All-Purpose Fantasy Baseball 2018 thread

That's a fair point. I suppose I was looking at it from the perspective of the rules my league plays by. My league actually slots the keepers into their round of the draft. So, for instance, McCutchen was a third-rounder last year and would cost someone a first-rounder this year. No way I'd take him in the first round (I wouldn't even have drafted him in the third, which is where he went again). If I could keep him without consideration for his draft slot, he's a safer pick than DeJong or Berrios.

That said, an ace pitcher or a 2B/SS is considerably harder to find than a middling OF. McCutchen is fine, he'll hit you 25 HRs and drive in 90 runs. It's not nothing, but his ceiling isn't very high anymore. DeJong and Berrios are riskier, but they could pay off big.

As is probably obvious from my roster, I tend to go for the high-upside guys over the middle-of-the-road solid players. That probably explains why I tend to either make the finals or crash and burn. I rarely finish in the middle of the pack.

FWIW, Cabrera's OPS dropped 200 points last season. The people taking him in the fifth round are hoping for a 35-year-old player to bounce back. He might do it, but personally I wouldn't bet on it.

 

That's another point, that the format changes things dramatically.

I took Berrios over Sano and Segura in a draft Sunday. I would have taken him and Olson over Cabrera, though that's more a matter of me thinking Cabrera is nothing more than a middle-round filler these days.

 

Justin Turner suffered a broken wrist when he was hit by a pitch yesterday. That thoroughly screws one of my teams, which was already pretty shitty. I figured it would be good for others to see sooner rather than later so they can adjust keeper/draft plans or find a replacement.

 

So I have the first pick in a "supplemental" draft tonight. Our league allows you to keep 3-6 players, and those who keep fewer than 6 participate in a "supplemental draft" to get everyone to 6 before the regular draft this weekend.

My 3 keepers were Mike Trout, Brian Dozier and Justin Verlander.

It's a 5x5 roto league, but we use on-base instead of average and total bases instead of homers (to reward guys who hit lots of doubles and triples).

The following players are among those available:

Xander Bogaerts
Rhys Hoskins
A.J. Pollock
Wil Myers
Elvis Andrus

I also have picks 3 & 5, so I'm leaning toward Bogaerts because of position scarcity. But I REALLY want Hoskins (who also has OF eligibility), and am worried the guy picking at 2 will take him.

However, if I pass on Hoskins and he gets taken, I can always grab Myers at 3 or 5 I guess (or even Miguel Cabrera or Eric Hosmer in a later round). But if I take Hoskins and the other guy takes Bogaerts, I can grab Andrus (though I'm not sold on his power spike last year).

What say you?

 

If you like Hoskins that much, take him and grab Andrus at three if Bogaerts is gone. I just don't think age is the only major difference between those two. I don't fully by the power spike by Andrus, either, but I think the power Bogaerts showed in 2016 was every bit as fluky.

 

Had my dynasty draft last night and it was wild. A lot of guys have never done a dynasty or auction draft before, so people were spending like crazy early on. $65 for Stanton, $59 for Kluber, etc. We had to fill our 23-man rosters, so it took forever.

I waited something like 77 picks before I got my first player. Once I saw how it was going, my plan was to wait everyone out and have enough money to stock up my team with my guys at low prices. Unfortunately, I got stuck paying Knebel $17 in a misguided attempt to bid him up (there were three other guys in on him and suddenly they all let me have him) and my dog accidentally kicked me into a bid for Jose Quintana that I didn't intend to make. I overpaid for Acuna and Albies at a critical time and suddenly had like $9 to fill 9 slots (a few beers probably facilitated some of the poor decision making).

CBS rated my team as the worst.

Anyway, this is what I came away with (salary in parentheses):


C Brian McCann (1)
1B Cody Bellinger (34)
2B Ozzie Albies (11)
3B Manny Machado (37)
SS Trea Turner (31)
OF Michael Brantley (1)
OF Byron Buxton (15)
OF Bradley Zimmer (1)
U Mike Moustakas (3)

RESERVES
OF Ronald Acuna (16)
OF David Dahl (1)
2B Daniel Murphy (8)

PITCHERS
SP Jake Arrieta (12)
SP Jose Berrios (12)
RP Corey Knebel (17)
RP Joe Musgrove (1)
RP David Phelps (1)
RP Addison Reed (1)
RP Felipe Rivero (6)
SP Luis Castillo (11)
SP Lucas Giolito (1)
SP Brent Honeywell (1)
SP Jose Quintana (16)
SP Jacob deGrom (22)

 

I don't hate it, but I agree that you spent too much on Acuna and Albies. You've got some solid pieces, but your pitching and outfield are thin and I'm not a huge fan of Bellinger.

The Knebel thing is why I never do that in an auction. I don't bid unless I actually want the player at that price. I like Knebel, but it does seem like that was too high a price for a guy who is no better than Rivero, who cost you $6.

 

Assuming it's 12 team, I agree that it's not bad. You overspent where you said, but got some bargains too.

 

Since we're sharing teams for review, here's one of my new keeper leagues. (The other one was a disaster when I took over this offseason and probably at least a year away from not being complete crap, so I won't bother with it here.)

We keep two players per team. Mine were Trea Turner and Jose Ramirez, not a bad pair in a 15-team league. We get three minor-league spots. Also, I had drafted Jorge Polanco late as a reserve, but the news of his suspension broke later the day we drafted, so he's gone.

Despite the loss of Polanco, I kind of like what I have. Maybe a bit on the young and risky side with Happ, Olson, Bird and Brinson.

C Mike Zunino
1B Justin Bour
3B Jose Ramirez
2B Ian Happ
SS Trea Turner
OF Matt Olson
OF Marcell Ozuna
OF Jay Bruce
UT Greg Bird
UT Jason Kipnis
Reserves
2B/3B Josh Harrison
SS Dansby Swanson
OF Lewis Brinson
OF Aaron Hicks

SP Jose Berrios
SP Mike Clevinger
SP Jacob deGrom
SP Dallas Keuchel
SP Charlie Morton
RP Brad Hand
RP Corey Knebel
Reserves
SP/RP MIke MInor
RP Josh Hader
SP Tyler Mahle

Minors
C Francisco Mejia
3B Michael Chavis
SS Willy Adames

 

Happ is going to dominate this season, and for many seasons.

 

I noticed you were a big Happ fan during the Addicts draft. I like him, too. I just think the sooner he settles into regular at-bats and one position, the better.

 

Got offered Gleyber Torres for Jose Quintana. I’m tempted, but SPs are really valuable in this league. If he’s the same Quintana as the second half, he’ll be really valuable.

Not sure what to think of Torres’ value.