This was the "Draft, Drop and Re-bid" Week for Touki Toussaint, wherein I made two mistakes within the course of a couple of weeks and tried to rectify them with a round of bids in the leagues where he was available. (Narrator: "He failed.")
I took Toussaint in the 20th round of my NFBC Main Event league, only to watch in horror the next day when the Braves sent him down. I waited a week, but then had to cut him when other roster needs arose. So naturally he got called back up this week and pitched brilliantly in relief of my least favorite draft pick of the entire draft season, Sean Newcomb, who I begrudgingly took in the 22nd round. Anyone in the draft can attest that it was a grumpy pick, too. At least I've now cut him, but I hate wasting a pick on someone that I didn't really want because he was a "value." I don't know how many more times I have to relearn that lesson, but it was at least this one more.
AL Tout Wars
Doug Dennis: res FValdez Hou, pur JMeans Bal 11
Rick Wolf/Glenn Colton: res CGearrin Sea, pur HVelazquez Bos 1
Jason Collette: rel FSchwindel KC, pur TWard LAA 12
Jason Collette: rel EAdrianza Min, pur JGuerra Tor 0
Mike Gianella: res KZimmer KC, pur RElias Sea 59
Mike Gianella: res IKinerFalefa Tex, pur JPhegley Oak 26
Patrick Davitt: res MFiers Oak, pur JDiekman KC 2
Jeff Erickson: dis CBradford Sea, pur THildenberger Min 65
Jeff Erickson: res TRoss Det, pur MManning Det 5
Jeff Erickson: res JRondon CWS, pur DMoore Sea 2
Rick Wolf/Glenn Colton: dis ROdor Tex, pur TGore KC 6
Howard Bender: dis JMercer Det, pur HAlberto Bal 17
Howard Bender: dis MClevinger Cle, pur RLovelady KC 8
Larry Schechter: res RoPerez Cle, pur ARomine NYY 6
Rick Wolf/Glenn Colton: dis GSanchez NYY, pur TomMurphy Sea 0
I'm going in chronological order on this one - as much to help me organize my thoughts as it is to get away from a hierarchal approach.
Hey, look who overpaid for Trevor Hildenberger? This guy! Hildenberger came in to get two big outs, on strikeouts, after Blake Parker walked the bases loaded on Sunday in the ninth. Manager Rocco Baldelli has multiple options at the back end of the bullpen - Trevor May (who hasn't had any save chances yet), Taylor Rogers, Parker and Hildenberger could all be part of the mix going forward. But I have a sneaky suspicion that Hildenberger is good again, period, so whether or not he closes isn't vital to me. In this pitching environment, a guy like that in an AL-only league has value.
NFBC Main
My consolation prize in losing Touki to Don Warner was to grab Jordan Lyles. I'm intrigued not just by his two good starts to the season, but in his new-and-improved curveball (as detailed in Rob Biertempfel's article in The Athletic) that has worked well since last season. I also tried to replace Eduardo Nunez with Freddy Galvis, but got outbid by Kc Cha, who also snagged Dan Vogelbach *last* week.
NFBC Online Championship 1
Team | Add | Drop | Bid | Runner-Up |
---|---|---|---|---|
Fantasy Fabio | Forrest Whitley | Zack Godley | 113 | 2 |
Fantasy Fabio | Mitch Moreland | Christian Walker | 55 | 11 |
Fantasy Fabio | Mitch Garver | Kurt Suzuki | 54 | - |
Interpreter is expensive | Trevor Cahill | Wade Miley | 54 | - |
Warrior Poets II | Dereck Rodriguez | Sean Newcomb | 31 | 23 |
Warrior Poets II | Jeff Samardzija | Trevor May | 31 | - |
AA Yankees | Miguel Sano | Ryan O'Hearn | 31 | - |
Evil Empire OC1 | Leonys Martin | Anthony DeSclafani | 31 | 25 |
Interpreter is expensive | Dakota Hudson | Adam Wainwright | 27 | - |
Interpreter is expensive | Eduardo Escobar | Ian Kinsler | 21 | 19 |
zima | Ryan Pressly | Seranthony Dominguez | 19 | 2 |
Machado Hos-Mer hits in S.D. | Reynaldo Lopez | Yonder Alonso | 12 | - |
El Scorchos OC1 | Shin-Soo Choo | Jhoulys Chacin | 10 | - |
El Scorchos OC1 | Jordan Lyles | Corbin Burnes | 7 | - |
VORP Puce | Mike Minor | Andrelton Simmons | 7 | - |
Machado Hos-Mer hits in S.D. | Kevin Pillar | Isiah Kiner-Falefa | 5 | - |
Machado Hos-Mer hits in S.D. | Jimmy Nelson | Kyle Zimmer | 3 | - |
VORP Puce | Jonathan Lucroy | Jung Ho Kang | 1 | - |
Touki was long gone here - or maybe he was never dropped? Checking that - yeah ... he was never dropped by an owner that was clearly brighter and more patient than me. Vogelbach once again was picked up the previous week. I picked up Choo to use while I've got Nick Senzel on the bench, and so that I could bench the great Scott Schebler. Once again, here's Lyles. Will I regret dropping Burnes? Maybe so - it's hard to find guys that 21 strikeouts in 14 innings, but it's also hard to find guys that have given up *nine* homers in that same span. He makes the Brewers' version of Marco Estrada blush with those extreme stats. Plus, something has to give when Jimmy Nelson returns, and my best guess is that it's him over Freddy Peralta, Zach Davies, or Brandon Woodruff.
