Last Day Ottoneu Auctions to Start

Today (Friday, October 1) is the last day in 2021 you can start auctions in an Ottoneu league. The rules are set so that all adds take place before the season ends (that is, you can’t start an auction Sunday, which will end on Tuesday, two days after the end of the regular season). This means that as you are grooming your roster to get ready for the off-season, today is your last opportunity to add guys who might be keepers, might have trade value, or might just sit on your roster until you cut them again in January. To mark this occasion, we’ll look at some widely available players you can still try to pick up.

I will look at one pitcher and one hitter each in three categories: 25-50% rostered, 10-25% rostered, <10% rostered. I am going to focus on players currently on an active MLB roster (or IL), but I would suggest taking a look at some recently published top prospect lists to see if there are any interesting names available in your league. But first, a couple notes:

  1. Auctions must be started by 11:59 PM ET Friday night.
  2. Players cut at this point can’t be re-auctioned, and players you cut Sunday cannot be claimed on waivers. All auctions, waivers, etc., shut down at 11:59 PM ET Sunday night. This means that if you have a $50 Cody Bellinger you have been scared to cut, you could cut him Sunday, after winning an auction you start today, with no risk of giving someone else a discount on Bellinger.
  3. Don’t be the manager who starts five auctions today and then rolls into the off-season without making cuts to get “legal.” In practice, you won’t set lineups after midday Sunday anyway, and all issues with illegal rosters will be wiped away when the season ends Sunday night. But it’s just bad form to try to game that by carrying a bunch of extra salary or players into the off-season. I will make cuts to get legal on Sunday for any auctions I start today. I will ask everyone in my leagues to do the same.

With that, let’s dive in.

Less than 50% Rostered

Yoshi Tsutsugo – 38.1% rostered, $1 median salary – Tsutsugo looked like a bust a few weeks back. He came over from Japan before the 2020 season, spent the strange year struggling in Tampa, then never got a real shot in Tampa in 2021 before being punted off to another not-real-shot with the Dodgers. Then Pittsburgh picked him up and planted him firmly in the starting lineup, and he has posted 5.25 points per game over his 39 games with the Pirates. That is despite getting just 3.23 PA per game. Take away his PH appearances, and his numbers look even better. Despite a decrease in hard-hit rate, he has increased his barrel rate, boosted his fly-ball rate, and posted a solid HR/FB rate. His K-rate, which was 27.0% last year and over 30% with both Tampa and LA this year is down to 20.6% with Pittsburgh, thanks to a boost in contact rate. His .304 BABIP doesn’t cause concern. There were a lot of reasons to be high on Tsutsugo before he came to MLB, and given the circumstances of the 2020 season, it isn’t hard to imagine he took a little longer than expected to get comfortable in MLB. If this is what comfortable looks like, I want in.

Other names to consider: Bryan De La Cruz (47.1% rostered, $2 median salary – has cooled off lately but was scorching the ball with Miami); Josh Naylor (44.5% rostered, $2 median salary – on the 60-day so doesn’t even cost a roster spot to dive deeper in the off-season); Hunter Dozier (48.8% rostered, $5 median salary – I think 2019 might just be an outlier, but he has been much better lately and may have trade value this off-season if people hype his hot finish)

Luke Weaver – 44.8% rostered, $1 median salary – Over his last seven starts, Weaver has 4.62 points per inning pitched. Honestly, I am not sure much more information than that is needed to justify taking a flyer on a SP these days. That stretch includes two May starts before a lengthy injury absence, then five starts in September. Over those five starts, he has a 3.84 ERA with a 4.64 FIP, which is obviously not great, but he has faced a pretty rough schedule including the Dodgers, Padres, Giants, and Braves (with the Rangers balancing those out). You’d have to pick and choose your 2022 starts with him, but he’s a talented pitcher who is capable of helping out your rotation.

