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AL Tout Wars Team - How I Dominated Jeff Erickson and Everyone Else

On Saturday, we had our annual Tout Wars auction, this year in Rock & Reilly's bar in midtown Manhattan. It's a basic 12-team AL-only, 5 x 5 format with some odd  rule quirks. The main one is we use OBP instead of batting average, and the smaller one is instead of a fifth OF, there's a second utility spot we call a "swing man," and that swing player can be a hitter or a pitcher.

Here are the results:

PosLiss$Podhorzer $Wolf$Erickson $Collette $DiFino $
CSisco1Zunino11Lucroy25Martin17Narvaez1Gomes7
CVazquez1Soto1Ramos5Avila2Chirinos1D.Norris6
1BC.Davis28Mauer12Abreu25Hosmer22H.Ramirez24Park6
3BCuthbert1Headley10Moosetacos16Donaldson38Valencia11Castellanos19
CIMi.Cabrera34Bird12Vogelbach1Healy10Gurriel8Beltre25
2BDozier30Saladino7Cano31Schoop15Altuve45Pearce11
SSCorrea32Lindor28J.Polanco10Simmons8Andrus23J.Igesias3
MIMondesi3M.Duffy (TB)4Pedroia22Colon1Beckham2Profar11
OFMazara17Trout47Betts40Revere6Cruz30Buxton21
OFMoss10R.Davis17Pillar12Springer29Reddick13Sano22
OFM.Upton9Choo16L.Martin14Calhoun19Dickerson13Haniger11
OFBrantley8Judge3E.Rosario6Ellsbury16S.Smith11Soler11
UTA.J. Reed2Holliday14Asche1Carter5Beltran10DeShields5
SWGrossman2M.Joyce6C.Green1Aoki1Maybin7A.Garcia3
PVerlander24F.Hernandez16Darvish28Cotton9Stroman16Tanaka23
PGausman13D.Price13E.Rodriguez4Piñata13Bauer5Bundy8
PKeuchel13Karns4D.Norris5Quintana17Snell6Odorizzi12
PMcCullers9Shoemaker11Gregerson1Pomeranz4Triggs4Berrios5
PKennedy8Skaggs3Hendriks1Tomlin2Andriese3Richards8
PTillman2Severino2Madson9W.Harris1Devenski5N.Jones5
PM.Gonzalez1M.Bush2Dull1Pressly2Brach2Strahm7
PVargas1Doolittle3Kela1Colome16J.Kelly2K-Rod14
PBedrosian11Kimbrel18M.Feliz1Kintzler7Allen18Robertson16
RMarisnickA.HicksMa.PerezNolascoDe LeonGallo
RTellezPerkinsAd.MejiaOrlandoJa.JonesShields
RY.DiazT.WoodA.BaileyD.BarneyHahnL.Garcia
RJ.Mont.RomineG.TorresB.BurnsChargoisLawrie
PosDavitt$Schechter $Leibowitz $Trachtman $Moyer $Michaels $
CVogt12Castro5Gattis16B.McCann16Sanchez25Joseph1
CCastillo13J.McCann5R.Perez2Perez15Maldonado1Leon3
1BEncarnacion31Pujols21Cron12L.Morrison2Moreland4C.Santana26
3BJ.Ramirez23Frazier27Bregman20Moncada10Longoria20Plouffe10
CINapoli12Y.Escobar6Kung Fu Panda7P.Alvarez6Seager24Alonso4
2BKinsler24Merrifield1Kipnis16Odor26Segura26Travis15
SST.Anderson21Tulowitzki16Gregorius6Semien18Bogaerts28A.Escobar11
MIEspinosa10Rosales1J.Lowrie2S.Castro16Machado35B.Miller19
OFA.Gordon15Bradley20Bautista26Benintendi19Ad.Jones21Kiermaier19
OFTilson2Gardner16Dyson17J.Upton23J.Martinez21K.Davis23
OFJ.Marte1Trumbo20C.Gomez19M.Smith5Swihart1Kepler17
OFChisenhall1Me.Cabrera15Souza9Rasmus3Heredia1Naquin10
UTSmoak2Morales20Vargas3Valbuena1Franklin1Refsnyder2
SWHardy2V.Mart14Cain20Kim1O'Brien1E.Escobar1
PPorcello17Kluber29Fulmer15Sale27Hamels16Aa.Sanchez14
PDuffy22Salazar14Carrasco20Paxton16McHugh6Archer22
PHapp10Iwakuma3Musgrove7S.Gray4Morton5Cobb7
PLiriano8Chavez1Rodon6Boyd3Hammel2E.Santana5
PManaea11Santiago1S.Wright4Fiers2Sabathia1J.Zimm.3
PEstrada9Casilla1Giolito2R.Lopez1K.Kendrick1Graveman2
PSmyly11Street1S.Dyson11T.Ross1D.Holland1Betances13
PT.Duffey1O'Day1Givens2Chapman25Thornburg1A.Miller14
PGibson2Britton22Herrera18E.Diaz20Giles18Osuna19
RMa.GonzalezGuyerBarretoRuaPaganHolt
RCarreraWendleDavidsonCanhaOteroBourn
RCessaA.GriffinGallardoWarrenB.RondonMengden
RJ.JimenezMirandaTorreyesB.MitchellManciniD.Paulino

My aim was to buy a few big name players I liked at reasonable prices, then save some money for the end game where I had a few targets as well. I wanted one ace pitcher, and I knew I would probably punt catcher. I also wanted to roster Dellin Betances, Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller, like I did last year when they were Yankees, but all three went for more than I thought. (I was the penultimate bidder on each.)

The first player I bought, Brian Dozier for 30, was an accident. I don't love Dozier or have him anywhere else, but in an OBP league he's worth closer to 35 in my opinion. Same with Carlos Correa - not a target, but the price was right. I went after two of my favorite AL players, Chris Davis - no average downside in OBP - and Miguel Cabrera, one of the greatest right-handed hitters of all time still in his late prime.

After that, I got Justin Verlander for $24, a price with which I was happy, given Masahiro Tanaka went for $23, Danny Duffy $22, Yu Darvish $28 and Corey Kluber $29. I had a little money toward the end and was able to snap up Kevin Gausman ($13), Dallas Keuchel ($13), Michael Brantley ($8) and Lance McCullers ($9). People seemed to think McCullers was the steal of the draft at that price which almost certainly means he was not.

I'm shaky on saves with only possible closer Cam Bedrosian. and I don't have much speed unless Raul Mondesi sticks and runs, and Melvin Upton has regular at-bats. But this isn't the NFBC - I can trade for steals if need be.

One mistake I made was Ian Kennedy for $8. I have no problem with the price, but it was during the end game when people had overspent, and that money would have gone a long way at that stage. Still, I like my pitching, and while my hitting is stars and scrubs, there are a lot of upside bats in the mix like A.J. Reed, Mondesi and Robbie Grossman in OBP.