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This past weekend some of the biggest names in the fantasy industry got together to participate in the 2013 Tout Wars AL and NL auctions, finishing off the last of the experts league drafts for the year. As I did for the LABR drafts a few weeks ago, I decided to use the auction results to select my perfect Tout rosters. To do so, I went through the draft results and used the actual auction prices and a $260 budget to construct the strongest team I could. Below are my results, followed by some thoughts about the teams.
|
AL |
NL |
||
Position |
Name |
Price |
Name |
Price |
C |
Derek Norris, OAK |
3 |
Rob Brantley, MiA |
6 |
C |
Jason Castro, HOU |
7 |
Wellington Castillo, CHC |
4 |
1B |
Prince Fielder, DET |
35 |
Adam LaRoche, WAS |
17 |
2B |
Gordon Beckham, CHW |
9 |
Rickie Weeks, MIL |
19 |
3B |
Adrian Beltre, TEX |
30 |
Ryan Zimmerman, WAS |
27 |
SS |
Asdrubal Cabrera, CLE |
20 |
Everth Cabrera |
17 |
CIF |
Kyle Seager, SEA |
21 |
Luis Cruz, LAD |
4 |
MIF |
J.J. Hardy, BAL |
11 |
Mark Ellis, LAD |
5 |
OF |
Josh Hamilton, LAA |
25 |
Jason Heyward, ATL |
32 |
OF |
Josh Reddick, OAK |
13 |
Matt Holliday, STL |
27 |
OF |
Ichiro Suzuki, NYY |
16 |
Juan Pierre, MIA |
16 |
OF |
Vernon Wells, NYY |
3 |
Jason Kubel, ARI |
14 |
UTL |
Chris Carter, HOU |
12 |
Scott Hairston, CHC |
4 |
SW |
Seth Smith, OAK |
3 |
Donovan Solano, MIA |
2 |
P |
C.C. Sabathia, NYY |
20 |
Yovani Gallardo, MIL |
17 |
P |
Josh Johnson, TOR |
12 |
Jeff Samardzija, CHC |
14 |
P |
Jose Veras, HOU |
8 |
Steve Cishek, MIA |
12 |
P |
Rick Porcello, DET |
5 |
A.J. Burnett, PIT |
9 |
P |
Jason Vargas, LAA |
2 |
Edwin Jackson, WAS |
7 |
P |
Joe Blanton, LAA |
1 |
Andrew Cashner, ARI |
3 |
P |
Koji Uehara, BOS |
1 |
Barry Zito, SF |
1 |
P |
Phil Coke, DET |
2 |
Nate Eovaldia, MIA |
1 |
P |
John Lackey, BOS |
1 |
Kyle Lohse, FA |
2 |
You can find the complete draft results here: Tout AL Results │ Tout NL Results
Now, some thoughts:
- 11 players showed up on both my LABR and Tout teams. That may seem like a large number, but it represents less than 15% of the players I selected. It also means I do believe all of those players (Reddick, Blanton, Coke, Lackey, Castillo, LaRoche, Weeks, Hairston, Cashner, Jackson, and Lohse) are undervalued this year.
- Some of the players I selected on my LABR teams have seen their values really jump in the past few weeks. Matt Carpenter and Domonic Brown went for $8 and $10 more in this auction, a result of their strong springs.
- Tout's rules are slightly different than LABR's. The league only uses 4 OF spots and a SW (swing) position that can be used for a pitcher or a hitter. In both leagues I opted for the extra bat. The eligibility requirements are also a little less strict, so some players like Michael Young saw huge jump's in their value by gaining extra eligibility.
- Just to reiterate, don't forget about Houston or Miami. I ended up with 7 players between the two teams, all of which I feel should return value.
- Again I stayed away from prospects. I like Shelby Miller, Julio Teheran, Oscar Taveras, and Billy Hamilton as much as anyone, but I chose safer veteran players for comparable prices.
- ESPN's Matthew Berry made the largest purchase of either auction, paying $43 for triple crown award winner Miguel Cabrera.
- My picks came after Vernon Wells and Kyle Lohse landed with new teams, but I did like both those picks at that time as speculative risks.
So those are my "perfect rosters" based on this year's Tout results. Who would your choices be?
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Andrew Ball is a writer for Fake Teams, Fantasy Ninjas, and Beyond the Box Score.
You can follow him on twitter @Andrew_Ball.