Who Is Winning Tout Wars? Halfway Home Edition

With about half the major league season played, it’s time for the winners to bring home winners, and for those trailing to make a move.

TOUT WARS AL

When last we looked Larry Schechter had a big lead.

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Larry still has a big lead, but there is a shimmer of hope for Seth Trachtman and Ron Shandler. The two finished one-two in the June-only standings, edging Schechter, who finished third.

TOUT WARS NL

When last we looked, this was a three-way fight between Derek Carty, Todd Zola and Phil Hertz. Carty won the June-only battle and has a slim lead over Zola overall. Zola finished third in June. Hertz struggled with injuries to his ace pitchers, Strasburg and Syndergaard, and finished eighth for the month, dropping out of contention.

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Out of contention for the time being. This is a close race with any of the top teams capable of making a move.

TOUT WARS MIXED AUCTION

What a difference a month can make. At the end of May Bret Sayre had a 15+ point lead over challengers Joe Pisapia, Fred Zinkie and Corey Schwartz. The June-only standings have Schwartz, Zinkie and Pisapia on top, in that order, with Sayre falling to 11th for the month. Bye bye lead.

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Schwartz’s winning month has elevated him into the lead, a lap ahead of three challengers and the recent evidence of what a difference a month can make on his mind.

TOUT WARS MIXED DRAFT

Last month, Rudy Gamble had a small lead over Anthony Perri, but Perri had a strong June and used it to climb into the lead. Charlie Wiegert had the second-best June, and moved ahead of Gamble, whose team stumbled to an eighth place June finish.

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Ray Murphy’s strong June jumped him from tenth place to fourth, deadlocked with Rick Wilton, Craig Mish and Tim McLeod. Any of those four could easily challenge for the lead with a strong July, but for the time being Perri, Wiegert and Gamble have to be favored.

TOUT WARS HEAD 2 HEAD

Was written up on Tuesday. It’s all Brent Hershey and Jeff Zimmerman, for now.

You can follow the Tout Wars leaders everyday by following these links: AL, NL, Mixed, Draft and Head 2 Head.

 

Tout Wars Head 2 Head Halfway Report! It’s all Hershey and Zimmerman!

Tout Wars Head 2 Head is different than the other Tout leagues.

In those other leagues, scored Rotisserie style, you look at the standings and you see who is winning and losing.

In Tout Head 2 Head, you have to look at the Head to Head records, in which Brent Hershey is tied with Jeff Zimmerman.

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Then, since we’ve reached the halfway point in the season, you need to look at the first half roto standings, which determine the outcome of 12 additional games. (You can see the complete first-half standings here.)

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Hershey finished ahead of Zimmerman in the roto standings, so he earns a first-half record of 12-0, while Zimmerman adds an 11-1 mark to his head to head score. Do this for all 12 teams and you have the combined first-half records.

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Hershey has a slim lead over Zimmerman, with Peter Kreutzer and Jake Ciely close enough to challenge. Then Michael Beller and Jeff Boggis have room enough to dream.

How many second-division teams will be able to move up? That’s why they’ll play the second half, while Brent Hershey and Jeff Zimmerman battle to win. All teams will be affected by 12 games awarded based on second half stats and another 12 games awarded based on the overall season roto standings.

How do our Tout Wars teams’ records compare to their major league counterparts? In other words, how are they doing?

The Leader
The Leader

Brent Hershey equals the Chicago Cubs, and then some.

Jeff Zimmerman is a supercharged San Francisco Giants.

Peter Kreutzer is the Cleveland Indians.

Jake Ciely is the Washington Nationals.

Michael Beller is the Boston Red Sox.

Jeff Boggis is the Houston Astros.

Stephania Bell is the New York Yankees.

Jeff Mans is the New York Mets.

Howard Bender is the Oakland As.

Paul Sporer is the Tampa Bay Rays.

Doug Anderson is the Atlanta Braves.

Andrea LaMont is the Minnesota Twins.

Good luck in the second half everyone!

 

 

Independent Bidding on Free Agents is No Holiday. FAAB Analysis Here for July 4!

The boys from Mastersball analyzed the FAAB claims in five Tout Wars leagues on the fourth of July.

Mike Gianella’s take on the week’s short slate of FAAB purchases, at Baseball Prospectus.

