12 teams, #3 seed, 6 teams make playoffs. I won round 1 on a tie breaker (ERA) and won round 2 because my opponent got cute and benched Pedro Sunday Night thinking he had it won without any more pitching and didn't want to risk losing the tie breaker.
C - Mike Napoli
C - Kurt Suzuki
1B - Prince Fielder
2B - Robinson Cano
SS - Hanley Ramirez
3B - Mark Reynolds
MI - Dan Uggla
CI - Garrett Jones
OF - Ryan Braun
OF - Jason Bay
OF - Jayson Werth
OF - Rajai Davis
OF - Carlos Gonzalez
U - Andrew McCutchen
SP - Lince K, Justin Verlander, Scott Baker, Javier Vazquez, Randy Wells, Jonathan Sanchez, Tim Hudson
RP - Jonathan Broxton, Joakim Soria, Huston Street, Dave Aardsma
Last roster spot is currently occupied by Nolan Reimold, who will likely be dropped for a streaming arm on waivers Thursday. Tough deciding which one of my OF's to drop.
Opening day roster
C - Mike Napoli $4 (target, oops)
C - Ramon Hernandez $1 (traded for initial target, Suzuki, midseason)
1B - Prince Fielder $26 (surprised he went this cheap)
2B - Robinson Cano $8 (target)
SS - Hanley Ramirez $44 (him and Lince K were the two pieces I planned to build around)
3B - Mark Reynolds $3 (target)
MI - Rickie Weeks $4 (target, as always, oops)
CI - Carlos Pena $9 (had my eye on him but surprised he was this cheap)
OF - Ryan Braun $38 (didn't mean to win Braun, was just trying to drive up the price, Grady and Holliday both went for 40+)
OF - Jayson Werth $7 (target)
OF - Nelson Cruz $6 (target)
OF - Shin Soo Choo $6 (target)
OF - Andre Ethier $6 (much cheaper than expected)
U - Denard Span $5 (likewise)
BN - Hank Blalock $1, Elijah Dukes $1 (neither survived two weeks on the roster, one was replaced by Aardsma)
SP - Lince K $31, Javier Vazquez $9 (target), Kevin Slowey $9 (target, oops), Hiroki Kuroda $2, Kenshin Kawakami $2, Randy Johnson $1 (Kuroda bounced off and on roster throughout the year, Kawakami made it until September, Unit was dumped a week after hitting the DL)
RP - Joakim Soria $13, Joey Devine $6, Mike Gonzalez $6, Joel Hanrahan $2 (Devine didn't make it to the season, replaced Gonzalez with Howell, Hanrahan survived for too long)
Auction strategy - studs and scrubs with some $5-$15 values mixed in building a team around Lince K + Han Ram, initial plan did not involve either Brewer while allowing flexibility for more $10-$15 spending. After winning both Brewers I decided to axe that figure to $10 and under. Soria was the only player I purchased for > $10 the rest of the way.
Trades
Ethier for Verlander, $$$, replaced Ethier with a carousel of guys that eventually yielded Garrett Jones
Span for Scott Baker, worked out well for both, especially because the OF carousel eventually spat out Carlos Gonzalez
Tommy Hanson, Nelson Cruz, Choo for Uggla, Broxton, and Jason Bay, Uggla and Broxton filled gaping holes as injuries ravaged my MI and RPs, had added McCutchen on the bench to fill the void left by the extra OF
Key waiver adds - Garrett Jones, Rajai Davis, Carlos Gonzalez, Andrew McCutchen, Randy Wells, Dave Aardsma, Huston Street, Jonathan Sanchez, and Tim Hudson.
Basically, I thought I could find OF's and arms throughout the season cheaply and wanted to continually trade my good but not great OF's for upgrades elsewhere, it worked...I stayed healthy...and a few of my value targets blew up.
