Running All-Purpose Fantasy Baseball 2022 Thread

Figured it was time for a new thread to discuss fantasy baseball outside of the specific league threads.

First order of business is keeper questions. Let's post 'em here.

I'll start. We keep six players and lower in the draft order is more desirable. I know categories can change specific recommendations, but I think the following players' values will translate to most leagues.

Guys I'm considering (probable keepers bolded, draft round in parentheses):
Corbin Burnes (23)
Joey Bart (22)
Lucas Giolito (20)
Walker Buehler (19)
Justin Verlander (18)
Gleyber Torres (16)
Ronald Acuna Jr. (15)
Shohei Ohtani (13)
Pete Alonso (6)

I'm worried that I'm a little heavy at pitcher with the bolded picks, and taking a chance on Verlander returning to full health seems risky. Alonso doesn't represent a ton of value that high in the draft, but he's a top-10 1B and I hate to cut loose 37 HRs. I'm tempted to give up on Torres, but I know how good he can be. With Posey gone, I assume the job will be Bart's to lose. And given how thin the C position is, a kid that good could be a steal at 22.

 

Is Ohtani a pitcher, hitter, or both for you in this one?

I do think you would be better off with another hitter. I would probably keep Alonso over Verlander. If you are determined to avoid keeping a player that high, I would rather roll the dice on Bart over Torres.

 

Ohtani counts as a hitter in that league. I’m leaning toward rolling the dice on Bart, even over Verlander. Verlander, even if healthy and effective, is a year or two at most. Bart, if as advertised, could be a cornerstone for 5-8 years.

 

That makes sense. By the way, please check out our league thread and chime in when you get a moment. I posted a couple of options regarding when we will draft and I'm trying to get some feedback.

 

I just joined a new league, though like the one I run here, we will be waiting until the lockout ends to set dates for keepers and the draft. It is a 10-team, 6X6 with OPS and quality starts as the additional categories. We keep up to five players. We have to keep at least one hitter and one pitcher. Each keeper costs a pick two rounds higher than last year.

My team isn't great, of the top 50 players in fantasy baseball, I'd say between 35 and 40 are going to be kept. Most of the truly elite guys are going to be kept for a few years. I have one of them, Paul Goldschmidt, and he would cost me a second-round pick. My predecessor seems to have traded his talent and every pick from rounds 12-15 to acquire three first-round picks and two in the second. Undrafted players cost a 12th-round pick. The only decent pitcher is Chris Bissett. He was a 16th-round pick last year, but due to the missing picks, he will cost me a 10 instead of a 14. (I have no 12. I have to give up my 11 to keep Winker.)

Here's what I'm looking at for keepers, with the draft pick they would cost me in parentheses. My current leaning is in bold, but Vaughn's upside is tempting. The big question is do I keep Goldschmidt? I could go much cheaper with Mancini, but Goldy's going to be as good as anybody I can get with my second pick in the second round.


Chris Bissett (10)
Jesse Winker (11)
Trey Mancini (20)
Dylan Carlson (21)
Andrew Vaughn (16)
Willson Contreras (8)
Paul Goldschmidt (2)

 

C Danny Jansen $6
C Carson Kelly $6
1B Anthony Rizzo $10
3B Austin Riley $10
CI Ke’Bryan Hayes $4
2B Jake Cronenworth $17
SS Nicky Lopez $2
MI Willy Adames $14
OF Cody Bellinger $19
OF Yordan Alvarez $11
OF Austin Hays $4
OF Chris Taylor $18
OF Jorge Soler $8
UT Brandon Belt $11
UT Ty France $7
P Josh Hader $23
P Tyler Mahle $9
P Logan Gilbert $4
P Marcus Stroman $10
P Liam Hendricks $25
P Alek Manoah $20
P Ranger Suarez $9
P Aaron Nola $43
P Dustin May $4
P Scott Barlow $5


Believe it or not, we already finished the auction part of my money league. This is a slow auction run through a message board, so it takes most of February. We keep eight veterans, then fill out the rest of our starting lineup in the auction. We start a 10-round reserve draft tomorrow. That is a mix of veterans and minor leaguers. We have seven minor-league spots as well.

It is a very deep league with 14 teams. I think my auction was a little better than last season, though my outfield is still a serious weak spot. I ended up investing a lot in my starting pitching. We usually end up with one or two guys with a salary so high that they can't possibly be kept. For me this season, that was Aaron Nola, obviously. I also rolled the dice on May, though I doubt we will see him in the majors before July at the earliest.

I'm looking at guys like Lane Thomas and Jake McGee as options in the first round of the draft, so you can imagine that the talent runs out quickly.

Thoughts?

 

Anybody interested in joining a dynasty auction league? $65 and you can keep as many or as few players as you want. I'll give all the details if anyone is interested. We have two rosters available. First come, first choice.

 

I assume the bolded ones are the ones you're keeping? Hader, as good as he is, is expensive for a reliever. I'd hesitate to pay that much for any relief pitcher.

 

That was after our auction, so yes, those were the guys I kept. Elite relievers usually cost between $20 and $30 in that league, though they did end up going a bit cheaper this year. I did tie up a bit more than I would like in relief pitchers, but reliability is tough to find in the bullpen. How many guys are more trustworthy than Hader and Hendricks?

 

Ah, gotcha. RP is such a volatile position and not that valuable in most of my leagues, so I usually don't prioritize it that way. But yeah, if the going rate is in the mid-$20s, you gotta do what you gotta do. I'd just rather put that $$ toward an every day player.

 

Today is cut day and I'm still agonizing over Alonso, Verlander or Bart to round out my keepers. Verlander represents the greatest potential value for this season and Bart is potentially the best long-term option.

But Alonso is heading into his age 27 season, absolute prime, and the Mets are going to probably field the best team they've had in his career. I'm leaning toward him having a monster year. His ADP is somewhere in the late 5th round right now, but given that a lot of the top talent will be kept (possibly 72 players total), he's probably more of a late-second, maybe early third-round pick in our league.

I hate keeping a guy in the 6th round, but I think I may bite the bullet with him.

 

I understand the hesitation of keeping a guy with a relatively high pick, but I think you have to keep Alonso for a sixth-round pick. As you said, given the players kept, he would probably drafted in the second or third round in your league. He's also the safest bet to be a big producer among your options.

I noticed your theory in one of my other leagues. The rules are similar to ours in that a player costs you a pick two rounds above where he was slotted last season. The difference is this other league has been around a lot longer, so more than half of the elite players are still later-round picks because they were picked up before they became studs. One team would have been able to keep Trea Turner for a fourth-round pick, but cut him even though he had an open slot. Am I nuts for thinking that guy was nuts? Turner is so much better than anybody who is going to fall to this guy in the fourth round.