For some of us, this was the 28th year to purchase a BBL baseball team. For me, it was my 24th year attending a fantasy baseball auction with a ton of great people. We have literally grown up together as adults. Through our challenges, heartbreaks, successes, defeats, victories we have remained together. And, you know what? That says something about how amazing we are for each other.

We celebrated a new Champ, the Cocky Spaniards who regained the title from famed owner Blue Moon Odum. We had a guest appearance from Mr. Smitty himself and we learned some history about the Holy Grail we all chance…yes, the Smitty Cup.

Coach Smitty appeared and praised the Cocky Spaniards and the Blue Moon Odum owners while calling out all of the other “loser” teams. This writer thinks that old dude needs to be recycled for a new, modern Smitty Cup. Yes, that is right! Immediately after writing this article, the Nitros ownership intends to put in a vote to replace that old, broken, Peep Rub saliva holding relic for a new, modern trophy WORTHY of our esteemed ownership. Out with the old and in with the new.

Other controversy surrounded this Smitty Draft. Apparently, there are pending complaints about “loud Mexicans” and the lights being on all night, resulting in some saying “it was torture”. At least one complaint was lodged against the Blue Moon Odum team for “insensitive snoring”. We also have a copy of another complaint lodged against Limp Wists apparently causing environmental harm by entering a hot tub and disturbing the local wild life with excessive spillage of water. Limp Wists is quoted as saying “I am a healthy boy, what can I say?”

On the good news front, we received rave reviews about the “Painted Lady” catering service. Those steaks….*chefs kiss*…amazing. Also, special thanks to the Cocky Spaniards for absolutely killing it again with great food, wonderful drinks and great snacks.

But, let’s get to some baseball!

One of the more interesting dynamics was the inflation for catchers this year. Will Smith at $29 raised some eyebrows for sure. But, when compared to Grandal ($27), Realmuto ($27), Contreras ($20) and Ruiz ($15) it looks like a steal. Then (of course) panic set in with the other owners, resulting in Rutschman ($11) and Narvaez ($10). In fact, it felt like the entire cadre of catchers went for about $5 more than most owner’s probably projected.

The first FAAB for the BBL is going to be amazing. Meadows is the ticket for those teams lacking in power and RBI and Manaea is the ticket for those teams that need to shore up some pitching needs. Are we going to see full $150 bids on Meadows?

Our 14 owners range from 37 projected points to two owners at 82 projected points. After the top two owners, things turn into a scrum with three owners basically the same with approximately 69 projected points. Under those top five, we have six owners ranging from 52 to 62 (effectively tied) and we round out the bottom three no where close.

After careful consideration of all purchased players and hundreds of hours compiling data through the Shredder system (not really, we used the Rotolab totals), the Quibbler ranks the Smitty Draft as follows:

14. Al’s Pals

Where did it all go wrong for the Pals? Was it bumping the bid on Acuna from $39 to $50? Was it the blank stare after purchasing Tatis for $39? Or, was it Sano at $22? It is hard to put a finger on the exact moment when the Pals took their nosedive, but it happened. This esteemed owner once owned the top three in standings, but now languishes in the bottom three at least by the Quibbler projects. The good news? The last place projected team by the Quibbler tends to have a good shot at winning the league!

Actually, the Pals are amazing in-season owners and will more than likely work their way up to at least the middle of the pack and ride Tatis to a championship next year. But, next year doesn’t count for this year Bucko!

Purchase we like:

Will Smith ($29) – Holy cow. Catcher inflation was a thing this year. In hindsight, this looks like a steal.

Lane Thomas ($6) – Honorable mention. The Pals are always amazing at the end-game, and they really had to work hard to make this team competitive. Thomas is an amazing purchase at the end of the auction and those stolen bases are going to come in handy for sure. Also, great end-gamers in Alex Cobb ($1), Joc ($2), and Cruz ($8)

Purchase we did not like:

Acuna ($50) was the most expensive player purchased this year. Oh, he is worth that price when healthy, but he is not healthy and will start the year on injured reserve. Also, will he steal any bases when he returns? This felt like a $43-$45 player.

13. Paezans

The Paezans were off giving speeches to national audiences, but was present in our hearts. The “Paezan Selfie” station was an amazing hit and we hope the Paezan’s owner felt missed very much. Over under on actual texts received by the Paezans is 50.

