Quick Thoughts on LABR NL Auction Draft Results

The League of Alternative Reality (LABR) held their AL only experts auction league draft last night in Phoenix, Arizona, and here are some quick thoughts on the results of the draft.

Before I get started, you can find the auction results in the link below:

LABR NL only Draft Results

The Participants

The Participants

*-new to the league in 2016

Quick Thoughts

• Before the auction started, a Twitter follower asked me with I was looking for in this draft tonight. I responded as follows:

@FletchTopper prices on Iglesias, Puig, Schwarber, Hamilton, Seager. How many SP go for > $30

— Ray Guilfoyle (@faketeams) March 6, 2016

• I like the Raisel Iglesias buy at $13 by Dalton Del Don from Yahoo. I think he will be happy he bought him so cheaply. I don't like Kyle Schwarber at $24 (Derek Van Riper), Billy Hamilton at $20 (Derek Carty), or Yasiel Puig at $27 (Del Don). I like Puig to bounce back but $27 seems too heavy for me. I would have bowed out around $22-23. You already know my thoughts on Hamilton, so I won't repeat here.
• Steve Moyer from Inside Edge purchased Giants catcher Buster Posey at $31, which is way more than my liking. I prefer paying $14 on Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal and $17 on a starter or outfielder than paying $31 on Posey, and I really like Posey. But, if I am spending $31 on anyone, it has to be a hitter who can hit 30+ home runs or an ace.
• The top first baseman off the board, Diamondbacks 1B Paul Goldschmidt and Cubs 1B Anthony Rizzo, went for $40 and $39 respectively, and I am not surprised as first base is thin in the NL this year.
• I really like Giants 1B Brandon Belt at $24 purchased by Doug Dennis at Baseball HQ.
• While I am at it, I REALLY like what Doug Dennis is doing with his roster, not paying more than $30 on any one player. That said, as I write this, he has yet to buy a starter, but his roster is solid.
• Dennis' roster: Jonathan Lucroy ($20), J.T. Realmuto ($12), Belt ($24), D.J. LeMahieu ($18), Lucas Duda ($22), Carlos Gonzalez ($24), Matt Kemp ($23), Michael Conforto ($21), Christian Yelich ($20). That said, I do not like the price on Yelich as it seems about $3-4 too rich for me, or the LeMahieu buy at $18. It seems he is focusing on batting average guys with some pop. He is lacking speed at the moment. As I wrote this, Dennis bought Nationals SS Trea Turner amor $10, so there is SOME speed.
• The value plays at first base: Freddie Freeman at $24 to Derek Carty and Belt to Dennis.
• The overvalued plays at first base are Ben Paulson for $17 to Eric Karabell and Steve Gardner paying $16 for Chris Carter.
• The top second baseman off the board, Marlins 2B Dee Gordon for $35 to Moyer and Nationals 2B Anthony Rendon at $24 to Lenny Melnick, are slightly overvalued in this draft. I get buying Gordon at $35 more than Rendon at $24. Kolten Wong at $20 and LeMahieu at $18 appear to be to several dollars overpriced here.
• Shortstop is VERY thin in the NL, so it is no surprise that Dodgers SS Corey Seager went off at $27 to Dalton Del Don. That said, that seems too rich for me. Then again, he could meet the expectations that come with that price too.
• I guess NFBC's Greg Ambrosius purchase of Rockies SS Jose Reyes for $12 tells us that he might be the only person who thinks Reyes won't get suspended for a considerable amount of time. Ok, I know he was bidding against someone else, so there were two people that think Reyes won't miss much of the season. I think he could be suspended for at least half the season.
• Coming into this draft, I thought for sure Cubs 3B Kris Bryant would go for $35 or so, but he went off the board at $30 to NFBC's Ambrosius and Childs, so he represents some value at that price. Bob Radomski purchased Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado for $36, which makes sense to me. That said, I don't see Arenado repeating the 40 home runs from last season.
• I like Derek Carty's buy of Phillies 3B Maikel Franco at $22.
• A total of 28 outfielders went for $18 or higher in the auction, and about half of them are overpriced, including Jason Heyward ($28), Puig ($27), A.J. Pollock ($31), Gregory Polanco ($25), David Peralta ($22), Josh Harrison ($20), Jay Bruce ($19), Ben Zobrist ($18), Schwarber ($24), Gerardo Parra ($21), among a few others.
• Starting pitchers, for me, went off cheap. Just about every ace seem to be a little undervalued or at value. Clayton Kershaw at $38 is exactly where I thought he would end up, and I think he is undervalued at that price. The same goes for Zack Greinke at $25, Madison Bumgarner at $29, Jose Fernandez at $25, and even Max Scherzer at $33. These guys, and a few others, probably should be going for $30+.