One of the key ways I use the results of the LABR draft or Tout Wars is to compare the auction prices of those drafts to the ones currently attached to the players in my keeper leagues. This is especially pertinent for those players I am on the fence over protecting or not. Two players in particular caused the most curiousity, Brandon Inge of the Detroit Tigers and Brandon Wood of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. I can protect them for $7 and $10 respectively.
Prior to the Tout Wars draft, neither were solid keepers. However, both offered multiple position eligibility at scarce positions - catcher for Inge and SS for Wood. While Wood's double digit HR potential as a SS is more enticing, Inge held the promise of a return to respectability following his move back to 3B. That wasn't quite enough to protect him because I had Joe Mauer and Matt Wieters pencilled in to my two catcher spots.
Injuries and the Orioles desire to preserve a year of arbitration six years out rather than try and put the best product on the field changed that. Now Inge sits on my roster trying to entice me with a .259 career AVG as a 3B who can slot at catcher.
Wood does the same with his newly found ability to not strikeout this Spring along with some apparently clear paths for ABs as a back-up 3B and SS along with the less clear but, obvious to me, one at 1B. With an AL SS pool that may not have more than five regulars who hit 10 or more HRs, Wood can be valuable in 300 ABs.
With the rational to protect both players laid out, I was curious to see how the fantasy stalwarts treated both players. I admit to being surprised on both accounts.
Inge was drafted by Fantasyland author Sam Walker for $9, and Wood went for $10 to Baseball HQ's Ron Shandler. Geez, now I can protect both and use Tout Wars as a justification for doing so. Appealling to Authority isn't a great deabting technique but it has it uses.