2011 A.L. Shortstops

For the first time in at least five years, the 10 most expensive A.L. shortstops turned a profit.

Ten Most Expensive A.L. Shortstops, 2011

#	Player	$	Sal	+/-	CBS	LABR	TW	PK	2010
1	Alexei Ramirez	$18	22	-4	23	22	22	21	$23
2	Derek Jeter	$22	22	-1	23	23	21	19	$22
3	Elvis Andrus	$26	22	4	27	20	19	18	$19
4	J.J. Hardy	$20	17	3	15	18	18	14	$8
5	Tsuyoshi Nishioka	$1	15	-14	16	15	14	13
6	Alcides Escobar	$16	14	2	13	13	17	15	$8
7	Asdrubal Cabrera	$26	13	13	13	12	15	13	$9
8	Cliff Pennington	$15	12	3	12	12	13	10	$17
9	Erick Aybar	$23	12	11	9	14	14	12	$14
10	Yunel Escobar	$17	12	5	7	13	15	14	$9
	Average	$18	16	2	16	16	17	15	$13

This isn't a case of conservatism. The market paid $3 more per player for these guys than they earned in 2010. That $13 at the bottom of the 2010 column is the lowest average prior year earnings for A.L. SS by far, beating the $15 per player earned by the 2009 crop in 2008.

To be sure, some of the pay raise is the presence of Nishioka. But Hardy, Cabrera, and the Escobars...there are a lot of players here where the market is betting on better things ahead.

Here we finally see where all of CBS's big betting costs them. They're not out in front on these players, Tout Wars is. In a four-way battle with the three expert leagues and Rotoman, CBS only gets Ramirez, Andrus, Nishioka and its share of Jeter. LABR gets the other share of Jeter and parts of Aybar and Hardy. Tout Wars cleans up here, getting both Escobars, Cabrera, Pennington, and ties on Aybar and Hardy.

Rotoman gets shut out. This is becoming commonplace.

Players "Purchased" by Rotoman vs. A.L. Expert Auctions, 2011

Catchers: Miguel Olivo $6 (t), Jeff Mathis $2
First Base: Michael Cuddyer $17 (t), Daric Barton $14 (t)
Second Base: Howie Kendrick $19 (t), Will Rhymes $6, Chris Getz $5 (t), Carlos Guillen $4, Adam Rosales $2.
Shortstop: Elliott Johnson $1.

There are a few more players at the bottom ($1-2) that Rotoman either beat or tied the market on, but for the purposes of this exercise, I'm looking at how a Rotoman team would be constructed in this hypothetical market.

I'm not criticizing a balanced auction approach. Spending $65 for seven players would put Rotoman easily on pace to buy a complete, $260 team assuming he put the bulk of his money in OF or pitchers. Keep in mind, though, that I'm not analyzing Rotoman the auctioner (I've now sat through two auctions with him and he's as excellent at Rotisserie Baseball as you might imagine) but rather Rotoman the pricer. If he has $3,120 to spend as a pricer, then he has to spend $780 in a four-way battle with CBS, LABR and Tout Wars. There is simply no way around this.

A.L. 2011 Hitting/Pitching Splits

CBS: Hitters $2,202. Pitchers $914 Total $3,116

LABR: Hitters $2,167. Pitchers $946 Total $3,113

Tout Wars: Hitters $2,175. Pitchers $944 Total $3,119

Rotoman: Hitters $2,103. Pitchers $972 Total $3,075

Falling $45 of the $3,120 12-team, A.L.-only cap is a problem. But I think the bigger issue is that prices have shifted to a near 70/30 hitting/pitching split in the expert leagues over the last few years (I've documented this previously) and Rotoman is still using something more like a 67/33 split.

If this happens to you in your home league, it will impact your auction. At some point, you'll have to either make an adjustment and spend more on hitting, or accept the fact that you're going to spend something along the lines of $100 on hitters and $160 on pitchers.... give or take a few dollars in one direction or the other.

Whether you're missing out on the top hitters because you're being too conservative or the market is being too liberal, you have to spend your money somewhere. And it usually becomes really bad news when this happens.

Top 10 A.L. Shortstops

#	Player	$	Sal	+/-	CBS	LABR	TW	PK	2010
1	Asdrubal Cabrera	$26	13	13	13	12	15	13	$9
2	Elvis Andrus	$26	22	4	27	20	19	18	$19
3	Erick Aybar	$23	12	11	9	14	14	12	$14
4	Derek Jeter	$22	22	-1	23	23	21	19	$22
5	J.J. Hardy	$20	17	3	15	18	18	14	$8
6	Alexei Ramirez	$18	22	-4	23	22	22	21	$23
7	Yunel Escobar	$17	12	5	7	13	15	14	$9
8	Alcides Escobar	$16	14	2	13	13	17	15	$8
9	Marco Scutaro	$15	10	5	10	9	12	9	$17
10	Cliff Pennington	$15	12	3	12	12	13	10	$17
	Average	$20	16	4	15	16	17	15	$15

Scutaro stands in for Nishioka. Otherwise the order changes but the names are all the same.

Some of this is just because there aren't many shortstops left to buy. Besides the 11 shortstops you see listed above, there were only seven others who went for $2 or more in A.L.-only leagues. Some of these guys were also eligible at second base as well. So some of the duplication is due to this factor as well.

Still, when the quantity is lacking, this is all the more reason to make sure you buy a competent regular. Push your prices up if you have to, but don't get left holding the bag during the endgame.