Author: Todd Zola

Welcome to the weekly Tout Wars FAAB report, on its new home right here on the Tout Wars site. Each week, we’ll review the free agent acquisitions from all five leagues, with commentary from a league member, as well as yours truly. We changed the timing of the weekly run to 1 PM ET every Sunday, with the report posted later that afternoon so you’ll have time to digest and apply to your own leagues. In addition, I’ll be joining Lawr Michaels and Justin Mason on the Tout Wars Hour on the FNTSY Network every Sunday at 3:20 PM ET to discuss the results.

You can find the complete list of Tout Warriors here. Everyone starts with 1000 FAAB units, less any penalty incurred by finishing below a designated point in the standings. This is a means of keeping everyone motivated to keep playing all season long. The minimum bid is $0. FAAB units can be traded as well as rebated for players released off the DL.

The report will list all winning bids along with unsuccessful tries and contingencies. This provides the maximum level of information to help gauge interest on the players.

The American and National League only formats are 12-team leagues, as is the new points-based head to head league, The Mixed Auction and Draft each have 15 clubs. All the leagues have four reserves with an unlimited DL, expect the head to head league, which allows six reserves.

The headings above each league are links to publicly accessible sites where you can see standings, roster and a complete review of transactions. The initial auctions and drafts can be found here.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Mike Podhorzer’s Commentary

NATIONAL LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Brian Walton’s Commentary

Based on Twitter dialogue among several Tout warriors on Sunday afternoon, some league members have not yet adapted to the new Sunday mid-day (or morning depending on your time zone) FAAB deadline. Routines will eventually change, but for this week, just eight of 12 owners placed bids.

Pitching was the primary target. That was not surprising, since as of Saturday night, no hitter who had more than nine at-bats this past week was available on the waiver wire, with most on top being catchers.

Milwaukee’s Matt Albers fetched the most money, $48 from BaseballHQ’s Phil Hertz. With Corey Knebel out for at least six weeks, the dreaded closer by committee was the initial announcement by manager Craig Counsell. Jacob Barnes (who I had acquired earlier for this very opportunity) was given the first shot on Saturday, but was victimized by atrocious defense from his Brew Crew teammates. Maybe Albers will be next, but unless he strikes out the side, his chances are questionable.

Reborn Tyson Ross is back with San Diego and was picked up for $25 by ESPN’s Tristan H. Cockcroft. Tristan, by the way, maintains a valuable resource for all readers, tracking multiple pitching starts in the week ahead. Ross has a tough outing against Houston on Sunday, but Cockcroft will not take that hit. He will get a much more favorable home outing for Ross against the Giants on Friday. This is an example of why Tristan has three NL Tout titles on his resume.

Hertz was also the winning bidder for Mets right-hander Robert Gsellman, at $21. A starter last season, Gsellman is pitching in long relief in 2018, and so far, so good. In four innings over four games, the 24-year old has allowed just two hits, no walks and has fanned an impressive eight.

The lone position player to fetch multiple digits in this week’s bidding was Washington catcher Pedro Severino, going to Lenny Melnick for $11. With Matt Wieters out (not on Melnick’s roster), Severino took the lead role over the weekend and offers better defense than veteran Miguel Montero, who was away from the club for a personal matter. Once Montero returns, we will have to watch how the playing time is doled out by first-year skipper Dave Martinez.

Todd’s Take

I’ll second Brian’s recommendation to check out Tristan’s revamped Forecaster, free on ESPN. Instead of a weekly schedule, Tristan will maintain a rolling schedule for the next 10 days, for both probable pitchers and hitting matchups. There’s a permanent link for each on every ESPN fantasy baseball web page.

I’m still looking to upgrade my hitting, but as you can see by the predominance of reserve catchers in the report, bats were scant this week. I’m sporting the low stack in terms of FAAB, so I’m planning on being aggressive.

MIXED LEAGUE AUCTION

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Bret Sayre’s Commentary

The biggest takeaway from this week’s FAAB bidding was that there were two unresolved closer situations still in the process of working itself out, and did so to the tune of around 400 units. Los Angeles is the more clear-cut situation, where Middleton looks to be the guy for right now. He already got one save in replacement of Blake Parker, and would have gotten another on Friday if Kole Calhoun hadn’t scored on a wild pitch to raise a three-run lead to a four-run one. Scott Swanay’s bid (215) certainly trumped mine (78) by quite a bit, but my hesitancy comes from the fact that there’s really no telling what Mike Scioscia will be doing here by the end of April. Middleton may be the guy almost guaranteed to get the next save situation, but what happens when he inevitably blows one? In Milwaukee, it’s completely up in the air and both Albers and Jeffress were added this week (making five Brewers’ relievers rostered in this league, amazingly). That number should go down to three by the next run of FAAB. I still think this ends up Jacob Barnes’ job, despite the ugly performance over the weekend, but with Corey Knebel likely to be back before Memorial Day, it’ll be a short-lived prize.

