LABR 2010 – my journey

03/09/2010 11:10 AM - 

Last weekend the League of Alternative Baseball Reality – LABR as you probably know it. It is managed by USA Today’s Steve Gardner who took over the reigns some years ago from John Hunt, and the AL and NL auction drafts by well respected fantasy baseball analysts and writers is the heart of the Sports Weekly’s annual fantasy baseball special issue which will hit the stands next Thursday, March 18.

 

On Saturday evening, I was the auctioneer for the twelve team AL league, while on Sunday evening I was one of the thirteen competitors in the thirteen team NL league which was auctioned by my good friend and current XFL Champion, Don Drooker.

 

So how would I attack this veteran group of fantasy experts this year?

I decided to us a 190/70 split where on the pitching side I would get one top starter and one good closer, going into the twenties if I had to but trying to leave enough dollars to get SP#2 in the low teens and then filling out the staff with late $2 and $3 selections and using most of my reserve picks for additional arms.

 

I also thought unless a player I really liked was going under projected value, I would eschew the highest paid players and hope to pick off good power speed combos in the teens and twenties and of course try for every hitter to be a starting player – Very tough in a thirteen team league.

 

So Big Dawgs projections and cheatsheets in hand along with some other lists (hey spring training for drafters too and I did want to have an idea where my competition would be headed), I found a nice corner spot and laid out my “draft kit”. In the AL draft I had auctioned on Saturday, NFBC’s Greg Ambrosius (this year with ringer Shawn Childs) and USA Today’s Steve Gardner were the only players without a computer…..in this draft more old school guys as Ambrosius, Gardner, and I were joined by HQ’s Doug Dennis, Steve Moyer of Baseball Info Solutions and Bob Radomski of Sandlot Shrink.

 

Soon the bidding started, and I was amazed to hear that Albert Pujols – clearly the most valuable player in the NL pool was going to be sold for only $40. That would never happen in tougher money leagues I play in, so I decided to keep the bidding alive and nudge the herd along and bid $41. This is not the classic enforcement mistake story as I was THRILLED to roster Pujols at that price. He gives you outstanding contributions in R, HR, and RBI and even a few SB in addition to massive BA ballast that will allow you to add a very productive low BA player like Mark Reynolds or Adam Dunn.

 

Well no surely I would not be getting many more players right away….or so I thought…..Lastings Milledge for only $16 and Jason Heyward for only $14 joined the hookers, and I was happy to get Brian McCann, the most productive NL catcher for $21.

 

Now I was in full buy mode – knowing that at some point, perhaps after the first break, maybe sooner, people who hadn’t bought many players would be chasing what was left, so anything close to projected value or better players I could make fit were my targets. I paid an extra dollar for Miguel Montero, not only because I thought there was some upside at that price but more importantly because think about what would be left in a thirteen team league where every team needed to play TWO catchers! Now I could bring up all the mid level catchers for a buck and watch the fur fly.

 

Finally the pizza break after which, while I had very little money left I got to sit back relax, manicure my player list and watch people pay more for Ricky Nolasco than I had for Wandy Rodriguez or Tommy Hanson, or double digits for both Molina brothers……sorry I love Bengie and Yadier (not so much Jose) and would be happy to have them as my catchers….BUT Miguel Montero is better production for only a few more dollars……to say nothing of some of the scrub catcher pairs you will see when the issue hits the newsstands next week.

 

To the best of my recollection, here was my squad prior to the end game stanza:

C – McCann (21) & Montero (16)

CI – Pujols (41), Reynolds (30)

MI –

OF – Milledge (16), Heyward (14), G. Jones (16)

SP – Wandy (19) & Hanson (22)

RP – Nunez (14)

Just over $200 there, but needing a CI (or OF because I could move Jones), all three middle infielders, two more outfielders and a DH, and six pitchers.

 

I got Luis Castillo for $10 – the second base pool below that was very thin and I wanted the steals and Aaron Rowand for $9 which will be a steal if he hits leadoff all season (he is going to be there on opening day and has looked very good in the first week of spring training).

 

And now I REALLY had to sit on my hands …….and did and in the finals stages of the end game, while I didn’t have the most money, I could flex…..and play off some errors – yes even better players make them…..like the guy who had the most money looking for $1 players when there were far better available.

 

I won’t bore you with the minutia, save for two great stories from this draft.

 

First I was down to looking for two or three dollar pitchers and trying to find one more undervalued good hitter while filling out my roster. I did not have the most money and I assumed that at least one of those guys had been saving a good amount since this pitcher had not yet been nominated, so inside I both cringed and cried when Aroldis Chapman was nominated…….several minutes later I had a hard time suppressing a war cry when I landed him for $6. WTH were people doing? For whatever number of innings he actually pitches in the show this year I will be happy for the contribution as my #3 starter for those six dollars. Of course I now had to get my remaining hitters for two dollar bids having “borrowed” the extra Chapman dollars from the hitting budget.

 

In the reserve round – a six round snake draft after a random draw – I was pretty much in the middle and very glad to have Garret Anderson  their for my first pick because unless a miracle happens from Uncle Lou, I have to reserve Starlin Castro to start the year for my utility player. But now I had to choose – there were two pitchers with save potential that I wanted. Perhaps I needed Mike MacDougal more because I owned Nunez, but it’s not even clear he makes the team AND the NY boys – Rick Wolf and Glen Colton of Rotoworld had two picks on the turn before my next pick and I thought sure might take new Met pitcher Ryoto Igarashi. So I took Igarashi and watched someone else grab MacDougal……well there are guesses.

 

So here is the full squad

C – McCann (21) & Montero (16)

CI – Pujols (41), Reynolds (30) & Blalock (2)

MI – Castillo (10), Manzella (2), & Bonifacio (2)

OF – Milledge (16), Heyward (14), G. Jones (16), Rowand (9), & F. Lewis (2)

UT – Starlin Castro (2)

SP – WRod (19), Hanson (22), Pelfrey (1), Chapman (6), D. Davis (1), Elbert (1)

RP – Nunez (14), Lyon (9), Gervacio (2), Grabow (2)

 

Reserves – Garrett Anderson, Ryoto Igarashi, Scott Mathieson, Brandon Allen, Brad Lincoln, and Blake Parker.

 

Watch for the Sports Weekly next week to see all the teams and feel free to discuss my team or ask questions on the message boards.