Crowdsourcing an Ottoneu Rebuild

I have a couple of polar opposite seasons in my brief dealings with Ottoneu. In the first year, I was in the lead until the final week, ran out of innings, and finished third. This last year, I ended up with a team younger than Cespedes Family BBQ, and wound up near the back end of the standings.

I know as the writer I’m supposed to be the fantasy expert. But I’m human, and I like help. So today, I’d like to crowdsource my roster and see what you guys think I should do, what I did wrong, so on and so forth. This is a very young team in the middle of a rebuild of sorts, so please keep that in mind.

This is the Fangraphs Staff League II, a points league via linear weights, with 12 other owners. My team name is “Bang the Woodrum.” Heh.

Here’s what I’m looking at presently (post-arbitration):

Bryce Harper – $43
Gerrit Cole – $19
Xander Bogaerts – $12
Gregory Polanco – $12
Byron Buxton – $10
Danny Salazar – $10
Alex Wood – $9
Glen Perkins – $9
Miguel Sano – $8
Lucas Giolito – $7
Collin McHugh – $7
Brian Dozier – $7
Alex Meyer – $6
Archie Bradley – $6
Andrew Heaney – $6
A.J. Pollock – $6
Jon Gray – $5
Carlos Correa – $5
Sean Doolittle – $5
Garrett Richards – $5
Rougned Odor – $4
Melky Cabrera – $4
Brandon McCarthy – $4
Jose Berrios – $2
Hunter Harvey – $2
Tyler Glasnow – $2

Here are the cuts I made:

Mark Appel – $7
Jake Marisnick – $6
Wilin Rosario – $10
Lonnie Chisenhall – $10
Jeremy Hellickson – $4
Jon Niese – $4
B.J. Upton – $10
Aaron Barrett – $4
Oscar Taveras – $5
Colby Rasmus – $13
Chase Headley – $16
Neil Walker – $16
Homer Bailey – $17
J.J. Hardy – $20
Joe Mauer – $28

I really feel like I need to move Bryce Harper. I love Harper, and would love to have him long-term, but the best bet is to maybe try win an auction on him a year from now when arb pushes him over $60. I haven’t gotten much in the way of offers for him — a five-pack of pretty good prospects is it — but I really, really don’t think dumping him outright is the correct move. Cap space would be nice, but right now I have 14 open roster spots and $185 to play with. It’s not a dire situation, and I could probably extort pretty good post-draft or in-season value for him.

Cole’s price is high, but I still love him going forward. I’m banking on a step forward from Bogaerts this year, but that’s pretty pricy for someone coming off the kind of year he had as well. He’s still get more in the draft value-wise, I believe. Salazar came over in a deal for a slightly higher priced Hisashi Iwakuma — a deal I think I’d still make over again. Wood has potential to be a real steal at that price, and I can probably get something pretty nice for Perkins and Doolittle as closers. I like the prices on Dozier, Pollock and McHugh as decent depth, though I’m working with Brad Johnson on a deal that may include McHugh and McCarthy. Call it a McSwap if you wish. I won’t.

Basically the rest of the team is prospects who are borderline too pricy to keep, but would actually still get more in the auction. This league is notoriously weird for that kind of thing.

I’m caught in a pretty weird place, but the cuts on most of these prospects get pretty easy after one more year. I can’t keep $12 Bradley next year if he doesn’t debut this season, for instance. In this sense, I think this year makes sense to go with decent second-tier talent — the Doziers, etc of the world — along with the youngsters to get a feel for who can help me in the short- and long-term.

Admittedly, it isn’t a great place to be in. Thoughts? Gripes on any cuts or keeps? I’d love to hear them in the comments section.