New Ottoneu League-- A draft where none of the sleepers slept
Fantasy baseball is how I enjoy the Summer. But, Ottoneu fantasy baseball is new for me is three ways. 1) I have never previously played a points league. 2) I have never previously played a dynasty league, where any player can be kept from one year to the next. 3) I am used to rosters of 21-29, not 40, and budgets of $260, not $400. Will I enjoy building my own team over years?
Fortunately, I inherited a strong team with some of the brightest young players in the game. Matt Moore is the game's top rookie prospect at pitcher. Brett Lawrie was the top emerging position player of 2011. I have 21 of 40 roster positions left to fill and $210 of $400 left to spend. (I need to hold back $20 of that $210 for later transactions.)
My first 19 players are: Anthony Rizzo (1B), Brett Lawrie (3B), Elvis Andrus (SS), Ian Desmond (SS), Michael Morse (1B/OF), Jay Bruce (OF), Alex Gordon(OF), Matt Joyce (OF), Carl Crawford (OF), Matt Wieters (C), Joe Mauer (C), Matt Moore (SP), James Shields (SP), Mark Melancon (RP). Prospects are Trevor Bauer (SP), Shelby Miller (SP), Chris Archer (SP), Manny Machado (SS) and Dom Brown (OF).
Here is the strategy I developed two days before the draft. [Results are brackets.]
The first question is how to fill out the roster. Even though it is a $400 total salary league, no one is worth $60 this year. The most valuable free agents are Albert Pujols and Jose Bautista. Either fits nicely on the team, but there is no reason for this team to spend the $60 that Albert likely requires. [Pujols went for $48 and Bautista went for $61. They were the most expensive players. This is a conservative league.]
I need a second 1B and a second 3B. Dual eligibility 1B/3B or 3B/MI players would be ideal. Spending $100 here is justified, because if I claim top twenty players, the team can rake in points. [Targets like Pablo Sandoval went for $27 and Kevin Youkilis went for $26. Goldschmidt @ $10, Freeman @$11, Belt @$14, Morales @$7, Trumbo@$10 all went at more than I thought I needed to pay, in that I thought ONE of them would be cheaper. I went for Hanley Ramirez at $32 for MI and 3B, Dunn@$5 for 1B/U and Ryan Howard @$13 for 1B.]
I have five OF, but need two backups. There are several young 1B/OF candidates. I do not plan to spend here unless a rising star is under-valued. [No rising stars were undervalued. I picked up B.J. Upton @ $16, Alex Rios @$1 and Jason Kubel @$1. Surprising, Ichiro went for $2, catching everyone off guard.]
Unique to Ottoneu, one player per team may be voted back into the draft. That player was Matt Holliday (OF), who thrives in points leagues. Even though I had a $5 discount on re-signing Holliday, I stopped bidding when his price went into the 30s. B. J . Upton sort of fills his roster spot.
The catcher position and back up are filled. No need there. In Ottoneu, there are two C spots but just 162 games at C count. The team will be ready to drop catchers around the All Star break.
I need a starter and backup at 2B. Here, I do not believe in throwing money around. End of the draft players will likely perform not that much worse than the remaining higher budget players and may offer more dynasty upside. Razzball advices to get the top 2B players, but that strategy has played out in my league. [ I thought he might be a dollar player, but Jose Altuve went for $7. Rickie Weeks @$16 seemed too much. Aaron Hill @$3 and Gordon Beckham @$4 fit my needs.]
I need 3 1/2 starting pitchers. (A half pitcher spends time in the minors.) Here I seek solid contributors on a per inning basis, as scoring caps at 1500 IP. Recently converted relievers, such as Daniel Bard, fit the profile. I am also big on Yu. [One target after another went for more dollars than I expected- Johan Santana@$9, Francisco Liriano@$7, Aroldis Chapman@$6, Chris Sale @$15, Erik Bedard@$7, Alexi Ogando@$9, Phil Hughes@$6. I pick up Tim Lincecum at $27!!!, Yu Darvish @$19!! and an injured Rubby de la Rosa @$5, but may, nonetheless, have enough prospects to get to 1500 IP.]
I want 7 relievers, so will add 6, but see no point in overspending. I'll see who comes to me. [Brian Wilson went for $14, Mariano Rivera went for $11. Most top relievers went for $6- $8. I picked up Addison Reed @$9, Marmol @$8, Farnsworth and Francisco@$6, Brothers@$4, C. Perez@$3, de los Santos@$1.]
I will also leave up to five places for top prospects and top recently graduated prospects to add to the 3 1/2 minor league players already on the team. [Top prospects were going for $6-$8. I added Drew Pomeranz @$6, Jameson Taillon@$3 and Randall Delgado @$2. Lars Anderson @$1 will likely be dropped. I nominated him out of panic as I had difficulty with drafting software.]
Budget:
$100 for position players. Of that, I spent $75, so I could have kept bidding on the Panda.
I spent $52 for starting pitchers instead of $51. I spent $37 on RP instead of $29 and had quite a haul of closers and potential closers.
I spent $12 on prospects instead of the $10 budgeted.
In total, I spent $14 less than I budgeted. Unlike most drafts where you might as well spend it all, since you can't take it with you, I do get some value out of not spending it all. $37 of the $400 Ottoneu budget is available for acquisitions.
