2015 BBL Auction Review
Below is a review of the 2015 BBL Auction for each team and the projected winners in reverse order. The projections are based on my individual baseball projections, which means the are probably different than the other great owners.
Best picks do not include keepers or special keepers.
13. (Tie) French Pastries
The Pastries deserve better than this because of the hard work for the auction weekend and the great cooking. Team Pastries are lacking in ERA, WHIP and K’s. Shortly after the beginning of the season, Mike Minor revealed even more discomfort in his shoulder. We are guessing that the loss of a starting pitcher is not going to help the projections. Unfortunately, we just do not see this pitching staff earning over 15 points on the pitching side of the house.
Best Pick: Alexi Ramirez ($6) – With a shortstop pool already depleted with keepers and simply a lack of talent, how did the league allow Alexi to go at $6? Some may argue his age and OBP drag. With OBP studs Goldy, Heyward and Mauer, the Pastries could afford more than one OBP drag.
Worst Pick: Brandon Crawford ($10) – Listen, we get that he actually made himself fantasy relevant last year, but not $10 worth of relevant. Seriously, Segura went for $10.
12. (Tie) Jay’s Crew
Listen, Jay doesn’t like people talking on the phone next to him or silent bids. We vote Jay to No Fun Island next year. But…we are buying into No Fun Island based on this year’s extra activities! The 2015 Crew Team is the pure essence of a Jay Crew team, they are big on the studs and flyers. Jay swings for the fences without a doubt. If he can find some pitchers to bolster that ERA and Ratio, then he will compete.
Best Pick: Matt Kemp ($26) – Really, does 25/89/8.346 get no respect from 2014? We get it, there are injury concerns…but wow is there upside here. Maybe the San Diego stadium factored into the lack of interest as well?
Worst Pick: Bethancourt ($1) – Not a fan of 500 AB’s at .270 OBP or less.
11. Paezans
The Best Champ Ever was balling this year. The Beer Girls were off the chart awesome. The script-writing for Roshambo was the shizzle. Worried About the Beer Girls Potter however left $16 on the table. Do you realize that $16 could have purchased Grandal, Morneau, J. Peralta, Pence, Melky Cabrera, or Kris Davis to name a few. I am guessing those players would have helped the Paezans not be projected for last place in HR this year. You can make up ERA/Ratio…but finding power on the waiver wire is no easy task. It was reported that the untimely report of Mejia’s suspension for PED’s was taken very hard by the Pimp’s. He simply could not recover from that news and spend the rest of his money.
Best Pick: Chris Sale ($25) is probably the best value of the entire auction. Amazing that other aces went so very much higher Scherzer ($34), Kershaw ($41) and Price ($28). I am guessing the Pimps will need to trade Sale for a big bat.
Worst Pick: The Player to be Named Later ($16). Really, don’t leave money on the table.
10. Kids
The good news. The Kids have locked down ERA/Ration by a wide margin. The bad news is that King Hernandez removed himself from a game as of the drafting of these projections. Thus goes the danger of spending on pitching. Ron Shandler is nodding sagely in some mansion somewhere. Ultimately, the Kids have to find some offense and that is just not that easy in today’s baseball environment.
Best Pick: Hernandez ($32) may seem like full value but you need to take the pick in the context of having both Harvey and Kershaw already in the stable. A great lock down pick on the pitching side of the house. Honorable mention is Lind at $11 who appears to be a nice source of HR/RBI in the middle of the Brewers lineup.
Worst Pick: Can we pick the entire end game for the Kids? Dennis was simply too distracted in the end game to do much damage. He will need some serious FAAB spending to make up the offense.
9. Streak
Fuck you Dale, fuck you! Another solid auction for the Streak. Dale is going to need to trade some OBP for HR/RBI to be competitive. Posey and Votto are extreme anchors in the OBP department. Unfortunately, there are just not enough middle of the order guys to give him solid power numbers. Very solid in K’s and Ratio.
Best Pick: Ben Revere ($19) is a solid purchase for 40 SB’s with a decent OBP. Bumgarner at $24 is probably one of the better value picks on the pitching side of the house. He can cut down trees as well as he can cut down batters in the box.
Worst Pick: We are not a fan of Wainwright at $20 in light of his second half last year and his injuries this year.
8. Squirrels
One of the better auctions for Earls’ Squirrels. Projected to win stolen bases and with solid pitching stats (sans saves). We love the core players like Gonzales, Rizzo and Puig. Add solid pitching in Strasberg, Greinke and Zimmerman and you have the start of a serious baseball team. Unfortunately, Earl’s challenge has always been finding those end game players that act as mortar with those fine “core” bricks.
Best Pick: Segura ($10) – The guy lost his child last year. Who can possibly play with that tragedy? Also, how does such a thin position result in such value picks? Did we all get locked in a room with the beer girl when these mid-range shortstops came up for bid?
Worst Pick: Tie Cain and Latos (each $3). They both suck. End of story. Last year the Nitro’s owned both of them for a combined $35 which is probably why the Nitros were writing the big check this year.