The other two big moves if the week were two west coast hitters, one significantly more well-known than the other. Ohtani, the hitter, had a strong showing last week and is now up to a .389 average and three homers. But more significantly, he started three games in a row. If he’s going to start consistently (except for the day he pitches and the day before), the hitter version of him could hold more value than most of us anticipated. I still think the Angels will slow this down a little when Ian Kinsler returns, as won’t be able to continue playing Luis Valbuena and Albert Pujols every day, but those of us who estimated he’d get around 250-300 at-bats, may surprisingly end up a little light on the estimate. My biggest move was grabbing Valbuena, who has also made the most of his playing time in Kinsler’s absence—hitting .308 with two homers since the second baseman hit the DL. He shouldn’t be near the lineup against lefties, but can still show 25-homer pop against righties. I’ll have to hope my third base position doesn’t go full Spinal Tap drummer on me, as I’ve already lost my starter (Justin Turner) and his replacement (Jedd Gyorko) to the infirmary. Villanueva was the other, but he hasn’t done much outside his magical three-homer game. The Padres should give him a good run at third base to see what they have, but that may require the dispossession of hitless Chase Headley. His upside in a mixed league still remains questionable.

Todd’s Take

Scoop time — one of my Twitter followers has it on good authority Ohtani is pronounced OH-tuh-nee, not oh-TAH-nee.

Either way, I’m not as confident as Bret he’ll be mixed-league worthy. At best, he’ll bat three times a week. If he pitches on Day 1, he’ll hit on Days 2,3 and 4. There will be times a southpaw is scheduled, likely leaving Ohtani on the pine.  I’m sorry, but three, sometimes four games a week won’t get it done.

MIXED DRAFT LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Todd’s Take

It’s no surprise closers dominated bidding. Some are pointing to the early scuffles of Kenley Jansen and the unfortunate injury to Corey Knebel as proof positive never to pay for saves. OK, that’s fine. However, riddle me this? Who’s closing for the Angels? Or Brewers? You can take your chance on the perceived safe choices, or you can throw darts in FAAB. There’s no right answer.

I’m curious how the Rays will treat Yonny Chirinos. It appears he’s now one of the four regular starters, and not someone paraded out during the bullpen day. As a regular starter, Chirinos is mixed-league worthy, but temper expectations. The 24-year old righty isn’t dominant, but he won’t beat himself.

HEAD TO HEAD MIXED AUCTION

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Todd’s Take

Still being convinced pitching is the road to victory in this head to head scoring, I’m all in with the Tyler Skaggs bid from Rotowire’s Clay Link. It’s not a play for this week as Skagg’s has just one start, lined up in Texas on Tuesday, not the easiest place to pitch. To me, this is a bet a healthy Skaggs has the break out many expect. So far, so good as he’s whiffed 10 with two walks in 11 stanzas to open the 2018 campaign.

Welcome to the weekly Tout Wars FAAB report, on its new home right here on the Tout Wars site. Each week, we’ll review the free agent acquisitions from all five leagues, with commentary from a league member, as well as yours truly. We changed the timing of the weekly run to 1 PM ET every Sunday, with the report posted later that afternoon so you’ll have time to digest and apply to your own leagues. In addition, I’ll be joining Lawr Michaels and Justin Mason on the Tout Wars Hour on the FNTSY Network every Sunday at 3:20 PM ET to discuss the results.

I apologize, posting is a little late this week. In addition, I opted to give the Touts the week off so they could spend time with the friends and family, hunting Easter Eggs, the afikomen or just general April Fool’s balderdash. As such, I’ll provide the commentary for all five leagues with the Touts returning next week to give an insider view.

As smentioned, there are five leagues, you can find the complete list of Tout Warriors here. Everyone starts with 1000 FAAB units, less any penalty incurred by finishing below a designated point in the standings. This is a means of keeping everyone motivated to keep playing all season long. The minimum bid is $0. FAAB units can be traded as well as rebated for players released off the DL.

