For the third year in a row, I won a title in one of the CBS Sports.com Analyst leagues. In 2009, I won in the A.L., in 2010 in the N.L., and this year I won again in the A.L.
How did I do it? It was almost entirely due to the strength of my auction.
2011 Patton and Company team, CBS Sports Analyst League
#
|
Player
|
$
|
Sal
|
+/-
| AVG BID | |
C
|
Adam Moore
|
$0
|
$1
|
-1
|
$1
| |
C
|
Jason Varitek
|
$6
|
$1
|
5
|
$1
| |
1B
|
Casey Kotchman
|
$15
|
$1
|
14
|
$1
| |
2B
|
Dustin Ackley
|
$10
|
$2
|
8
|
$6
| |
SS
|
Erick Aybar
|
$21
|
$4
|
17
|
$12
| |
3B
|
Michael Young
|
$30
|
$14
|
16
|
$18
| |
CO
|
Kevin Kouzmanoff
|
$2
|
$10
|
-8
|
$11
| |
MI
|
Macier Izturis
|
$12
|
$1
|
11
|
$7
| |
OF
|
Jacoby Ellsbury
|
$45
|
$29
|
17
|
$29
| |
OF
|
Grady Sizemore
|
$5
|
$18
|
-13
|
$14
| |
OF
|
Ichiro Suzuki
|
$24
|
$28
|
-4
|
$26
| |
OF
|
Josh Willingham
|
$19
|
$11
|
8
|
$10
| |
OF
|
Delmon Young
|
$13
|
$24
|
-11
|
$21
| |
DH
|
Hideki Matsui
|
$12
|
$8
|
4
|
$9
| |
P
|
Andrew Bailey
|
$11
|
$19
|
-8
|
$17
| |
P
|
Nick Blackburn
|
-$1
|
$1
|
-2
|
$1
| |
P
|
Clay Buchholz
|
$7
|
$15
|
-8
|
$16
| |
P
|
Trevor Cahill
|
$9
|
$15
|
-6
|
$13
| |
P
|
Octavio Dotel
|
$4
|
$7
|
-3
|
$3
| |
P
|
Gio Gonzalez
|
$21
|
$12
|
9
|
$14
| |
P
|
David Price
|
$24
|
$23
|
1
|
$21
| |
P
|
Ervin Santana
|
$20
|
$11
|
9
|
$11
| |
P
|
Dan Wheeler
|
$4
|
$1
|
3
|
$0
| |
Total
|
$314
|
$260
|
+54
|
$260
|
You can see where I cleaned up: on offense. $216 of production for $156 spent is mighty sweet. There was certainly some luck involved. While I obviously believed in Ellsbury, no one in his right mind would have expected $45 worth of production. Kotchman was a case of me grabbing a warm body in the end game and catching earth, wind and fire in a bottle.
However, there were some solid buys as well. Aybar and Izturis are the kind of players I've cleaned up with in the CBS leagues in the past: boring players that other teams run out of money for because teams spent $40+ for Robinson Cano, Miguel Cabrera or Evan Longoria. And Young was inspired: a $14 buy in early February when everyone thought he was going to the National League except for me. Young was a moderate risk with a huge reward.
Then there was the pitching. While I avoided any bombs, I didn't hit on any aces either (Price was the only Top 10 pitcher I got). Price, Gonzalez, and Santana were a nice start to my staff, but Buchholz and Cahill left me scrambling for starts all year long. And I was right to be worried about my saves. Even before Bailey got hurt, my poor gamble on Dotel failed to pay off and I had spent $26 on less than a full season from Bailey and one measly save from Dotel.
Fortunately, my mistakes didn't matter much:
2011 CBS Sports A.L.-onlyAnalyst League "Draft" Standings
Team
|
R
|
HR
|
RBI
|
SB
|
BA
|
K
|
W
|
SV
|
ERA
|
WHIP
|
TOT
|
Patton & Company
|
10.5
|
6
|
12
|
10
|
12
|
12
|
9
|
3
|
9
|
4
|
87.5
|
Baseball HQ
|
7
|
8
|
10
|
8
|
9
|
10.5
|
6.5
|
6
|
10
|
6
|
86
|
Fantasy Pros 911
|
12
|
9
|
11
|
9
|
4
|
4
|
10
|
8
|
3
|
3
|
73
|
Yahoo! Sports
|
6
|
2
|
5
|
12
|
6
|
7
|
12
|
6
|
8
|
9
|
73
|
CBS Melchior
|
9
|
10.5
|
9
|
3
|
7
|
10.5
|
6.5
|
5
|
4
|
7
|
71.5
|
Mastersball.com
|
4
|
4
|
4
|
4
|
3
|
5
|
5
|
9
|
12
|
12
|
62
|
Stats LLC
|
10.5
|
12
|
8
|
11
|
2
|
2.5
|
1
|
10
|
2
|
2
|
61
|
Fantasy Sports Empires.com
|
2
|
7
|
3
|
5
|
1
|
6
|
11
|
4
|
10
|
8
|
57
|
CBS Eisenberg
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
2
|
10
|
9
|
4
|
12
|
7
|
6
|
56
|
MLB Network Radio
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
11
|
8
|
8
|
1
|
11
|
11
|
56
|
CBS White
|
8
|
10.5
|
7
|
6.5
|
5
|
1
|
3
|
7
|
1
|
1
|
50
|
Fantasy Baseball.com
|
5
|
5
|
6
|
6.5
|
8
|
2.5
|
2
|
2
|
5
|
5
|
47
|
While I might have cleaned up on value, I did not clean up in points. Coming out of the auction, it looked like Baseball HQ and me and then the rest of the pack.
Then I compounded things by doing next to nothing to help myself all year long. David Robertson and Sam Fuld were the only free agents I added who earned $10 or more. While I did get both Fuld and Robertson early, I also missed out on most of the stronger free agent acquisitions. I also made the only trade of the year in CBS...and it didn't work out. Shortly after Bailey came back, I flipped him for Justin Smoak. I figured I had only one point to lose in saves and could jump up in HR/RBI/runs with any halfway decent hitter. Right idea, wrong hitter. Smoak was in the middle of a slump when I acquired him and he never got back on track.
I lost four points in-season, finishing with 83.5 points. Fortunately for me, Baseball HQ's entrant lost even more: dropping 11 1/2 points to finish with 74.5
This is the view I have now from my rear-view mirror. In season, it wasn't that simple. HQ had a 10-point lead with five and a half weeks left in the season. Just like 2010, it looked like a win wasn't going to be in the cards for me.
Unlike 2010, my win this year had less to do with a surge by my team but by a collapse by a team in front of me. Do I feel cheap winning that way?
No. A win is a win, and I'll take one anyway I can get it. I had laid the foundation for a successful season, and wouldn't have been in position to capitalize on HQ's collapse without a strong auction. It was an ugly win, but I'm more than happy to put another trophy on my Rotisserie case.
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