Month: September 2014

Final Mastersball.com SWAT report: September 22, 2014

The last Bidmeister run came at midnight last night, and players were bought with whatever FAAB remained. As it does each week, mastersball.com has compiled the bids and the results, with commentary about the action. You can read it here.

This week they’ve combined the Tout Wars and LABR reports. Even if you don’t care much about LABR, it’s worth getting past the LABR portion for Todd Zola’s take on FAAB rules and procedures.

We’ll be talking about some of these this winter at Tout Wars Headquarters. I’ve never played with a 1000 unit budget, but look forward to hearing people’s experiences dealing with it.

The Tout Wars Mixed Auction Reaping.

Screenshot 2014-09-20 13.39.16On September 1, there was a tangle of tributes scrapping for Mixed Auction supremacy.

But since then Derek Van Riper has been on a run. In the September standings he has scored 121 points, with Zach Steinhorn (104), Fred Zinkie (101.5), Ray Guilfoyle (95.5) and Al Melchior (95.5) trailing.

The contending teams have done well, but none so well as Derek. Today, before the start of the season’s final nine days, he leads Fred Zinkie by seven points.

Screenshot 2014-09-20 13.49.44Can Van Riper be caught?

Let’s take a closer look at the categories, and see who could gain, and if Derek can lose. The numbers are (points to be gained/points to be lost).

RUNS
Van Riper (0/0)
Zinkie (+2/-.5)
Steinhorn (+1/-2)
Melchior (0/-3)
Guilfoyle (+.5/-1.5)

HOME RUNS
Van Riper (0/0)
Zinkie (0/0)
Steinhorn (+1/0)
Melchior (0/0)
Guilfoyle (0/0)

RBI
Van Riper (0/-1) Eight ahead of Melchior.
Zinkie (0/0)
Steinhorn (0/0)
Melchior (+1/0) Eight behind Van Riper, who has five more RBI in September.
Guilfoyle (0/-1)

STOLEN BASES
Van Riper (+.5/-.5)
Zinkie (+.5/-.5)
Steinhorn (0/0)
Melchior (0/0)
Guilfoyle (0/0)

OBP
Van Riper (0/0)
Zinkie (+2/-1)
Steinhorn (+2/-2)
Melchior (+1/0)
Guilfoyle (+1/=1)

OVERALL HITTING
Van Riper (+.5/-1.5)
Zinkie (+4.5/-2)
Steinhorn (+4/-4)
Melchior (+2/-3)
Guilfoyle (+1.5/-3.5)

WINS
Van Riper (+1.5/-1)
Zinkie (0/-.5)
Steinhorn (0/-2.5)
Melchior (+1/0)
Guilfoyle (+1.5/-1.5)

SAVES
Van Riper (0/0)
Zinkie (0/0)
Steinhorn (0/0)
Melchior (0/0)
Guilfoyle (+1/0)

ERA
Van Riper (0/0)
Zinkie (+1/0)
Steinhorn (0/0)
Melchior (0/-1)
Guilfoyle (0/0)

WHIP
Van Riper (+3/-2)
Zinkie (0/-1)
Steinhorn (+1/0)
Melchior (+3/-1)
Guilfoyle (0/0)

STRIKEOUTS
Van Riper (0/0) Van Riper is only six K ahead of Davitt, but has 203 Ks this month, opposed to Patrick’s 130.
Zinkie (+2/-2) Zinkie has far fewer K this month than Heaney and Pianowski, but trails them by five and three respectively. There’s room for a miracle.
Steinhorn (+1/0)
Melchior (0/0)
Guilfoyle (0/0)

OVERALL PITCHING
Van Riper (+4.5/-3)
Zinkie (+3/-3.5)
Steinhorn (+2/-2.5)
Melchior (+4/-2)
Guilfoyle (+2.5/-1.5)

OVERALL OVERALL
Van Riper (+5/-4.5)
Zinkie (+7.5/-5.5)
Steinhorn (+6/-6.5)
Melchior (+6/-5)
Guilfoyle (+4/-5)

POINT RANGE (Max/Min)
Van Riper (123/113.5)
Zinkie (118.5/104.5)
Steinhorn (112/99.5)
Melchior (109/98)
Guilfoyle (106.5/97)

The bottom line here is that Van Riper can get out of harm’s way, but Zinkie has a chance to catch him. No one else does.

The Tout Wars Mixed Draft Horse Race!

Screenshot 2014-09-20 12.16.11It’s a match race. And it couldn’t be closer.

Tim McLeod has been the best Tout Mixed Draft team in September, while Perry Van Hook has been fifth best. Curiously, on September 1 Tim was in first place with 107 points, while Perry was in second with 105. Brent Hershey had a puncher’s chance back the, with 102.5 points.

Here’s what you need to know as we approach the last week (Likely possible gain/Likely possible loss):

RUNS:
Van Hook (+1/0)
McLeod (0/0) Tim is only nine runs ahead of Kessenich, but both have been equally productive this month.