The report will list all winning bids along with unsuccessful tries and contingencies. This provides the maximum level of information to help gauge interest on the players.

The American and National League only formats are 12-team leagues, as is the new points-based head to head league, The Mixed Auction and Draft each have 15 clubs. All the leagues have four reserves with an unlimited DL, expect the head to head league, which allows six reserves.

The headings above each league are links to publicly accessible sites where you can see standings, roster and a complete review of transactions. The initial auctions and drafts can be found here.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Todd’s Take

Real estate is all about location; fantasy potential is all about playing time, and right now, Tyler Austin lines up for some run at first base. That said, the path isn’t perfectly clear as Miguel Andujar was just called up and will likely see some time at first as well. Plus, the club seems intent on finding Tyler Wade at bats, pushing Neil Walker to the right corner  too. Austin drew the Tout’s attention with a pair of homers on Saturday. Mixed leaguers should pay attention, but it isn’t a foregone conclusion Austin plays enough to be viable in shallower formats.

I’m a little surprised there wasn’t more activity on the Red Sox Brian Johnson as he opens the week with a sweet start in The Aquarium, otherwise known as Marlins Park. Granted, the Fish hit a couple of Cubs hurlers hard this weekend, but that will be the exception, not the rule. There’s even a chance Johnson grabs a second start at home versus the Rays.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Phil Hertz of BaseballHQ was kind enough to send his thoughts:

I’m still trying to patch my pitching staff and made a decision that carrying Jimmie Sherfy in a re-draft League was probably not the best use of a reserve slot. With that in mind, I made an ambivalent bid on Joey Lucchesi, the Padre rookie who had a so-so start this weekend. Like Sherfy, I just wasn’t sure he’d have loads of value in a re-draft league, but at least he was up and starting. I wound up with the third highest bid on him – he went to Derek Carty and given Derek’s acumen, I’m second guessing myself on my ambivalence. My contingent bids after that were set-up relievers. I’m still hoping to get lucky with one of those guys graduating into a closer gig. I wound up with Fields, my third choice – one of the perils of a good start is I was next to last in the bidding pecking order.

A couple of bids raised my eyebrows. Even in a 1000 FAAB environment, 75 seemed high for Ryan Flaherty, who’s been a fantasy cipher most of his career and is likely to be a reserve by the middle of the month. Similarly 29 for Jordan Hicks seemed like an overpay, given the Holland signing and the depth of the Cardinal pen. Most of the Touts seemed to agree: the next highest bid on Flaherty was 4 and on Hicks 16.

Todd’s Take

I agree with Phil on Flaherty, classic case of recency bias. He’s not the latest member of the Launch Angle Club (first rule of the Launch Angle Club is not to talk about the Launch Angle Club).

I had a catcher opening with Steven Vogt hitting the DL. I really didn’t care who I received, so I listed a series of $0 bids. Grey Albright from Razzball was in a similar predicament, caring just a little more than me, so he strung together $1 bids. Good times.

With Steven Duggar sent to the farm, I needed to fill the swing spot. Not seeing any batters moving the needle, I opted to go with an arm. I considered Lucchesi, as he has a nice setup at home versus a Rockies club with a history of struggling on the road versus southpaws. However, I decided to roll the dice on the two-start Kyle Freeland, despite the second outing being a home affair. Who knows maybe I’ll catch a break and the latter outing will be rained out.

MIXED LEAGUE AUCTION

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Todd’s Take

Admittedly, I have a soft spot for Jordan Zimmermann. He was always under-priced during his salad days with the Nationals, primarily because his strikeout rate was lower than other pitchers sporting similar ratios. As such, it’s curious I’m intrigued due to an elevated strikeout rate, in tandem with a low walk rate. This is tempered by a horrible 2017, featuring a weak 5.8 K/9, but in the spring, Zimmermann fanned 18 with three walks in 18 Grapefruit League frames then opened the 2018 regular season with eight punch outs and only one free pass against the Pirates. With his second start coming in Guaranteed Rate Park against the White Sox, it’s worth a moderate investment to see if he’s figured something out.

 MIXED DRAFT LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Todd’s Take

Last week, on our Rotowire podcast, Derek VanRiper and I discussed whether Strickland or Sam Dyson was the better handcuff for Mark Melancon. My brilliant reasoning was Dyson, since there’s been opportunities for Bruce Bochy to give the ball to Strickland, and he’s always gone elsewhere.

D’OH!