7. Meat
If Meat ever spends some serious time preparing for the auction, he is going to own this league. Or, if he ever gets his house moved, then he will have more time to prepare! Projected top 3 in HR/RBI/ERA/Ratio Meat has a serious chance to win the league this year. If he works the waiver wire and uses his FAAB budget wisely, everyone should be very worried.
Best Pick: Nelson Cruz ($22) – Really? Really!? Let’s get this straight. Entire league is short on power and we let 40 HR go out the door for $22. Nice work owners.
Worst Pick: Chisenhall ($8) – Some like him this year. We do not believe he will repeat .343 OBP and will basically be a weight on OBP with very replacement level production.
6. HooDoo Cat
“Roshambo, how can the HooDoo Cats win the league when they finish last in strikeouts?” The answer is they can’t. HDC seriously pushed all their chips in for batting this year, so they will need to find solid starting pitching to be competitive. They are off to a good start with the acquisition of Ottavino who appears to be the new closer for the Rockies.
Best Pick: Marte ($33) – We love Marte this year in the 5 hole. Some say he is the best competition to Trout in the NL and will be better than Cutch.
Worst Pick: Carpenter ($19) – Carp is an outstanding player, but not for $19. Is the OBP with no counting stats worth the cost? Maybe, depending on the team.
5. Nitros
We are thinking fewer smoke breaks would benefit the Nitros on many levels. Of course, not purchasing the closer everyone knows is going to get fired would help as well! Alas, our favorite “bones” owner loves his old, white guys with purchases this year of Ryan Zimmerman. It does look like a solid auction that may keep him out of the bottom four this year however.
Best Pick: LaRoche ($21) – We love the move to the new park in that White Sox lineup with should produce many RBI opportunities. Honorable mention is Soler at $22 (P.S. He hit two dongs while I was typing this article).
Worst Pick: Hawkins ($8) – Really…were you that desperate?
4. Blue Moon Odum
Project to finish with 12 points in RBI and SB. We should not be surprised with the finish at the top in SB with Dyson and Davis in the lineup. The “kind champ” wanted to hug it out on day one, but went all Anti-Roshambo on day two. I blame the “legal issues” on Odum’s attitude on day 2 if anyone is asking. That “mean” karma causes the owners to do crazy things. This year I do not see a Blackmon in BMO’s future, or at least I hope there is not a Blackmon in his future.
Best Pick: We are very curious if the “spend for the middle” and “end-game” with the outfield will work this year. That being said, we like Stubbs ($3) this year for his potential 15/15. Honorable mention is Rendon at $25 who is clearly worth a ton more if healthy.
Worst Pick: Lucroy ($25) – Guess how much it costs for 17/76/.350 for a position player? ProTip: $11 Lind.
3. Cocky Spainards
BBL Ring of Honor inductee for (if nothing else) putting in the rosters the night after the auction ends. The man who never sleeps and doesn’t need it! Very solid auction again for the short one and is projected to be top three in HR/Saves/ERA. The roster is deep with starters and contributors at most all positions.
Best Pick: Cuddyer ($11) – The player that is always over looked. He was a batting average champion two years ago. For 20/60/.360 at $11, he is easily our favorite pick. Honorable mention Familia at $9 once the announcement of Mejia’s suspension.
Worst Pick: Bryce Harper ($36) – He has never hit more than 22 HR, 59 RBI or batted more than 533 times. Potential is just that, potential. Plus, he is a real asshole.
2. Peep/J-Kill
On paper, we hate this team. Panik, Blanco, Tijuan Walker do not inspire confidence. However, take a closer look…Morse ($8), Prado ($7), Pagan ($5) and Timmy Hudson ($1) are all solid, overlooked players who will bring a nice profit for their price. Our condolences to Peep Rub for the loss in his family, but huge kuddos to J-Kill who filled in with amazing skill to assemble this contending team. Peep is projected to win OBP and saves.
Although it is always scary to pay for saves, the solid three-some of Rodney, Cishek and Robertson is an interesting strategy.
Best Pick: Victor Martinez ($28) – One of the best pure hitters in the game. Apparently knee issues scared away owners from bidding up to $30 or above. If he is healthy, Peep may be in for an amazing season.
Worst Pick: Rodney ($21) – Declining underlying skills and his age seem to scream “stay away”. We will see if it works out.
NOTE: Yan Gomes is out for 6-8 weeks. This may drop Peep to top four (not 2nd), but we intend to keep Peep in this 2nd position because of the overall strength of his roster.
1. Al’s Pals
The most consistent owner in the league in our opinion took all the other owner’s to school on how to win BBL Day Two. This owner has perfected the end game. Projected top three in ERA/Ratio/K/OBP with his roster, the Pal’s have a contending team yet again this year.
Best Pick: Tyson Ross ($16) – Basically, Ross is Scherzer before he was expensive. Big time K’s at a $16 price pitching in a great park.
Worst Pick: Myers ($16) – Maybe one day the top draft pick will live up to his reputation. We think it will be hard to do that batting lead off in the definition of “pitcher’s park”
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