HOME RUNS:
Van Hook (0/0)
McLeod (+2/-1)

RBI:
Van Hook (0/0)
McLeod (+1/0)

STOLEN BASES:
Van Hook (0/0)
McLeod (+1/0)

OBP:
Van Hook (0/0)
McLeod (0/0)

HITTING OVERALL
Van Hook (+1/0)
McLeod (+5/-1)

WINS
Van Hook (+.5/-.5)
McLeod (+2/-1.5)

SAVES
Van Hook (+2/-1)
McLeod (+.5/0)

ERA
Van Hook (0/-1)
McLeod (0/0)

WHIP
Van Hook (+1/-2)
McLeod (0/-1)

STRIKEOUTS
Van Hook (0/0)
McLeod (+1/0)

PITCHING OVERALL
Van Hook (+3.5/-4.5)
McLeod (+3.5/-2.5)

OVERALL OVERALL
Van Hook (+4.5/-4.5)
McLeod (+8.5/-3.5)

In no category are the two leaders competing against each other. Based on his current lead and his larger potential upside, McLeod has a slim edge, but this promises to be a nailbiter.

Mastersball.com FAAB Report, Sept. 15, 2014: Don’t Ignore the Ratios

Mastersball tracks all the week’s FAAB in the four Tout Wars leagues, and then Lord Zola goes the extra mile, demonstrating that even in the season’s final weeks there is movement (or potential for movement) in all the categories.

There is.

Winding Down FAAB Report for September 8, 2014

Mastersball.com keeps compiling our FAAB reports, as we head into the season’s last three weeks (only two more FAAB periods).

Unless something dramatic happens, our AL winner will be Rick Wolf and Glenn Colton, while the NL will fall for the third straight time to Tristan Cockcroft.

But you can follow the tight races in Tout Mixed Auction (Zinkie leads Van Riper by a half point, while Al Melchior and Zach Steinhorn trail by six and seven points respectively) and Tout Mixed Draft (Tim McLeod 109, Brent Hershey 107, Perry Van Hook 106.5 are clustered up top) by clicking the links.

Mixed Auction: Zach Steinhorn, Steady As He Goes.

Zach Steinhorn is one of a half dozen owners in contention for the Tout Wars Mixed Auction title.

Standings as of September 2, 2014
Standings as of September 2, 2014

Zach writes:

Although most of my Mastersball column space this season has been devoted to Mixed Auction Tout Wars, I’ve made a conscious effort to avoid patting myself on the back, mostly for superstitious reasons, of course. And I’m not about to pat myself on the back now, not with less than a month remaining in the season and with six teams within 11 points of the lead and a mere four points separating second place from fifth place. I’ve been in that top six for the vast majority of the season, and just to enter September having a legitimate chance to win this league is pretty special. The “second place is first loser” line is nonsense, especially when competing against the best in the business. Would I be bummed if I fall a few points short of first place? Sure. But would I remember 2014 the same way as I remember my first two Tout Wars seasons, in which I finished in 10th and 11th out of 15 teams? Absolutely not.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, I received an e-mail from league mate Fred Zinkie, and when I saw the subject line, “Tout”, I was positive that it was yet another one of his weekly trade proposals. Instead, Fred noted that while scanning my current roster and comparing it to my post-auction roster, he noticed that almost every player I purchased in the auction was still on my roster. I think the figure was 20 out of 23. He went on to say that this kind of roster stability was something he had never seen in a contending team and that he would not offer me any more trades because he was curious to see how things play out should I continue with virtually the same roster.

I knew I was a patient owner, but even I didn’t realize that the numbers were this extreme. So I guess it’s fair to say that my auction performance is the main reason for my success this year. Adding Mark Buehrle for one FAAB dollar in early-April and benefiting from the good part of his season before cutting ties with him at the right time certainly helped. Picking up Henderson Alvarez for $9 in early-June was nice. But nothing can compare to drafting Nelson Cruz for $10. Or Denard Span for $1. Or even Jose Altuve for $16.

I’m going to stop here though, for superstitious reasons.

Tout FAAB Report, September 1, 2014

Mastersball.com does its usual bang up job on this week’s claims. You can read them here.

I do think there’s a bit of a story about Dilson Herrera. I track minor leaguers, but I’m not obsessive. A 20 year old in the Mets organization, Herrera wasn’t on my short term radar. And obviously he wasn’t on anyone’s, because Tout NL has been sucking up minor league talent weeks before they get called up all season long.

When Herrera was called up I looked at his stats and was sure he was worth a claim. As I went over the options, I moved him to the top of my list, past Tabata and Grichuk. As I looked at it closer I upped his bid from minimal to the teens. I thought he had some chance of being something, and we don’t get that many chances for that. Especially in September.

I made some trades, which negated my bid for Herrera, but the bidding on him is instructive. This is a young hitter without much experience. The odds yesterday were that he would not be a big contributor. But the odds yesterday were that there weren’t many major players coming. Herrera ended up being the object of much affection.

DiHerrera, NYM 26 Seth Trachtman 37 Lenny Melnick 25 Derek Carty 21 Tristan H. Cockcroft 15

Herrera homered today, which has to make Seth Trachtman happy. He’s clearly a major prospect, but he wasn’t coveted. What was his market value? At this time of year, golden, at least for a team that needs help and has nothing to lose.