Weirdly, the Yakking Muggers have 41 players instead of the roster limit of 40. This is okay since one player is on the 60-day DL.
Fortunately, I inherited a strong team with some of the brightest young players in the game. Matt Moore is the game's top rookie prospect at pitcher. Brett Lawrie was the top emerging position player of 2011. I have 21 of 40 roster positions left to fill and $210 of $400 left to spend. (I need to hold back $20 of that $210 for later transactions.)
My first 19 players are: Anthony Rizzo (1B), Brett Lawrie (3B), Elvis Andrus (SS), Ian Desmond (SS), Michael Morse (1B/OF), Jay Bruce (OF), Alex Gordon(OF), Matt Joyce (OF), Carl Crawford (OF), Matt Wieters (C), Joe Mauer (C), Matt Moore (SP), James Shields (SP), Mark Melancon (RP). Prospects are Trevor Bauer (SP), Shelby Miller (SP), Chris Archer (SP), Manny Machado (SS) and Dom Brown (OF).
Here is the strategy I developed two days before the draft. [Results are brackets.]
The first question is how to fill out the roster. Even though it is a $400 total salary league, no one is worth $60 this year. The most valuable free agents are Albert Pujols and Jose Bautista. Either fits nicely on the team, but there is no reason for this team to spend the $60 that Albert likely requires. [Pujols went for $48 and Bautista went for $61. They were the most expensive players. This is a conservative league.]
I need a second 1B and a second 3B. Dual eligibility 1B/3B or 3B/MI players would be ideal. Spending $100 here is justified, because if I claim top twenty players, the team can rake in points. [Targets like Pablo Sandoval went for $27 and Kevin Youkilis went for $26. Goldschmidt @ $10, Freeman @$11, Belt @$14, Morales @$7, Trumbo@$10 all went at more than I thought I needed to pay, in that I thought ONE of them would be cheaper. I went for Hanley Ramirez at $32 for MI and 3B, Dunn@$5 for 1B/U and Ryan Howard @$13 for 1B.]
I have five OF, but need two backups. There are several young 1B/OF candidates. I do not plan to spend here unless a rising star is under-valued. [No rising stars were undervalued. I picked up B.J. Upton @ $16, Alex Rios @$1 and Jason Kubel @$1. Surprising, Ichiro went for $2, catching everyone off guard.]
Unique to Ottoneu, one player per team may be voted back into the draft. That player was Matt Holliday (OF), who thrives in points leagues. Even though I had a $5 discount on re-signing Holliday, I stopped bidding when his price went into the 30s. B. J . Upton sort of fills his roster spot.
The catcher position and back up are filled. No need there. In Ottoneu, there are two C spots but just 162 games at C count. The team will be ready to drop catchers around the All Star break.
I need a starter and backup at 2B. Here, I do not believe in throwing money around. End of the draft players will likely perform not that much worse than the remaining higher budget players and may offer more dynasty upside. Razzball advices to get the top 2B players, but that strategy has played out in my league. [ I thought he might be a dollar player, but Jose Altuve went for $7. Rickie Weeks @$16 seemed too much. Aaron Hill @$3 and Gordon Beckham @$4 fit my needs.]
I need 3 1/2 starting pitchers. (A half pitcher spends time in the minors.) Here I seek solid contributors on a per inning basis, as scoring caps at 1500 IP. Recently converted relievers, such as Daniel Bard, fit the profile. I am also big on Yu. [One target after another went for more dollars than I expected- Johan Santana@$9, Francisco Liriano@$7, Aroldis Chapman@$6, Chris Sale @$15, Erik Bedard@$7, Alexi Ogando@$9, Phil Hughes@$6. I pick up Tim Lincecum at $27!!!, Yu Darvish @$19!! and an injured Rubby de la Rosa @$5, but may, nonetheless, have enough prospects to get to 1500 IP.]
I want 7 relievers, so will add 6, but see no point in overspending. I'll see who comes to me. [Brian Wilson went for $14, Mariano Rivera went for $11. Most top relievers went for $6- $8. I picked up Addison Reed @$9, Marmol @$8, Farnsworth and Francisco@$6, Brothers@$4, C. Perez@$3, de los Santos@$1.]
I will also leave up to five places for top prospects and top recently graduated prospects to add to the 3 1/2 minor league players already on the team. [Top prospects were going for $6-$8. I added Drew Pomeranz @$6, Jameson Taillon@$3 and Randall Delgado @$2. Lars Anderson @$1 will likely be dropped. I nominated him out of panic as I had difficulty with drafting software.]
Budget:
$100 for position players. Of that, I spent $75, so I could have kept bidding on the Panda.
I spent $52 for starting pitchers instead of $51. I spent $37 on RP instead of $29 and had quite a haul of closers and potential closers.
I spent $12 on prospects instead of the $10 budgeted.
In total, I spent $14 less than I budgeted. Unlike most drafts where you might as well spend it all, since you can't take it with you, I do get some value out of not spending it all. $37 of the $400 Ottoneu budget is available for acquisitions.
Weirdly, the Yakking Muggers have 41 players instead of the roster limit of 40. This is okay since one player is on the 60-day DL.
posted by David Rasmussen at 3:48 PM
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