he can still be really good. Hope I get 130 innings out of him. Probably a 2 start guy.

19^th – Johan Santana – Surprising that he could pitch opening day, and has looked decent early on. Probably only for 2 start weeks, unless he somehow is the Johan of old.

20^th – Stauffer – Strictly a 2 start guy, or pitching at home. Depth.

21^st – Sale – Getting a chance in the rotation, with great K numbers in the pen. Young and could be a HR pick….or waiver wire.

22^nd – Duffy – Another young HR type guy.

23^rd – Burnett – Hate the guy, but he somehow still K’s a ton of people. Think being out of NY will be good for him (except his win totals). Also is apparently way ahead in his rehab from the broken face.

24^th – Thornton – Seems a worthy risk for a potential closer.

25^th – Rasmus – Need another OF with upside. Also may need a week 1 starter with injury concerns.

26^th – Fowler – Had Quentin queued up, but Arc took him. Probably for the best since I have to use roster spots on Howard and Upton. Strictly OF depth.

2012 Fantasy Baseball - Auction draft report

Here is the report for my 2012 fantasy baseball $250 Auction league draft. I had the best record in the regular season along with the 2nd most points, but I fizzled out in the 3 week playoff points chase. The scoring is the same as Champions Club in terms of hitting, and has the modified pitching scoring that I proposed in Champions Club. As Erik pointed out, RP's are severely discounted. Also, the league requires a starting lineup of 5 SP's, and 2 RP's. This is important because at draft time it seems very few people realize (1) the devaluing of RP's and (2) That some SP's are listed with RP eligibility - generally if they are a rookie, or if they pitched a few games in relief the previous season. Last year I rolled with guys like Masterson, Stauffer. Duensing and Gorzellany at the RP spot all season long.

My plan for the draft was to focus primarily on hitting, try to get a kick-ass lineup, find an undervalued pitcher (last year I found Kennedy and D Hudson for cheap), attack the waiver wire for pitching (got Liriano last year after he was dropped), and play the SP at the RP position game. Total budget was $260....I planned on spending $100 on pitching, but circumstances had me go way below that, only spending $62....I'm confident this is the least anyone spent in the league on pitching. Therefore, my pitching should be the worst. If my theories are correct again, I will be able to maintain middle of the road pitching, along with the best hitting.

Of note here, I'm not afraid of giving up guys I picked here for the most part, because I just played the value game in a lot of spots. I wouldn't be surprised to see very few of these guys land on my Champions Club draft.

C: Mauer (17), Ramos (2)

I was planning on going with my sleeper here, but thought Mauer was underpriced. Surprisingly I got him. By contrast, Santana went for 29.

1B: Prince (34), Teixiera (27), sleeper 1B (3)

Usually I go cheap at this spot, but last year in this league I rolled with Howard and Tex and was very pleased with the value I got from them. Obviously one of them is a DH.

2B: Kinsler (27)

Just felt he was decent value, and since I was focusing on hitting, decided to grab one of the top rated guys. Cano went for 30.

SS: Reyes (26)

Wasn't planning on getting him, but thought he was cheap. Tulo went for 37.

3B: Wright (21)

Another I wasn't planning on, just kinda fell that way. Miggy went for 39.

OF: Cargo (29), T. Hunter (1), Duda (3), Boesch (1)

This is the first spot I had to sacrifice because of my high priced IF. Cargo was a luxury who I thought was value, but after that I had to spend the rest on pitching. If Torii plays like 2nd half 2011 Torii I may be ok, but a definite position of weakness.

SP: Lester (20), Danks (4), Chacin (3), Floyd (2), Sleeper SP (2), Leake (1)

Obviously a huge weakness, just hopefully one of the non-Lester guys steps up, and I can play the matchup/waiver game.

RP: Moore (17), Feliz (11), Hammel (1), Chapman (1)

I targeted Moore and Feliz before the draft. I would never spend that much on Moore as a SP....but with RP eligibility he is huge. Hammel is just a guy I use in favorable 2 start weeks....which will allow me to slot Moore or Feliz at SP that week, and Chapman is huge if he gets slotted in the rotation, otherwise he is waiver material.

Interestingly, my first 7-8 nominations were all closers, hoping to get people to fill out those roster spots and spend money doing so in what I thought was a hugely overvalued market.

The Anchor

It's never fun being the one to bring down your team. But that's precisely what I did last night in a session at Motor City Casino. First, let me explain "team". Me and my buddy Ryan were down there, and we were splitting equity 50/50, despite sitting at different tables, and different limits.

By the time I got there at about 9:45pm, Ryan was already in a 1/2 game, and I was waiting on both the 1/2 and 2/5 lists. I didn't get into a game until close to 11pm, and it was the 2/5 game. By that point, Ryan was already up 400, giving me a little bit of a cushion to work with.

