How did you like your auction? I’m really happy with mine. I had hoped to maybe get a big guy for 30 then a bunch of cheap guys but ended up just getting a bunch of cheapies. Was surprised to get Gallo for 6, he’s got contact issues and not sure where he plays with the Desmond signing but he’s got big power. Hoover could be Cincy’s closer and is a solid MR anyway at 2 bucks. Valbuena is a guy i’ve owned in the EJMA for a while, personal fav, doesn’t hit for much average but sweet power for a buck. Speaking of low AVG/high power guys, Chris Carter for $2 returns to the Trappers. After those guys I had to focus on pitching as Aaron Sanchez was my only SP, so I got some decent potential in the rotation on the cheap in Bolsinger (in line to play with the Anderson injury), Kennedy (KC seems to have a way with pitchers), Robbie Ray, Porcello, and Velasquez for a combined salary of $7. My last 2 picks were Bryce Harper assassin Jonathan Papelbon for $3 (could be a steal if he returns to his JAM closer ways) and Hanley Ramirez for a buck (if the shoulder is healthy, he’ll hit).
Given my lack of prep time I’m quite pleased with the sleepers I was able to snag. Even if none of them pan out they are low enough dollars that I won’t be hurt in next year’s auction.
Feel free to discuss your auction thoughts in the comments!
BEER LEAGUE BASEBALL 
this auction turned out much better than last years for my team,at least in terms of developing a plan and being able to follow thru on it.i had 101$ to spend on 6 players and i was able to allocate my resources pretty much as i wanted to.steven strasburg was my 1st target and he came in under budget (26$).keuchal wasnt part of the plan but at 31$ he was at least comparabily priced i thought.my next target was another OFer that could hit LHPs and i landed eddie rosario for 19$.dunno if thats a good price or not but it filled a need and that big arm will look good in the OF.another target was a starting 3rd baseman.prado was my 3rd choice (after bryant and seager…who quickly became too expensive)i also wanted to improve at catcher ,or at least get a platoon partner for montero.rupp filled that bill for 9$.i had a list of about 20 players to choose from for my last 1$.i spent many rounds serving up players for others to take away from me.with the draft winding downwhen my turn came around again,i had about 5 players left on my list that i didnt really want others to outbid me on.thats where wil myers came in.1$ later he was mine,all mine…for what thats worth.maybe he will pan out but he looks like a bust so far.the best part of that scenario was that several of the players i wanted to last out the draft ,did so.since i have the 1st pick in the minors draft ill be able to get one of them.
overall a good draft,at least in terms of planning/execution.time will tell if the players work out
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I am very happy with the draft Cincy was able to put together. I filled all of my main needs, which were CF, RH setup and adding one of the top line LH starters. Bumgarner was the best starter card in the deck in my opinion and I had penciled him hoping to get him for $45 or less so i was very happy with the $38 i spent. he has all the bells and whistles along with the 35 endurance which is so big for JAM starters. MY top target for CF was a Cain but i quickly dropped out after he topped $40 as he has quite a bit of risk in my opinion so i settled with Billy Burns who gives me some speed and the B+ range in CF, He was my #2 target behind Cain. Being able to add a JAM setup arm in Soria was a luxury that could afford with the savings from not going in on Cain, Soria will combo up with Familia for a nice 1-2 end of game punch. Franklyn Gutierrez was a player i was also very glad to add as he punishes LH pitching and will provide me with a great PH vs rh all season long. Extra parts Wimer Flores and Mark Lowe were nice role players that will fill into other holes. Overall i am very pleased with my loot and in spending $108 of $110 i had available.
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I had a challenge ahead of me this draft, needing 10 players and only having $30 to spend. It’s hard to prepare for something like that. Pitching-wise, I needed basically an entire bullpen (I came into the draft with only Tony Sipp) and I didn’t have the cash overall to land any of the top dogs that were out there, so I started out by getting Liam Hendriks for $8 and was happy because that’s a solid card with no deeps. The other four relievers I got were for $8 combined and each had either the ON rating or the OFF rating or both: Jeremy Jeffress was a nice score for $5, Fernando Salas is quite serviceable for $1, Hansel Robles is a beast of a reverse righty with upside for $1, and then super roogy Sergio Romo for a $1. For the rotation I only needed a #5, and it took me a while to land one (Jackson whizzed into my Cheerios twice later swiping Bolsinger and Horsemen legend Ian Kennedy, Glen swiped Trevor May from me at the last possible moment, etc.). It’s hard to be excited about Trevor Cahill, and I’m not, but there are worse starter cards and thankfully he was only $1. Offensively, I needed a starting SS and a starting 2B, and my money situation being what it was I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. Ended up with Rafael Ynoa for $1, whose C+ range is not the defensive upgrade from Erick Aybar that I had hoped for but their bats are similarly uninspiring and Ynoa is 1/10th the cost. At 2B I have Solarte on the roster but his D range is a problem; I was in on some guys like Prado and Romine but was quickly priced out, so I ended up with Omar Infante’s B range for $1 and can live with it at the bottom of my lineup. I needed a backup 1B, but mostly try and counter for when opposing pitchers bring in a lefty late in a game against Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzo hit much better versus lefties than last year, but I wanted a right-handed hitter who would rake versus lefties and was happy Jackson let me get switch-hitting Andres Blanco (.349/.404/.570) for $2. Finally I had a need for a corner OF who could hit lefties and was not a defensive liability, was happy to come away with Juan Lagares for $8.
