Here’s a quick recap of our inaugural SABR G&S Fantasy Baseball leagues. We assembled three 12-team leagues in January and February 2023, executed Salary Cap drafts in March, and competed over the next six months. In addition to the final standings, let’s take a look back at some of the bargains and busts from draft day along with some key free agent acquisitions.
Rotisserie Stats:
Season Stats:
Season Recap:
The Red Sea Pedestrians (Jason Winston) claimed the top spot in SABR G&S League 1 by a 6.5-point margin over the Bell Swamp Connections (Bart Ewing). The Pedestrians drafted eventual AL batting champion Yandy Diaz for $2 and snagged Francisco Alvarez and Matt McLain off the waiver wire for $5 apiece. Ozzie Albies, JD Martinez and Max Muncy all provided 30 HR / 100 RBI seasons on offense. On the mound, a trio of starters (Mitch Keller $1, Pablo Lopez $4 and Framber Valdez $14) whiffed 200+ batters and Clayton Kershaw anchored the rotation when healthy with a 2.46 ERA and a WHIP of 1.06.
The Connections contended for the crown throughout the entire season, pacing the circuit in runs (1269), home runs (383) and RBI (1224). Bell Swamp plucked Justin Steele (16 W, 3.32 ERA) out of the free agent pool in early April, a move that significantly bolster their starting rotation. An efficient draft included the NL strikeout leader – Spencer Strider $27, MLB home run champ Matt Olson $26, runner-up for the AL batting crown Corey Seager $20, and a potential AL Rookie of the Year in Gunnar Henderson $18. Besides Strider and Steele in the rotation and a bullpen tandem of David Bednar $9 and Jordan Romano $11, the pitching staff was in constant flux, contributing to the eventual runner-up finish.
Team Fighting Amish (Rick Beam) finished strong and solidly in third place. The Fighting Amish rode the power bats of Kyle Schwarber $21 and Adolis Garcia $17 and added Eduardo Rodriguez $6 and Carlos Estevez $5 off the waiver wire in April to boost the pitching staff. Zach Eflin was the final draft pick for the squad and he was active for most of the season.
Jeffo’s Jokers (Jeff Kindig) locked in the fourth position with a league-best 1545 K’s despite compiling the lowest BA at .250. The Jokers somehow survived injuries to Jacob deGrom $20 and Shane Bieber $20 as they had three excellent starters in Zach Wheeler $18, Kevin Gausman $16 and Blake Snell $9. A pair of waiver-wire pickups, James Outman $2 and Spencer Steer $2, picked up some of the slack on offense.
Derek’s Dominos (Derek Bain), Dingers Taters (Mark Drucker) and the Belle Isle Sliders (Cal Davenport) finished in the middle of the pack. The Dominos selected Josh Lowe $5, Jarren Duran $7 and Adbert Alzolay $1 from the free agent pool to patch holes in the lineup and pitching staff. The $1 draft pick of Esteury Ruiz allowed the Dominos to cruise to the stolen base title with 260 swipes, Mookie Betts $36 put up MVP-type numbers and the stacked bullpen saved a league-high 131 contests. The Taters paced the league with a .265 BA, led by a .354 mark by Luis Arraez $5. Cody Bellinger $8 produced MVP-level stats at a bargain-basement price tag while Juan Soto was worth the $36 bid on draft day. Late-season pickups Kyle Bradish $1, Nolan Jones $1 and Marcell Ozuna $1 kept the Taters in the hunt. Belle Isle scored a 30/30 campaign from Francisco Lindor $24 along with 30+ long balls from Yordan Alvarez $37 and Manny Machado $34. Alexis Diaz $6 notched 37 saves and Zac Gallen led the mound crew in wins (17) and strikeouts (220).
A few highlights for the teams that landed in the lower tier of the standings:
The top three draft picks for the SABR Diamond Kings (Ryan Schroer) all performed up to or above their expectations – Julio Rodriguez $46, Rafael Devers $32, and Corbin Carroll $23. The Hooligan Otters (David Ott) scooped Elly De La Cruz from the free agent pool in early June and they were rewarded with 30+ steals. Nico Hoerner $5 and Chris Bassitt $6 delivered significant value at low draft-day prices. Shohei Ohtani $39 racked up MVP-worthy numbers at bat and on the mound for the Hoosier Helpers (Marc Martinez). Austin Riley $29 consistently produced at the plate and Trea Turner $50 rebounded from early-season woes but otherwise the offense and bullpen prevented the Helpers from moving up in the standings.
