A Team Singman Tout update

It’s been almost two months since I last gave you a Tout Wars update, so for those not following along at home, here’s your chance to catch up. My team is a little different since last time, but one thing is the same, I’m still currently in first. For those wondering, it feels good.

Hitting

+-----+------------------+-------+
| POS | PLAYER           | PRICE |
+-----+------------------+-------+
| C   | J Saltalamacchia | $ 7   |
| C   | Martin Maldonado | $ 0   |
| 1B  | Lucas Duda       | $ 7   |
| 2B  | Jason Kipnis     | $ 7   |
| 3B  | Mike Moustakas   | $10   |
| SS  | Starlin Castro   | $25   |
| CI  | Brett Lawrie     | $28   |
| MI  | Mike Aviles      | $ 2   |
| OF  | Curtis Grandy    | $33   |
| OF  | Nick Swisher     | $11   |
| OF  | John Jay         | $ 0   |
| OF  | Josh Reddick     | $ 1   |
| OF  | Leonys Martin    | $ 2   |
| UT  | Carlos Quentin   | $ 1   |
+-----+------------------+-------+
| BN  | Jhonny Peralta   | $ 8   |
| BN  | Andrelton Simmons| $ 7   |
| BN  | Travis d'Arnaud  | $ 1   |
| BN  | Wil Myers        | $ 2   |
| DL  | Ryan Howard      | $ 7   |
| DL  | Andy Dirks       | $ 1   |
+-----+------------------+-------+

Taking a look at my hitting, it remains an unspectacular, yet solid bunch of guys leading me to earning at least 11 points in every hitting category. I’ve been lucky to avoid major injuries to my lineup, and as a result haven’t had to change it much. Still, I make minor tweaks every week to make sure I have multiple options in case a player goes down. We’ll take a look at those in a bit, first, I’ll offer some thoughts on my players.

At catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia has been great, and I can only hope he keeps it up in the rest of the season. A little known fact is the third week of the season, back when Salty and Nick Hundley were my catchers, I actually tried to drop Salty by placing a $0 bid on Willin Rosario. It sounds ridiculous now, especially because Hundley was my other catcher, but at that point I wanted no part of Salty’s .103/.161/.241 line. Luckily for me, it turned out Rotowire’s Derek VanRiper bid $1 and he got Rosario, so nothing came of it.

Right now Martin Maldonado is doing well as my second catcher, though once Jonathan Lucroy returns I’ll have to find someone else. I can only hope Travis d’Arnaud is in the majors by then, be it with the Blue Jays or somewhere else. I think he’d be an upgrade over J.P. Arencibia, but who knows what Alex Anthopoulos will do.

Lucas Duda has been a solid first baseman for me, and very luckily hasn’t gotten injured since he’s the only first base eligible player on my roster. I was actually not aware of this until I almost traded Duda along with J.J. Putz for Melky Cabrera, but had to cancel because then first base would be empty. That hopefully won’t be the case in around a month if Ryan Howard ever comes off the DL. For now though, it’s all Duda, baby.

Sometimes the universe works in strange ways, like when I somehow end up with a $7 Jason Kipnis in an auction when I had no intention of ever owning him. I was admittedly an Ackley-over-Kipnis guy in the preseason and am undeservedly reaping the benefits of owning him.

I’m not going to touch on all of my other players, but I’ll mention it’s nice to see Brett Lawrie pick it up in June after a boring start to the season. I need him to step up for guys like Mike Aviles and Josh Reddick, who probably won’t have as productive second-halves as their first-halves were.

This week in FAABing I decided to bid $2 on Leonys Martin since the Rangers have no off day this week and face a streak of righties until Friday. Hopefully he gets a few starts and is productive, though I don’t expect him to stay in my lineup every week right now. Later in the season if he carves on more of a role in the Rangers lineup, he could be a nice player to own as I mentioned in last week’s Waiver Wire.

Pitching

+-----+------------------+-------+
| POS | PLAYER           | PRICE |
+-----+------------------+-------+
| P   | Cole Hamels      | $20   |
| P   | M Bumgarner      | $17   |
| P   | Chris Sale       | $ 7   |
| P   | Lance Lynn       | $ 1   |
| P   | Franklin Morales | $ 3   |
| P   | Chris Young      | $ 2   |
| P   | Justin Grimm     | $ 1   |
| P   | J.J. Putz        | $13   |
| P   | Brett Myers      | $ 5   |
+-----+------------------+-------+
| BN  | C Friedrich      | $ 2   |
| BN  | Greg Holland     | $ 2   |
| DL  | Frank Francisco  | $ 6   |
| DL  | Brandon Beachy   | $13   |
| DL  | Stephen Pryor    | $ 2   |
+-----+------------------+-------+

My pitching staff has a tremendous top three, but after that I’ve had to change a lot up. Regression-bound or not, losing Brandon Beachy was a tough loss. I’m lucky to get his $13 salary back for my FAAB budget at least.

Lance Lynn has been great, but I don’t really trust him anymore after his sub-par last two starts. He draws the Pirates so I’m starting him this week, but one more ugly start and I’ll almost be willing to cut ties.

I was fairly aggressive in bidding $3 for Franklin Morales this week, which is justified by his two starts this year: 11 innings, four runs, 17 strikeouts, and just one walk (and the fact that someone else bid $2). With a third start scheduled at Seattle this week, I suggest picking up Morales if he is available in your league. He could easily stick in the Boston rotation, even though he’s technically just filling in for Josh Beckett.

Justin Grimm and Chris Young I view as less permanent options, but have relatively friendly match ups so I am starting them.

Lastly, if I lose a closer in Brett Myers due to a trade, hopefully I’ll also gain one in Greg Holland for the same reason.

Final thoughts

Overall I think this team has the talent to remain in first and contend for a title. It will still take a lot of moves and additions throughout the season (and maybe a trade or two which I’ve yet to do) but at least I’m well positioned to do so with a fairly large FAAB budget remaining as well.

It should be a fun ride and you want to follow along it’s easy to do so at the Tout Wars website. I’m also open to suggestions of course.

A Hardball Times Update

by RJ McDaniel

Goodbye for now.