We missed this FanGraphs’ piece from February, which uses Tout Wars 2017 stats to ask and answer the question of how many stats do teams find in their original rosters, and how much is added later?
Tout Warrior Steve Moyer Has Died
Steve Moyer never won a Tout Wars title, but he was there at the leagues’ founding in 1998, and his contributions were an important part of Tout’s history. In 2001 we held the AL and NL auctions in his baseball memorabilia-filled basement in the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania. Why? Because he thought we should, and he was right.
We have set up a GoFundMe to benefit Steve’s two daughters. Please feel free to contribute if you’re so moved, or to share it if you cannot. Thanks.
You can read memorials by Lawr Michaels and Peter Kreutzer at rockremnants.com, and by Ron Shandler and Steve Gardner and no doubt others on Facebook. The official obituary is here.
Tout Wars Mixed Draft 2018 is Finished!
It was a super fast draft, completed in less than three hours. Four hundred and thirty five players were selected. Todd Zola barely had time to spell the names right in the spreadsheet.
You can see the spreadsheet, by round and by position, here.
Round ups by: DJ Short | Scott White | Adam Ronis (podcast) and part 2 | Rudy Gamble |
Projected standings are in:
Read all the comments @toutwars on Twitter.
Tout Mixed Draft is Underway!
The Draft is underway. Somewhere out there SiriusXM has promo codes so you can listen in for free for the next three days without any sort of registration.
I’ll post if I can find them. But they’re out there.
And there is plenty of chatter on Twitter. Look for @ToutWars or #MixedToutDraft.
Follow the spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Lz06T4W8lkofWs3tcnWOvPIPV84QdSoU0lwD3YnuCgk/htmlview?sle=true#gid=0
Tout Wars Mixed Draft 2018 Is Tonight!
Meet the Touts! Participants listed by draft order.
1. Rudy Gamble (1st in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Draft)
Affiliation: Razzball
Years in Tout Wars:4 (2017 Mixed Draft Champion)
Twitter: @RudyGamble
2. Ray Murphy (3rd in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Draft)
Affiliation: BaseballHQ
Years in Tout Wars:7
Twitter: @RayHQ
3. Tim McCullough (9th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Draft)
Affiliation: Rotoexperts
Years in Tout Wars:7
Twitter: @Tim_Rotoexperts
4. Greg Ambrosius (10th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Draft)
Affiliation: NFBC
Years in Tout Wars:6
Twitter: @GregAmbrosius
5. Perry Van Hook (12th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Draft)
Affiliation: Mastersball
Years in Tout Wars:8
6. Tom Kessenich (14th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Draft)
Affiliation: NFBC
Years in Tout Wars:6
Twitter: @TomKessenich
7. Jeff Boggis (15th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Draft)
Affiliation: Fantasy Football Empire
Years in Tout Wars:3
Twitter: @JeffBoggis
8. Gene McCaffrey (8th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Auction)
Affiliation: Wise Guy Baseball
Years in Tout Wars:12
Twitter: @WiseGuyGene
9. Michael Beller (9th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars H2H)
Affiliation: Sports Illustrated
Years in Tout Wars:3
Twitter: @MBeller
10. Adam Ronis (5th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Draft)
Affiliation: Scout Fantasy
Years in Tout Wars:5 (2015, 2016 Mixed Tout Wars Draft Champion)
Twitter: @AdamRonis
11. Charlie Wiegert (7th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Draft)
Affiliation: CDM Sports
Years in Tout Wars:10
Twitter: @GFFantasySports
12. Scott White (2nd in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Draft)
Affiliation: CBS Fantasy Sports
Years in Tout Wars:2
Twitter: @CBSScottWhite
13. DJ Short (6th in Mixed Tout Wars Draft)
Affiliation: Rotoworld
Years in Tout Wars:2
Twitter: @djshort
14. Anthony Perri (8th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Draft)
Affiliation: Fantistics
Years in Tout Wars:6
Twitter: @Anthony_Perri
15. Corey Parson (4th in 2017 Mixed Tout Wars Draft)
Affiliation: FNTSY
Years in Tout Wars:2
Twitter: @TheFantasyExec
Follow along with the live spreadsheet here.