Both teams that ended the year in the cellar shared a common theme – decent offensive results and dreadful pitching staffs. The Sandlot PF Flyers (Marc Robinson) tallied only 9.5 pitching points. The Flyers shelled out nearly $200 on their first eight draft picks and all were productive with the exception of the injured Brandon Woodruff $26. However, that left them unable to bid on the majority of mid-level players and the $1 hurlers available at the tail end of the draft failed to compensate. The NJ Marathon (Paul Semendinger) got an MVP-type season out of Ronald Acuna Jr. $46 but Aaron Judge’s broken toe and extended absence was noticeable at the dish and the hurlers were absolutely horrendous with the exception of Gerrit Cole $33 and Nathan Eovaldi $1.
Rotisserie Stats:
Season Stats:
Season Recap:
The Flower City Nine (Ryan Brecker) and the Pinstripe Pride 28 (Mike Mandelkorn) vied for the championship. Both featured high-powered offenses but Flower City finished slightly higher in the pitching categories and emerged with the trophy. Pete Alonso $30, Juan Soto $34 and Kyle Tucker $38 anchored the lineup while Esteury Ruiz $4 and C.J. Abrams $1 pilfered 100+ bags. Additional power was drafted at a bargain rate in Josh Jung $3, J.D. Martinez $3, Max Muncy $6 and Cal Raleigh $5 while NL batting champ Luis Arraez only cost $8! Four members of the starting rotation struck out 200+ batters: Zac Gallen $15, Lucas Giolito $6, Blake Snell $10 and Framber Valdez $13. The bullpen featured a quintet of closers with 25+ saves: Felix Bautista $12, Alexis Diaz $3, Pete Fairbanks $3, Kenley Jansen $9 and Paul Sewald $4. The Pride 28 ball club prominently starred three of the top candidates for NL MVP honors: Ronald Acuna Jr. $39, Mookie Betts $37 and Cody Bellinger, who was selected off the waiver-wire in early July for $1! The starting rotation beyond Pablo Lopez $14 was uneven and hindered by injuries to Shane Bieber $24 and Triston McKenzie $13.
The New Zealand Tuataras (Derek Bain) came home with a third-place finish after leading the circuit with 171 saves and nabbing the runner-up slot with 230 stolen bases (Pinstripe swiped 257). The Tuataras’ bullpen depth yielded five relievers with 25+ saves: David Bednar $4, Camilo Doval $8, Jhoan Duran $9, Raisel Iglesias $4 and Devin Williams $17. Jonah Heim (18 HR, 95 RBI) was a real bargain at $2 and Gunnar Henderson $19 rebounded from early struggles to put his name firmly in the AL Rookie of the Year conversation. When injuries struck, the lineup and rotation got a boost from free-agent pickups Chris Bassitt $3, Lane Thomas $1, Elly De La Cruz $9 and Spencer Torkelson $2.
Team Bello (Brendan Bain) out-dueled the Havana Lions (Andy Palomino) in a season-long battle for fourth place. The top three players that the Bellos selected in the draft supplied plenty of offensive firepower: Rafael Devers $34, Corbin Carroll $21 and Adolis Garcia $15. George Kirby and especially Mitch Keller $1 were steals at those price tags, but Dylan Cease $22 disappointed with the exception of his team-high 214 whiffs. The questionable release of Cody Bellinger $5 (.277 with 7 HR on July 1) was counteracted with some waiver-wire magic. Orlando Arcia $1, Jake Burger $5, T.J. Friedl $8, Nolan Jones $4 and Spencer Steer $9 contributed to Team Bello’s top-4 finish. The Lions pulled a similar rabbit out of a hat when they acquired Justin Steele $8, Nolan Gorman $6, Matt McLain $2, Michael Wacha $1 and Kyle Bradish $2 by dipping into the free agent pool. Kevin Gausman and Luis M. Castillo, $19 apiece on draft day, racked up 200+ strikeouts and Zach Eflin $1 delivered 16 victories as Havana paced the circuit in wins, strikeouts, WHIP while finishing runner-up in ERA.