Strickland is the better option and now it appears Bochy may be on board. Further, I have no confidence Melancon will ever return to form. On this same podcast, I opined we could be looking at the reincarnation of Huston Street. It remains to be seen if I’m reading these tea leaves any better.

HEAD TO HEAD MIXED AUCTION

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Todd’s Take

Granted, recency bias played into the action on Matt Davidson this week, but going hard after the third baseman is justifiable, at least more so than Flaherty. Davidson has a clearer path to playing time.  It always seems like the White Sox want to find someone better, but always end up giving Davidson a decent number of at bats. His three homer games assures a decent chunk of playing time, at least until the Pale Hose tire of his inconsistency and look elsewhere.

Welcome to the first Tout Wars FAAB report of the 2018 season, on it’s new home right here on the Tout Wars site. Each week, we’ll review the free agent acquisitions from all five leagues, with commentary from a league member, as well as yours truly. We changed the timing of the weekly run to 1 PM ET every Sunday, with the report posted later that afternoon so you’ll have time to digest and apply to your own leagues. In addition, I’ll be joining Lawr Michaels and Justin Mason on the Tout Wars Hour on the FNTSY Network every Sunday at 3:30 PM ET to discuss the results.

Before revealing the results if this week’s run, I’d like to do what I did with the LABR report and recognize our late friend and Tout Wars veteran Steve Moyer, who once hosted the auctions in his basement. Steve shockingly left us on March 1 as we was about to meet up with the LABR gang at a ballgame. Steve’s team in the American League auction was taken over by his good friend Doug Dennis, a Mixed Tout Wars veteran. Doug wrote a heartfelt tribute to Steve, please check it out as well as considering a donation to help Harmony and Mary, Steve’s daughters.

This week’s report is a little late, we’ll be back on schedule this Sunday. There are five leagues, you can find the complete list of Tout Warriors here. Everyone starts with 1000 FAAB units, less any penalty incurred by finishing below a designated point in the standings. This is a means of keeping everyone motivated to keep playing all season long. The minimum bid is $0. FAAB units can be traded as well as rebated for players released off the DL.

The report will list all winning bids along with unsuccessful tries and contingencies. This provides the maximum level of information to help gauge interest on the players.

The American and National League only formats are 12-team leagues, as is the new points-based head to head league, The Mixed Auction and Draft each have 15 clubs. All the leagues have four reserves with an unlimited DL, expect the head to head league, which allows six reserves.

The headings above each league are links to publicly accessible sites where you can see standings, roster and a complete review of transactions. The initial auctions and drafts can be found here.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

This week’s commentary is courtesy of Doug Dennis from BaseballHQ. Follow Doug on Twitter at @DougDennis41

I did not place any bids on the first period as I am waiting on the off-chance that Melky Cabrera signs in the AL and was not overwhelmed by the desire to fight for Ronald Torreyes or Brock Holt.

Vlad Sedler snagged Trevor Cahill for $37 as the top buy this first period, and cut David Paulino. Cahill had a terrific April/May last season starting for Arizona before shoulder woes sent him spiraling. He has shown with the Cubs before that that he can be a very effective LH reliever as well. I’d expect Cahill to take 2 starts in the minors and if all goes ok, then jump into Oakland’s rotation. Vlad has a middle-of-the-road starter in a nice pitcher’s park for a modest buy unless something isn’t right, and we will know that soon enough from his minor league starts going in. Other bids on Cahill were $10 and $0 and no one else bid at all.

Seth Trachtman went $35 for Daniel Norris and reserved Nick Tropeano. I might rather have a middle reliever than Norris at this point. Norris has never really progressed as advertised and the Tigers lineup and pen do not offer much support. BaseballHQ.com projects Norris for a 4.72 ERA at the moment. That sounds about right and I think I’d have found a nice, safe ERA/WHIP reliever until some starter struck my fancy. But maybe Seth will catch lightning in a bottle. It was a modest cost in any event. Other bids on Norris were $5 and $5 and no one else bid.

Other purchases were tiny numbers — I am struck by how weak the offense buys were. This reinforces the idea that it is very hard to find worthwhile buys in an AL-only league to replace DL or minors hitters in the early going. Hitters may emerge down the line, but this first transactions period was quite dire.

Todd’s Take

With only four days this period, this is the perfect opportunity to grab and stash some under-the-radar players and non-drafted prospects from the St. Patrick’s Day auction. Instead of collecting dust for a week, they only have to stay on the active roster for the abbreviated week.