NFBC Online Championship 2
Team | Add | Drop | Bid | Runner-Up |
---|---|---|---|---|
Double Down | Eduardo Rodriguez | Sean Newcomb | 257 | 177 |
Double Down | Touki Toussaint | Jed Lowrie | 173 | 67 |
WaterMelonWine | Daniel Vogelbach | Christian Walker | 159 | 1 |
El Scorchos OC2 | Jesse Winker | Jakob Junis | 135 | 109 |
Double Down | Diego Castillo | Austin Hedges | 68 | 1 |
Aspite | Jeremy Jeffress | Hector Neris | 56 | - |
Brasier | Frankie Montas | Rick Porcello | 36 | 33 |
Stretch Runner | Mike Minor | Jung Ho Kang | 35 | 15 |
WaterMelonWine | Dwight Smith Jr. | Joey Wendle | 19 | 9 |
Stretch Runner | Freddy Galvis | Melky Cabrera | 15 | 8 |
WaterMelonWine | Brian Goodwin | Harrison Bader | 15 | - |
Wiffle Ball Legends 5 | Alex Gordon | Rowdy Tellez | 14 | 8 |
El Scorchos OC2 | Tyler Flowers | Ian Kennedy | 11 | - |
Stretch Runner | Renato Nunez | Ji-Man Choi | 10 | - |
Brasier | Nick Margevicius | Josh James | 6 | - |
Zvi | Mitch Moreland | Wilmer Flores | 3 | 1 |
Brasier | Jason Heyward | Drew Steckenrider | 1 | - |
This could be a frustrating week to own Jesse Winker, who's coming off of a four-homer week. The Reds will face a slew of left-handers in pitchers parks on the West Coast this week. But I'm getting him for the long haul anyhow. He's going to be great when that Reds lineup keeps heating up in Great American Ballpark along with the weather improving. Flowers is in there as my Gary Sanchez fill-in.
TGFBI
Team | Add | Drop | Bid | Runner-Up |
---|---|---|---|---|
@SethDaSportsMan | Touki Toussaint | Robbie Grossman | 123 | 119 |
gregsauce | Nick Margevicius | Dylan Bundy | 80 | 38 |
@SethDaSportsMan | Willy Adames | Pablo Lopez | 78 | 29 |
Bishop | Freddy Galvis | Keon Broxton | 60 | 28 |
Del Don | Justin Upton | Andrew Miller | 50 | 24 |
Bell | Roenis Elias | Chad Green | 40 | 25 |
Thorburn | Dallas Keuchel | Mike Fiers | 34 | 16 |
Entrekin | Josh Phegley | Welington Castillo | 31 | 12 |
Bell | Dwight Smith Jr. | Daniel Palka | 25 | 6 |
Alan @TheFantasyFix | Diego Castillo | Chase Anderson | 25 | 12 |
gregsauce | David Fletcher | Matt Harvey | 21 | 8 |
@BrocNessMonster | Eric Thames | Zack Britton | 21 | - |
@BrocNessMonster | Leury Garcia | Carson Kelly | 21 | - |
Weatherwax TGFBI | Orlando Arcia | Lewis Brinson | 20 | 8 |
gregsauce | Brandon Crawford | Brad Boxberger | 18 | - |
Weatherwax TGFBI | Lucas Giolito | Sean Newcomb | 17 | - |
@SethDaSportsMan | Hector Neris | Christian Walker | 16 | 1 |
Weatherwax TGFBI | Mitch Garver | Isiah Kiner-Falefa | 15 | 15 |
@SethDaSportsMan | Brian McCann | Blake Swihart | 12 | - |
@SethDaSportsMan | Jordan Lyles | Dakota Hudson | 11 | 10 |
@SethDaSportsMan | Todd Frazier | Jung Ho Kang | 9 | - |
Weatherwax TGFBI | Derek Dietrich | Justin Bour | 8 | - |
@BrocNessMonster | Neil Walker | Kelvin Herrera | 6 | - |
Twenty three players picked up and I didn't get a single one of them! I had bids in on Touki (of course), Elias and Lyles.
