For what I believe is the 7th year now, Mike and I participated in the CBS Analyst League Auctions. I kicked off the festivities with the NL-only auction on Monday; Mike followed that up with the AL-only auction yesterday. For background, the leagues are 12 team, standard 5x5 rules, with a 7 player reserve draft at the conclusion of the auction.
Part I today is merely a kick of the tires on the team I auctioned. And, here it is:
C Dionar Navarro $1
C Derek Norris $1
1B Lance Berkman $11
2B Danny Espinosa $12
SS Clint Barmes $5
3B Chris Johnson $16
1/3 Ian Stewart $14
2/S Billy Hall $9
O Andrew McCutchen $31
O Jason Heyward $28
O Andres Torres $16
O Cameron Maybin $9
O Raul Ibanez $7
U James Loney $13
P Cliff Lee $29
P Adam Wainwright $27
P Chris Narveson $4
P Jair Jurrjens $4
P Clayton Richard $5
P Jake Westbrook $5
P Kevin Correia $1
P Jon Garland $2
P Brandon Lyon $9
What Went Right.
1. Pitching. Cliff Lee is really a par bid for me at $29. At that early point of the auction, however, Greinke had gone for $26, and then Lincecum went for only $30. Two things could have happened: people were not going to spend money on pitchers, in which case I should wait for Tier 1-A pitchers or Tier 2 pitchers, or people were going to money dump on Tier 1-A and Tier 2, and I should lock in an ace at par. I guessed the latter (though it wound up being the former) and locked Lee at par. Shortly thereafter, Wainwright was a couple of ticks under my price and I made the determination that I was not going to let someone else get him that cheaply. Armed with those two aces, and Westbrook (and soon after Lyon), I went to work on the offense. Many, many rounds later, I came back to the pitching side and had an excellent end-game. I am really fortunate to have gotten the starters I got late, and I think all things being equal (with the relievers I picked up on reserve to cycle in and spot start my guys), I will be very competitive in the pitching categories.
2. Balance. While I did not specific gear my prices to weigh one category against another, I did keep a balanced team in the back of mind. I figured that if I got everyday players at each position, I would be fine in the counting categories. I think I wound up with 12 and 1/2 everyday players, so that worked out. I might be a little light in speed, but part of that will depend on Maybin.
What Went Wrong.
1. Player preference. The value game is fun, until you lose sight of your own player preference (and, frankly, who is left at each position). The nature of the on-line auction is that it moves quickly, and there is very little time to evaluate the money your opponents have left, who is left at each position, etc. So, yes, there are players I would rather have than Maybin, Ibanez, Espinosa, Johnson. On the flip side, they were value plays by my sheet, so I can't get too upset.
Interestingly, my team broke down to a $174/$86 split - completely unintentional (I don't worry about splits too much in CBS). Later, I'll take a look at league trends in spending and some position by position breakdown.
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