As he often does, Rotowire’s Chris Liss took advantage, snagging Rule 5 fly-chaser Victor Reyes, Tim Lincecum, Bo Bichette and Hisashi Iwakuma. Interestingly, the narrative for each is different. Reyes has to stay in the roster all season, or be returned to the D-backs. The Tigers are rebuilding and may opt to give the solid contact speedster a look. Bichette is a dart throw, hoping he bashes his way onto the Jays, Lincecum is a speculative shot at saves while Iwakuma is expected to return later in the season, offering veteran innings.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

This week’s commentary is a two-parter, first Phil Hertz from Baseball HQ. Follow Phil on Twitter at @prhz50

I listed a string of pitchers to replace the now-demoted Robert Stephenson. I came out of the NL-only draft with only two solid starters: Stephen Strasburg and Zack Greinke, winding up with Ty Blach, who is now likely to be part of the San Francisco rotation with both MadBum and Shark headed to the DL. Blach was my’ first choice, but then there weren’t a plethora of starting pitching options available.

Now a note from defending league champion, Grey Albright from Razzball.

Won Brandon Finnegan for $86, though I guess I could’ve bid $14 on him and still won him. C’est la vie, as they say in France. Fantasy Baseball is very popular in France, by the way. They’re still bidding on Jeff Francoeur there. Anyway! I lost Jeff Samardzija to a pectoral strain, so I needed a starter. Brandon Finnegan sustained a biceps strain early on in Spring Training, but is progressing well in his rehab. Hopefully, him or Samardzija return to give me 120+ innings, anything over that at this point would be icing.

Todd’s Take

It was a little surprising to see Scott Wilderman, proprietor of our host site, OnRoto open the wallet on a couple of marginal players, especially since he nearly caught me a couple years ago (pardon the #humblebrag) by picking up serious reinforcements at the MLB trade deadline.

It’s early, but effort not to finish in 11th like last season is off to a lucky start before a pitch has been thrown. Not liking any of the end-game middle infielders, I dropped $7 on Scott Kingery, expecting him to sit on reserve for awhile. He obviously made the team, joining fellow Phillies Cesar Hernandez, Maikel Franco and Aaron Altherr on my squad. Collecting so many Phillies was not by design, though acquiring Kingery as a Hernandez hedge was part of the consideration. Even if all my other Phillies lose time, I think I still benefit from Kingery’s early arrival.

In addition, my $4 Brad Boxberger is now the Dbacks closer, though it remains to be seen for how long.

On the other hand, my $6 David Dahl gambit didn’t come through, though I suspect I’ll get my money’s worth by season’s end. To replace the Rockies outfielder, I dropped $77 on Preston Tucker, expected to play a lot while the Braves pretend Ronald Acuna needs more time on the farm. If he doesn’t anything at all, Tucker could push Nick Markakis for playing time. With my poor 2017 finish came a big FAAB reduction penalty, so I’ll be aggressive early since I can’t be a player at the MLB trade deadline.

MIXED LEAGUE AUCTION 

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

This week’s commentary is courtesy of Scott Swanay. Follow Scott on Twitter at @fantasy_sherpa

Todd’s Take

Nothing personal gents, but I hope you’re all wrong. I’ve been on the Reds Tyler Mahle all drafting season. I won’t tell you how many rosters I have him on, but you’ll need your toes to keep track. He’s not a difference-maker by any means. However, he’s healthy, surrounded by a bunch of not-so-healthy teammates. The Great American Ballpark may be generous to power, but it plays just a little above neutral for runs, so if Mahle can keep the ball in the yard, he’ll be fine. I’d take him over all six starters won in FAAB. But, then, if I was in this league, he wouldn’t have been available.

MIXED LEAGUE DRAFT

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

This week’s commentary is from Perry Van Hook

While the Tout mixed draft league is less than three weeks from the draft, several teams have lost players to injury or suspension already, so a FAAB run before the first half week was some relief. Not that you are going to get a player better than Justin Turner or Madison Bumgarner, but at least you could get some lineup options.

The highest bid amongst the eight owners who made bids was $37 for Atlanta SP Brandon McCarthy by Scott White.

As the Justin Turner owner I saw several hitters who could fill my UT slot after some internal moves but thought the revitalized Victor Martinez was the best hitting so he topped my list at $11 and that was enough to roster him. I also wanted another pitcher as many starters would not have a start in the first three or four games. I am not sure my choice was the best, but Giants’ starter Ty Blach has had very good outing against the Dodgers who he will face in the opener on Thursday, and I don’t own any shares of Clayton Kershaw so I might as well double down on rooting against him.

