At the Obstructed View headquarters last night in Damascus (office space is pretty cheap right now), GW, Myles, Berselius, Aisle424 and myself got together to take part in an auction. The auction was Myles's and GW's idea so we have to them thank for it.
We each had $126 and went through all 30 teams in auction format. We had to end with 6 of them. Math. You could bid as much as you want for any team as long as you left yourself $1 for each remaining spot on your team roster. It's pretty simple.
The only real purpose is to see who ends up with the best group of teams. The winner will only get bragging rights so it's really no big deal. All groups aren't equal to begin the season so using the PECOTA projected standings, below is how the auction ended, the team's projected wins and losses, as well as the winning bid.
| Team | W | L | Winner | Bid |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 88 | 74 | Aisle424 | 35 |
| Atlanta Braves | 84 | 78 | Aisle424 | 30 |
| New York Yankees | 82 | 80 | Aisle424 | 24 |
| Cleveland Indians | 79 | 83 | Aisle424 | 24 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 77 | 85 | Aisle424 | 5 |
| Houston Astros | 66 | 96 | Aisle424 | 4 |
| Oakland Athletics | 88 | 74 | Berselius | 32 |
| Washington Nationals | 88 | 74 | Berselius | 31 |
| Seattle Mariners | 83 | 79 | Berselius | 26 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 83 | 79 | Berselius | 27 |
| Colorado Rockies | 78 | 84 | Berselius | 9 |
| Miami Marlins | 70 | 92 | Berselius | 1 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 98 | 64 | dmick89 | 42 |
| Detroit Tigers | 88 | 74 | dmick89 | 35 |
| Arizona D-backs | 80 | 82 | dmick89 | 18 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 78 | 84 | dmick89 | 22 |
| Chicago White Sox | 76 | 86 | dmick89 | 1 |
| New York Mets | 73 | 89 | dmick89 | 1 |
| Boston Red Sox | 88 | 74 | GW | 29 |
| San Francisco Giants | 87 | 75 | GW | 31 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 81 | 81 | GW | 12 |
| San Diego Padres | 81 | 81 | GW | 10 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 80 | 82 | GW | 10 |
| Kansas City Royals | 79 | 83 | GW | 22 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 89 | 73 | Myles | 33 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 87 | 75 | Myles | 26 |
| Texas Rangers | 84 | 78 | Myles | 31 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 78 | 84 | Myles | 25 |
| Chicago Cubs | 72 | 90 | Myles | 10 |
| Minnesota Twins | 71 | 91 | Myles | 1 |
GW ended up with the most projected wins at 496, followed by myself at 493. Berselius was at 490 with Myles and Aisle424 at the bottom with 481 and 476 wins, respectively.
It was not surprising that the Dodgers were the first team bid on. I was surprised that they could be had for $42. I was willing to go as high as $50 to get them.
My plan going in was to spend big on two of the best teams. I think we can safely say the Dodgers are the best. PECOTA projects them to be 9 wins better than the next best teams. The Rays are next at 89, but I'll take the Tigers over them who are projected at 88 wins. I was able to land the Dodgers and one of the other from the group of best teams in baseball right now. How it plays out is anyone's guess though.
Spending big early did leave me with some problems in the middle parts of the auction. Bids quickly flew past what I could spend, though I did briefly entertain the idea of going all in with what I had left to get the Red Sox.
Anyway, it was a good bit of fun. I started to envy GW's position about midway through and I feel he has the best chance of coming out on top.
Comments
My strategy was to get the Rays and the Rangers at basically all costs, as I think they are the two best teams in baseball. I was able to get them both for a total of $64, leaving me with $62 to spend on the other 4 teams. I probably overpaid for the Angels, but I’m betting on them rebounding (and it also hedges the Rangers). The Pirates are better than 78 wins but that was a clear overpay; the good-ish teams were running out at that point. I thought someone would bid $2 for the Twins, so I was stuck with them, and I thought someone would take the Cubs because this is a Cubs site (dying laughing). They didn’t. I really wanted the Rockies instead.
The two steals of the draft IMO were the Phillies and the Rockies. I think the Phillies have an outside shot at winning 81, which would make them worth around $20. I think the Rockies also have a shot at around 78-80 wins, making them worth $17-$19 as well.
MylesQuote Reply
That’s fun. Is team dmick going to have it’s own logo too? (Don’t use a Cubbie Facepalm, I hear the owners protective of it.) Do the rest of us break into fan clubs?
Is the winner the one whose teams have the most wins? Or the best differential from the PECOTA projections? Or the best position in their division at the end of the year despite less wins than others? (e.g. Tigers win AL Central with 88, but are still the fourth best team in the league because the WC teams are in the East and West and win more than 88, but Tigers get a “1” for being first in the central and going to the playoffs, while AL East #3 team wins 90 but misses playoffs because AL East and AL West #2s both have >90 wins.)
Just plain BVSQuote Reply
It’s all about wins. Just add up your 6 teams’ win totals and compare them at the end of the year.
MylesQuote Reply
@ Myles:
To be technically correct, the best kind of correct, from what I remember we’re scoring points for wins over 60. But since no one will probably win less than 60 it’s the same as adding up win totals.
