Fantasy Focus: 2016 Savvy Vets

OK, I know nobody wants to hear about my fantasy team, but Fantasy Draft Day is such a big day in my life every year, I think it ought to be declared a national holiday, so I'm going to bug you with it anyway.  I play in a 10 team league standard 5X5 scoring H2H.  We carry 26 rosters spots.  Full redraft each year, so no Keepers.  Rosters can be re-set daily and we get up to 40 Adds from the free agent list during the season.  Our commissioner allows unlimited Adds between draft day and the start of the season.  The draft is auction with $260 of imaginary money to spend on the 26 roster spots.

With that bit of housekeeping out of the way, I present to you the 2016 Savvy Vets(players are listed by position followed by the number of auction dollars spent on each one):

C   JT Realmuto(Marlins) 2
1B Paul Goldschmidt(D'Backs) 54
2B Cesar Hernandez(Phillies) 4
3B Mike Moustakas(Royals) 1
SS Addison Russell(Cubs) 2
IF  Brandon Belt(Giants) 3
OF Bryce Harper(Nationals) 52
OF Justin Upton(Tigers) 20
OF Carlos Gomez(Astros) 18
UT Ben Revere(Nationals) 3
UT Billy Burns(A's) 2
SP  Stephen Strasburg(Nationals) 26
SP  Cole Hamels(Rangers) 16
SP  Danny Salazar(Indians) 9
SP  Garrett Richards(Angels) 14
SP  Marcus Stroman(Blue Jays) 6
RP  Sean Doolittle(A's) 2
RP  Robert Osuna(Blue Jays) 2
RP  Dellin Betances(Yankees) 1
P     Drew Storen(Blue Jays) 1
P     Jason Grilli(Braves) 1
B    Arodys Vizcaino 1
B     Raisel Iglesias(Reds) 2
B     Carlos Rodon(White Sox) 2
B    Aaron Sanchez(Blue Jays) 2
B    Cody Anderson(Indians) 1

Comments:

I entered this draft determined to be more aggressive in drafting elite talent a the top of the draft.  In all of my prior auction drafts, never went above $50 and ended up with more evenly balanced talent, but I always ended up feeling like I could have gotten close to $20 value out of players near the end of the draft that cost under $5.  So I went for more of a Stars and Scrubs approach this time.  When I drew up my pre-draft budget, I was willing to spend half of my $260 or $130 for 2 of the top 3 players who, IMO, were Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and Paul Goldschmidt(approximately $65 each).  I was happily surprised to land Harper and Goldy for a total of $106 which still left me with $154 to spend.

I ended up leaving $13 on the table, which is not a good thing although there were extenuating circumstances in this case.  My goal was to have approximately $50 for the last 20 roster spots and $20 for the last 10.  Having that extra dollar per player allows you go poach pretty much whoever you want when most teams are down to $1 per roster spot.  The problem in this draft was one guy didn't start spending until bid were down into the $15 range.  Every time I bid on a player he would jump in and outbid me.  Not only did I lose out on the player, but I didn't spend any money in they process.  I had no choice but to wait until he filled his roster.  By that time, everybody else was out of money or had filled their roster so I had nobody to bid against which meant I could not spend all  of my money.

I am fairly happy with my roster.  I had originally intended to spend more on SP's and fill out my offensive roster after drafting Harper and Goldschmidt with sub-$10 players but after much analysis, I concluded that there was enough good, cheap pitching that the money would be better spent on a couple of mid-level offensive players.  I am quite satisfied that Upton and Gomez will prove to be good investments.

You will notice my bench is only pitchers.  With 40 adds allowed in-season, I can replace offensive players from the FA list.  With daily roster re-sets, you can double the effective size of your starting rotation by filling your bench with SP's and shuttling them in and out depending on when they are starting.

The bidding scenario I described above prevented me from spending more on closers so I had to scrounge at the end.  I handcuffed Osuna/Storen and Grilli/Vizcaino so I would get at least 2 closers out of those 4.  When the Blue Jays and Braves announce their closers, I will drop the losers and pick up a couple more SP's from the FA list.  Hopefully that will happen before Opening Day so I don't get charge with the Adds.

I will obviously need healthy seasons from Harper, Goldy and Strasburg, which might be a tall order.

I am hoping for breakouts from Addison Russell and several pitchers.  My sleeper picks were Hernandez(although another guy obviously knew about him and I had to bid $4 to get him) and Cody Anderson.