It could have gone better for me in the draft, but it also could have gone a lot worse. Regardless it’s always a fun time, and I look forward to getting through the minors draft and getting the season underway. Thanks Mike for running the show!
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Sorry about snagging those starters that you wanted! Ok not really, but did letting you have Blanco and not pushing to $3 make up for it? Also you know that Cahill is a spot 3 right (you refer to him as a “starter card”)?
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I obviously was going young, so I’m pretty excited about the players I got. Payed a little more for Severino than I wanted, but if he turns out to be good, it will all be ok.
I wasn’t expecting to use all my money, but I think I left $1 on the table.
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I only had $23 to spend on 4 players, and only one significant need at 2B. Unfortunately the 2B draft wasn’t very deep resulting in utility guys going in double digits. I couldn’t bring myself to go to $14 for Austin Romine type players. That left me with Cory Spangenberg at 2B. I got him for $6 as a temporary plug that I hope to upgrade later. I also wanted to add a reliever or two. I ended up with Grimm ($6) and Josh Fields ($5). Finally, no Raider/IPA draft is complete without a flyer on a high upside, low cost player. I targeted a couple guys, primarily Zach Wheeler and Wil Myers. I got Wheeler for a buck and hope he’ll continue the Harvey/Fernandez pipeline. The drawback is that he will probably be out the first couple months as the Mets slowly bring him back. But he’s too good of a pitcher to pass up.as a mid to long term play.
So overall my draft wasn’t very exciting. I got two relievers I really like and a high upside low risk shot on Wheels. I’m disappointed that I couldn’t do more than plug a hole at 2B, which leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth about my draft overall. On the other hand, I’ll gladly take a boring draft because it means I’ve got a pretty deep and talented team.
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OK going into the draft I didn’t really have any glaring hole to fill on the offensive side but I my goal was to pick up at least two starters and hoping to maybe get a backup catcher. One target of mine was Ben Zobrist. He feels a need as my primary second basement. That moves Holt to the role that he is best suiting for and that is a super utility guy. The rest of my offense is already pretty solid. So with that in mind the rest of my draft really focused on pitching. I really wanted to get in on one of the top flight starters but I ended up not being able to convince myself to pull the trigger on a couple of the big names. My top guy as Jon mentioned was Madbum and looking back, I probably should have went the next couple of bucks to secure him. Wainwright was a nice get at 10 I thought. If he can stay healthy this year, he will be a nice piece for me in the pen. I started to panic when all the other top starters were off the board and went a little higher than I was comfortable with to secure McCullers. He has a nice card, but still that is higher than I would have really liked to have gone for him. Fernando Rodriguez adds to my stellar pen and 9 seems about right. Aaron Nola is a stash guy mostly for this year. The second true starter that I got was Chris Young. Was he a one year wonder? I don’t know but $16 for this year is solid to fill out my starting rotation and I wanted one insurance arm and got Cashner for $5. meh. I was running into time constraints and needed to get going and the beginning of the drat took so long that it gave me few options to sit around much longer to get a pick in that I might have wanted more here. Maybe Cashner will turn out fine.
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I always enjoy reading Mike’s post draft reports. In the case of the Governors I think Mike did a good job understanding what I was trying to do. I thought I did a good job getting players that could help in 2016 but also have some upside for 2017. For the record Mike I am glad that you did not go to $10 on Yan Gomes.
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I only had one spot to fill SS… lost out on other SP aces to pair with Kershaw and the elite SS. I like my 3 picks of Garcia, Hill n Turner.. hopefully 2017 and beyond upside. Galvis was a someone kept bidding up the only decent ss left so I overpaid big to just get it done and over. Left a decent amount of money on table but researching ringers doesnt interest me as a plan B when I try not to overpay for talent. Could be why my teams are always competitive but have never gotten past 1st round of playoffs.
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