Ray Flowers breaks down his 15-team Tout Wars mixed league, as he’s part of the interesting/different Solds League. How is the league setup differently? How did Ray’s team come together? Let Ray Explain.
RULES
5 x 5 Rotisserie style scoring.
Hitting Categories – OBP, HR, RBI, Runs, SB
Pitching Categories – IP, ERA, WHIP, K, SOLDS
This league does not use AVG, Wins or Saves as are used in traditional 5×5 leagues.
ROSTER: 2-C, 1-1B, 1-3B, 1-CI, 1-2B, 1-SS, 1-MI, 5-OF, 1-UT, 9-P, 6 reserves
POSITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
This league drops positional qualification to 15-games from the traditional 20.
FREE AGENT ACQUISITION BUDGET
This league will indeed be using FAAB. Each team will have $1,000 to spend over the course of the year. You must have $1 to big on a player (no zero bids).
INJURED LIST
There is no limit to the number of players that can be placed on the Injured List. Players must be activated by the scoring period after they are activated.
DRAFT PARTICIPANTS
1 Matt Trussell
2 Sara Sanchez
3 Chris Towers
4 Jeff Boggis
5 Chris Clegg
6 Zach Steinhorn
7 Carlos Marcano
8 John Laghezza
9 Derek Van Riper
10 Joe Orrico
11 Ray Flowers
12 Matt Cederholm
13 Ryan Boyer
14 Geoff Pontes
15 CJ Kaltenbach
MY ROSTER
*Round taken in parenthesis.
Catcher: Salvador Perez (10), Elias Diaz (22)
First Base: Yandy Diaz (6)
Second Base: Brandon Lowe (20)
Third Base: Alex Bregman (4)
Shortstop: Trea Turner (2)
Middle Infielder: Luis Rengifo (17)
Corner Infielder: Justin Turner (14)
Outfield: Riley Greene (7), Brandon Nimmo (9), Lane Thomas (11), Kris Bryant (13), Brandon Marsh (21)
Utility: Shohei Ohtani (1)
Pitchers: Framber Valdez (3), Joe Ryan (5), Jose Berrios (8), Robert Stephenson (12), Nick Lodolo (15), Marcus Stroman (16), Max Scherzer (18), Lance Lynn (19), Aroldis Chapman (23)
BENCH: Alex Lange (24), Joc Pederson (25), Paul Skenes (26), Kyle Finnegan (27), Nick Martinez (28), Brendan Rodgers (2)
DRAFT WRITE UP – OFFENSE
On-base percentage.
Ohtani was second in baseball in OBP last year at .412.
Diaz was fourth in baseball last year at .410.
Justin Turner was 10th at first base (.345).
Bregman had a .363 mark last season, best in baseball for a third baseman.
Nimmo was 8th amongst outfielders at .363.
I built an enviable starting group in OBP which allowed me to do what? It allowed me to roster the power of Brandon Lowe and Salvy Perez without one single worry about them posting a .312 OBP this season. It also allowed me to wait on my second catcher without feeling that another .310 OBP was gonna kill my team.
Love the way I was able to get OBP as well as overall counting category stability.
Ohtani/Turner/Thomas could all go 20/20 this season. Team is a little light on steals though.
Rengifo qualifies at four positions and could hit leadoff for the Angels.
Bryant has a .345 OBP the last three years and he has Coors. If he could just stay healthy…
Marsh and Diaz are perfectly fine as a 5th OF and 2nd C in a 15-team mixed league.
One thing… love the Ohtani selection, it is something I wanted to try at some point, but it does hamper you a bit with the roster construction since he’s only UT eligible. I found myself at a couple of points wondering what might have been if I went Corbin Carroll and not Ohtani with that first selection.
DRAFT WRITE UP – PITCHING
Remember, we’re innings pitched here. The 2023 IP totals and rank in baseball.
Valdez 198 (6th overall)
Ryan 161.2 (45th)
Berrios 189.2 (16th)
Lynn 183.2 (23rd)
That seems to be a strong base to me. In fact, I liked the way the staff came together in terms of workload. In order.
Valdez (safe)
Ryan (safe)
Berrios (safe)
Lodolo (risk)
Stroman (safe)
Scherzer (risk)
Lynn (safe)
Skenes (risk)
I like the yin/yang nature of the group.
I’ve also got youth and age.
Certainly a bunch of punchouts as well.
I have one true closer. Don’t care since this is a solds league. Stephenson/Chapman/Lange/Finnegan sure seems like a foursome I can live with. Could be some huge strikeout numbers from the group as well.
Overall, given I waited on pitching compared to most in the league, I like how the group came together.
DRAFT WRITE UP – BENCH
Lange is the Tigers’ closer. Had 32 solds last season with 79 Ks in 66 IP. I will gladly take a repeat effort.
Pederson was a need pick as I could use an outfield boost. Was considering Pete Crow-Armstrong, but I went w/ Pederson for his power and ability to get on base (.351 the last two years in SF and now gets a better place to hit in Arizona).
Skenes could make 15-20 starts this season, right? This call was made easier by the fact that I will be able to IL Scherzer at the start, add an arm to replace him so I wont have to directly worry about when Skenes is called up. Once promoted, people will blow their FAAB budget on guys like Skenes.
Finnegan isn’t quite as skilled as Hunter Harvey, but he’s still pitching high-level innings though. The last three years, here are his solids marks: 24-25-36. Another 30+ is totally doable.
Martinez posted a 23 percent K-rate, a 14.3 percent K-BB and a 54 percent ground ball rate. I think he’s a perfectly acceptable finally starting pitcher in a league this deep.
Rodgers – was kind of a throw away pick. However, I could use some help up the middle, and he’s only 27 years old. Perhaps I should have gone in another direction, but again, this was a lot to do with positional need.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Love the build here.
I was able to get huge levels of stability in the first half of the draft on offense, with oodles of on-base percentage. The group is light on steals, but I would rather be light there than in OBP.
I was able to wait on the hill to build a nice mixture of high-end youth, stability and aging strikeout options later.
I was able to roster four relievers that should help me to hit my goals.
Maybe one more starting pitcher would have changed the overall look of the team, but with an outfield that needed some help, I simply wasn’t able to grab that arm in the 7-13 range unless I went away from RP Stephenson. Maybe I should have done that.
Overall, this team can compete, especially if I can get 35 starts out of Scherzer/Skenes.
Here is a link to the draftboard.
We will be breaking the draft down on Fantasy Sports Daily in Episode 87.