Tout Wars Mixed Auction Champion: Jeff Zimmerman

His season started slowly. At the end of April he was in 11th place. But by the end of May he was in sixth, and in the week ending June 25th he’d climbed into first place. For good.

While a team built on Corey Kluber and Buster Posey, Ken Giles and Jose Ramirez, has talent, the difference came with the breakout season of Robbie Ray, the freakishly good season of Chase Anderson, and the Dodgers callup of Cody Bellinger.

In the end, Jeff won the league in his first season in Tout Wars Mixed Auction, and has finished first in both of his Tout Wars seasons (he won Tout Head 2 Head in 2016).

Who Is Winning Tout Wars? Mixed Auction Edition

The current standings, on the morning of August 28th:

Jeff Zimmerman, last year’s Head to Head winner, has been in first place pretty much all season, and has a commanding lead. Who is winning Tout AL? Jeff Zimmerman is.

But Zimmerman’s dominance came in the first half. Since the All Star break Ron Shandler’s team has been a little better than Zimmerman’s.

A quick survey of the current standings shows that if everything broke incredibly well for Shandler, he could potentially add 16 points, and would pass Zimmerman in a few categories. That would put him just a few points behind.

It’s a long shot, for sure, but this isn’t over yet, at least not completely.

See the league’s rosters and standings here.

Jonathan Pierce Wins Doubt Wars Mixed Too!

doubtwarslogoJonathan Pierce won Doubt Wars NL, and he won Doubt Wars Mix, too, the first time a single player has won two Doubt leagues in the same year.

Doubt Wars players put together dream rosters after the Tout Wars auctions are done, pricing players at $1 more than their Tout Wars price. Draft day rosters are held all season long, and then combined with the Tout Wars draft day roster to form one big roto standings.

The team with the highest average rank in the TW 5×5 categories is the champion.

The highest Tout Wars finisher in Doubt was Scott Pianowski, who finished third overall. He finished sixth in Tout’s full season Mixed Auction league.

See the results here.

Pierce’s team had four 20/20 hitters and a solid rotation led by Noah Syndergaard, Kenta Maeda and Anthony DeSclafani.

 

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For a second time, congratulations Jonathan!

THE FINAL WEEKEND: The Tout Wars Mixed Auction Race

Heading into the final seven days of this Tout Wars season, multi time former champion Fred Zinkie had a one-point lead over Zach Steinhorn. Now, as we enter the last three days, Steinhorn leads Zinkie by four. The Standings:

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The key battle is in stolen bases, where Steinhorn caught up with Zinkie this week. The two are tied, with 142, two ahead of Nando DiFino and three ahead of Bret Sayre.

Another race in which they’re fighting for the same points is strikeouts, where Steinhorn is five ahead of Zinkie. This might not be quite so close as it looks, since Steinhorn has eight starters this weekend, while Zinkie has only five.

The rest of the board looks pretty set for Zinkie. He’s lost two points in ERA since this past Monday, but is .04 points behind Nando DiFino and .07 behind Ray Flowers in that category. Could he regain those? Sure, but it isn’t likely.

The situation is much more fluid for Steinhorn, who could gain or lose one point in Runs, lose a point in RBI, gain a point in OBP, giving him a potential +2.5 and -3.5 in the hitting categories.

On the pitching side, he’s two wins behind Al Melchior and three behind Cory Schwartz, and two ahead of Scott Pianowski, who has only two starts this weekend. Probably set, but those eight starts this weekend make it unlikely he’ll lose ground, and it’s possible he could finish ahead of Schwartz. (For the record, Al Melchior has six starts this weekend, while Schwartz has only two.)

Steinhorn is also two saves ahead of Scott Swanay, which perhaps leaves him vulnerable to the loss of a half point. He’s got one closer (Britton), while Swanay has three (Ramos, Melancon, Bailey).

The final tally?

Steinhorn has 125.5 points. If things go right he could end up with 128.5 points. If things go wrong he could finish with 121.5

Zinkie has 121.5 points. If things go right he could end up with 124 points. Wrong? 119.

 

The Tout Mixed Auction Challenge

This morning Scott Pianowski messaged the Mixed Auction league:

Just a reminder, my entire roster is in play at any time. Not just the scrubs I’m going to cut. Not just the obvious sell-high guys, or players at a position I’m deep in. I’ll trade anyone (or FAAB) at any time.

Sometimes, just for fun. This is supposed to be fun, right?

– pianow

Fred Zinkie, likely the world’s most prolific and successful trader (and Ontario native), replied:

You now have me totally focused on getting Donaldson! It’ll bug me every time I watch the Jays. I just have to figure out how…..

Let’s see what happens next!

THIS is Tout Weekend!

A scene from the Tout NL 2015 auction.
A scene from the Tout NL 2015 auction.

Where will the best and brightest fantasy baseball writers and broadcasters be this weekend?

Many will be in New York City, for the annual Tout Wars weekend of drafts and parties.

This year’s drafts are being held in the studio at SiriusXM and aren’t open for the public, but you can follow along live on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel, and on the live blog and spreadsheet at toutwars.com.

When are the drafts? Where and when are the parties?

The SCHEDULE:

Tout H2H: March 18, 7pm. Doors open at 6pm. Ron Shandler is auctioneer. Joe Pisapia has the spreadsheet. Mike Gianella is on chat.

Tout AL: March 19, 9am. Doors open at 8am. Brian Feldman is auctioneer. Paul Sporer is on spreadsheet. Al Melchior is doing chat.

Tout Mix Auction: March 19, 3pm. Doors open at 2pm. Jeff Erickson is auctioneer. Ray Murphy has the spreadsheet. Jason Collette is on chat.

Foley’s NY Party: March 19, 8pm. 18 West 33rd Street. Party with the pros!

Tout NL Auction: March 20, 10am. Doors open at 9am. Brian Feldman is the auctioneer. Steve Moyer is on spreadsheet. Jason Collette will chat.

The live blog for each auction will be available at toutwars.com, where there will also be a link to the live spreadsheet. You can access the live spreadsheet now at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12AvDtjmYjr-mlFHXIUkFRDK3EBs_Zy-iJzPZNqRONfQ/edit?usp=sharing. Until the weekend comes, nothing is happening.

Here’s the Menu of Champions at Foleys on Saturday night:

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LINK Al Melchior Laments, and gives good advice

almelchiorEvery fantasy baseball season brings its own challenges. Al Melchior graciously shares his observation about his 2015 results, and how that might help him plan for 2016.

At CBSsports.com. With some references to FOMO, which I know about because I have a teenaged daughter, and TOFU, which I know about because my teenaged daughter is vegetarian. But I’m pretty sure Al means something else.