CBS Sportsline N.L.: OF Finale and Analysis

Just in case you don't hear from me for the next three weeks, I just received my copy of Baseball Prospectus in the mail. You will likely find me snacking on Doritos and shotgunning Cokes while reading away.

In terms of rookies, a number went in this auction. Rasmus went to me for $7. If he makes the roster out of spring training, I expect to get value from him, as he seems to be a major league ready hitter who will pop 15 HR and steal 15 bases. I don't expect much more than a .250 average, but this will be okay. I won't tell you BPs projection, but if he hits it, I could earn at least a $10 profit.

Pearce went for $1. I doubt he will be up before September, but with the Pirates, who knows. He projects as a middle of the lineup hitter, and the touts believe he will continue to progress. McCutcheon went in the reserve round; I think we will see him before Pearce. I don't expect a big average from McCutcheon, but I am thinking 200 AB could translate into a few homers and a few steals (more on McCutcheon later, as he was a reserve round pick).

Josh Anderson ($1), Cameron Maybin ($10) and Felix Pie ($3) also went in the auction. Anderson is a nice pickup if you need speed. I doubt he is more than a 4th or 5th outfielder, but he strikes me as a cheap speed guy who will always be floating around. Speaking of speed, Maybin has it. The difference is that he has a few other tools to go with it. I could not go near Maybin at $10; he really belongs in the minors for at least one more year. Pie is someone that I wanted to pick up, but I got locked up before it happened. He struggles against lefties, and is not a big average hitter, but he has serious potential. The Cubs need to get him out of the minors, plant him in the outfield and let him play.

Oh, wait, I think there was one more guy...hmmm, what was his name again? Oh, right, Jay Bruce. Well, I tried to be a smart guy and put him out there early and suck money out of the auction. He went for $7, so I think we can all agree that the ploy didn't work. Frankly, owning Freel, I would like to tell you Bruce belongs in the minors. I will be shocked if he doesn't start the season in that outfield; how can you argue with 80+ extra base hits in 2007??? What can you expect? Well, I'm going to go out on a limb...25HR, 90RBI and a .270 average. What will you pay for that in a keeper league?

ANALYSIS: OFFENSE
Mike and I have discussed this several times over the past week. Unlike the CBS American League auction, this auction would have been perfect for stars and scrubs. So many bargains fell out on offense that grabbing two of Wright/Reyes/Pujols/Howard/Ramirez/Utley, a few mid-tier hitters and then a few of the middle/outfield guys in the end game would have put me in a position to spend about $180-$190 on offense and troll for pitchers.

Is it truly a Stage 1 auction? In my opinion, it is. Mike tackled this a bit in his last post, referencing the Rototimes projections. The top players all went overvalue. In fact, the mid-tier players went mostly overvalue. Only at second base and outfield did you see true bargains in what I would consider double digit earners.

Tomorrow, we start with the starters. The relievers will follow. Finally, I will post up the hitting and pitching splits and talk about my splits and my actual auctioned player splits and see how those matched up.