Todd’s Take

Thank you Ray Murphy, at least someone sees what I see in Mahle.

Brandon McCarthy is a great Twitter follow, and a pretty good pitcher between injuries. He’s looked great so far this spring, offering solid inning and the proverbial veteran leadership to a fledgling Braves staff. Ride the guy while he’s healthy.

HEAD-TO-HEAD MIXED AUCTION

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

This week’s commentary is courtesy of Rotowire’s Clay Link. Follow Clay on Twitter at @claywlink

I had been holding out hope that Eduardo Rodriguez would be cleared to start the fourth game of the season, but he was not, and thus I was forced to dip into the free-agent pool for a replacement starter.

There were several capable arms available, and I went back and forth with my preferences and bid amounts, but ultimately settled on Ivan Nova being the most attractive option.

Innings are the most valuable commodity in this league, with each out being worth a point, and Nova nearly got to 190 last year while posting the fourth-lowest BB/9 among qualified starters. The first of his two starts over the first week comes against the Tigers, which seems like a decent matchup. The volume will be key right away, as I lost Dinelson Lamet hours after FAAB ran and I do not have a healthy replacement on my bench.

Sandy Alcantara was the obvious drop. I took a shot thinking he might break camp in the rotation, but that did not happen, and he’s not worth stashing in this 12-team league.

Count me among those skeptical that Matt Harvey’s spring means anything, but in this format that pushes up starting pitching so much, I can see why Howard Bender took the flier.

The other pickup that caught my eye was Nova’s teammate, Trevor Williams, at $3 to Peter Kreutzer. That second start for him over the first week-plus comes at home against the Reds, while Nova’s is home against the Twins. It’s a better matchup, and I could see Williams putting up a similar point total in the first week, at a lower cost.

Todd’s Take

There’s two kind of people. One is skeptical Matt Harvey can be a viable MLB starter and those delusional. I hope I’m wrong and my bud Howard Bender rubs egg on my face since a healthy Harvey is good for baseball, but the track record of those returning from thoracic outlet surgery just isn’t that good, though it does improve the further removed from the procedure so like Clay, I can see why the RotoBuzzGuy channeled Lloyd Christmas – hoping there’s a chance.

The Tout Wars Head-to-Head Auction is Saturday, March 17, 4 PM ET. This season, we’ll be using a points-based scoring format since this is the single most popular format in fantasy baseball.

Here is the scoring system, as per the 2018 Constitution:

For Tout Wars Head To Head, the stats will be turned into points, and the team with the most points in each period earns a W:

Hitting Points: Single=1, Double=2, Triple=3, HR=4, BB=1, Strikeouts=-.5, Runs=1, RBI=1, Stolen Base=2, Caught Stealing=-1

Pitching Points: Win=5, Loss=-3, Save=5, Blown Save=-3, Strikeout=1, Walk=-1, Out=1, Hit Allowed=-1, Earned Run=-1

Here are your participants, listed in order of last season’s finish. The reserve rounds follow this same order.

1. Andrea LaMont (2nd in 2017 Tout Wars Head to Head)

Affiliation: LennyMelnickFantasySports
Years in Tout Wars: 3
Twitter: @RotoLady

2. Peter Kreutzer (3rd in 2017 Tout Wars Head to Head)

Affiliation: Ask Rotoman, Fantasy Baseball Guide
Years in Tout Wars: 19
Twitter: @kroyte

3. Kyle Elfrink (4th in 2017 Tout Wars Head to Head)

Affiliation: SiriusXM Fantasy Radio
Years in Tout Wars: 2

4. Howard Bender (5th in 2017 Tout Wars Head to Head)

Affiliation: Fantasy Alarm
Years in Tout Wars: 3
Twitter: @RotobuzzGuy

5. Dr. Roto (6th in 2017 Tout Wars Head to Head)

Affiliation: Scout Fantasy Sports
Years in Tout Wars: 2
Twitter: @DrRoto

6. Jake Ciely (7th in 2017 Tout Wars Head to Head)

Affiliation: Rotoexperts
Years in Tout Wars: 3
Twitter: @allinkid

7. Stephania Bell (tied 9th in 2017 Tout Wars Head to Head)

Affiliation: ESPN Fantasy Sports
Years in Tout Wars: 3
Twitter: @Stephania_ESPN

8. Paul Sporer (tied 9th in 2017 Tout Wars Head to Head)

Affiliation: Fangraphs, ESPN Fantasy Sports
Years in Tout Wars: 5
Twitter: @Sporer

