The Players I Roster Most in Ottoneu – End of Year Recap

Back in March, I shared my annual look at the players most likely to be found on my Ottoneu rosters, focusing on six players who were on four or more of my seven teams. This year I was interested to see how my rosters changed by the end of the season. So I redid the exercise of totalling up the players on my rosters to see where things shook out.

We’ll start with the six players I featured on four or more rosters in March – Daulton Varsho, Framber Valdez, Pablo López, Alex Cobb, Brandon Marsh, and Kyle Stowers. By the time the season started, Varsho, Marsh and Stowers were on five rosters each, the others on four. It doesn’t take long to read that list and realize those six were a mixed bag. And as the season wrapped up, only two of those players – López and Valdez – were still on more than half my rosters. In fact, Stowers and Cobb are no longer on any of my rosters and Marsh and Varsho are on just one each.

Some of this is not hugely surprising. The two SP I kept around were by far the most established players and the most likely to, barring injury, survive the season. Even as Valdez stumbled through a rough July and August, he was never on the chopping block.

Stowers and Marsh, on the other hand, were upside plays who were always on the edge of the roster. Marsh had a terrific season overall, with a .358 wOBA, but it didn’t really translate to Ottoneu, where his 4.85 P/G was merely okay. He helped me at times, but when he got cold in May, I got cold feet, as well. In the five leagues I started the season with him, I did the following:

• League 13: Traded a $2 Marsh along with $4 Shane Baz, $13 Rhys Hoskins and $5 Heston Kjertsad for $28 Seiya Suzuki, $36 Julio Urías and $15 Teoscar Hernandez on August 30.
• League 32: Traded a $2 Marsh and a $9 Michael Harris II for $7 Jack Suwinski, $4 Louie Varland, $2 Yennier Cano, and $5 Logan Allen on June 8.
• League 670: Still holding a $1 Marsh
• League 1372: Cut $1 Marsh on June 23
• League 1443: Cut $1 Marsh on June 23

Those last two aren’t a copy-paste error – I cut him in both places the same day. Honestly, none of those moves look great now, except where I kept him. Marsh took off again after I cut him in the last two. In league 32, I regret that trade though not so much because of Marsh. In league 13, I am fine with that deal. Urías obviously didn’t help, but Suzuki and Hernandez helped that team win the league.

Stowers MLB season never really got going and injuries kept him from getting a longer look. I cut him everywhere and he is a free agent in all seen of my leagues today, and I will probably take a look at him again in the spring – he was once again very good in Triple-A and could be interesting if he gets a shot.

Cobb opened the season well but completely lost it in the second half (one insanely good start being the exception) and was an easy cut for me. To be honest, I am happy with what I got from him. He put up 3.93 P/IP this year. In league 13, I got 4.40 from him. In league 670, I got 4.87. In 1199, I got 124.2 IP of 3.10 ERA and 1.24 WHIP. With a pitcher like Cobb – older, not elite, up-and-down history – being willing to take a shot on him is good, but you also have to be willing to jump ship when the time is right.

Varsho is a different story, because I didn’t expect to keep him. Back in March, I wrote that I would likely cut him in January 2024, knowing he would no longer be C-eligible. I also expected a step back in his production, but that step back was much larger than I expected. Given how far he fell, I am probably out on him for next season as an OF, but we’ll see what I think as I dive into the off-season in more detail.

With those guys out, who stepped in as my most-rostered players? Here are the 13 players on more than half of my rosters:

• Drew Thorpe – 6 rosters
• Chase DeLauter – 6
• Yennier Cano – 5
• Drew Gilbert – 5
• Framber Valdez – 4
• Pablo López – 4
• Spencer Steer – 4
• Adael Amador – 4
• Roman Anthony – 4
• Kyle Bradish – 4
• Luke Raley – 4
• Kerry Carpenter – 4
• Andrés Giménez – 4

Interestingly, despite the higher number of players on a majority of my roster, my teams are not actually more concentrated overall. In the spring, I had 281 roster spots filled with 186 unique players; today I have 311 spots filled with 196 players. Having an extra 30 spots to play with (thanks to the 60-day IL) allowed me to add more of my favorites, resulting in a bit more concentration (30 additional spots but 20 of those players are “repeats”).

I don’t expect all of these players to still be on this list come March, though. I never like carrying too many prospects and some of these prospects were added at high prices late in the season when budget didn’t matter. Valdez, López, and Bradish will be key cogs on multiple rotations, with Cano still backing them up in the pen. And I expect Steer and Carpenter to play big roles for me next year. Amador and DeLauter might be my favorites of these prospects, with Anthony not far behind, but the rest of these guys are likely to be shopped. One player – Giménez – I have because I picked up expensive versions of him in low-cost trades and I expect I’ll cut him where he is too costly.

Looking at the list, you probably get both trade assets and trade targets for me – if I could swap some of the prospects on that list to get guys like Bradish, Carpenter, or Steer, I would be very happy. We’ll see how the off-season plays out and look at this again in the Spring.