The next quartet of clubs fought valiantly but ended the year engaged in a clash for sixth place. The Alamo City Defenders (Mike Lassman) notched the sixth position which is impressive given the fact that the club made no moves during the season. The Defenders received superb production on offense from Matt Olson $24 and Francisco Lindor $21 along with 30+ long balls from a $1 draftee – Isaac Paredes! The starting rotation was solid with 200+ strikeout campaigns from Jesus Luzardo $5, Aaron Nola $25 and Zack Wheeler $21 while the bullpen struggled with the notable exception of Carlos Estevez $1. Seventh place went to the Second City Slammers (Nicholas Ver Halen). Although he salvaged his season in the second half, Trea Turner failed to live up to the $54 commitment from the Slammers on draft day. Ozzie Albies $20 was a bargain and Gerrit Cole $31 compiled 222 whiffs along with a 2.63 ERA and a WHIP of 0.98. Justin Turner and Bryson Stott, selected back-to-back for $1 each in the draft, achieved excellent seasons at a minimal cost. The Rochelle Cardinals (John Iachetta) claimed the eighth slot despite losing one of their top draft picks, Jacob deGrom $23, for all but six starts. The bullpen was underwhelming but the roster received a boost from low-cost draft picks such as Nico Hoerner $8 and Tyler Glasnow $2. The Cardinals snared Kodai Senga $3 and Tarik Skubal $1 off the waiver-wire. The ninth spot was secured by the Meadows Blues (Seth Moland-Kovash), who led the league with a .274 BA. The Blues shelled out $212 on their first half-dozen draft picks. Julio Rodriguez $38, Jose Ramirez $43, Freddie Freeman $40, Bo Bichette $34, Paul Goldschmidt $30 and Marcus Semien $27 produced to expectations but left the club unable to bid on mid-level talent.
Expos and Poutine (Brett Bosley) bid $39 on Shohei Ohtani and utilized him in the starting rotation. Bobby Witt $30 recorded a 30-homer, 49-steal campaign. Bryce Harper $8 and Ketel Marte $4 were superb mid-round selections. The Newark Bears (John Alcamo) earned high marks with their power trio of Kyle Schwarber $21, Luis Robert Jr. $22 and Marcell Ozuna $1. The starting staff delivered plenty of punch-outs, particularly Spencer Strider $32 and Corbin Burnes $37 while the ‘pen pitched well but lagged in the saves category. The Tampa Yankees (Dennis Lisbon) struggled mightily, finishing dead last in all but saves and batting average.
Rotisserie Stats:
Season Stats:
Season Recap:
The Berlin Bats (Sven Müncheberg) glided to victory by a ten-point margin over Derek’s Dimetrodons (Derek Bain). Top draft picks Freddie Freeman $39 and Adolis Garcia $24 anchored the middle of the Bats’ lineup. The starting staff was solid with Aaron Nola $25 and Framber Valdez $19 topping 200 K’s and Zach Eflin $1 notching 16 victories, allowing the team to endure injuries to Max Fried $22 and Joe Musgrove $8. The Dimetrodons specialized in stolen bases (268) thanks to Ronald Acuna Jr. $36 and Esteury Ruiz $2. The club seized the top spot in saves by two over the third-place Gypsy Queens as Devin Williams $20, Raisel Iglesias $11 and Camilo Doval $5 closed out 30+ contests each. Blake Snell $9 piled up the strikeouts but the club sorely missed superstars Mike Trout $44 and Shane Bieber $23. The Gypsy Queens (Andy Palomino) registered 55 of their 83.5 points in the pitching categories as their lineup came up a bit short especially in circuit clouts. Ozzie Albies $17, Alec Bohm $9 and Luis Arraez $5 were all excellent draft picks at that price point. Spencer Strider $27, Kodai Senga $3 and Felix Bautista $10 confounded the opposition. Waiver-wire selections Matt McLain $2 and Nolan Jones $4 offer further proof of the value of research and keeping one eye on the free agent pool throughout the year.
B’More GoldGlover (Mark Warren) tallied 80 points to finish fourth and topped the league with 376 homers and 1223 RBI. On the flip side, the club failed to capitalize on the new rules to increase stolen bases as they only succeeded on 92 attempts. Mookie Betts $43, Matt Olson $26 and Corey Seager $25 led the charge on offense. Free agent additions Kyle Bradish, Royce Lewis and Michael Wacha helped the cause greatly at a mere $3 apiece. The Iowa White Sox (Bryan Dietzler) and Nooby Doo (Brendan Bain) finished fifth and sixth, respectively. The Sox relied heavily on their mound crew with 5 starters recording 200+ K’s: Gerrit Cole $36, Kevin Gausman $20, Dylan Cease $20, Zac Gallen $15 and Freddy Peralta $4. Iowa paced the circuit in ERA (3.53), WHIP (1.186) and K’s (1532). Bryce Harper and Ketel Marte were draft-day steals at $4 each. Nooby Doo received outstanding production out of their top-tier draftees (Yordan Alvarez $49, Rafael Devers $39 and Corbin Carroll $19) as well as late-round selections such as Cody Bellinger $2, Mitch Keller $3 and Justin Steele $1.
