Category: Tout Mixed

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.

Mastersball.com FAAB Roundup August 18, 2014

A relatively quiet week in FAAB, but lots to talk about, as three leagues (not Tout AL) have active pennant races going on.

The boys from Mastersball.com give you the scoop.

Mastersball FAAB Report July 28, 2014

As they do every week, the masters at mastersball.com compile and annotate an authoritative report on the week’s bidding in all four Tout Wars Leagues.

This week? Lots of bidding in the NL, where three full time players arrived from the AL.

July 21, 2014 FAAB Report from Tireless Mastersball.com.

When only three days pass between FAAB sessions, as happened in Tout Wars this past week, the reports come fast and furious, though the bidding is weak and limpest.

Mastersball.com’s latest details all of this week’s fun. You can read it here.

One play from out of left field that the Mastersball crew missed was Rotoman’s bid on Cuban free agent Rusney Castillo, who isn’t even signed to a US team at this point! And this isn’t a keeper league! We spoke with Mr. Man, who says the following explains his bidding:

1) To compete for first he needs more hitting, and can’t afford to trade Madison Bumgarner to get it. At the same time, when he proposes to deal his next best starters, Alfredo Simon and Tanner Roark, to owners for mediocre sluggers like, say Adam LaRoche, they laugh and say they’ve been offered good pitchers for, um, LaRoche. Lenny Melnick today traded LaRoche and Drew Storen to Mike Gianella for Cameron Maybin and Tim Hudson. Fair enough, it’s a tough market.

2) Rusney Castillo is 27 years old and has been working out in Florida since being cleared to sign with a US team. He will have an open workout on Saturday and presumably sign shortly thereafter. He he signs with an AL club, Rotoman is SOL, but if he signs with a NL club, Rotoman will hope he is promoted quickly to the big league club.

3) Like Yasiel Puig and Jose Abreu, Castillo is a mature hitter, though more a speedster than a slugger. It is thought that if he signs fast enough he’ll spend a short amount of time in the minors and be promoted to the big club by the end of August. Regular at bats in September could be big for Team Rotoman.

4) The cost for all of this is $1 FAAB and a reserve slot, plus having to keep Castillo active for one fruitless week. If Castillo were to sign next Saturday, after the workout, with a NL club, his price would be much higher. And if Rotoman didn’t have Castillo active he would have Nate McLouth’s two AB instead. It seems worth the risk, he said.

The April 28th Transactions Report, courtesy of Mastersball.com

As they do each week, mastersball.com has compiled the week’s Tout Wars transactions and added commentary. A pleasant way to keep up with this week’s moves.

Swanay Song: Does Lawr Hear a Melody?

Lawr Michaels ventures into dangerous territory, giving Scott Swanay advice how to handle the FAAB he gained by cashing out Brandon Beachy.

His advice is here.

Scott cannot actually redeem the extra dough until after this weekends claims, with the money being added on April 13. That shouldn’t change much.

Here at team Tout Wars we’re rooting for Scott to find a path to, well, if not victory, respectability. Go Scott.

TOUT Mortems: How Do They Like Their Drafts 2014?

Screenshot 2014-03-24 10.16.22

The Tout Wars auctions are in the books. The lobby of SiriusXM once again looks like a sophisticated and refined business space, rather than a Phi Epsilon Tout frat basement. (But what happened to the Keith Richards and Paul McCartney autographs on the wall?) All the partygoers made it home from Foleys safely, though there were close calls. And some people are writing about their teams.

The spreadsheet with all results is here.

NL: Gardner Kreutzer Gianella Zola Hertz || RotoAdvice

AL: Jason Collette Podhorzer Erickson Leibowitz Michaels Behrens Erickson and Liss Shandler || RotoAdvice

MIXED AUCTION: Swanay Gonos 1 Guilfoyle Flowers Singman Heaney Zinkie Steinhorn Davitt Gonos 2|| Michaels

MIXED DRAFT: Van Hook Minnix Sporer Ronis Murphy

The Baseball Prospectus Flags Fly Forever podcast Episode 12 has extended Tout Wars discussion about NL, AL and Mixed Auction, featuring Bret Sayre, Mike Gianella and Mauricio Rubio.

You can hear of more by following #toutwars on Twitter.