For four hours twice a year, I clear the calendar and settle in at the computer screen to click along with fantasy baseball luminaries like Scott White, Mike Gianella, and a handful of Razzball’s finest, including the master lothario himself. I love it. The niche math in motion appeals directly to some lizard-brain survivalist inside me. Here’s how the night played out for me:
C) Will Smith 20
C) Sean Murphy 14
1B) Freddie Freeman 40
2B) Thairo Estrada 18
3B) Elly De La Cruz 31
SS) Jackson Merrill 7
MI) Tim Anderson 6
CI) Josh Bell 6
OF) Jordan Walker 28
OF) Christopher Morel 11
OF) Henry Davis 9
OF) Kris Bryant 6
OF) Johan Rojas 2
U) Joey Meneses 1
Reserve) Elehuris Montero, Matt Mervis, Matt Shaw
P) Camilo Doval 20
P) Adbert Alzolay 16
P) Cristopher Sanchez 9
P) Frankie Montas 8
P) Justin Lawrence 4
P) Kyle Hendricks 1
P) Jhony Brito 1
P) Martin Perez 1
P) Quinn Priester 1
Reserve) Drew Thorpe, Rhett Lowder, Cade Cavalli, DJ Herz
Elly De La Cruz and two closers: that was the rough outline of my plan. I also wanted Henry Davis because the Pirates can’t possibly be dumb enough to sideline their 1.1 pick from just a couple years back, and I figured his price would be slightly depressed on the news that their manager who shall remain nameless here said some nonsense about Yasmani Grandal being the starter and Davis being, well, not. It’s not that I doubt Hurdle’s intent. I just think the front office would get involved if Davis couldn’t find a daily spot at designated hitter or corner outfielder or (gasp) catcher.
The bidding stopped at 20 on Will Smith, which was fine. I didn’t want him, but okay. I was watching my daughter at the time, which yes is an excuse but is also what happened. She’s five and was helping me cross off names and write the winning number next to each crossed-off player. That lasted for the first 90 minutes, when my wife got home from parent-teacher conferences. I had bet the under on that timeline. She didn’t play the game with me the whole 90 minutes, my daughter, but she did get tired of television and coloring pretty quickly, so we worked together. Sorry for the jog, but it occurred to me at some point that she’d probably never seen me so engaged in something. She was trying to get my attention, you know, the way kids do, and I couldn’t really spare her more than a glance, such is the pace of the thing.
Grey won Raisel Iglesias for $10 at one point, and people said they froze so it got rewound, which makes sense the room does freeze at times every auction, especially when the chat is jumping, but also sometimes a player slips through because it’s just ten seconds, and the attention is split between the block and the chat. This kind of thing is much easier to adjudicate when playing this game live in the room. The issue of bid timing versus quick counts is always gonna come up, especially in my home league where we count down our own bids, but it’s part of the fun when everyone’s in the same run. On the internet, it feels strange. I’m not accusing anyone of anything. It just feels weirder on the internet, is all I’m saying. Reminded me there was a guy in the NL last year who requested a rewind several times, mostly late when everything feels like it matters more. I might’ve even said something in the chat and generated some salt. I dunno. The auction has a reality-bending effect for me. When I stand up at the end of the night, I’m damn sore because I guess I get kind of tensed and hunched over. Can do the same thing when I’m writing, but that’s for like, bursts of consciousness, maybe 20 minutes, rarely four hours.
Are you going to mention the team you built at some point?
Oh, hey, you’re right. I’m way off the map here.
Where are your starting pitchers?
If this were 2010, I could say I’m running a modified Lima plan, which just means I bought some saves and cheaped out on starters. I did not handle the late pitching runs how I would’ve liked. I had the most money for a portion of the draft and employed it to land Jordan Walker, Josh Bell, Tim Anderson, Kris Bryant, Cristopher Sanchez, and Frankie Montas in quick succession. I often feel critical of the moment when the big stack finally jumps in the pool and buys five straight players. It’s just bad math. There’s no way the five players who come out in the row are the right players to buy. That’s just when you decided to spend. Well, it happened to me this time. I wanted every one of those players on the front end of the night, and they just happened to come out in a burst. They all feel like good values to me, but the $8 on Montas could’ve been $5 on Andrew Abbott and $3 on Max Meyer. The trouble with that kind of thinking is the other teams can bid again if they want. As is, I’ve got some starters I don’t hate. Hendricks for a buck was nice.
Why’d you spend so much on Freddie Freeman?
I dunno. It was early. Money was flying. I was distracted. I also think he’s worth that much, just in the numbers and perceived safety. I tend to feel like it makes sense to put some money in a safe place early during these things. Maybe Freeman only winds up worth $34, or heck even $30, but you still bought $30 of production right off the top in a worst-case scenario.
I don’t think you need three closers.
Me neither.
So why do you have three closers?
I thought Lawrence was too cheap for the format at $3. He was having a dominant season before some late-season blow ups and feels like the obvious choice for the ninth. He had a 2.37 ERA and 1.06 WHIP through 51 innings on July 23rd. I can surmise the hefty workload might have played a part in his struggles. If he produces at that level early in 2024, perhaps I can trade Doval or Alzolay for a much better starter than I could’ve bought with $4 at that time and still win the saves category.
Probably should’ve just bought a starter with that though, right?
Yeah, that’s probably right. I can’t say I felt great about it in the moment, but then again that could probably be the title to anyone’s autobiography.
You do anything right in this auction?
I felt good about Joey Meneses, who I landed for $1 mostly because of draft room dynamics. Everyone else had either filled their utility spot or were clinging to it because it allowed them to bid on any hitter. I also feel good about Johan Rojas, who was my final $2 bid. I liked getting Elly for $31. Morel for $11 was nice. I dunno. It mostly seems fine to me. The skeleton of catchers, steals, saves and upside is in place. I can work with that.
Thanks for reading!