Other names to consider: Luke Jackson (31.1% rostered, $1 median salary – over 7 P/IP and pretty locked into a solid late-inning role), Kris Bubic (32.9% rostered, $2 median salary – Young, talented arm who has rattled off one acceptable start, followed by two good starts, and finally one great start down the stretch), Mitch Keller (43.0% rostered, $4 median salary – the consistency is lacking, but his last seven starts have featured some very good performances and the pedigree is strong)

Less than 25% Rostered

Kyle Isbel – 16.9% rostered, $1 median salary – Isbel crushed rookie ball in 2019 (as expected, given he was old for the level), but struggled in A-ball. Then we lost sight of him in 2020 thanks to the lack of a minor league season, and he reappeared to start this year in MLB, where he really struggled in April. He then spent most of the year in Triple-A, putting up 5.74 P/G over 105 games. But since his return to the Royals, he has been excellent – .282/.364/.538 in 44 PA. Yes, it is only 44 PA, but he is walked 11.4% of the time and striking out only 13.6% of the time, and that is a pretty great profile to bet on. If he has a full-time job in KC next year, he’s a solid back-of-the-OF option with upside.

Other names to consider: Elias Diaz (23.8% rostered, $1 median salary – great cheap option to be half a C platoon, using him only at Coors), Adam Engel (10.8% rostered, $1 median salary – OF posting 5.11 P/G? Yes, please)

Camilo Doval – 17.2% rostered, $2 median salary – With Jake McGee sidelined, Doval seems to have the closer gig in San Francisco for the time being, and he has earned it. Over his last 10 appearances, he has pitched 9.2 innings and put up 92.73 points, which is elite performance for an Ottoneu reliever. And that is despite having just two saves and no holds over that time. If he locks down a backend role with the Giants for 2022 and pitches like this, he’ll be an Ottoneu stud.

other names: Nick Sandlin (14.5% rostered, $1 median salary – his performance without saves and holds has been pretty solid, and if he has a more established role next year, he could be a 7+ P/IP pitcher), Tyler Gilbert (14.5% rostered, $2 median salary – 4.65 P/IP in six starts and three relief appearances is enough to pique my interest), Paolo Espino (13.4% rostered, $1 median salary – was on a really nice run before starts at Colorado and at Cincinnati, but you wouldn’t use him in those parks anyway)

Less than 10% Rostered

Nick Fortes – 0% rostered, $0 median salary – We’re getting into the deep cuts here and this is your chance to be the first Ottoneu manager to roster Fortes! The 24-year-old catcher doesn’t have much pedigree and his minor league numbers are not impressive, but since getting called up to the Marlins, he has played in ten games with 60.9 points, including three HR! Killing it! As of this writing, he is on an 0-8 streak, so the awesome start may have already dried up, but a couple more solid games over the weekend, plus some chatter about him winning the job in Spring, and maybe he is interesting? More than likely he is a cut come January 31, but who knows?

Other names to consider: Geraldo Perdomo (4.7% rostered, $1 median salary – 21-year-old with a highly-rated hit tool and MI eligibility), Yu Chang (0.9% rostered; $1 median salary – 64 points over his last nine starts; if he lands in a starting job this off-season, he could be interesting), Colton Welker (3.2% rostered, $1 median salary – solid minor league numbers and will get to call Coors home, so I am writing off the small sample in MLB this year)

Art Warren – 2.3% rostered, $1 median salary – His P/IP look good every year at every level until you get back to High-A in 2017. With the Reds this year, he has a 40.8% K-rate and a 10.5% walk rate in 19 innings. If he couples that kind of performance with enough holds (or saves) he’s pretty useful. It would be an unexpected emergence, but unexpected relievers are kind of to be expected, right?

Other names to consider: Michael King (4.7% rostered, $1 median salary – the Yankees have used Chad Green in a bulk role that has been valuable in Ottoneu for a few years, and King has been doing that since his return from the IL), Chris Ellis (1.2% rostered, $1 median salary – he’s a freely available SP with more than 4 P/IP on a team that doesn’t really have better options for their rotation), Jalen Beeks (6.1% rostered, $3 median salary – has a history as a solid bulk relief option, plus he’s on the 60-day now so he doesn’t cost a roster spot)





A long-time fantasy baseball veteran and one of the creators of ottoneu, Chad Young's writes for RotoGraphs and PitcherList, and can be heard on the ottobot podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @chadyoung.

1 Comment
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Joe Wilkeymember
2 years ago

“This means that if you have a $50 Cody Bellinger you have been scared to cut, you could cut him Sunday, after winning an auction you start today, with no risk of giving someone else a discount on Bellinger.”

To clarify, you could cut him anytime today without giving someone a discount. Since all auctions have to be started by the end of the day today, any cuts today will not clear waivers until tomorrow, which is too late for auctions. Anyone claiming him on waivers would have to pay full price. If you want to guarantee he’s a free agent going into the offseason, you have to wait until Sunday.