I assembled our AL LABR team Saturday night. It's a 12-team AL-only 5x 5 $260 auction with 2 C, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 SS, I CI, 1 MI, 5 OF, 1 U, 9 P.
Here's my team:
Pos | Player | $ |
C | Joe Mauer | 30 |
C | Jarrod Saltalamacchia | 7 |
1B | Kendry Morales | 27 |
2B | Dustin Pedroia | 29 |
3B | Brandon Inge | 8 |
SS | Derek Jeter | 25 |
CI | Casey Kotchman | 6 |
MI | Alex Gonzalez | 3 |
OF | Grady Sizemore | 29 |
OF | Austin Jackson | 6 |
OF | Ryan Sweeney | 10 |
OF | Desmond Jennings | 5 |
OF | Michael Brantley | 5 |
U | Hideki Matsui | 11 |
P | Scott Baker | 16 |
P | David Price | 12 |
P | Ervin Santana | 6 |
P | Erik Bedard | 6 |
P | Gio Gonzalez | 4 |
P | Ricky Romero | 3 |
P | Jake Westbrook | 2 |
P | Jeremy Guthrie | 2 |
P | Jeremy Hellickson | 1 |
R | Brandon Snyder | 0 |
R | Dustin Ackley | 0 |
R | Danny Valencia | 0 |
R | Scot Shields | 0 |
R | J.J. Putz | 0 |
R | Ryan Strieby | 0 |
A couple notes:
You might notice the dollars add up to $253, instead of $260, i.e., I left $7 on the table. While I was initially beside myself because of this - I could have bought Jon Lester instead of Scott Baker, for example - it's actually wasn't like that. I had a good deal of money left for the end game, I wanted to get certain players (Ricky Romero, Gio Gonzalez and Austin Jackson), and I thought they would cost about $20 collectively. They wound up costing $13 - hence the difference of $7. Had I known I'd get them that cheap, obviously, I would have spent more money early. But I'm not sure how I could have known that.
My plan was to be strong at catcher, middle infielder and get a couple power hitters, and I accomplished that. I also wanted a bunch of young, upside pitchers, and I got that, too. The only area I fell short was missing out on closers, but other owners hoarded them, so there are a bunch of people in a similar boat, and it shouldn't be too hard to trade for saves.
I also took some gambles on Michael Brantley, Jeremy Hellickson and Desmond Jennings whose playing time is uncertain as well as Erik Bedard who's not due back until May. Still, I expected them collectively to earn more than the $17 I paid for them.
The key to this team is the development of the young pitchers (Price, Gonzalez and Romero) - I like all three, but they're all high risk, too.