We hope to see you on Twitter with the #mixedtoutdraft hashtag, on the Tout Wars Facebook page and the SiriusXM Fantasy Facebook page.
Mixed Tout Wars Draft Order Set
Tout Wars kicks off its season with the 15-team Mixed Draft league on Tuesday night, March 6 at 8:00 PM ET. The draft will be covered live on SiriusXM Fantasy by Glenn Colton, Rick Wolf and Jeff Erickson.
Tout Wars allows the participants to select their draft spot based on last year’s finish. The 2017 champion, Razzball’s Rudy Gamble opted defend his title from the top spot. The rest of the picks were far from chalk (last year’s finish in parentheses):
1. Rudy Gamble (1st)
2. Ray Murphy (3rd)
3. Tim McCullough (9th)
4. Greg Ambrosius (10th)
5. Perry Van Hook (12th)
6. Tom Kessenich (14th)
7. Jeff Boggis (15th)
8. Gene McCaffrey (8th, Mixed Auction)
9. Michael Beller (9th, Mixed H2H)
10. Adam Ronis (5th)
11. Charlie Wiegert (7th)
12. Scott White (2nd)
13. DJ Short (6th)
14. Anthony Perri (8th)
15. Corey Parson (4th)
Keeping in mind this is an OBP league, Gamble cited Mike Trout as his reason for wanting the first pick. Was he on the up-and-up? Scott White from CBS Fantasy hopes so, as he elected to slide to 1.12, wanting the option of an elite arm, depending on how things go.
Baseball HQ’s Ray Murphy was prepared to opt for the back end of the snake, but when the second pick fell in his lap, he decided not to overthink things and start near the top.
Tim McCullough from Rotoexperts and Greg Ambrosius from NFBC/SportsHubTech parlayed mid-pack finishes into Top-5 picks, saying they want a shot at the best available player left on the board.
After examining the results from the recent FSTA and Mixed LABR drafts, CDM Sports Charlie Wiegert used the 7th choice to slide to the 11th pick. One spot later, Anthony Perri from Fantistics/Insider Baseball chose to pick 14th, feeling the end of the round is optimal for OBP leagues.
While others were jockeying for early or late starts, Fantasy Football Empire’s Jeff Boggis was perfectly content to be left with 1.07, in a great spot not to miss out on a run.
So far in early drafts, the consensus top-two picks are Trout and Jose Altuve. However, after that, over ten players have been selected from the three-hole, helping to explain the motivation behind the Tout Mixed Warriors selections. This promises to be a wild 2018 campaign, with a myriad of approaches as everyone has their sights on wresting the championship from Rudy Gamble.
Next week we’ll introduce you to the 15 combatants, a day in advance of Tuesday’s festivities where you’ll be able to follow along and comment.
Let’s Give 10 Year Leaders Some Props
Tout Wars keeps a leaderboard. We imagine that each team pays $100 to be in the league, and that prize money is split up at the end of the season to teams who finish in the Top Third.
The other day we posted about the Five Year Leaderboard. Good for the What Have You Done for Me Lately Crowd, but who are the 10 Year All Stars?
Six of these 10 don’t have 10 years in. Attrition is a factor. Which give special props to Tristan Cockcroft and Larry Schechter.
You can play with the leaderboard at this Google Sheet.
The Tout Wars Leaderboard is Updated!
Fred Zinkie has won the most (imaginary) money the last five years, finishing in the money for the seventh straight year! (This post originally said Zinkie finished out of the money in 2017, but that was in error.)
But Fred’s remarkable dominance is being challenged by Rudy Gamble, who has finished second, second and first in his first three seasons in Tout, and Jeff Zimmerman, who has finished first twice in his two years. They both have a long way to go however, and Zinkie keeps on ticking.
You can see and peruse all of the results, and Tout Wars history, on the newly updated Tout Wars Leaderboard.