Draft season is flying by.
On Wednesday, I took part in my seventh draft/auction of the season. Only two more to go.
Wednesday's auction was perhaps the most interesting one I've taken part in so far this spring. Put on by the kind folks at SportsVault, King of the Dish is a 14-team, 5x5 mixed rotisserie league that uses OBP instead of average and saves-plus-holds instead of saves. Each roster consists of 23 active players (14 hitters, nine pitchers), including two catchers, and three bench spots. Each owners had $300 to spend in the auction to fill those 26 spots.
Because the league is held on Yahoo!, there were several key players with added position eligibility. Further, the saves-plus-holds category resulted in some lower prices for closers, and thus, more money was being shelled out elsewhere. There are daily roster moves in this league, as well as caps for innings pitched (1,450 IP total) and games played by position (162) for each team. There were a lot of little nuances that had to be taken into account. The competition is fierce, and I know I'll have to stay on top of things day in and day out to be crowned "King."
Speaking of Kings, the Hit King, Pete Rose, has been a fairly hot topic around the baseball world recently. As you probably know, commissioner Rob Manfred has said he would at least consider reinstating Rose. I submit to the commissioner, with WWE's upcoming Wrestlemania 31 in mind, exhibit A in the case for reinstatement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxmvAFGbeFA
Without further adieu, my team, with the players listed in order of purchase...
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, AZ ($40) -- My first share of Goldschmidt so far this draft season.
Yasiel Puig, OF, LAD ($28) -- My fourth share of Puig so far this draft season.
Devin Mesoraco, C, CIN ($19) -- Yes, I'm fully back in on Mesoraco after the concussion scare. He has four hits, including two home runs, in his last 12 Cactus League at-bats.
Bryce Harper, OF, WAS ($26) -- I love that the market still hasn't corrected itself with Harper (NFBC ADP: 30.20). He crushed another homer Saturday. Kid may go Brock Lesnar-level beast mode this year.
https://twitter.com/MLB/status/581897569216892928
His (#80grade) forearms got a lot of attention on Twitter this week.
https://twitter.com/SInow/status/580391336391622656
Evan Longoria, 3B, TB ($19) -- As Derek VanRiper recently pointed out on Twitter, the price is right on Longoria this season.
https://twitter.com/DerekVanRiper/status/580921123124224000
Dustin Pedroia, 2B, BOS ($12)
Zack Greinke, P, LAD ($20) -- Hasn't been very good this spring but I'm a big believer.
Matt Harvey, P, NYM ($22)
Julio Teheran, P, ATL ($12) -- Went for less than Jacob deGrom ($15), Garrett Richards ($15), Carlos Carrasco ($14) and Gio Gonzalez ($13) to name a few. No idea why. Perhaps it's due to team context and his uneven performance this spring, but Teheran is still easily a top-20 pitcher for me.
Lance Lynn, P, STL ($7)
Chris Carter, DH, HOU ($15) -- Figured I had enough OBP to offset his drain in the category.
Leonys Martin, OF, TEX ($11) -- Thought he'd go for much more after being named the Rangers' leadoff man. Tons of SB and R upside.
Desmond Jennings, OF, TB ($4) -- Like with teammate Longoria, price has finally dropped to a reasonable level this year. Enjoying a fine spring.
Brett Gardner, OF, NYY ($10)
John Lackey, P, STL ($3)
Shane Greene, P, DET ($2)
Carlos Ruiz, C, PHI ($2) -- At least helps a bit in OBP, I guess.
Chad Qualls, P, HOU ($1) -- I think he closes for Houston this season. Even if not, should be an excellent holds contributor.
Anthony DeSclafani, P, CIN ($1) -- Did you see his start against the Rangers earlier this week? Nine strikeouts in six innings. I think he holds down a rotation spot for a while.
Joe Nathan, P, DET ($1) -- Went for $4 less than his backup, Joakim Soria. Didn't really want him but eventually had to pulled the trigger.
Jose Ramirez, SS, CLE ($1)
Jace Peterson, SS, ATL ($1)
Luis Valbuena, 3B, HOU ($1) -- Nice endgame target in OBP leagues. He is "going to play a lot," manager A.J. Hinch said recently.
Kevin Siegrist, P, STL ($1) -- As I posted out in my last blog post, there's plenty of upside in holds leagues.
Andrew Heaney, P, LAA ($1) -- Struggling mightily this spring but I think he turns it around.
