Every year, the first week of March, we descend upon the Phoenix area to participate in the League of Alternative Baseball Reality (LABR). If you’re old like me, this was the league you looked forward to reading about each March in the USA Today. I still get a bit of a chill every time I sit down at the draft table and realize that I’m now part of the event (thanks to Steve Gardner and the USA Today team) The bidding was fast and furious in the 12-team, AL-only draft, and this is my write up about how the squad played out in the most star-studded draft I’ve ever been a part of.
SETUP
AL-only, 12 teams
$260 auction for 23 starters
5×5 scoring (AVG, HR, RBI, RUNS AND SB WITH WINS, ERA, WHIP, K AND SV)
14 hitters, nine pitchers, six bench spots (rostered by a snake draft)
In season we run FAAB for bolstering our roster with a total of $100 units to spend.
There is no disabled list. An injured player is merely placed on a team’s bench.
All of that is pretty standard stuff. However, there’s one significant difference with LABR.
You draft 23 starters. The only way to remove any of those players from your lineup is to do one of the following.
(1) Drop a player on to waivers.
(2) Put him on the DL if he is hurt.
(3) Put him on your reserve list if he is sent to the minors.
*NOTE: Free agents are eligible to be drafted, though if they sign in the other league you cannot keep them on your roster.
*NOTE II: The reserve rounds are done with a snake draft. The first person to pick is randomly chosen out of a hat.
PARTICIPANTS
Here are the 12 participants in AL LABR this year.
LABR AL – Affiliation
Rick Wolf/Glenn Colton – Colton & the Wolfman, SiriusXM
Clay Link – Rotowire
Tristan Cockcroft – ESPN
Dave Adler – Baseball HQ
Bret Sayre – Baseball Prospectus
Steve Gardner – USA TODAY
Larry Schechter – Winning Fantasy Baseball
Greg Ambrosius/Shawn Childs – NFBC
Eno Sarris – The Athletic
Ray Flowers – Fantasy Guru/SiriusXM
Jeff Zimmerman- Fangraphs
Todd Zola – Mastersball
Though we did have some fun, the old Domino’s Pizza train did roll into town. I love pizza, like it’s my favorite, but that just didn’t hit the spot.
MY ROSTER
* Number in parenthesis is the $ amount spent.
C: Nick Hundley ($2), Blake Swihart ($2 – spreadsheet incorrect, says $1)
1B: Yonder Alonso (7)
2B: Jose Altuve (36)
3B: Tim Beckham (4)
SS: Marwin Gonzalez (13)
MI: Niko Goodrum (8)
CI: Chris Davis (2)
OF: Joey Gallo (22), Byron Buxton (19), Domingo Santana (15), Brett Gardner (9), Dustin Fowler (6)
UTIL: Khris Davis (27)
PITCHERS: David Price (19), Marco Gonzales (12), Dylan Bundy (11), Marcus Stroman (6), Dallas Keuchel (5), Justus Sheffield (3), Ken Giles (15), Dellin Betances (8), Ryan Pressley (8)
RESERVES (round in parenthesis): Gio Gonzalez (24), Carlos Gonzalez (25), Clint Frazier (26), Nate Jones (27), Yusniel Diaz (28), Brendan McKay (29)
THE PLAYERS
I wanted to be a bit more aggressive this season than in years past. If you talk to Jeff Mans he said still wasn’t aggressive. My retort? I would think spending $104 on four players is pretty aggressive since that’s 40 percent of my overall budget. Or maybe 123 on five players, or 47 percent would be enough? Guess not said Jeff.
Right off the top I locked down my UT spot with the just about the most consistent power hitter in baseball – Khris Davis. There were a few bargains at UT later that I was locked out of since I had the spot filled, but taking Davis, the power, and the fact that he was one of Lawr Michael’s personal favorites, I’m totally fine with that.
To complement Davis’ all power approach, I grabbed Altuve who has speed and batting average, which I thought made my top two expenditures extremely complimentary. By the way, folks voted on the $36 players in the draft including Altuve. So, with my top-2 on lock down, I moved forward.
The next two guys that I spent big on drew some ire from some circles.
