Monday, March 26, 2012

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.

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