Just completed my first non-keeper auction of the season, as I hoisted the banner for RotoWire in the 12-team, NL-only 5x5 Triple Crown league. (Kenn Ruby was also in the auction representing RotoWire against a bushel of other expert-type people). Rather than the standard $260, we got $264 and four reserve spots to bid on, plus three DL spots to use during the season.

With that set-up in mind, I had three basic strategic goals:

1. Maximize those DL slots out of the gate, so I could grab some potential breakout players early through FAAB
2. Spend big on two aces to anchor my pitching staff, but use a more balanced approach on the hitting side. In only leagues, Stars and Scrubs can be death on your hitting, as too many $1 scrubs kills you in RBI/runs due to a lack of playing time
3. As part of that balanced hitting spending, grab as much position flex as possible so I can focus my reserve slots on pitching over the summer

Overall, I think I pretty much nailed all three goals. Here's the roster:

C - Wilson Ramos $13, Tyler Flowers $3

1B - Brandon Moss (OF) $10

2B - Daniel Murphy (3B) $19

3B - Jung-Ho Kang* (SS) $15

SS - Chris Owings (2B) $1

CI - Martin Prado $6

MI - Jace Peterson $2

OF - Gregory Polanco $25, David Peralta $20, Hunter Pence $19, Marcell Ozuna $13, Derek Dietrich (3B) $4

Ut - Rymer Liriano* $1

SP - Max Scherzer $35, Zack Greinke $27, John Lackey $13, Wei-Yin Chen $12, Andrew Cashner $5, Hyun-Jin Ryu* $2, Colin Rea $1

RP - Arodys Vizcaino $7, David Hernandez $5

Rs - Orlando Arcia (SS) $2, Juan Lagares (OF) $2, Cody Reed (P) $1, Sergio Romo (P) $1

Kang, Liriano and Ryu will all head to the DL to begin the year, with Kang the quickest to return, but I already have Lagares (with Dietrich moving to 3B) and Romo ready to step in to two of those spots. I'll need to find a hitter for the Ut spot from among whatever scraps are left at the end of 25-man rosters, but even taking zeros for 2-3 weeks until Kang is healthy isn't the worst thing.

Scherzer and Greinke both went below my projected dollars for them, so while in my head I had crazy notions of getting Clayton Kershaw ($45) and Matt Harvey ($33), I'm happy with the aces I got at the prices I got them at. For comparisons sake, other ace salaries included Jake Arrieta ($34), Gerrit Cole ($33), Madison Bumgarner ($31) and Jose Fernandez ($31).

And as you can see, I've got position flex out the wazoo and lots of players with steady starting jobs. The only position I don't have insurance at is first base, which is a little worrying, so I'll have to make sure I find someone through FAAB when those three roster spots clear on Opening Day. The offense may lack star power, but I grabbed a number of players who have easy paths to out-earning their salaries instead of paying top dollar for a Bryce Harper ($44), Paul Goldschmidt ($42), Nolan Arenado ($42), Andrew McCutchen ($39), Anthony Rizzo ($38), Kris Bryant ($38) or Giancarlo Stanton ($37).

In terms of overall production, saves is my only real concern, as neither Vizcaino nor Hernandez are locked into jobs yet. Batting average could be problematic as well. Grabbing Romo, who could supplant Casilla for the Giants, gives me a bit of cover, but I could also be hitting FAAB or the trade market pretty hard during the year to shore up the bullpen. Otherwise, I like the roster, even if there are specific players such as Prado and Cashner that I'm not entirely sure how I wound up with. I even found room for a bit of youthful upside in Reed and Arcia, who could both be called up sooner rather than later. Our draft software has me running away with the league, finishing first in runs, RBI (there's that balanced offense!), wins and K's, with top-three spots in steals, ERA and WHIP as well. This is, of course, the kiss of death, but at least I executed my plan. If it all falls apart, it can only be due to bad injury luck, right... ?

Full auction results can be seen here.