But, that is no excuse to basically draft no offense. In fact, the only person with less offense is Peep Rub. One thing you must do in the BBL is DRAFT OFFENSE my brother. Paezans are projected to finish next to last in HR/RBI/OBA…holy schmollies. Good news however, the Paezans are projected to finish first in stolen bases. Maybe the strategy is to pay a crap ton for over-valued stolen bases and swap them for HR/RBI after the draft? Seems bad economic to the Quibbler, but we can chalk it up to a remote draft for the Paezans. Paezans, please meet Mr. Meadows and your FAAB budget.

Purchase we like:

Lindor ($29) – Most experts predict a massive bounce back for Lindor. History also tells us that New York players take a year to adjust (see Beltran as Exhibit A). The Quibbler agrees with the experts this year. This looks like a $40 player purchased for $29 and a great value for the Paezans. Maybe a trade piece for “rebuilding for next year”?

Honorable Mention – Tyrone Taylor for $1. With Yelich and Cain in that outfield, we think that Taylor is going to get 500 ab’s this year.

Purchase we did not like:
The Quibbler is too reputable to call out the Lance Lynn injury. That was the Paezan ace and it would just be rude to push that dagger deeper by calling out that Lance Lynn cost $17 and was the ace of the Paezan staff. The Quibbler is above such shady journalism. Actually, a $17 ace was a good purchase, but bad luck on the injury front. Overall, Paezans were solid on their purchases. To quibble a bit, Grisham at $20 seemed a reach along with Ian Anderson at $10.

12. Meat

(chant) Meat, Meat, Meat, Meat, Meat, Meat.

We love the Meat chant. We would love if Meat bore down one year and took everyone to town in the BBL and was competitive. Ultimately, without careful management of this team, Meat is going to end up finishing very low again this year. This team is projected to be bottom third in all offensive categories. That is just not good.

Good news however. Meat is projected to be second in saves so there may be some trade opportunities. However, that ranking probably needs to be adjusted in light of the Sulser trade the day before this article was drafted.

Purchase we like:
Michael Brantley ($5) provides great OBA and consistent counting stats on an amazing team.

Purchase we did not like:
Carlos Santana ($19) would be great if Santana was still providing .400 OBP, but that is just not the case anymore.

11. French Pastries

We all love the Commish and we especially love his short speeches on draft day! We are a bit concerned that he has never once ruled on any petition or concern submitted by the Quibbler. Is this cancel culture at work? Does the Commish think we are fake news? A full scale investigation by the BBL is in order to uncover the truth!

Pastries had an amazing draft for HR/RBI/OBP, which actually means he has a great base for pushing for a top four slot. The Pastries are lacking in areas where traditionally the Pastries have shined in the past…ERA/Ratio/Saves. Since pitching projections are just…awful, one might think he can stream is way out of this bind. Unfortunately, the Pastries are projected for last place in SBs. You can’t stream your way out of SB last place. It looks like some trades are in order for the Pastries to make that big push for the money this year.

Purchase we liked:
Gavin Lux ($8) – It looks like the Kimbrel trade cleared a path for full time playing time for Lux, which may help with the Pastries SB problem.
Honorable Mention:
Candelario ($9) – A very solid OBP with counting stats on an underrated Tigers team this year.

Purchase we did not like:
Castillo ($6) – You want to know the quickest way to ruin your Ratio? Play Castillo for 180 innings. The end.

10. Peep Rub

The hottest rabbit to ever see a tin roof. Our very own Peep Rub. We should also take a moment to thank Peep for entering the rosters so timely so that we can all pour over our fantasy baseball team and talk about it too much to people that really don’t care (aka our spouses, significant others and kids). Thanks Peep!

You know who doesn’t like Peep? Baseball players that hit home runs and knock in runs for RBI’s. Apparently the word is out that Peep wore the same socks for three straight days and no power hitters want anything to do with Peep. Seriously, Peep is slated to finish dead last in HR/RBI. On the good news front, Peep is solid in all pitching categories and in OBP. Mr. Peep, you too should meet Mr. Meadows and your FAAB budget.

Purchase we liked:
Miranda (reserve round) – Odd that we would pick a reserve round pick, but Miranda is closer than people believe (in our opinion) and should log 400 AB this year. For a reserve round pick, that is amazing.
Honorable Mention:
Pavin Smith ($1) – Full time player in a great park that doesn’t kill your OBP and will likely knock in 60 or so runs. Very, very nice dollar day purchase.