FSTA
Sun Apr 14 11:04 PM ET: Merrill Kelly awarded to Fantistics for $68.
Sun Apr 14 11:04 PM ET: Failed bids for Merrill Kelly: $31, $6, $8.
Sun Apr 14 11:04 PM ET: Nick Margevicius awarded to Jim Bowden - SiriusXM Fantasy for $49.
Sun Apr 14 11:04 PM ET: Failed bids for Nick Margevicius: $11, $8, $18.
Sun Apr 14 11:04 PM ET: Touki Toussaint awarded to Scout Fantasy for $25.
Sun Apr 14 11:04 PM ET: Failed bids for Touki Toussaint: $17.
Sun Apr 14 11:04 PM ET: Brett Anderson awarded to SiriusXM Fantasy Drive for $21.
Sun Apr 14 11:04 PM ET: Josh Phegley awarded to Fantistics for $21.
Sun Apr 14 11:04 PM ET: Failed bids for Josh Phegley: $2.
Sun Apr 14 11:04 PM ET: Adam Wainwright awarded to RonShandler.com for $18.
Sun Apr 14 11:04 PM ET: Failed bids for Adam Wainwright: $6.
Sun Apr 14 11:04 PM ET: Carlos Gonzalez awarded to NFBC for $11.
Sun Apr 14 11:04 PM ET: Jorge Lopez awarded to USA TODAY Sports for $6.
Sun Apr 14 11:04 PM ET: Mitch Garver awarded to Colton & The Wolfman for $2.
Sun Apr 14 11:04 PM ET: Waiver wire completed.
This league is the reason why I'm now listing these in chronological order. My pea-sized brain got the waiver deadline confused, thinking that it was at 9:00 pm PT, the same as Mixed LABR because they're on the same commish service (RT Sports). This was my second-biggest FAIL of the week, following the inability to boot-and-rally with Touki in the Main Event. I would have definitely bid enough for him here, even with me spending a big chunk of my FAAB on Chris Paddack earlier this year.
Mixed LABR
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Daniel Vogelbach awarded to RotoWire for $21.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Failed bids for Daniel Vogelbach: $12, $17, $6, $4, $5, $7, $4, $5, $5, $4.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Carlos Gonzalez awarded to Baseball Prospectus for $13.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Touki Toussaint awarded to Prospect 361 for $12.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Failed bids for Touki Toussaint: $3, $2, $8, $4, $3, $3, $2.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Jordan Lyles awarded to RotoWire for $8.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Failed bids for Jordan Lyles: $4, $4.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Brett Anderson awarded to Prospect 361 for $6.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Josh Phegley awarded to Yahoo Sports for $5.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Failed bids for Josh Phegley: $2, $1, $1, $1.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Keon Broxton awarded to Roto Lady for $5.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Hunter Dozier awarded to Baseball HQ for $3.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Failed bids for Hunter Dozier: $2, $3, $3, $2.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Derek Dietrich awarded to Scout Fantasy for $3.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Failed bids for Derek Dietrich: $2.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Nick Anderson awarded to Yahoo Sports for $2.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Failed bids for Nick Anderson: $1, $1.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Renato Nunez awarded to Yahoo Sports for $2.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Failed bids for Renato Nunez: $1, $1, $1, $2.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Terrance Gore awarded to Roto Lady for $2.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Richard Lovelady awarded to The Athletic for $2.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: David Fletcher awarded to Razzball (Rudy Gamble) for $2.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Chris Owings awarded to Fangraphs - Sleeper & Bust for $1.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Failed bids for Chris Owings: $1.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Lucas Giolito awarded to ESPN.com for $1.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Roenis Elias awarded to Roto Lady for $1.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: James McCann awarded to RotoWire for $1.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Adam Wainwright awarded to The Athletic for $1.
Mon Apr 15 12:04 AM ET: Waiver wire completed.
Is there a risk that Vogelbach (a) craters or (b) loses his job when Kyle Seager returns? Yes! To both, even. But I'm adding this to the category of players that you have to take a chance early if you want to get him. As you can tell by the number of bids, this was the only week I was going to get Vogelbach, and I think he has the potential to be like a lot the early adds in 2017, when the ball was similarly juiced. You can either dismiss these players due to a lack of sample size and watch someone else get 30+ homers, or you can take the chance. I took the chance. It helped that I had some early NFBC results to help size my bid.
RotoWire Staff Keeper League
In an 18-team league with a 10-man minor league roster, we scrounge for scraps and hope they turn into gems.