Auction drafts -- they allow for so much flexibility. You can draft anyone at any time -- all you have to do is pull the trigger and make the bid.
So you plan ahead. You make a list of the players you want and how much you'll pay to get them. But then everyone else drives up the price of one of your players, and your plan gets shot to sweet sunshine.
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When it comes to Rotisserie formats, there is nobody more valuable than Jose Reyes.
(US Presswire)
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Here at CBSSports.com, we recently had such an auction -- one that will appear in our Fantasy Baseball preview magazine set to hit newsstands in February. Using a $260 budget, we auctioned for a standard Rotisserie league with 23-man rosters. And as you might expect, it didn't go according to plan.
Jose Reyes ended up the most expensive player, ahead of even Alex Rodriguez and for $7 more than we projected. Ask the guy who bought Reyes and he'll tell you that shouldn't happen.
But that's the nature of the beast -- the ebb and flow of the auction. He knew he needed a top-level player and, seeing Hanley Ramirez and Jimmy Rollins -- as well as Rodriguez, David Wright and just about every other potential "first-rounder" -- already off the board, had to shell out the extra dollar or two (or seven) for Reyes.
And the shelling out of dollars became a trend during the auction. The highest-ranked player at every position went for a higher dollar amount than we projected, which tells us one of three things:
1. We need to adjust our auction values. 2. We all don't know our stuff and need to participate in more auctions. 3. We all do know our stuff and realize the necessity of grabbing upper-tier players, so we continually drove up the price on them knowing someone else would pay it.
Personally, I like to think the third option. It makes the office a more cordial place.
Let's look at a position-by-position breakdown of the auction -- the good buys, the bad buys and basically everything you need to know to not make the same mistakes we did. Of course, we assume everyone in your league also knows his or her stuff (sticking with option No. 3, here.)
Catchers
Projected High: Victor Martinez ($23)
Actual High: Victor Martinez ($25)
Best Value: None
Worst Value: Jarrod Saltalamacchia ($12)
A top-loaded position by nature, no catcher after the top four or five should go for more than $3 or so, and for the most part, none did. Then, you have that one guy willing to shell out $12 for Saltalamacchia. Personally, I want to wait and see what the kid can do before I invest five percent of my budget on him.
First Basemen
Projected High: Albert Pujols ($42)
Actual High: Ryan Howard ($44)
Best Value: Nick Swisher ($8)
Worst Value: James Loney ($15)
It's not that I don't think Loney will have a great season -- one that might even vault him into the elite class next season. I do. But when you target a player like Loney, you target him because you hope he'll perform beyond the amount you pay for him. If you instead spend $15 on him, you do so assuming he will fulfill his promise, thereby ruining his sleeper status and making him a high-risk, low-reward player. You don't want that in Fantasy.
Second Basemen
Projected High: Chase Utley ($36)
Actual High: Chase Utley ($44)
Best Value: Rickie Weeks ($1) and Jeff Kent ($1)
Worst Value: B.J. Upton ($36)
We rank both Weeks and Kent among the top 10 at their position, and each went for only a buck. And here's the best part: the same guy purchased both. Clearly, the second base position has more depth than in years past, with many Fantasy owners choosing to spend their money on mid-grade options instead of shelling out for the big names. Of course, by the time some of those high-end options had their names called, nobody had a surplus of money anymore, giving one Fantasy owner the chance to swoop in and collect all the leftovers.
Shortstops
Projected High: Jose Reyes ($43)
Actual High: Jose Reyes ($50)
Best Value: Carlos Guillen ($12)
Worst Value: Rafael Furcal ($12)
Take note: Shortstop is an especially weak position this season, particularly when compared to second base. For a shortstop who hits well enough to rank 13th at first base (where he also qualifies), Guillen should have gone for more than $12. And I'll add that the Furcal buy looks worse in retrospect. In the heat of the auction with a gaping hole at shortstop, I almost spent $12 on him myself.
Third Basemen
Projected High: Alex Rodriguez ($45)
Actual High: Alex Rodriguez ($48)
Best Value: Hank Blalock ($1)
Worst Value: Chone Figgins ($28)
The guy who drafted Figgins wanted speed, and he got it, but he paid dearly for it. He sacrificed home runs at a power position, and at the same time, lost most of his budget to compensate for it.
Outfielders
Projected High: Matt Holliday ($35)
Actual High: Carl Crawford ($41)
Best Value: Magglio Ordonez ($19)
Worst Value: Delmon Young ($24)
I won't even try to explain the $24 purchase of Young. It defies all reason. Sure, he has upside, but as a virtual unknown, he in no way deserved stud money. Ordonez, on the other hand, went for only $19 because, in this particular auction, he went up for bidding first overall. With all the league owners tepid out of the gate, each hoping to land A-Rod, Pujols or Reyes and saving his money accordingly, one trend-setter walked away with a steal. Take note: if you get the first nomination in an auction, call out a semi-stud like Ordonez. You might not have much competition for him.
Starting Pitchers
Projected High: Johan Santana ($33)
Actual High: Johan Santana ($34)
Best Value: Javier Vazquez ($4)
Worst Value: James Shields ($11)
So Vazquez finally has a good season, and everyone decides to jump off the bandwagon? Shields is a good pitcher if you can get him for cheap. I don't consider $11 cheap.
Relief Pitchers
Projected High: Jonathan Papelbon ($28)
Actual High: Jonathan Papelbon ($30)
Best Value: Jose Valverde ($10)
Worst Value: Todd Jones ($6)
Valverde led the world in saves last year but went for less money than Huston Street and as much as Jason Isringhausen and Rafael Soriano. Meanwhile, so many closers with so much better job security than Jones went for so much less money. Don't forget promising young relievers like Matt Capps, Joakim Soria and Brian Wilson -- even if they do pitch for bad teams.
You can e-mail Scott your Fantasy Baseball questions to dmfantasybaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Attn: Mock Drafts in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state. Be aware, due to the large volume of submissions received, we cannot guarantee personal responses or answers to all questions.