Purchase we did not like:
Well, there are several, but let’s look at Arraez ($5) which felt like a little bidding ego came into play here. Arraez is a great source for OBP but otherwise an empty tank for county stats.

9. The Champ

Is there a better BBL champ? Well, yes…the Paezans and then the Blue Moon Odums, but the Cocky Spaniards are a solid third for sure…no doubt. Rumors abound whether or not the Champ will file a police report on “the BBL slap heard around the world”. Will the Board for the BBL vote the Pastries out of their position of power and remove the Commissioner title from this founding owner? We may never know as long as the Commissioner’s Office continues to shut out the truth.

We attempted to reach the Champ for comments on his draft, but the only response the Quibbler received was “I do not remember anything after the beer lady showed up.” We believe this is just pure PR deniability on behalf of an owner seeking to distance himself from this draft. The Champ looks solid in stolen bases, ERA and Ratio but is lacking in HR and RBI and K’s. This could be a really long year for the Champ if he does not empty the FAAB wallet on Meadows maybe? Credit when credit is due however, the Champ has an amazing ability to find pitching gems and conduct multiple savvy trades to improve his team. Let’s not write off the Champ to the bottom four just yet.

Pick we liked:
Nick Senzel ($3) – Yes…that Nick Senzel that is post, post, post hype rookie. Finally getting a chance to shine full time, you are looking at 10/20/.340 player with 500 AB or so.

Pick we did not like:
Myles Straw ($24) – You know, this may actually not be awful if Straw gets 30 SB’s and hits for .340 OBP. The percentages say Straw is going to be in the minor leagues in four months.

8. Streak

We love Streak. However, Streak is not so great if you get him out of his routine (Oatmeal and banana are must haves in this routine). Our man Streak was hurting Friday morning with at least one trip to the privy to help move things along. But, nothing keeps the Streak down for long. He bounced back in a great way with a very typical Streak draft (lots of at bats). Streak loves at bats and for good reason. More at bats typically means more counting stats. Streak looks great in HR/RBI but is really light on SB/K/Ratio (although oddly enough nails for ERA). His corner players are the cream of the crop with Freeman, Machado, Turner and Muncy. Are you kidding me? That is amazing.

In fact, we rated Streak’s offensive draft as the third best draft in the BBL. Streak even hit on his end-game purchases with Sheets, Flores, Ortega, Harrison and Beer all costing under $3 each. Of all the teams mentioned, this team could content for the Championship if pitching falls into place. In fact, the pitching can very well fall into plate with Woodruff as the ace, Pressly as the closer and some nice dart throws with Hicks, Givens and Finnegan.

Pick we liked:
Rosario ($16) – Rosario was written off by most everyone…but you know what? The dude produces. You realize he is going to hit the middle of the Braves’ lineup and go 25/90’ish for the season? He pulls down your OBP for sure at around .310, but those HR/RBI numbers are too nice to pass up.

Pick we did not like:
None. We literally liked all of the Streak purchases.

7. Earl’s Squirrels

Earl always has a nice draft. In fact, one might argue that Earl has better drafts than many of the owner’s in the BBL. Earl does not manage his team in season well enough…which is odd in light of the preparation for the draft. According to projections, Earl is solid in HR/RBI/SB/OBP but a little weak on the pitching side (although, not bottom four). We disagree with the projections in this instance. We are not convinced Swanson ($19), Schoop ($11) and Yelich ($32) can hold up their end of the bargain and earn their purchase price.

Although not displayed in the projections, we believe the Earl pitching staff could exceed expectations with Tony Disco ($5) and Means ($5) and the duel closers of McGee ($16) and Melancon ($14) could well exceed their projected save totals.

Pick we liked:
Voit ($19) – Many experts are calling for “Bold Predictions” of Voit leading the league in HR (Razzball loves this guy). The fact experts are taking these dart throws says a lot about potential and this $19 purchase looks like it could return amazing value.

Pick we did not like:
Carlson ($25) – Come on now. The bidding war on this Cardinal checks all of the home town homer bias. Carlson is good and will probably exceed expectations, but unlikely to return value at $25.

6. Sundance Kids

Cassidy’s corner is always a big hit and there is always a tie in with a real player, a real signature or a real moment in baseball history. Cassidy’s corner this year started with the Kids attempting to draft remotely for day one of the Smitty Draft. Things did not go great in the beginning, but the BBL put its high tech IT department on the job (Aaron is amazing is all the right ways) and things got sorted.