Jung-ho Kang, SS, PIT ($1) -- Looking overmatched this spring, but with my final buck, I'll take a flier.
Surprising prices from around the league:
Carlos Santana, C, CLE ($31) -- Now, Santana is still catcher eligible in Yahoo leagues, but really? Three dollars more than Puig? Not worth it even with the eligibility.
Nolan Arenado, 3B, COL ($26) -- I think the price is fine but thought he'd go for a little less. Profit margin is thinning out a bit.
Anthony Rendon, 3B, WAS ($23) -- After DVR said Rendon dropped to the fourth round in his recent "Beat DVR" draft, I was kind of expecting a high-teens price.
Corey Dickerson, OF, COL ($22) -- Absolute steal. Mad at myself for not going higher, but I already had several outfielders.
Charlie Blackmon, OF, COL ($11) -- Price just keeps falling.
Marcell Ozuna, OF, MIA ($9) -- Not as valuable in OBP leagues, of course, but this may be a sign that the price is dropping enough to where I may actually land a share in my final couple drafts.
Masahiro Tanaka, P, NYY ($7)
Mike Fiers, P, MIL ($7)
Devon Travis, 2B, TOR ($5) -- Nice player, but was pretty surprised he was bid up this high.
Wily Peralta, P, MIL ($4) -- If you can get Peralta anywhere near this price, do it.
Billy Butler, 1B, OAK ($1) -- C'mon, man. Wish he had been put up for nomination earlier in the draft. Outstanding value.
On an unrelated note, the first ever RotoWire Prospects Roundtable went up this week. Myself, James Anderson and DVR each submitted our individual top-200 prospect rankings, which were compiled into a master composite list. I was honored to be a part of it. For those interested, here are all the prospects that made the composite top 200 that I was highest on. My personal rank is listed in parenthesis:
Addison Russell, SS, CHC (3)
Joey Gallo, 3B, TEX (6)
Jorge Soler, OF, CHC (8)
Yoan Moncada, 3B, BOS (9)
Julio Urias, P, LAD (10)
Jon Gray, P, COL (20)
Daniel Norris, P, TOR (21)
Luis Severino, P, NYY (23)
Aaron Judge, OF, NYY (31)
Jose Berrios, P, MIN (32)
Jorge Alfaro, C, TEX (33)
Michael Taylor, OF, WAS (41)
D.J. Peterson, 1B/3B, SEA (45)
Clint Frazier, OF, CLE (46)
A.J. Cole, P, WAS (51)
Rymer Liriano, OF, SD (58)
Miguel Almonte, P, KC (60)
Albert Almora, P, CHC (61)
Hunter Dozier, 3B, KC (62)
Alex Guerrero, 2B, LAD (63)
Alexander Reyes, P, STL (64)
Ryan McMahon, 3B, COL (65)
Kohl Stewart, P, MIN (66)
Nick Williams, OF, TEX (68)
Reynaldo Lopez, P, WAS (71)
Gabriel Guerrero, OF, SEA (72)
Eddie Butler, P, COL (79)
Jeff Hoffman, P, TOR (80)
Daniel Vogelbach, 1B, CHC (81)
Braxton Davidson, OF, ATL (82)
Nick Kingham, P, PIT (89)
Tyler Kolek, P, MIA (95)
Marcos Molina, P, NYM (97)
Renato Nunez, 3B, OAK (100)
Pierce Johnson, P, CHC (101)
Alex Colome, P, TB (102)
Vincent Velasquez, P, HOU (105)
Lucas Sims, P, ATL (111)
Rob Kaminsky, P, STL (112)
Rio Ruiz, 3B, ATL (114)
Clint Coulter, OF, MIL (119)
Ozhanio Albies, SS, ATL (121)
Domingo Santana, OF, HOU (129)
Wilmer Difo, 2B, WAS (130)
Rafael Montero, P, NYM (134)
Roman Quinn, OF, PHI (135)
Colin Moran, 3B, HOU (136)
Gary Sanchez, C, NYY (138)
Kyle Crick, P, SF (139)
Casey Kelly, P, SD (171)
Kevin Plawecki, C, NYM (173)
Ben Lively, P, PHI (178)
Jairo Labourt, P, TOR (189)
For more prospect insight and analysis, check out the RotoWire Prospect Podcast with myself and James Anderson every Tuesday. You can listen to the latest episode for free here.
What do you think? Feel free to contact me on Twitter @claywlink.