Seventh through tenth place were occupied by four franchises finishing in the 50-60 point range. The Bunt Cakes (Mark Wendling) secured seventh place as the club compiled the second highest BA (.265) in the league. Bo Bichette $37 and Yandy Diaz $1 racked up the base hits and the Cakes’ final draft pick, Marcell Ozuna at $1, belted a team-high 40 round-trippers. Nick Castellanos $8 placed second in homers and led the club with 106 RBI. Zach Wheeler $22 and Chris Bassitt $4 held the pitching staff together while Max Scherzer $29 and Clayton Kershaw $11 missed time due to injury and Alek Manoah $17 flopped in spectacular fashion. The Vermont Green Sox (Chuck Mc Gill) claimed the eighth position. Bobby Witt Jr. $35 proved his worth by leading the ball club in home runs (30), RBI (96) and steals (49). Jhoan Duran $9, Brandon Nimmo $8, Tyler Glasnow $5 and Masataka Yoshida $2 were all draft-day bargains for the Green Sox. The Bethlehem Steel BB Club (Durward Hamil) nabbed the ninth spot, boosted by a green light on the base paths that resulted in a runner-up finish in the stolen base category with 229 thefts. Six “Steelers” swiped at least 20 bases as Julio Rodriguez $50 succeeded 37 times to compliment 32 circuit clouts (second on the team to Austin Riley’s 37) along with a team-high 103 RBI. Logan Webb $9 was the ace of an inexperienced starting staff and Josh Hader $17 notched 33 saves. The Louisville Sluggers (Ryan Schroer) led the league with a .268 batting average but the mound crew was mediocre to miserable. The Sluggers spent big on their first six draft picks ($231/280) leaving them as spectators for the majority of selections without ample resources to outbid anyone. Jacob deGrom $20 missed all but six starts due to injury while the remaining core was a productive albeit overpaid group. The rest of the roster consisted of $1 draftees and some of them greatly exceeded expectations including Josh Naylor, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Triston Casas, Sonny Gray, Adbert Alzolay and Carlos Estevez.
The Bowling Green HillToppers (Chris Krebs) toiled in eleventh place, thanks to an underwhelming pitching corps which finished next-to-last in all categories except strikeouts. One-dollar draft picks propped up the staff as Nathan Eovaldi was the lone effective starter with a team-best 12 victories and an ERA of 3.63 while Jordan Hicks and Adam Ottavino tied for the club lead with 12 saves. Mets’ teammates Pete Alonso $32 and Francisco Lindor $28 along with long ball threats Kyle Schwarber $26 and Marcus Semien $22 manufactured ample offense but simply not enough to overcome the pitching deficit. The Tampa Toms (Thomas Holmes) finished last in 5 categories and registered a mere 16 points overall. The Toms’ rotation featured Shohei Ohtani $42, Shane McLanahan $24, George Kirby $10 and Jesus Luzardo $3 and they drafted Kenley Jansen as their stopper for only $7. Jose Ramirez $46 anchored a lineup that included bargains in J.D. Martinez $4, Max Muncy $4, Josh Jung $1 and C.J. Abrams $1.
Owner Thoughts and Feedback
I asked our participants for feedback from the first season of the SABR G&S Fantasy Leagues – the draft, in-season transactions, etc..
Durward Hamil – Bethlehem Steel BB
Background
I had been away from fantasy baseball for a long time and was appreciative of Derek’s invitation to join the league. Seemed like a safe and fun way to get back into the game.
Auction
The auction was exhilarating and had a very fun day. I made a lot of Rookie mistakes and wished for a redo but there were no mulligans in fantasy baseball. The biggest mistake was that I got caught up in the excitement and did not follow my initial plan. Given that we only had 12 teams and thirty teams to draft from my thought process was to get two very expensive five-category players (Turner & JRod). The next step was to sit tight and save my money until the bottom third of the draft where there would be a lot of bargains. I did not execute that part of my plan. I was not patient enough and continued to bid on other higher price players. As a result, I had no money left to competitively bid on the very talented pool of players available near the end of the draft.