First hand of significance

I was already down about 75 after a failed continuation bet, when I opened with AdQd to 20. I got called by 2 players, one of which was extremely loose and who I had pegged as a weak spot at the table, but he had position on me. The flop came Qx7x2d, really good for me, and I bet 40, and got called by the loose player who had position on me. The turn was about the best I could hope for, the 6d, giving me TPTK and the nut flush draw. Maybe I should check raise here? I decided I wanted to keep the initiative and bet 95 (pot was 140), and he folded to my disappointment.

Cooler

An EP player raised to 15, which tends to be on the small side for this game, and usually ends up being a speculative hand. There were two callers, and I called with JTo from the button. I actually think JT is the most overrated hand in NL holdem....maybe it's because I never seem to make a big hand with it, but I just tend to think it's overplayed. That being said, calling 15 into a reasonably big pot, with the best position seems like a no brainer. The flop came JhTd5h. The preflop raiser checked, next player checked, and the CO quickly bet 45. He was a hispanic player who had been flopping around quite a bit, and showing a good bit of aggression to that point. I elected to raise to 120, due to the draw heavy board texture. The other 2 players folded, and the villain decided to quickly shove for 380. I think there's a very good chance of him having a combo draw here, and TT and JJ are pretty unlikely. So the only real hand I am afraid of is 55. So I called reasonably quickly. The turn was a 9h, which just about guaranteed to me that I lost the pot. The river was a blank, and he slowly rolled over 55...obviously thinking he was beaten too.

After the hand, I considered whether or not I could have gotten away cheap by smooth calling the flop, since we would have both likely slowed down on the 9h turn, but I think that is just being results oriented.

Crazy hand in main game

After moving to the main game, I saw a crazy hand. Another player who just got moved to the game raised preflop to 25, and got 2 callers. The flop was 876 with 2 spades. The PF raiser (playing over 1200) overbet the pot for 160, the loosest player in the world who is also aggressive called (also playing over 1200) called, and another player went all-in for 185. The turn was the Kc. The PF raiser checked, and the loose player immediately declares all-in. The PF raiser SNAP calls for almost 1150. The river is a blank, and the shover shows AsKs, for TPTK and missed flush draw. Amazingly that is good, as the short stack had Qs3s, and the snap caller didn't show, though he said he had TT???

Valuetown?

The two loosest players in the game limp (the first one being the winner from the hand above). I raise KK to 30 (playing about 400), which in hindsight is small considering who the limpers were, as I was almost 100% sure that at least one of them would call. I should have raised to 40-45. The SB (stack of about 250) calls, and then both loose players not surprisingly call. The flop comes QsQc5s. They all check to me, and I decide to check, which I think is fine, since to get any real value from the hand I probably have to check at least one street in this hand. The turn is a 4h. They all check to me, and I think I make a mistake and check again....as I would never check a Queen on both the flop and turn. In hindsight I would bet 60-70. The river s a 3x, making the board QQ543. They all check to me again, and at this point I feel that I can value bet, and get looked up by almost any pair. I bet 60, the SB calls, and the rest fold. I roll over my Kings, and he rolls over AQ. No matter what I am pretty sure I lost as close to the minimum as possible, unless I check all 3 streets.

WTF?

After losing another hand, I am playing short, with about 275-300. One player limps, and I raise to 25 with AKo. There are 3 callers, and then the hispanic from earlier shoves for 125 from one of the blinds. I overshove all-in, and then the guy who snap called TT earlier in the huge pot goes all-in, and he covers me. The board comes out with a Queen on the the flop, and a T on the river. Obviously I know I am beat, but I'm not sure by what yet....the hispanic turns over AQ, the second time in a week where I lost with AK allin pre to AQ. Then the overshover shows JhTh, and rivered me for the sidepot, for a brilliant end to an ugly session.

Reload

I decided to give it another go at 1/2, and was up about 100 when this hand occurs. Very LAGGY guy who just doubled up with 66 after calling an all-in raise on a Q high board, raises a limper to 24 (only playing about 150). I have AKo, and 3 bet to 80, and he shoves for 150, which I obviously call, only to run into AA. I play a little while after that, but just mostly fold and decide to call it a night, down over a grand.

Aftermath

This is where the anchor part comes in. While I am getting my ass kicked, Ryan is taking names at 1/2, and is up over 500 since we were sharing (he also won 400 before I got there). So thanks to Ryan, despite losing 1100+, I only end up behind about 375. Of course I felt awful about this result, as losing someone else's money is even worse than losing your own. In the previous 2 times we split action, I won more than Ryan and had to give him some money, so this was bound to happen, it was just unfortunate that I got killed while he was doing the killing, so now I owe him a kick ass session.

Fortunately after I left, Ryan continued killing and ended up making over 1600 in his own session of 1/2.