Mocking Mocks And The Mockers Who Mock Them

We’ll be wrapping up analysis of our mock auction from a few weeks back this week, and I wanted to bring you analysis from two more participants in the mock before we did. And give you a chance to win an FG+, since I mucked up the first shot at it this morning with an easy one.

Here’s reader Trey White’s team:

Trey White, RotoGraphs Reader
C $11 Jonathan Lucroy C-MIL
C $1 Michael Zunino C-SEA
1B $18 Mark Teixeira 1B-NYY
2B $12 Jose Altuve 2B-HOU
3B $31 Evan Longoria 3B/DH-TB
SS $16 Elvis Andrus SS-TEX
OF $37 Carlos Gonzalez OF-COL
OF $12 Mark Trumbo OF/1B/DH-LAA
OF $3 Jason Kubel OF-AZ
OF $5 Corey Hart OF/1B-MIL
OF $4 Logan Morrison OF/1B-MIA
MI $4 Jurickson Profar 2B-TEX
CI $6 Ryan Howard 1B-PHI
Util $1 Adam Eaton OF-AZ
P $9 Rafael Soriano RP-WSH
P $35 Stephen Strasburg SP-WSH
P $21 Madison Bumgarner SP-SF
P $15 Aroldis Chapman SP/RP-CIN
P $6 Kenley Jansen RP-LAD
P $2 Chris Carpenter SP-STL
P $1 Hyun-Jin Ryu SP-LAD
P $1 David Robertson RP-NYY
P $3 Josh Beckett SP-LAD

Trey had this to add about the auction:

My strategy was to spend 1/3 of my budget on pitching and the remainder on hitting (obviously). I definitely wanted to get one of the top three arms on my board (Verlander, Kershaw, and Strasburg). My preference was for Strasburg and I budgeted $35 for one of them. I ended up getting Strasburg for exactly that amount.

I also went into the draft wanting a top bat at both first and in the outfield. After losing out on the top 1B options and Braun (they all went for a little more than I was prepared to spend), I made sure to grab CarGo. I then decided to wait on 1B and target Stanton as my big power bat instead. Unfortunately I lost out on him, although I wish I would have pushed a little harder since I ended the draft with leftover cash.

Overall, I am happy with the total direction of the offense — it consists of steady performers and players with significant upside. The roster has decent power and speed, although batting average could be a bit of an issue. Hopefully both Hart and Morrison come back from injury sooner than later.

If Chapman pans out as a Top 20 starter (as I expect), then this team should challenge for the ERA and strikeout titles. Saves could be an issue if Jansen doesn’t claim the closer job from League, but saves can typically be found on the waiver wire. Ryu, Beckett, and Carpenter are all cheap options to round out the staff. They have the potential to put up strong numbers, or quickly find their way to my bench/waivers.

The draft took place right before the Upton trade to the Braves, so I expect the price tag on Kubel and Eaton to rise as we get closer to the season. Getting those two for a combined $4 is currently a steal. On the flip side, spending a combined $50 for the Strasburg and Chapman combination could be risky — neither has put together a complete season as a starter in the majors.

Tony Mauriello writes at FantasyTrade411.com and co-mocked with Michael Clifford. Here’s their team:

Tony Mauriello / Michael Clifford, FantasyTrade411
C $14 Salvador Perez C-KC
C $5 Ryan Doumit C/OF/DH-MIN
1B $38 Joey Votto 1B-CIN
2B $8 Danny Espinosa 2B/SS-WSH
3B $33 Adrian Beltre 3B/DH-TEX
SS $6 Everth Cabrera SS-SD
OF $13 Josh Willingham OF/DH-MIN
OF $13 Michael Morse OF-SEA
OF $4 Alfonso Soriano OF-CHC
OF $7 Carlos Gomez OF-MIL
OF $6 Drew Stubbs OF-CLE
MI $5 Zack Cozart SS-CIN
CI $9 David Freese 3B-STL
Util $4 Will Middlebrooks 3B-BOS
P $28 Felix Hernandez SP-SEA
P $4 Bruce Rondon RP-DET
P $16 Roy Halladay SP-PHI
P $6 Jim Johnson RP-BAL
P $9 Sergio Romo RP-SF
P $10 Joe Nathan RP-TEX
P $6 Wade Miley SP-AZ
P $8 Mike Fiers SP-MIL
P $4 Lance Lynn SP/RP-STL

Tony had these feelings about the mock:

Going into this standard, 14-team rotisserie draft, I budgeted 70% of my $260 auction dollars on hitting and 30% on pitching — and I ended up sticking quite close to this. I tend to build more of a “balanced” team, with a few studs sprinkled into the mix, rather than purely a “stars and scrubs” team. I felt that my two studs (Joey Votto at $38 and King Felix at $28) were excellent values early in the draft after seeing both Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder coming off the board for $40 shortly after I bought Votto. Adrian Beltre was a value (at $33) as David Wright went for $28 and both oft-injured Evan Longora and 3B-eligible Hanley Ramirez went for $31. After I spent big early, I sat back and watched my leaguemates purchase higher-end players knowing that I was targeting lower-priced players later on. I wanted to lock up saves and I believe I accomplished that with three definite closers on my roster with another (youngster Bruce Rondon) waiting for his chance in Detroit. I believe that I have a solid mix of lower-priced power (Soriano, Freese, Morse, Willingham, Middlebrooks) with lower-priced speed (Espinosa, Evereth Cabrera, Stubbs, Gomez). In this two-catcher league, I wanted to focus on grabbing backstops who had the possibility of .285 seasons as I did not want two batting average drains to come from these two spots when I knew I would have to sacrifice in this category from some of my power-hitting outfielders. Overall, I believe the team has a chance to contend for the title with its balanced power and speed combo players coupled with high strikeout pitchers who should keep their ratios down.

This is all very relevant to the work that has been keeping me down recently. My entry into the FanGraphs+ annual was a piece on auction strategies, where I break down both stars and scrubs as well as the balanced approach. If you’d like a free copy of FanGraphs+, just answer this question:

I have a graph in my piece of what kind of absolute value you produce when you put a fantasy league-average line at each position. According to this analysis, over the past three years, there have been not one, but two positions that have been more scarce than shortstop. And one position, which used to sport the best offense in the game for a three-year stretch beginning in 2004, is suddenly the fourth-neediest position on the field. Can you tell me which three positions I’m talking about?