9. Clay Link (tied 9th in 2017 Tout Wars Head to Head)

Affiliation: Rotowire
Years in Tout Wars: 2
Twitter: @claywlink

10. Jeff Mans (12th in 2017 Tout Wars Head to Head)

Affiliation: Fantasy Guru Elite
Years in Tout Wars: 3
Twitter: @Jeff_Mans

11. Justin Mason (New to Tout Wars)

Affiliation: Friends with Fantasy Benefits, Fangraphs, Fantasy Alarm
Years in Tout Wars: 1
Twitter: @JustinMasonFWFB

12. Michael Rathburn (New to Tout Wars)

Affiliation: Rotowire
Years in Tout Wars: 1
Twitter: @FantasyRath

Follow along with the live spreadsheet here.

We hope to see you on Twitter with the #touth2h hashtag, on the Tout Wars Facebook page and the SiriusXM Fantasy Facebook page.

The American League Tout Wars auction is Saturday, March 17 at 3 PM ET.

Here are your participants (give them a Twitter follow), listed in order of last season’s finish. The reserve rounds follow this same order.

1. Mike Podhorzer (1st in 2017 American League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: Fangraphs
Years in Tout Wars: 6 (2013 Tout Mixed Draft Champion, 2017 Tout AL Champion)
Twitter: @MikePodhorzer

2. Vlad Sedler (2nd in 2017 American League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: Fantasy Guru Elite, Rotowire, BaseballHQ
Years in Tout Wars: 2 (2017 H2H Champion)
Twitter: @Rotogut

3. Seth Trachtman (2nd in 2017 American League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: Rotoworld
Years in Tout Wars: 9 (2016 AL Champion)
Twitter: @sethroto

4. Jason Collette (3rd in 2017 American League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: Rotowire
Years in Tout Wars: 12
Twitter: @jasoncollette

5. Doug Dennis (drafting in memory of his friend, Steve Moyer)

Affiliation: BaseballHQ
Years in Tout Wars: 3
Twitter: @dougdennis41

6. Rob Leibowitz (5th in 2017 American League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: Rotoheaven
Years in Tout Wars: 18
Twitter: @rob_leibowitz

7. Jeff Erickson (6th in 2017 American League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: Rotowire
Years in Tout Wars: 18 (2007 AL Champion)
Twitter: @Jeff_Erickson

8. Patrick Davitt (7th in 2017 American League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: BaseballHQ
Years in Tout Wars: 7
Twitter: @patrickdavitt

9. Larry Schechter (8th in 2017 American League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: Winning Fantasy Baseball
Years in Tout Wars: 14 (2005, 2006, 2007 Mixed Auction Champion, 2011, 2012, 2013 Tout AL Champion)
Twitter: @LarrySchechter

10. Rick Wolf/Glenn Colton (9th in 2017 American League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: Fantasy Alarm
Years in Tout Wars: 13 (2014 Tout AL Champion)
Twitter: @RickWolf1, @glenncolton1

11. Chris Liss (10th in 2017 American League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: Rotowire
Years in Tout Wars: 10 (2015 AL Champion, 2009 Mixed Auction Champion)
Twitter: @Chris_Liss

12. Lawr Michaels (12th in 2017 American League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: CreativeSports2
Years in Tout Wars: 18 (2001, 2009 Tout AL Champion)
Twitter: @lawrmichaels

Follow along with the live spreadsheet here.

We hope to see you on Twitter with the #altoutauction hashtag, on the Tout Wars Facebook page and the SiriusXM Fantasy Facebook page.

The National League auction is Saturday March 17 at 10 AM ET.

Here are your participants (give them a follow), listed in order of last season’s finish. The reserve rounds follow this same order.