 

Want to Win Tout Daily? A Breather Helps Ring the Bell.

Screenshot 2016-07-02 08.56.37Stephania Bell didn’t play Tout Daily by RTSports any of the four weeks of Period 3. She was busy, work and life got in the way, one has to prioritize. But when she was ready to play, in Week 1 of Period 4, her team exploded, popping into first place late in the evening on Johnny Cueto’s win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Cueto wasn’t Bell’s best pitcher. Reserve that spot for Michael Fulmer, whose 10 strikeout winning performance against Tampa Bay was the biggest scoring game on the night.

And some of her hitters contributed, too, mainly James Loney, owned by one percent of RTSports owners last night, had a homer and a double on his way to 12 much-needed points. Having Mike Trout didn’t hurt.

Bell finished just two points ahead of Scott Engel, who had also taken a leave of absence in Period 3. Engel got a fine night from Jaime Garcia, who won his game versus the Brewers, and strong hitting performances from Kendrys Morales (playing right field!), Chase d’Arnaud (who cost only $1.6K), and Mookie Betts. Brett Lawrie, Carlos Correa and George Springer contributed four points apiece.

Speaking of Springer, his name is on the roster of six of the top seven finishing teams on the night, though his four points (at a cost of $5.7K) was not particularly efficient. Perhaps it is telling that he was also the night’s last-place finisher’s roster.

Three teams missed the unusual 6:05pm early start of the week’s contest. They were not allowed to play for the night’s championship, but were allowed to submit rosters before the 7:05pm regular start so they could compete in Period 4 overall.

Top 10 pitching performances (pitchers on teams that finished in the Top 10): Johnny Cueto (16), Michael Fulmer (21), Jaime Garcia (17), Ian Kennedy (10), Bud Norris (18!), Julio Teheran (7.66), Steven Wright (8), Jacob deGrom (15).

One final note: It looked like a good night to stack hitters from the Texas teams, but it was not.

One extra final note: Eno Sarris finished 10th and got no, zero, nada, nunca points from his outfielders, Ryan Braun, Adam Jones and Angel Pagan.

See the whole Leaderboard here.

You can play RTSports.com’s daily fantasy games for prizes or fun every day of the week. Click here to start!

 

FAAB Notes From Mastersball and Baseball Prospectus for June 27!

Lord Zola and company post on Tout AL, NL, Mixed Auction, Mixed Draft, and Head 2 Head at Mastersball.com.

Mike Gianella’s Expert FAAB Review appears at Baseball Prospectus and covers Tout AL, NL, and includes mixed prices. He also sometimes riffs.

Mike Gianella Romps, Doesn’t Quite Make Finals in Tout Daily!

Week 4 of each Tout Daily by RTSports.com period is all about the finals. Who made it? Who fell short?

Mike Gianella made a run for it, with an 84.66 point week, finishing solidly ahead of Ray Murphy and Chris Liss, but wasn’t quite able to close the gap. He finished fourth overall for the period.

Golden Tickets to the August 26th Tout Daily Finals go to Tristan Cockcroft, the three week leader, Rick Wolf, who finished first in Week 1, and Tim Heaney, who held on after tying Wolf in Week 1 and winning Week 2 all on his own. Wolf and Heaney were Top 10 finishers in Week 4, and they needed it.

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Click for a larger version.

Gianella rostered two of the game’s best pitchers, Max Scherzer and Danny Salazar, but it was outsized hitting from Jean Segura, Cheslor Cuthbert, Wil Myers, and Yasmany Tomas that carried him to victory.

Scherzer got the strikeouts against a Milwaukee team that produces strong winds by the lake, but wasn’t able to produce a victory.

Salazar was staked a nice lead against Detroit, but his command issues ran up his pitch count and cut his stint short. He took home a Win but struck out only three.

Other Top 10 pitchers on the week: Jake Peavy (13), Aaron Sanchez (8), Zach Davies (11), Jameson Taillon (2), Scherzer (11), Masahiro Tanaka (14), David Price (-2.67), Steven Matz (-1.67).

Scherzer was rostered by 80 percent of RTSports.com’s teams last night.

While the pitchers struggled, the hitters feasted. Other 10+ point earners were Willson Contreras (10), Melvin Upton (15), Jacob Lamb (10), James Loney (13), and Matt Joycer (11).

