Continuing up the ladder in my 10 team AL-only auction keeper league to 8th place (based on combined PECOTA-Rototimes projections). For the rest of the reviews, click here.
The Keepers
Mariano Rivera - $24; One of the best, but not much of a deal.
Julio Lugo - $18; One good year. For the DRays. And BJ Upton’s right behind him. The trade-rumors are already flying. Expensive!
Jonny Gomes - $16; I see him as a Ben Broussard/Josh Phelps-type: big power, decent walks, and probably already hit his ceiling.
Mark Buehrle - $11; Reliable and good value.
Adam Kennedy - $2; Inside joke goes here.
Rondell While - $5; I thought he was done five years ago, but still solid and should get ABs.
Kevin Millwood - $16; Millwood’s always been a solid major league pitchers, but instead of a consistent career, he’s had huge up and big downs. He’s not as good as last year’s performance, but I don’t see him doing worse than a 4.25 ERA, even in Texas. $16, though?
John Buck - $5; This league loves catchers.
Steve’s keepers, putting his projected value at $225, were the second or third worst according to the “pros”. Simply too many players right at value. Holding steady hurts when you have to spend the rest of your money at 140% inflation.
The Auction
Lyle Overbay - $23; The SkyDome (never the Rogers Centre) helps the HR power. If Overbay struggles, will he lose some ABs to the Blue Jay hoard of 1B/3B/RF/DH types?
Jay Gibbons - $18; Another in the Jonny Gomes line of player?
Dmitri Young - $15; Remember, folks, he hit three HRs on Opening Day last year. Never the stud some people foresaw, nor the large disappointment that others did.
Mark Kotsay - $15; Helps in all categories, but stud in none. If he plays 140 games this is a good price.
Angel Berroa - $11; Can he reclaim the magic?
Darin Erstad - $10; He won’t reclaim the magic.
Casey Blake - $9; Jay Gibbons? Some pressure to produce.
Kevin Youkilis - $7; Love this guy and wish I had him on my team. May start hitting at the top of the order. And by hitting, I mean getting on base.
Toby Hall - $6; I’ve done the Toby Hall thing. Everyone needs to own him at some point in their fantasy careers. Sort of a coming of age ritual, I suppose.
Bartolo Colon - $24; Another one of those $20+ pitchers I think are overrated.
Kyle Farnsworth - $6; I like this gamble, although already owning Rivera takes all the risk out of it. Should be one of the top set-up guys this year.
Josh Towers - $6; Walks the Jamie Moyer fine line. If I had to bet, he falls off this year.
Mike Timlin - $5; Solid pitcher, but it’s looking like Papelbon was the real sleeper.
Juan Rincon - $1; Nice price. Don’t think the ‘roids made him a great pitcher.
Fernando Rodney - $1; Great steal. Todd Jones is NOT the answer, even if he wasn’t homophobic.
The Outlook
I hadn’t noticed this before, but Steve didn’t spend more than $25 on any one player. With all the expensive guys going for heftily inflated prices, Steve managed to avoid that crowd and accumulated about $225 in value (although $6 was left on the table.) With 64% of the budget spent on hitting, this team appears to be stronger on the pitching side of things. That implies a weaker offense and while there aren’t many holes, a few hitters need to step for this team not to lag. And on the pitching side, while the team shouldn’t suffer for saves, ERA, or WHIP, only having four starters will kill any chances at significant Win or SO points. Of course, adding a couple starters in place of Rincon or Timlin then hurts the ratios stats. Finding some sort of sweet spot on that continuum will be key. I find myself generally not liking many of these players, but who knows, right?
Popularity: 2% [?]
Share This
Sky is a baseball fan and racket sport afficianado living in upstate NY. His favorite color is orange and is just about ready to give up on his life-long dream to become the next Magnus ver Magnuson (World's Strongest Man). His favorite baseball teams are the Yankees and Red Sox, proving that there's hope in the Middle East.
April 13th, 2006 at 4:04 pm
[…] […]