1. Grey Albright (1st in 2017 National League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: RazzBall
Years in Tout Wars: 6 (2017 National League Auction Champion)
Twitter: @razzball

2. Tristan Cockcroft (2nd in 2017 National League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: ESPN Fantasy
Years in Tout Wars: 12 (2012, 2013, 2014 NL Champion)
Twitter: @SultanofStat

3. Brian Walton (3rd in 2017 National League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: CreativeSports2
Years in Tout Wars: 15 (2009 NL Champion)
Twitter: @B_Walton

4. Scott Wilderman (4th in 2017 National League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: OnRoto
Years in Tout Wars: 18 (2003, 2006 NL Champion)

5. Phil Hertz (5th in 2017 National League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: BaseballHQ
Years in Tout Wars: 14
Twitter: @prhz50

6. Derek Carty (6th in 2017 National League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: RotoGrinders, ESPN Fantasy
Years in Tout Wars: 9
Twitter: @DerekCarty

7. Lenny Melnick (7th in 2017 National League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: LennyMelnickFantasySports
Years in Tout Wars: 16 (2002 NL Champion with partner Irwin Zwilling)
Twitter: @LennyMelnick

8. Mike Gianella (8th in 2017 National League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: Baseball Prospectus
Years in Tout Wars: 9 (2015 NL Champion)
Twitter: @MikeGianella

9. Andy Behrens (9th in 2017 National League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: Yahoo! Fantasy Sports
Years in Tout Wars: 9
Twitter: @andybehrens

10. Steve Gardner (10th in 2017 National League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: USAToday Fantasy Sports
Years in Tout Wars: 9
Twitter: @SteveAGardner

11. Todd Zola (11th in 2017 National League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: Mastersball, Rotowire, ESPN Fantasy Sports
Years in Tout Wars: 14 (2016 NL Champion)
Twitter: @toddzola

12. Craig Mish (12th in 2017 National League Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio
Years in Tout Wars: 3
Twitter: @CraigMish

Follow along with the live spreadsheet here.

We hope to see you on Twitter with the #nltoutauction hashtag, on the Tout Wars Facebook page and the SiriusXM Fantasy Facebook page.

The Mixed Tout Wars auction will be Saturday, March 17 at 9 AM ET.

Here are your participants (give them a Twitter follow), listed in order of last season’s finish. The reserve rounds follow this same order.

1. Jeff Zimmerman (1st in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: Fangraphs and Fantrax
Years in Tout Wars: 3 (2017 Mixed Auction Champion, 2016 H2H Champion)
Twitter: @jeffwzimmerman

2. Fred Zinkie (2nd in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Auction)

Years in Tout Wars: 8 (2011, 2013, 2015 Mixed Auction Champion)
Twitter: @FredZinkieMLB

3. Zach Steinhorn (3rd in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Auction)Affiliation:

CreativeSports2 and MLB.com
Years in Tout Wars: 7 (2016 Mixed Auction Champion)
Twitter: @zachsteinhorn

4. Ron Shandler (4th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: RonShandler.com
Years in Tout Wars: 21 (1998 and 2000 AL Champion. 1998 NL Champion)
Twitter: @RonShandler

5. Al Melchior (5th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: FNTSY Radio, Fantrax
Years in Tout Wars: 6
Twitter: @almelchiorbb

6. Bret Sayre (6th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: Baseball Prospectus
Years in Tout Wars: 3 (2015 Tout X Champion)
Twitter: @BretSayreBP

7. Ray Flowers (1000) (7th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: Fantasy Guru Elite
Years in Tout Wars: 7
Twitter: @BaseballGuys

8. Brent Hershey (8th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Auction)
Affiliation: BaseballHQ
Years in Tout Wars: 6
Twitter: @BrentHQ

9. Joe Pisapia (9th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: FNTSY Radio
Years in Tout Wars: 4
Twitter: @JoePisapia17

10. Scott Engel (10th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: RotoExperts, FNTSY Radio
Years in Tout Wars: 6
Twitter: @scotteRotoEx

11. Scott Swanay (11th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: FantasyBaseballSherpa
Years in Tout Wars: 8
Twitter: @fantasy_sherpa

12. Tim Heaney (12th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Auction)

Affiliation: Rotowire, ESPN
Years in Tout Wars: 8
Twitter: @Tim_Heaney

13. Tim McLeod (11th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Draft)

Affiliation: PattonandCo
Years in Tout Wars: 6 (2014 Mixed Draft Champion)
Twitter: @TimothyLMc

14. Derek VanRiper (14th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Draft)

Affiliation: Rotowire
Years in Tout Wars: 8 (2014 Mixed Draft Champion)
Twitter: @DerekVanRiper

15. Scott Pianowski (15th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Draft)

Affiliation: Yahoo! Fantasy Sports
Years in Tout Wars: 15
Twitter: @Scott_Pianowski

Follow along with the live spreadsheet here.

We hope to see you on Twitter with the #mixedtoutauction hashtag, on the Tout Wars Facebook page and the SiriusXM Fantasy Facebook page.