Yasmany Thomas’s 18 points was the big score of the night. The Cubs catcher Willson Contreras was rostered on 25 percent of teams and scored 10 points. The Diamondbacks Phillip Gosselin was rostered by 36 percent of teams and scored no points, going 0-5.

The Touts will gather next Friday for the start of Period 4 of Tout Daily by RTSports.com, the fourth of five four-week contests to distribute 15 tickets to the finals.

In addition to Cockcroft, Wolf, and Heaney, tickets have already gone to Jason Collette, Jeff Erickson, Brian Walton, Patrick Davitt, Rob Leibowitz, and Patrick Mayo.

You can follow all the action on Friday nights at RTSports.com. Use the same link all week long to play for prizes or fun.

The complete leaderboard is here. Next week we start over.

Totally Buzzed! Bender Edges Moyer Inside on a Night Hitters Rule!

Pitchers on Top 10 Teams This Week and Points in Tout Daily by RTSports.com

  • Lance McCullers 10.66
  • Jose Quintana 11.66
  • Zach Davies 12
  • Matt Harvey 7
  • Joe Ross 13
  • Matt Shoemaker 12
  • Michael Fulmer 9.66
  • Jeff Samardzija 16
  • Jonathan Gray 8

This list, which we usually run at the end of the Tout Daily report, usually helps explains who won and who lost that week. This week is different. The only difference maker on the list, Jeff Samardzija, was rostered by only one Top 10 team, a team that finished tied for 10th on the evening.

Screenshot 2016-06-18 07.49.27The night’s winner, Howard Bender, had rostered two fine arms (McCullers, Quintana) who pitched two quality starts but didn’t earn wins.

The night’s second place finisher, 6.33 points behind, was Steve Moyer, who rostered Zach Davies (QS, no decision) and Matt Harvey (bad game).

What they had in common was Michael Saunders, whose three home run, eight RBI night was worth 23 points.

What Bender also had was three other double-digit earners on offense, in Peter O’Brien (owned by 30 percent of players), Paul Goldschmidt (13 percent), Saunders (16 percent) and Yasmany Tomas (3 percent).

Screenshot 2016-06-18 08.23.04Moyer also had Tomas.

Third place finisher Scott Pianowski owned O’Brien, Goldschmidt and Franklin Gutierez, whose two homers and six RBi was worth 19 points, the second biggest earner on the night (and owned by 11 percent of teams).

Sixth place Rick Wolf rostered Salvador Perez, who earned 11 points on the night.

Steve Gardner, in 10th place, unearthed a big night from Josh Donaldson worth 14 points. Donaldson was on 28 percent of rosters, but his huge price tag must have cost him some productive pairings.

This is how, on June 17th, the Tout Daily winners did it.

Bender’s big win, and Tim Heaney’s 26th-place finish on the night (he started with Matt Harvey and Matt Shoemaker, just like fifth place finisher Jeff Erickson, but was unable to find a complementary piece for Peter O’Brien) has stirred the Period 3 pot.

Tristan Cockcroft takes advantage of Heaney’s stumble to move into first place. Heaney is 14.33 points back in second, and six farther points behind are Phil Hertz, Howard Bender, and Rick Wolf.

A few points behind them are a bunch of teams who are going to have to have a big weeks to pass the many teams ahead of them. The Top 3 finishers in the period, after next week’s contest, win golden tickets to the August 26 final.

The complete leaderboard is here. (UPDATE: The board and story were corrected at 1:35 pm ET to reflect fixes to an editing error. Tristan Cockcroft and Scott Pianowski gained four points, and Brian Walton’s entry was entered.)

Follow the game each Friday here at ToutWars.com, where the touts reveal their picks on Friday afternoon, and at RTSports.com, where you can watch how the contest unfolds on Friday night.

You can also play for prizes or fun every day of the week at RTSports.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tout Wars June 13 FAAB Report Reports!

The fellas over at Mastersball survey the week’s moves in five leagues, and live to tell about it. Big purchases? Tim Anderson, Danny Duffy, Carlos Estevez, James Paxton, Matt Garza, Daniel Mengden, Zack Godley. Plus a Tout AL blockbuster trade involving first division teams. Teams are making their moves.

Mike Gianella covers Tout AL and Tout NL moves, with some commentary about mixed pricing, too, over at Baseball Prospectus.