Results
There were no highlights for the 9th place finished of the Bethlehem Steel BB Club. Compounding my impatience was the slow starts of my two big money players Turner and JRod. They did not contribute anything until the last two months of the season. As a result, I overreacted to early in the season by turning my roster over through the FA process. Dropped some good players who turned their seasons around.
Thinking 2024
By June, I realized I was out of contention for the 2023 season. Given that we can carry-over eight keepers I started to think about 2024. This experiment may have been unconventional but I picked up some strong prospects through the weekly FA process. These younger players include Francisco Alvarez, Elly De La Cruz, Jackson Holiday, Eury Perez and Taj Bradley. My draft day roster included other youth with Rutschman, Volpe, Gunnar Henderson and Grayson Rodriguez.
This group alone will not strike fear to the league. Hopefully though this base of low-cost players with upside potential will support the remaining nucleus of my drafted team in the next auction.
Andy Palomino – Havana Lions and Gypsy Queens
Havana Lions (5th Place)
I really liked this team coming out of the auction, my projection system had them finishing in the top 3. Unfortunately too many players under-performed their projections (Vladimir Guerrero, Andres Gimenez, Starling Marte, Taylor Ward, Jake McCarthy).
The biggest disappointment was Guerrero who cost me $38 and did not perform at that level.
On the pitching side, I was able to get much better correlation between my projections and actual performance. I was happy with the value I received from Luis Castillo at $19 and Nate Eovaldi at $1.
Ultimately, I was happy with my auction strategy and process and the structure of my team, it’s just that many of the players did not perform as expected. Too often we focus solely on the result and not on the efficacy of the process, the result has a lot of inherent luck involved and can’t be fully be controlled, the process is totally within your control.
Gypsy Queens (3rd Place)
I liked this team and was happy with a 3rd place finish, but thought they could have done better. I had less under performers on this team which explains the higher finish (my two two biggest busts were Tim Anderson at $17 and Robby Ray at $9) it also hurt that I missed a month of Justin Verlander who was supposed to be my ace.
From a profit perspective, I was happy with the performance I received from Kodai Senga ($3).
What would I do differently:
As I mentioned, I was happy with my auction process and general makeup of the teams, so I would not necessarily change that for 2024. I would manage my FAAB better – I was very aggressive early on and did not have cash to spend towards the end of the year to improve my teams.
I also have to get used to the pace of the auction, I’ve played in auction leagues for a long time and usually we allocate 45 seconds to nominate a player and 15 seconds to bid. In the SABR leagues we only had 15 seconds to nominate, this can be quite challenging when you have to update your own auction tracking spreadsheet between nominations!
All in all, the auctions were fun and challenging. Looking forward to 2024!
Jason Winston – Red Sea Pedestrians
My team jumped to the top of the standings early in the season, and I kept waiting to fall back to the pack. The strange thing is it never happened. I was happy with my draft, and despite it being my first auction in decades felt like I managed to stick with my plan. I avoided spending big on anyone early with the goal of having enough money left to pick up good players with bids of $2-5 when other owners ran low or out. I only wound up with 4 $1 players, including two in my last two picks who were key guys all year (Mitch Keller and Evan Phillips). My highest salary was $23 for Max Scherzer and only two others topped $18 (J.T. Realmuto and Cedric Mullins at $21 each). Some of my best bargains were Yandy Diaz ($2), Pablo Lopez ($4), and J.D. Martinez ($6).
Overall, I think our depth paid off well throughout the season. We finished top-two in 5 of the 10 categories and scored at least 8 points in all but one. I had 11 players who hit at least 20 homers, so even without any superstars we got productivity pretty much everywhere. I had 7 pitchers win at least 10 games and three post 200-K seasons. And four good closers helped rack up the saves and keep the ERA and WHIP down, too. All in all, it was a fun first season in this format, and I look forward to trying to defend the crown.
League Formats and the ESPN Fantasy Baseball Website
We’ve had some discussions about creating a daily transaction league (our three existing leagues utilize a weekly format, with FAAB processed on Sundays and transactions locked in on Mondays). Another possible change is a migration from the ESPN Fantasy Baseball site to an alternate solution. Among the issues with the ESPN site is the fact that you cannot see how players performed when active or reserved for your team – you only get their overall season stats. It would also be nice to have the ability to run reports based on specific dates or timeframes (last 28 days, April 1 to June 30, etc.)