Gallo qualifies at first and the outfield, and that kinda depth matters a lot in league only setups (you will notice that there are multiple, multi-category guys on my roster). Yes, the batting average stinks. Still, multi-position helps as does the fact that Gallo/J.D. Martinez/Khris Davis are the only three men in baseball to go 40-80-80 each of the past two seasons.
Here are the guys talking about the Buxton pick. It doesn’t look like the general public likes the pick. I do, or I wouldn’t have made it. A buck or two high? Certainly could make that claim, but as you know if you’ve followed my work at any point, you know I’m a big fan. Are there contact issues? Yes. Is he motivated and in great shape? Yes. Could he go 15/30 this season? Yes. So I took the shot on the talent, even if the road to this point would have made you vomit from all the bumps.
Through four picks I owned two of the top-5 raw power hitters in the league, one of the most stable hitters in baseball and took a wild card shot on an immense but unproven talent. I got no issue with that at all Jeff Mans. Do you hear me!
I went cheap at catcher spending $4 (Swihart was a $2 add even though the spreadsheet says $1 since there was an issue with the computer). I don’t think there is a better way to play in AL-only at this point. Hopefully Swihart is traded and Hundley gets 200 effective at-bats.
At the corners I have Beckham and Alonso. Admittedly, that’s not exciting, but the prospect of 850 at-bats for $11 works for me. Getting a bit of pop from Alonso, and some speed from Beckham (hopefully) is the plan, so I’m comfortable with the duo.
Goodrum and Gonzalez up the middle are two nice players (I’ll touch on the multi-position thing below). Both guys can be moved around, and I’m fully expecting them to earn the $ I paid. Gonzalez will play everywhere for the Twins and be in there most days while Goodrum should find his way to the field often enough to give him a legit shot to go at least 10/10 this season.
The outfield is highlighted by Buxton and, this one’s for you Vlad Sedler (see our Battle Of The Experts), Domingo Santana. At the time I nabbed him, I felt that Domingo was the last potentially difference making bat in the outfield so I spent a couple bucks more than I wanted to. If he went 20/10 this season, which seems totally doable, this will be money well spent. Gardner seems likely to hit 8th or 9th in the best lineup in baseball. He should play enough to steal 15 bases and score 75 runs make the money spent on him returnable. I really wanted Kyle Tucker. I bid him up to $9, but when Bret Sayre went $10 I stopped bidding rationalizing in my head that I could still get Dustin Fowler but for less. When Fowler came up a few spots later in the auction I was indeed able to land him, and as predicted, for 60 percent of the cost. We will see if that gamble pays off. My fifth outfielder ended up being Joey Gallo. The reason is that I drafted a first baseman late as I pulled off the Davis Duo by adding Chris as well. Yes, that addition could cement the floor of my team’s batting average as basement level, but I also wouldn’t be completely shocked if he hit 25 homers while batting .230. OK, maybe a little shocked. Hell, for $2, I took the plunge. He’ll either earn $12 or -$6. lol
On the bench I took a shot on CarGo. Plenty of teams could use his bat – I’m looking right at you Indians – so someone sign the guy. Frazier has no role with the Yankees, but an injury, or a trade, could open up room for a legit power bat in a heartbeat. I grabbed Diaz who I think could be roaming the outfield of the Orioles by mid-season.
Let’s talk multi-position before moving on to arms.
I already mentioned Gallo. Swihart, my second catcher, also qualifies in the outfield. Beckham qualifies at shortstop and third base. Marwin qualifies at first, second, shortstop and outfield. Goodrum qualifies at first base and second. That’s a good deal of flexibility to aid the team when injury strikes, because you never know who will be available on waivers to add. Truthfully, when you have to go to the wire to add a position player, you will be lucky to be able to add a guy who is getting 10 at-bats a week. It’s just that thin, so have some flexibility is a big key.
THE PITCHERS
As pointed out by Steve Gardner, there were more pitchers at elite level prices than ever before (six $30 pitchers with the previous record being two).
Is Price a star? No. Am I completely sold on him? No. So why roster him? You gotta roster someone folks, and if you haven’t done an AL-only draft this season, well, let’s just say, there is a hell of a lot less talent in the AL than you likely think. Eduardo Rodriguez went for the same price as Price. Masahiro Tanaka went for $2 more. James Paxton went for the same price. It’s just the price of doing business in this league.
