[duncan_idaho]

So I'm in a 12-team, $300 cap auction league that keeps 9 players per year. This is my fourth season in the league after taking over a strong team before the 2010 season.

We had our auction draft on Saturday. It went very, very well, and I've got to brag a bit. Premier talent is very overpriced, the way our auctions work out, and secondary talent tends to be very underpriced. Makes it interesting, because we start 15 hitters and 9 pitchers (who have to fit under your $300 cap) and then draft 10 players at no cost in a traditional "Snake" draft.

Here's my squad. Players I kept coming into the draft bolded. I think this is the best team I've ever drafted. Projections for my regular lineup would put me at 99 points, on average, over the past 3 years. (last three winners had 89, 78 and 79 points)

C - Russell Martin $1
C - Jarrod Saltalamacchia $4
1B - Allen Craig $4
2B - Robby Cano $36

3B - Chase Headley $1
SS - Troy Tulowitzki $39
CI - Adam LaRoche $12
MI - Ian Kinsler $36
OF - Mike Trout $8
OF - Bryce Harper $5
OF - Matt Kemp $24
OF - Jon Jay $1
OF - Oscar Taveras $1
UTIL - Jedd Gyorko $1
UTIL - Manny Machado $7

P - Chris Sale $4
P - Jordan Zimmermann $13
P - Matt Moore $33
P - Alex Cobb $15
P - Vance Worley $1
P - Shelby Miller $4 (I kept him because he would have gone for crazy amounts in the auction... only chance to get and keep aces in this league is to draft them cheap and keep them forever)
P - Jason Motte $17 (we started our auction early Saturday, before his elbow injury concern was upgraded)
P - John Axford $18
P - Bobby Parnell $8

Bench
Ryan Ludwick (will slot into starting lineup as soon as I can, to cover for Taveras)
Mitch Moreland (just wanted a guy I could drop in at 1B or OF and not have him kill me)
Wilson Ramos (upside/insurance at catcher. Like his rehab outlook)
Jed Lowrie (gives me insurance and flex at 2B/SS, which I need with injury concerns like Kinsler and Tulo)

Drew Smyly
Jeff Niemann
Brandon Beachy
Sergio Santos (was ready to take Mitch Boggs to handcuff Motte, took another guy's handcuff as a reaction)
Mike Gonzalez (handcuff for Axford)
Kelvin Herrerra

In this league, you're limited to one move per month, done in a true waiver system (worst picks first, best picks last). So you have to draft well and have options on your bench you can live with. That's why I roster a guy like Niemann or Smyly, who I'd normally be able to grab on waivers.


It's also important to have spare keeper pieces you're OK with moving at the trade deadline to make a push for the league crown (thus excess keeper options like Beachy, Machado, Gyorko).

I'm really pumped, not only about this season but also about the future. My core is going to be: (we add $4 to keeper prices each year they're kept)

Harper $9
Trout $12
Kemp $28
Sale $8
Miller $8
Craig $8
Taveras (likely) $4

And then I have a LOT of other options for those last two spots, and to use for a key resource at the deadline. Zimmermann, Headley, Gyorko, Beachy, Machado all should be good trade bait.

Cano has been so elite at 2B, it's hard to contemplate not keeping him, even for $40. Kinsler is an option there, too.

I'm pretty confident. As long as I don't have COMPLETELY awful luck, I should dominate the hitting categories and be in the top 3 or 4 in most pitching categories.

Thoughts?