A few days ago, for the first time since 2013, I woke up with fewer than 75 roto points in the Mixed Auction Tout Wars league. So, if the season ended on that day, I’d be docked FAAB to open 2019.
Back in May, when I resided in first place for a little over a week, this would have seemed unfathomable. As recently as last month, when I was still in the top five, this would have seemed unfathomable. Yes, August has been that bad, chock full of disastrous pitching outings, prolonged hitting slumps and lineup decisions that haven’t worked out, to put it nicely. The good news is that a top five finish is still within reach, but for the first time since 2013, I’ll be entering the final month with zero chance at even the runner-up slot.
OK, enough venting. What I’d like to do here is look at four players who I drafted in Tout Wars this year but will not be on my roster next season and beyond. I wasn’t necessarily targeting all of these guys, but as it turned out, I placed a higher value on them than my league mates did, so they sort of fell into my lap. Going forward, I won’t even let them fall into my lap, and I suggest that you steer clear of them as well.
Jonathan Schoop – Schoop got off to a rough start to the season before spending nearly a month on the DL due to an oblique strain. Upon his return in mid-May, not much changed from a production standpoint, and he entered July batting .197 with eight homers and 21 RBIs. Owners counting on Schoop to return to his 2017 form were heartbroken (that’s probably overly dramatic, but you get the point). But then July happened, and in 24 July contests, he batted .360 with nine home runs and 19 RBIs. All seemed well on the Schoop front, and I was feeling much better about spending 17 auction dollars to secure his services.
But then the trade happened, and what originally appeared to be a favorable move to a better lineup has turned out to be a mess of a situation. The Brewers simply have too many infielders and Schoop, thanks to a sub-par performance this month, has often been the odd man out in Milwaukee’s lineup. Owners in deeper mixed leagues probably have little choice but to keep Schoop in their lineup, but his fantasy outlook for the final five weeks of the 2018 campaign isn’t all that bright. Playing time shouldn’t be as much of an issue next season as Mike Moustakas hits the free agent market this winter. But the bottom line is that Schoop is too streaky and undisciplined at the plate for my liking and 2017 is looking more and more like an outlier.
Adam Jones – Schoop’s former teammate, Jones would have also been sent packing by the Orioles at the deadline if he didn’t have the right to veto any trade. Instead, the veteran outfielder will stick around in Baltimore for the remainder of this season before almost certainly finding a new home as a free agent this winter. Since Tout is an OBP league, there was minimal interest in Jones (career .318 OBP), despite his counting stat consistency. Although I wasn’t exactly overjoyed to land him, $6 was a decent enough price. Well, the counting stat consistency is no longer a reason to draft Jones, as he’s on pace to finish the year with his lowest totals in homers, runs and RBI since his first full major league season. To be fair, the weak supporting lineup is partly to blame, and maybe Jones can bounce back next year, playing for a new team. Still, I’d rather move on now before it’s a year too late. Actually, we might have already reached that point.
Gio Gonzalez – Gio has been a longtime favorite of mine, but I’m now officially ready to cut ties. After the Nationals southpaw rewarded me with a huge profit on my $2 investment in Tout Wars last year, when the bidding stopped at $4 at the auction table back in March, I figured that I might as well go to $5. I wasn’t expecting anything close to a repeat of 2017, but numbers in line with a third or fourth starter in a deep mixed league seemed reasonable. And it was a smooth ride early on, as Gio entered June boasting a 2.10 ERA. The 1.29 WHIP wasn’t great, but it was good enough. Less than two months later, his ERA is 4.35 and his WHIP stands at 1.52, and his WHIP in August is a ghastly 1.82. On the bright side, at least Gonzalez pitched well on Friday (though the opponent was the Mets), and as an impending free agent, he has the motivation to finish the season strong. Am I talking myself into taking another chance on him next year? I hope not.
Jake Odorizzi – Unlike the three players discussed above, Odorizzi was actually a guy who I made an effort to draft in as many leagues as possible this season, fully convinced that he was extremely underrated. My thinking was that he would be a solid contributor in strikeouts and WHIP and his ERA could benefit greatly from the move out of the AL East and into spacious Target Field. I bought him for $1 in Tout. Big mistake. The 28-year-old righty has been one of the more inconsistent hurlers in all of baseball and especially frustrating to own as he usually pitches well through three or four innings only to implode as he gets deeper into the game. And he rarely even makes it through six innings due to high pitch counts. The 9.2 K/9 rate is nice but considering the emotional toll involved, the whiffs just aren’t worth it. Odorizzi’s price next spring probably won’t exceed $1. But unlike this past spring, I won’t be the one nominating him.
Zach Steinhorn is the 2016 Mixed Auction Tout Wars champion. Follow him on Twitter @zachsteinhorn.