Bundy draw some derision in the room. I get it. He’s a homer magnet, and he doesn’t figure to win 15 games for the Orioles. He posted more than a K per inning last season and his 3.41 K/BB ratio is a solid number last season. The slider is an impressive pitch, but he must keep out of hitter counts and the fat part of the zone. Note that his SIERA was 3.98 last season, well more than a run below his actual ERA. Stroman is the opposite of Bundy in that everything hit off him goes into the ground. One of the top-5 ground ball arms in the game, with health there is a very reasonable expectation that Stroman outpaces his draft day cost. Gonzales isn’t a big strikeout arm, but he’s a stable, young, ascending arm who I’m really expecting big things from this season. I will say the same thing about Sheffield, another youngster with an even bigger arm. He may or may not break with the Mariners’ rotation, but he has the talent to vie for the ROY award this season, and at $3 he was half the cost of Forrest Whitley and 38 percent the cost of Jesus Luzardo. I’ll take the shot on that talent at that cost.
Let’s talk bullpen.
Giles may not be a star, but he’s on a club that likes to use one ninth inning arm. He was also balls to the wall dominant last year in save opportunities with a 0.35 ERA, 0.66 WHIP and 7.75 K/BB ratio in his 26 saves.
Pressly and Betances offered basically the same fantasy value as Trevor Bauer last year. OK, not quite, but I can nearly guarantee you that you will be blown away by how close the two sets of numbers actually were. Think I’m crazy? Here are the numbers. Note how close they are, even with the relief duo having thrown nearly 40 fewer innings.
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|
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|
|
|
|
|
|
W-L |
SV |
ERA |
WHIP |
K |
IP |
|
|
Bauer |
12-6 |
1 |
2.21 |
1.09 |
221 |
175.1 |
|
Duo |
6-7 |
6 |
2.61 |
1.08 |
216 |
137.2 |
So, for those of you that had an issue with the construction of the staff, hopefully this helps to at least explain my rationale. By the way, Bauer went for $29 while my duo went for $16
Last year I grabbed Jake Arrieta for $6, and he signed with the Phillies meaning I got the old zero from him. So, I learned my lesson and avoided free agents this year, right? Not so much. However, when Keuchel was dying on the vine at $4, I just thought to myself, ah hell, throw a $5 bid out an if someone goes $6 so be it. No one did, so I got the lefty. I just need this one to play out differently than last season. At the end of the draft I also rostered Gio Gonzalez, another free agent. There was obviously no real cost associated with him, and if he ends up in the Junior Circuit then this could be one of the steals of the draft, or I could, once again, get a big fat bagel. In the final analysis, I could be one starting pitcher short, unless Gonzalez signs. If he does, I’m ok. If not, and I have to slot in Jones, I would be a bit behind the proverbial eight ball. Further, if Keuchel doesn’t sign, well, then I’m likely gonna have to try and pull off a trade, something that rarely happens in this format.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Folks, I would implore you to understand that this is an only league (I say this because I took a lot of heat from folks who, it was clear, normally play in 10-team mixed leagues). No team has stars everywhere. It’s unlikely that a team will flat out dominate this league. All teams have a weakness, perhaps two, that they will attempt to be managed throughout the year.
I could have used one more starting pitcher arm (come on Gio Gonzalez). I could have passed on Bundy and gone for a Matt Boyd at $8 or Tyler Skaggs at $9. That said, you never know who is gonna be bid or what the cost will be, so it’s always hard to just randomly pull a guy’s price out and say ‘you should have done this not that’ though everyone does that all the time.
I love my bullpen arms, I didn’t even mention Jones who has a hell of a right arm when healthy, and the offense, while not dynamic, I think could really sneak up on folks, especially in the counting categories.
This team may lack a bit o’ the sexy factor, but I have to admit, I do like the group. We will see how it plays out.
OVERALL DRAFT RESULTS
You can click on this link as well to view the draft board.
Thanks to Tristan Cockcroft for listing all the reserve round picks here.
