Today’s Mock draft is a new idea for me. I’ve never played in an auction before, and never even mock drafted one that I can remember. I chose to do this to see how it turns out.
It’s a 10 team mock draft standard ESPN league.
Off the top of my head, that means most likely that positions without depth will be SS, OF, and C potentially.
The rules:
All players
Roster: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, MI, CI, 5 OF, UT, 9 P, 3 BN
5 x 5 standard league
I chose to do this auction because there were already 9 teams with live owners in it. I had tried to do one earlier but there were only 3 live owners and made it rather difficult to get a good feel for it.
Notes while it’s happening:
- I am planning on offering up Joe Nathan early on to see if anyone will bite and spend some money. At worst, I end up with him for $1 and the potential to have a great closer for nothing.
- Ben Sheets was the second player offered up, and only myself and one player were bidding on him. He went for $5. Probably a good value there.
- A-Rod was the third offered, and went for $31, which is exactly what ESPN has his value to be.
- Albert Pujols went early (to me) at $33. The best player in the game I will take at that price.
- First player to go over their valuation: Joe Mauer ($23 by ESPN, $31 to the owner)
- Nathan went for $13, not sure if someone was paying attention or not.
- Got Halladay early on for $24. I think he’s going to be a great value at that price.
- I ended up with 5 players after 27 drafted but I was pretty happy with group I got. I think Glaus will be a cheap source of power.
- A lot of the players early on seem to be going for exactly $1 less than ESPN’s projection.
- Julio Borbon went for exactly ESPN valuation – $9
- Jason Bay at $15 seems like a bit of a bargain. So does Mark Reynolds at $15.
- I couldn’t let Justin Verlander pass at $14, so I bid him up one more.
- Aroldis Chapman went for $1 around the 8th round. Interesting. I’m looking forward to seeing Strasburg
- Brandon Webb went for $12. Same as Tommy Hanson.
- I’m going to offer up Jason Heyward to see what kind of money he will eat up with my next turn. Or at least I was until someone else did. And he went for $6.
- As I figured would happen, after 90 players somewhere between 60 and 70 percent of money was spent.
- Probably shouldn’t have bid the $12 on Pena, but the power will be helpful.
- Liked Carlos Beltran for $11. He could end up providing a lot better value than that I think.
- I overpaid for Napoli according to ESPN, but I am ok with that.
- I left pitching for a lot later than I probably would have liked, and as a result I don’t have any true closers.
- I went from having spent the most money to having the most left towards the 20th round or so. So some people were paid more than they would be worth I thought.
My roster:
C – Mike Napoli – $4
1B – Albert Pujols – $33
2B – Asdrubal Cabrera – $10
3B - Ian Stewart – $6
SS – Stephen Drew – $11
MI – Ryan Theriot – $6
CI – Adrian Gonzalez – $19
OF – Justin Upton – $22
OF – Andre Ethier – $14
OF – Carlos Beltran – $11
OF – Chase Headley – $1
OF – Corey Hart – $1
UT – Carlos Pena – $12
P – Roy Halladay – $24
P – Justin Verlander – $15
P – Octavio Dotel – $3
P – Brett Anderson – $10
P – Mat Latos – $5
P – Scott Kazmir – $7
P – Ryan Dempster – $3
P – Bobby Jenks – $2
P – Mike Gonzalez – $2
BN – Troy Glaus – $3
BN – Miguel Tejada – $2
BN – Leo Nunez – $2
I am extremely light on steals, and I seem to have a lot of project-type players (Hart, Headley, Tejada). I do like the amount of potential saves I could end up with, having spent $9 on 4 closers (Jenks, Dotel, Gonzalez, Nunez). I was not particularly happy that I left the draft with Stephen Drew, as I don’t think he’s going to be a particularly good player this season. But in a 5-player outfield, Upton, Ethier and Beltran are a pretty good top 3 in my opinion.
Some of the better values that appeared:
- Brad Lidge – $1 – Somehow he still officially has the closer job, and could rebound. I wish I had bid on him instead of Nunez, but oh well.
- Ben Sheets – $5
- Chad Billingsley – $9 – I think he can easily earn more than that during the season if he can bring it all together again.
- Edwin Jackson – $2 – Moving to the National League should help him a lot.
- Jonathan Sanchez – $1 – High upside for strikeouts if he can improve his control.
- Jake Peavy – $10 – Another high upside pitcher who could easily outperform that price.
Thoughts on my first auction draft?
