First, some of you may be asking, "Ethan, what in the wide, wide world of sports is a fantasy auction?" To you, first of all, I commend you for referencing Blazing Saddles, and second, thank you for your genuine made-up curiosity. A fantasy auction is the alternate to a draft when it comes time to choose your team. In a draft, you have a pick (first, second, third, etc.) and you pick any available player when it's your turn. An auction differs in that there are no turns, no picks, so everyone has a chance to pick Albert Pujols, Tim Lincecum, or if you're really willing to spend a pretty penny, Jason Kendall.
How it works: Every owner starts off with the same amount of money (in my league's case, 260 fake dollars). One by one, owners nominate players. One guy would nominate Pujols, the next Lincecum, the next Hanley Ramirez, the next Chase Utley, or whoever. Any owner can nominate any available player when it's their turn (I just used some of the best players as examples, since they usually get nominated first). When a player is nominated, he is given a price. The nominator will say something like "Albert Pujols for 30." Then anyone is free to bid, and the price goes up until no one wants to bid anymore. This year, Pujols went to my buddy Dave for a ridiculous $57 (or, over a fifth of his total money). Once Dave bid 57, the bidding stopped, and someone who wasn't in the running said "Going once, going twice, sold!" Pujols was then Dave's, and Dave was excited.
This continues until everyone fills their rosters. My league is somewhat unusual (though not very). We have one catcher, first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, shortstop, four outfielders, and a utility spot (where anyone can go). We also have nine pitcher spots, instead of the usual two starting pitcher, three relief pitcher and three pitcher spots. We did it this way so owners can strategize more and have more flexibility. If someone wants, they can have all relievers or all starters or anywhere in between.
The best players obviously go for the most money, and the worse the player is, the cheaper he is. If I try to go into more specifics than I just did, this will turn into an unbearably long post, so if anyone is legitimately curious/interested in learning more, comment below or ask me in class).
One thing I will go into more is the keeper system. Both of my leagues are keeper leagues. These are awesome because if you get a great deal on a great player, you can keep him for years at the same price. Same goes for if you pick someone up in the middle of the year that no one else wanted, he costs $1 and you get him for the next few years for that price if he's good enough.
With that in mind, here were my keepers coming into this auction. With keepers, you want to look at price and potential for improvement. Most of my guys may not have staggering numbers, but the ones who don't are young and will (I hope) this year or next. The ones that are young are usually very cheap, and make avid fantasy players like me drool because of how good they can be for a long, long time. Without further ado:
Carlos Gonzalez - $1
Andrew McCutchen - $1
Kendry Morales - $1
Yovani Gallardo - $10
Robinson Cano - $8
Kung Fu Panda - $2
These weren't the best keepers in the league in terms of outright talent, but they were the cheapest of anyone, and I think they're pretty damn good. This is only the second year of the league, so this is everyone's first year of keeper eligibility. According to league rules, if I want to keep them again, I can only do so for one more year, then everyone gets a crack at them again.
Here's my full team, with their prices (if they say $2, that means they were acquired in a 5-round draft after the auction, used for bench spots. If we didn't do this, the auction would take about 6 hours)(It already takes 4 or so)(I know that's a preposterously long amount of time, but beers and adrenaline make it go by much quicker).
C - Russell Martin - $6
1B - Ryan Howard - $48
2B - Cano - $8
3B - Sandoval - $2
SS - Asdrubal Cabrera - $1
OF - Gonzalez - $1
OF - McCutchen - $1
OF - Curtis Granderson - $30
OF - Manny Ramirez - $19
Util - Morales - $1
Bench - Lance Berkman - $16
Bench - Jorge Cantu - $6
Bench - Michael Taylor - $2
Bench - Jhonny Peralta - $2
P - Gallardo - $10
P - Joakim Soria - $19
P - Jered Weaver - $10
P - Scott Baker - $14
P - Cole Hamels - $20
P - Jake Peavy - $19
P - Stephen Strasburg - $27
P - C.J. Wilson - $2
P - Phil Hughes - $2
Bench - Carlos Zambrano - $2
Let that sink in.
Keep it sinking.
Deeper.
Deeper........
Okay, that's deep enough. If you actually want some context, click on the link I provided for each player. Most of them go to their Yahoo! page (our league's through Yahoo!, so I felt this was most relevant). Two of them direct elsewhere: Michael Taylor and Stephen Strasburg. This is because neither of them have ever put on a major league uniform. Strasburg the casual baseball fan will have heard of. The reasons I dropped $27 on this guy are twofold: 1) He was the last spot on my roster, and I had $29. Word to the wise: don't do that. It's stupid. Spend your money. I keep getting trapped like this, and it always comes back to bite me. 2) I was pretty drunk.
Taylor is a different story. He's a prospect in the Oakland A's organization. He went 20/20 last year in the minors, was a centerpiece of the Roy Halladay trade, which are two indicators that he's going to be pretty awesome. He's not guaranteed a starting job in the majors, which means he's a risk, but he's on my bench, and if he does make a splash in the majors, it'll be for me, and for $2.
Some additional thoughts while I still have your attention:
- Initially, I wasn't happy about my pitching staff, but look at those guys. Peavy, Hamels and Zambrano are just one or two years removed from Cy Young-caliber years, and I got them for really cheap in my book. Hamels in particular I'm psyched about. This guy has ridiculous stuff, had one bad year, and I get him for 20. That's a serious potential keeper. He's also only 26.
-I stuck myself with four first basemen. Don't worry, Berkman and Cantu will not languish on my bench. I'm going to try to trade two of my first basemen for pitching depth before the season starts, because I need pitching depth. Hopefully I can turn Berkman and Cantu into a closer or two, but that's wishful thinking.
-Thank God for Ryan Howard. Without him, my team would be hopelessly devoid of power. Having the strongest man in the majors helps though. Over the past 3 years, no one in all of baseball has hit more homers or driven in more runs than the Phillies' first baseman. If he had started his career a couple of years earlier (thanks a lot Jim Thome) he'd be a legitimate threat for 700 homers. Alas, his career started late, and he's a shoo-in for 500, but nothing much more. Outside of Howard, my big home run guys will be Morales (who might hit 30 again, but not much more) Granderson (who could hit 40 in Yankee Stadium, since he's a lefty), Manny, who I have utmost confidence in to bounce back sans 'roids, and maybe Sandoval. Other than those guys, I have a weak, weak roster.
Let me know in the comments what you think of my team, potential moves I should make, areas I'm weakest strongest, smack talk on how much better your team will be, anything. All feedback is appreciated since I'm always looking to improve.
Coming later this week: Prospects to keep an eye on for 2010 (hint: two of them are on my team).
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