It’s a Wrap: Tout Wars Mixed Auction League 2018

There was a time, in late-April, when my 2018 Mixed Auction Tout Wars squad resided in first place. Mookie Betts, my most expensive draft day purchase at $44, had just about clinched AL MVP honors. My pitching staff, led by Carlos Martinez, Johnny Cueto and Gio Gonzalez, was thriving. Mike Moustakas was on a 40-home run pace. But then, slowly but surely, it all came crashing down. Offense wasn’t the issue. My hitting remained productive for most of the season. Erratic and injured starting pitching was the issue. Cueto got hurt, made a brief return two months later and was ineffective before heading back to the DL. Martinez got injured, missed a month and was inconsistent upon his return before eventually landing on the DL again. Gonzalez had no such health excuses. He was just really bad, especially during the months of June and August, in which he registered ERAs of 8.44 and 7.47 respectively.

The final result was a sixth-place finish out of 15 teams, a decent showing but my worst since 2013. The biggest culprit was indeed the starting pitching, which is frustrating since I’m usually good at identifying underrated starting pitchers who I can draft for single-digit dollars but could provide me with 15 bucks or so in value. I was hoping that Cueto ($9) would fit that description. It didn’t happen. I was hoping that Jake Odorizzi, who I bought for a mere one dollar, would serve as a solid fourth or fifth starter. It didn’t happen.

So, to recap my Tout Wars season in an organized way, let’s hand out some awards. Note that I’m heavily weighing draft day cost when selecting these players.

Best Draft Pick (Hitter): Yasmani Grandal ($5) – Considering the sorry state of the catcher position in fantasy, this turned out to be five bucks very well spent. Grandal ranked among the top three backstops in the majors in both homers and runs scored while placing sixth in RBIs. And since Tout uses OBP instead of AVG, he carried added value in that format. By now, you know what you’re getting with Grandal, and health permitting, a fourth straight 20-plus home run season seems like a safe bet.

Worst Draft Pick (Hitter): Orlando Arcia ($10) – Without question, my biggest draft day blunder was going up to ten dollars in the Arcia bidding only to see Didi Gregorius, who I had ranked higher than Arcia, get sold for only $8. This ended up being an even bigger mistake than I anticipated. Arcia, who I thought had a shot at approaching 20/20 this year, was off my roster by midseason. There really isn’t anything positive you can say about him right now, other than that he’s still very young and will likely be Milwaukee’s starting shortstop on Opening Day 2019, thanks in large part to his elite defensive abilities.

Best Draft Pick (Pitcher): CC Sabathia ($1) – Yeah, this is how unsuccessful I was with respect to drafting starting pitching. At this stage of his career, Sabathia is a boring fantasy option, but he easily earned his $1 price tag, going 9-7 with a 3.65 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP in 29 starts. He might retire this offseason, but if he doesn’t, I’ll be comfortable throwing another dollar his way next March.

Worst Draft Pick (Pitcher): Carlos Martinez ($26) – Maybe it’s a little unfair to label Martinez as my worst draft pick, as injuries certainly played a role in his disappointing season. But the return on investment was so poor that I have little choice. That said, if healthy, the Cardinals righty offers significant profit potential for 2019, so keep an eye on where he’s being drafted in mocks and plan accordingly. I’ll be plenty interested if I can grab him outside of the top-30 starting pitchers.

Best FAAB Addition (Hitter): Jesus Aguilar ($22) (Honorable Mention: Nick Markakis) – I honestly don’t remember exactly what led me to place a bid on Aguilar. I think it had something to do with hoping for a CI upgrade over Lucas Duda. Well, the Brewers slugger certainly provided that upgrade. After beginning the 2018 season on the short side of a platoon with Eric Thames, Aguilar is now a surefire top-10 fantasy first baseman and a borderline top-5 option. I’ll be interested to see how high the market values him throughout mock draft season. Will there be a discount due to concerns about his thin track record or are we past that point?

I sort of feel bad for Nick Markakis, who in most years would have easily won this award. In just the second FAAB run of the season, I shelled out $38 for the veteran outfielder, and he rewarded me with his best season since his early years with the Orioles. Markakis turns 35 next month, and his production dropped off significantly in the second half, so I wouldn’t exactly make him a draft day priority in 2019. Still, he’s always been undervalued, especially in OBP leagues, and I wouldn’t be surprised if his market price continues to allow some room for profit.

Worst FAAB Addition (Hitter): Freddy Galvis ($36) – Not a lot to choose from here as I really didn’t make any glaring FAAB mistakes on the hitting side, but the 36 bucks spent on Galvis was pretty much a waste. While in my active lineup, the Padres shortstop gave me two homers, nine runs and no steals across 32 games while getting on base at a paltry .281 clip. The only good thing you can say about Galvis is that he was an improvement over my previous starting MI, Orlando Arcia.

Best FAAB Addition (Pitcher): Zack Wheeler ($128) – This one isn’t even close. I was starting to regret my sizable investment in Wheeler when the Mets righty began his tenure on my team with a 4 IP, 6 ER outing against the Blue Jays on May 16. But then something clicked, as Wheeler would go on to allow two earned runs or fewer in 15 of his final 22 outings and finished the season with career-bests in both ERA and WHIP. Amidst all of my team’s pitching woes from June through August, Wheeler was my one trustworthy starter, and I’ll be forever grateful.

Worst FAAB Addition (Pitcher): Tyler Clippard ($83) (Honorable Mention: Junior Guerra) – Talk about a waste. It seems like I fall into the Tyler Clippard trap every year if I’m in need of saves, splurging to acquire him in FAAB when he takes over the ninth-inning gig only to see him give it right back. This year, 83 bucks bought two saves and a 6.10 ERA in 11 appearances. Never again.

At first, my late-April acquisition of Guerra for $72 was looking like a great move. Then, beginning in mid-July, he completely collapsed, and I was too slow to react, leaving the Brewers righty in my active lineup long enough for him to contribute a 5.17 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP across 101 innings. But on the bright side, he did strike out 98.

And it is with this optimism that I look forward to next year’s draft. As always, thanks to Peter Kreutzer, Ron Shandler, Lawr Michaels, Todd Zola and Jeff Erickson for doing such a fine job running these leagues each and every season.

Zach Steinhorn is the 2016 Mixed Auction Tout Wars champion. Follow him on Twitter @zachsteinhorn.