Berselius, Cubs #12 prospectQuote Reply
My plan was to not go big on anyone (other than maybe the Dodgers) and try to pick up a bunch of mid-80s win teams and hope some catch fire. The Nats are the only team I really like better than their projection.
Berselius, Cubs #12 prospectQuote Reply
I do appreciate Aisley trying to spray the #Aisle424FantasyCurse on the Cardinals.
Berselius, Cubs #12 prospectQuote Reply
Berselius, Cubs #12 prospect wrote:
On a somewhat related note, I gave some thought about just trying to draft every team in the AL West, but thought better of it.
MylesQuote Reply
Will you be allowed to trade teams during the season?
EdwinQuote Reply
Berselius, Cubs #12 prospect wrote:
That was the plan. I also realized I was using actual standings from last year instead of projections to determine my values in bidding. I should have realized when Cleveland had 92 wins “projected.” Oh well.
Aisle424Quote Reply
Edwin wrote:
It depends on whether there is still money owed to Carlos Silva.
Aisle424Quote Reply
I had the White Sox, Phillies, and Mets as the three best value picks. I thought dmick had the best auction.
In retrospect, I would have spent a few more dollars to swap the giants out for one of the nats/braves/rangers.
GWQuote Reply
The only WTF moment in the auction for me was when the Astros were bid up to $4.
GWQuote Reply
GW wrote:
That was my top price. I think they’ll finish strong and win 70-something games.
Aisle424Quote Reply
@ Aisle424:
I wasn’t so much surprised that someone wanted to take a chance on their upside. It was that more than one person did.
GWQuote Reply
Ken Rosenthal wrote:
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/justin-masterson-cleveland-indians-james-shields-billy-burns-mike-olt-030614
GWQuote Reply
GW wrote:
I had to keep him honest.
MylesQuote Reply
GW wrote:
fixed
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ GW:
I figured there were a handful of teams I was bidding no more than a dollar for. The Astros were one of them and seeing as I picked last, I’m kind of glad it was the Mets hanging around and not the Astros.
dmick89, Sweatpants GuruQuote Reply
The Cubs were another one I’d have bid no more than a buck. Myles only did so because he had 10 left and figured he’d spend it all.
It was fun and I wouldn’t mind doing it again to see how differently it turns out now that we have an idea how one another is going to bid.
I think there were a couple teams that GW really wanted that I could have bid him up further, but kind of got to that point where I didn’t want to spend the money to get that team. Looking back on it, I might have done better by bidding up. Maybe I don’t get the teams, but it leaves GW with less to spend going forward.
dmick89, Sweatpants GuruQuote Reply
[img]https://scontent-a-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1/1376435_833744023319281_580237282_n.png[/img]
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ dmick89, Sweatpants Guru:
It’s a mind game. It didn’t really happen to me in this auction, but I’ve gotten “stuck” with guys I didn’t really care about because I misread how much an opponent wanted a player and bid one more time than I should have. I ended up with Jeff Samardzija last year, which was fine, but I usually avoid Cubs in fantasy leagues because I get doubly pissed when they don’t do well.
Aisle424Quote Reply
@ Aisle424:
It is just like that. I was so close to just going all in on the Red Sox knowing it was just GW and I bidding at that point. He could have outbid me and probably would have since he really needed them. There was another team too. Giants?
dmick89, Sweatpants GuruQuote Reply
Well, now we know why Mish hasn’t been around lately:
http://wgntv.com/2014/03/06/florida-man-accused-of-having-sex-with-pit-bull/
Aisle424Quote Reply
@ dmick89, Sweatpants Guru:
Live auctions are interesting because you can read the players like you would in poker.
I don’t recall who the other team was last night. As you recall, by that time, I was just sitting around making fart noises.
Aisle424Quote Reply
Sorry I missed it, life is crazy busy right now and I got my scheduling mixed up.
sitrickQuote Reply
@ Aisle424:
I really didn’t know what to expect going into it last night. I figured Berselius and GW had the edge because they’re a couple of smarty pants. I ranked the teams and then started to do some research, but realized it was all dependent on what other people do. I had no idea so I stopped and just figured I’d try to get two of the five best teams and go from there.
dmick89, Sweatpants GuruQuote Reply
@ sitrick:
I hope you didn’t have dinner.
Berselius, Cubs #12 prospectQuote Reply
@ dmick89, Sweatpants Guru:
I didn’t do much more research than bringing up a projected standings and trying to guesstimate my way from there. I was also running super late so I was making pizzas while we drafted.
Berselius, Cubs #12 prospectQuote Reply
I forgot that this was a thing (dying laughing)
http://seattletimes.com/html/mariners/2022420240_mariners08xml.html
Now I wish I hadn’t taken the Mariners.
#6org
Berselius, Cubs #12 prospectQuote Reply
dmick89, Sweatpants Guru wrote:
Don’t be such a silly billy.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
new shit
http://obstructedview.net/facepalm/ov-daily-facepalm-03-07-2014.html
MylesQuote Reply