Stars and Scrubs and Ottoneu
Over the offseason, you were treated to a front row seat while I problem solved a ridiculously expensive roster. First, I whined that my leaguemates wouldn’t pay for my stars – namely Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw. Then, I detailed my execution of Plan B: Not the Birth Control. Then I jettisoned my back end of the roster players – trading some of them for nothing in return. Now, it’s time for the thrilling conclusion – my probable Opening Day roster.
The journey was instructive for me. I’ve never taken a true stars and scrubs approach to fantasy. I’ve always been a depthmonger. That’s right, I mong depth. Usually. This time, I’ll be relying on a few top 10 players to stay amazing. A host of $1 players will fill the remaining cracks. Let’s get down to details.
Here is the team I kept:
Hitter | Price | Pitcher | Price |
Mike Trout | $62 | Clayton Kershaw | $64 |
Paul Goldschmidt | $48 | Jake Arrieta | $32 |
Matt Carpenter | $24 | Corey Kluber | $27 |
Jason Kipnis | $19 | Lance McCullers | $7 |
Jonathan Lucroy | $16 | Jacob McGee | $7 |
George Springer | $13 | Zachary Britton | $6 |
Melky Cabrera | $6 | Justin Verlander | $5 |
Eugenio Suarez | $5 | Luis Severino | $5 |
Charles Blackmon | $5 | Andrew Miller | $5 |
Danny Valencia | $3 | Aaron Nola | $4 |
Ozhaino Albies | $2 | Jerad Eickhoff | $3 |
Nathan Jones | $3 | ||
Jose de Leon | $2 |
Of our $400 budget, my top six players accounted for $257 or 64.25 percent. Throw in the next three players and I had $305 (76.25 percent) of my budget dedicated to the top of my roster. Overall, I kept $373 for 24 players. We roster 40 total meaning I had $27 for 16 spots. And that’s only if I wanted $0 for in-season moves.
After waiting three hours for every other team to make their picks, here’s what I drafted:
Player | Price | Player | Price |
Ender Inciarte | $2 | J.J. Hardy | $1 |
Odubel Herrera | $1 | Seth Smith | $1 |
Raimel Tapia | $1 | Rajai Davis | $1 |
Dom Nunez | $1 | Delino Deshields Jr. | $1 |
Brandon Phillips | $1 | Daniel Hudson | $1 |
Bobby Bradley | $1 | Greg Holland | $1 |
John Murphy | $1 | Tony Zych | $1 |
Mike Napoli | $1 | Martin Perez | $1 |
I needed a reliever, an outfielder, a utility hitter, and some middle infield depth. You should always be able to find a couple $1 relief studs in a FanGraphs Points league. Hudson and Zych project to provide about seven points per inning with upside for more.
For outfield and utility hitter, I went with the turds to the wall approach. Smith and Davis are productive platoon bats. Any fantasy veteran has used one or both to patch a roster. Napoli could be more than just a platoon bat. Or maybe less. He has the highest immediate ceiling of my bargain picks with a large range of potential outcomes.
In Herrera, Inciarte, and DeShields, I selected three contact-oriented leadoff hitters. While they won’t give me a ton of points per plate appearance, they will probably come to plate more often than the typical replacement level outfielder. Volume has its place in ottoneu.
I keep betting that Hardy will one day return to health and above average power production. Perhaps I shouldn’t hold my breath. Phillips was a better snag. He’ll get his share of starts by bumping Carpenter to third base and Valencia out of the lineup entirely (or into the outfield).
I rounded things out with $1 prospects. Because prospects are always useful currency. You’ll see in a moment. Holland is kind of a prospect in this scenario too. I also snagged a solid hitting backup catcher to cover for the few plate appearances Lucroy leaves behind.
And here’s the post-draft fallout. More could happen, but I think this roster now feels complete:
Waiver Move | Trade #1 | Trade #2 | ||||||
Add | Jimmy Rollins | $1 | Add | Carter Capps | $5 | Add | Brandon Belt | $12 |
Drop | Martin Perez | $1 | Lose | Jose de Leon | $2 | Add | Pedro Alvarez | $2 |
Lose | Delino DeShields | $1 | ||||||
Lose | Ozhaino Albies | $2 |
Both trades were salary neutral, meaning I received $3 with Capps and $11 with Belt/Alvarez.
The waiver move is cut and dried. As with Hardy, I tend to have a consistently sunny outlook for Rollins around this time of year. A 15 home run season at U.S. Cellular Field is well within his grasp. He has usable platoon splits and upside for 20 home runs in that band box. I was saddled with Martin when I nominated him in the middle rounds of the draft. I thought for sure somebody would bid him to $2.
I tried to acquire Capps for most of the offseason. I worry about elbow troubles, yet I can’t pass on the potential for over 10 points per inning. He achieved just shy of 10 points per inning with just 11 holds. If he snags that closer’s job, he’ll get an extra five points per save. Holds are four points, but saves occur much more consistently. De Leon is a steep price, and I may come to regret it. By then, I’ll probably have turned the next couple De Leon’s into some kind of win-now asset.
Belt has outfield eligibility. Now I have a respectable backup to Goldschmidt, and I don’t even have to start any of those filler outfielders I acquired. Alvarez is currently without a team, but he’ll eventually land somewhere. And if I can restrict him to starts against terrible right-handed pitchers, I bet I’ll get solid production. All at a cost of future talent.
DeShields is a solid player in this format, but I don’t see much room for upside. Albies is the next Francisco Lindor in my mind. By the time he debuts, I’ll probably have forgotten I ever owned him. And hopefully I’ll have another fantasy pennant to wave for my troubles.
Lessons
- Stars and scrubs can work (on paper) in keeper leagues with rebuilding owners.
- Wait until you’re the last man in the draft room, then select an assortment of roster patches and prospects.
- Post draft, consolidate your patches and prospects to further bandage your biggest weaknesses.
You can follow me on twitter @BaseballATeam
Did you play with the standard rule of having to nominate when your turn came? If so, I was just wondering how many players that you nominated and expected to get for $1 — ended up in other teams hands. It seems like you would have had to have a rather large list of $1 players to be comfortable with (and patience to not bid $2 on anyone else nominated for the most part).
Yes, I had to nominate. Mostly I just picked guys I thought would be bid much higher than $1. Got stuck with Martin Perez that way. I occasionally tried to sneak a guy through with little success. Nobody I really cared about. I did win Rajai and Smith that way.
Inciarte was the only $2 bid I won. I actually bid $2 on about 10 players total, they just all went for more.
I had just completed a 900 player dynasty draft. Ottoneu is comparatively shallow (just 480 players rostered). I still have another 100 players+ I consider rosterable for $1.