A Different Road to the AL Tout Crown?

I think this is going to be a slightly different review of my Tout Wars team for a few reasons.

• First, I seriously was trying to go after more offense for all my teams this year.
• Second, though I do and have been a party to a lot of drafts, including mocks, this time all that experience really seemed to shine through.
• Though I have always tried to keep my drafts fluid, always maintaining secondary and tertiary plans for lineups and positions, this year was different.
• Finally, aside from targeting more offense, just the manner in which I drafted was radically different from not just my Tout drafts, but most of my drafts over the past 25 years.

So, let me go through these items and explain my thoughts. You can find all the Tout results here.

• Building on offense: I have always operated in the Fantasy world by the maxim, “You can never have too much pitching.” So, I have always made it a point of grabbing a premiere starter — a la Chris Sale — as well as a pair of closers, thinking I could build off pitching, trading the surplus as necessary. For, someone always needs pitching, correct? So, in going after J.D. Martinez, George Springer, Jonathan Schoop, Mike Moustakas, Khris Davis, and Ryon Healy as the core of an offense that in the past might have only carried a pair of them, this roster is different.
• Lots of draft practice: I am fairly sure that among mocks and early drafts, I managed to get about 25 exercises under my belt since January. Never have I gone into a draft feeling so relaxed that I knew what to do, what to look for, who the players were, and where I could adjust as Saturday. And, I know the main reason is, I simply went through the process so many times that despite the uniqueness of Tout, it was just another draft when the nominations began.
• Going with the flow: The  general principles I have tried to adhere to when participating in auctions have been:
  • Don’t let a bargain get past me.
  • That said, let the rest of the league spend some bucks before I make a move.
  • As an adjunct to the above, waiting till say Round 5, bargains do indeed arrive, so I like to exploit those rounds, often grabbing at least one-third of my squad between rounds 6-10.
  • Hang onto enough money to control the end-game.

This year, I noticed pretty early that spending was a bit more controlled at the start, although Mike Trout went for a monster $53, Jose Altuve cost just $38, Mookie Betts $37, and no pitcher purchased for more than $39, a tag that belonged to Chris Sale.

So when Springer ($30), Schoop ($23), and Moustakas ($18) were available, they were players to jump on and not worry so much about holding bucks for said end-game.

• I drafted differently: Considering the previous point, as the draft gained momentum, I realized everyone was being conservative now, that the costs during the mid- and end-games I like to control would get a lot more muddled. As in, instead of getting Kevin Kiermaier for $17 as a 5th rounder when prices were softer, it was more likely the Rays outfielder would go for around $22 or $23 at the same time. Furthermore, this suggested the end game could be a battle for the $8 rights to the likes of Matt Joyce. (As it turned out, Kiermaier went for $20 as the last nomination of the fifth round and Joyce $8 in the 16th round.)

What worked with this: I did buy a top closer in Craig Kimbrel ($25), but pitcher prices were a lot softer early on and I was able to land David Price ($17), along with Blake Snell and Kevin Gausman ($10 each), a troika I targeted at LABR, who collectively cost over $40 during that auction. So, despite the focus on offense, by bidding more aggressively earlier, I got better pitching than I imagined (look here to see my post-LABR thoughts).

What did wind up strange was something common to the LABR draft, for I did hold out enough money to control what I wanted at the end-game for the most part, but nominations did one of two things as my roster filled: they escalated quickly, or gave crickets.

For example, I like Oakland’s Chad Pinder a lot in a deep league as a fifth outfielder/middle infielder. Pinder, a number one pick of the Athletics, has some nice power (15 homers over 282 at-bats last year), plays short and the outfield. That means for now he qualifies at outfield, short, middle-infielder, utility, and swing (a spot unique to Tout).  Going into the season, Pinder projects to 350-400 at-bats, and could qualify at second as well as his other slots. I thought Pinder would cost out at $6 or so, and I got crickets at $3.

Similarly, Parker Bridwell, who was 10-3, 3.64, and 1.19 WHIP last year with the Halos, was the last pitcher I obtained. I nominated Bridwell for $2, assuming as the draft neared an end and good pitching gambles were getting scarce, the righty would go for maybe $6-$7. At least, I thought, $3? But, again I got crickets, and that completed my roster, and that left me with a $4 surplus.

In the end, I would have preferred Mikie Mahtook ($10) to Devon Travis ($8, at Swing) and Chris Devenski ($4) to Bridwell, but not enough to risk the rest of my lineup. For, in the end, I tried a different path, and think the end results were achieved.

Somewhere during the season, I will likely need some steals, but ideally I should have some pop to swap. And bats rather than arms as trade booty is indeed different. In the end, October will tell.

Tune into the Tout Wars Hour on the FNTSY network, hosted by me, with Justin Mason and featuring Lord Z every Sunday, 2-4 PM ET/11 AM-1 PM PT, and you can follow me @lawrmichaels.