Psychotic Reauction

Since we share Oscar Wilde’s view that moderation is a fatal thing, and believe that Moore (Ray Moore, 1957, 11 Wins, 3.90 ERA, 1.355 WHIP) is Moore (Matt Moore, 2012, 11 Wins, 3.81 ERA, 1.348 WHIP), more or less, we filled out our already-crammed dance card on Sunday with an on-line auction in the Bluefish Blitz League. The BBL features among its owners some well-known Fantasy figures, and provides motive, means, and opportunity to be predatory if that’s your weltanschauung. It also has rules sufficiently different from anyone else’s to make preparation-from-scratch essential, even if you’ve already done so many drafts, auctions, and blogs that you can’t remember which leagues you’re in, much less which players you’ve got in each of them.

The rules: 20 teams, each with $250 in play money to spend on 9 hitters (i.e. a full lineup, including a UT guy), 11 pitchers, and a 5-man bench that can include pitchers if you’re so inclined. 5×5 with a couple of wrinkles on the hitting side: OBP, SLG, and NSB instead of BA, HR, and SB. Draconian innings-pitched limits at both ends (1000 IP minimum, 1458 [i.e. 162×9] maximum), and no more than 162 games played per each hitting position. Daily transactions of every conceivable variety are not only permitted but encouraged and applauded. The concept, obviously, is to approximate “real” major league rosters and team management.

It was, in some ways, gratifying to discover that these guys (or we guys, if you care to flatter us) don’t know anything more than you (or we, if you care not to flatter us) do if you’ve been paying attention. At about noon on Sunday, Ken Giles went for $19 in this league, while Luke Gregerson went for $6. At about 9 on Monday morning, Houston manager A.J. Hinch announced that Gregerson would be his closer. Even granting that Giles probably takes over as soon as Gregerson blows a save, we imagine that those prices would have been nearly transposed if the draft had been held a day later or Hinch had less of a flair for drama.

We didn’t set out to be contrarian in this league, but as it developed, we were. We decided that (1) the league rules made platooning and DFS-style day-to-day matchups a possibility for hitters, and (2) our unwholesome in-season obsessive attention to detail would enable us to optimize our hitting while not running afoul of the 162-game limit. We accordingly decided to pay extra for our bench players, and not to put any pitchers on our bench. We also decided to go with 6 starting pitchers. We thought that many teams would pursue this strategy, but only one did, at least in its pure form (the strategy, we mean, not the team).

Here’s our roster, listed in the order in which we acquired it. For a bit of context, Trout went for $59, Harper for $56, Kershaw for $52, and Goldschmidt for $50…

Drew Smyly, $15
Stephen Vogt, $10
Xavier Cedeno, $3
Chris Davis, $34
Corey Kluber $31
Cody Allen $24
Kole Calhoun $10
Ben Revere $13
Mark Melancon $21
Jose Quintana $11
Elvis Andrus $10
Randal Grichuk $8
Danny Valencia $2
Joe Ross $7
Trevor Plouffe $5
Pedro Alvarez $11
Brock Holt $3
Stephen Piscotty $5
Welington Castillo $2
Jonathan Schoop $7
Chris Owings $5
Zach McAllister $3
Matt Moore $7
Nate Jones $1

…which, now that we type it out in the merciless daylight after a night spent with this squad, doesn’t look as good to us as it looked in the smoky fluorescence of the tavern at 2 Monday morning while the bartender emptied the till and set the chairs upside-down on the tables. So we’ll see.

But one thing we did in this league may be of use to you and us down the road. A month ago, we identified some starting pitchers who qualified for the Holy Trinity and the Holy Quadrinity—two different approaches to granular stats designed to identify guys who pitched better than it might have looked like they did last season. With relief pitchers at something of a premium in the BBL, we took the same approaches to relievers who threw more than 30 innings in relief last year. Eight guys qualifed for both the Trinity and the Quadrinity. Two—uh, three–are closers (Zach Britton, Hector Rondon, and Gregerson). Two others are injured, and not in ways that bode especially well for their return (Carson Smith, Aaron Loup). The other three are Will Harris (well-known as a capable seventh-inning guy, and orphaned, a bit surprisingly, in the BBL, though we might have taken him at the end if Jones hadn’t been available); Xavier Cedeno (whom we got, contentedly, for $3, and who is a candidate to close some games for Tampa Bay); and Sean Gilmartin.

Gilmartin’s the really interesting one. He’s a former first-rounder who kicked around for a while as a starter until the Mets took him as a Rule 5 pick in December 2014. He was superb in long relief last season, and, though he’s left-handed, actually did better against right-handed hitters. The Mets optioned him to AAA a few days ago, evidently with the idea of making him a starter again. And indeed, it’s not clear why a left-hander who can get righties out and has a tepid fastball but a four-pitch repertoire wouldn’t fit in as a starter. Of course, that’s what the Braves and Twins thought when they had him. We nonetheless predict that the reconversion will work, and that he will prove to be a better pitcher than (former Rule Fiver) Logan Verrett, who’s his competition for the sixth-starter role. If, for whatever reason, Gilmartin gets summoned to start a game or games this season, we’re going to grab him, unless one of the bluefish grabs him first.