The Kids are solid across all categories with a high in SO, Ratio and ERA…with two qualifiers:
1. The Kids are projected last in OBP this year. Yikes! That is not a good category to be projected last and it is really, really hard to dig your way out of that hole. Good OBP players are hard to find on the waiver wire.
2. We have to talk about the elephant in the room and that elephant’s name is Jacob DeGrom ($29). The Quibbler feels for you brother and these rankings do not take into account the DeGrom injury. Unless the Kids can somewhat replace that production, you are looking at a 8th place team in rankings here.

Pick we liked:
CJ Cron ($22) – Really? A Coors Field player hitting in the middle of the lineup goes for $22? Nice purchase Kids!

Pick we did not like:
DeGrom ($29) – But, that is just hindsight talking. The real pan here is Luis Robert ($37). Ohhh, he could surprise everyone, but that is a ton of invested capital in a player that does not have a track record of being healthy or of actually producing on the field. Sure the hype is amazing, but bullcrap walks and production talks.

5. Limp Wist

By far the best team logo around (we love the “Established in X” at the bottom) and credit to Earl’s Squirrels for doing logos for sure. Rumor has it that Limp applied for the role of Cassidy’s corner but was rejected when video was leaked of the “diarrhea” 45 minute monolog. This fact is not confirmed, but multiple request for comment by Limp were forwarded to his PR department. In another interesting bit of news, all owners should be prepared for a “water assessment” of $20 each for all the excess water spilled out of the hot tub with Limp fell in at some point Friday night.

You know what Limp does well? He can draft a baseball team. Limp finished in the money last year and based on this draft, looks to be in the hunt this year as well. Limp is VERY heavy on the pitching side this year with projected points from pitching at 40 points, compared to projected hitting points at 26. On the offensive side, Limp is not bad in any one category and hovers around 5 points in all the categories. A good acquisition here and there and if his pitching holds up? Top three again baby!

His strategy was very notable and balanced. Take a look at his offensive roster. No player was purchased over $20 (Pham being the $20 offensive player). This allowed a balanced offensive. Whether this offense can produce the numbers required to be in the BBL money? We will find out!

Purchase we like:
Musgrove ($17), Diaz ($22), and Civale ($3) – All three of these (along with other great buys on the pitching side) gives Limp great diversity with his pitching core. This gives us a lot of confidence that his pitching will hold up for the season.

Purchase we did not like:
We actually liked all of Limp’s purchases this year. If we have to quibble (we are the Quibbler), Patrick Wisdom ($14) is paying a bit too much of not great OBP and the player has no history of power in the minor leagues and suddenly breaks out in the MLB? Sus.

4. Nitros

The Nitros continue their good, not great recent ownership history with a decent draft (not great) draft. The good news? The Nitros draft was good enough to make them competitive which means a lucky break here and there and who knows? Of course, the ownership is getting old so this team may malinger for a good while. Rumors have it that the Nitros went to bed early every night of the draft weekend and was heard screaming from the balcony “Get off my lawn you kids”…or maybe it was “Turn down that music kids!”?

The Nitros are very weak in SBs this year, which is just not good Stolen bases are really hard to find when you are scavenging with waiver wire with no FAAB dollars (the Nitros are notorious for spending all their FAAB fast). The Nitros are good in HR/K/Ratio this year based on projections. That is not a bad base from which to start a run at a championship.

Purchase we liked:
Jeremy Pena ($2) – Pena is shooting up draft boards recently and some experts have him as a 20/20 player starting for a great Houston team.

Purchase we did not like:
Yoan Moncada ($23) – Just a flat overpay here. Although tons of hype, Moncada has underperformed expectations every year thus far. Projections keep showing him stealing bases, but it appears he is just not going to steal bases anytime soon.

3. Blue Moon Odum

According to Coach Smitty, one of the two greatest champions of all time. Master mind of GODUM. Master mind of FAAB. Master mind of many other great things in the BBL, the Professor lives up to his nickname every year and this year is no exception….but maybe some controversy? The Champ gave a speech that appears to be a slap in the face to BMO by talking trash about never winning jumping the 5 Championship hurdle unless you do it back to back. Well, BMO lost the trophy this year and according to the Champ…he is not locked out of the coveted 5 Championship season. More to follow!

BMO is rock solid in RBI/SB/OBA, which is really great. Power is one of the easier things to find on the waiver wire. BMO needs to find some pitching help since he is only projected to score 27 points on the pitching side of the ledger. The good news is that BMO has great potential here with the likes of Eduardo Rodriguez ($6).

Purchase we liked:
Eduardo Rodriguez ($6) – We love this pick and rates as our best potential value purchase of the entire draft. Rodriguez has ace stuff and a track record of throwing innings. He moves to an amazing pitchers park (Tigers) from a crappy pitcher park (Boston). All the signs of an ace at $6 are here.

Purchase we did not like:
Baddoo ($21) – Too much Baddoo hype my man. He is going to be a platoon player and that is not worth $21 in our opinion.

1.a. HooDoo Cats

Yes, there are two 1.a. teams. Why you might ask? They are projected to both end with 82 overall points. What does that mean? It means we all such at buying baseball players if two BBL teams are projected at 82 fantasy points. Geez.

But, to the victors go the spoils. Let’s see how they each killed it for this draft. As you might suspect, the Cats are solid in all categories except K’s, which shows the strategy of the Cats this year. The Cats went with tons of relievers to pump up those ERA/Saves/Ratio categories and only rostered three starters (Kershaw, Skubal and Nola). Nola is a solid ace that has staying power. Skubal is an up and coming top tier pitcher (with amazing K rates in spring training) and Kershaw is not old-Kershaw…but new-Kershaw is going to have an amazing ratio without a doubt. In short, the Cats want to win ERA/Ratio/Saves and just make it over the 950 inning floor requirement.

On the offensive side, we are really impressed with this group but have concerns in the middle infield. If anything knocks the Cats out of the money (aside from injuries), it will be poor performance by this middle infield. Rojas ($9) is already hurt, Hampson ($1) has never lived up to the SB hype and Ha-song Kim ($8) is just not fantasy good (as he proved last year). Remember, Kim played extensively already at SS last year. What makes us think he will improve? On the good news front, we love Mateo ($4) and Vaughn ($3). In fact, Vaughn may be the most productive outfielder for the White Sox this year. Of course, any team with Soto on it is going to be competitive on the offensive side of fantasy baseball. The kid is amazing and so fun to watch.

Purchase we liked:
Vaughn ($3) – For all the reasons said above.

Purchase we did not like:
Kim ($8) – For all the reasons said above.

1a – Darcy Jaye’s Crew

Opposite of the Cats, the Crew approached the draft from the offensive side of the categories. Although this felt like a typical Crew draft…there was a twist. Crew did not end up with 7 $1 players this year. In fact, the Crew ended up with only three $1 players (two of which are pitchers, so they don’t count). So what did the Crew do with the extra money this year? The Crew (against all possible guesses) played in the mid-game with acquisitions of Conforto ($9), Happ ($16), Soler ($18), Verlander ($17) and Snell ($10). Conforto is a dart through, but the percentage play here is good in our opinion to land with a BBL team.

The real question is this however. Is the Quibbler Curse real or is it not? Some argue that our in-depth analysis is always on point. Some might argue the facts that no projected #1 has ever hoisted the Smitty Cup at the end of the year. Some might even argue that the #1 team finishes last more times than not.

There is a path for this team to finish last unfortunately:
Happ plays like last year and is dead weight.
Conforto does not land with a BBL team.
Verlander is old…like really old.
Soler plays on a bad team and may mail it in.
Snell does Snell things and sucks.
Crew never finds a save. The Crew is projected for next to last in saves.

Can Hoskins ($28), Arenando ($29), Turner ($46), and Burnes ($21) provide the core to overcome those challenges? We are not sure, but they are all outstanding players that provide a nice foundation. In short, those dart throws have to hit and the Crew needs to find saves.

Purchase we like:
Framber Valdez ($7) – Many experts think this is a top 20 pitcher. Maybe the other owners (this one included) just did not know the Astros that well to let this one slip past. Maybe it was just the lull in the draft that provides value for pitching (note – Rodriguez at $6 went around this same time). Either way, we see tons of value here.

Purchase we did not like:
Snell ($10) – We all want Snell to be good. On paper he should be good. In reality…he is just not good. See the 2021 season results as Exhibit A.

In conclusion, good luck owners! Also…good luck for the first FAAB session and here are our projections for FAAB:
Meadows – $150
Manaea – $51