Category: About Tout Wars

Welcome to Week 1 of Tout Daily, our year-long DFS league with a twist. The regular season is segmented into five periods, each four weeks long. The top three cumulative scorers in each period earn a trip to the Championship Tournament. A wild-card entry is awarded to the top scorer over the 20 week schedule.

Each contest, we’ll post several Tout’s pitcher and hitter for the slate. Here’s who we like tonight.

Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Football Empire, @JeffBoggis)

Pitcher: Nick Pivetta – With Collin McHugh (HOU – P) at $9,500 and Shane Bieber (CLE – P) at $9,300, I’m looking at some lower cost alternatives tonight so that I can go heavier on hitting salaries. My concern with starting either Nick Pivetta (PHI) or Jake Odorizzi (MIN) is that there is a 67% chance of rain tonight in Philadelphia. Check the weather forecast 30 minutes before game time and have a backup plan just in case.

Hitter: David Peralta – Peralta is off to a hot start this season with 7 doubles in his first 7 games this season. He is hitting .455 on the season. Let’s not lose sight that Peralta hit 30 home runs last season. He’s a very intriguing play tonight if you need a high upside outfielder at a value price.

Phil Hertz (BaseballHQ, @prhz50)

Pitcher: Brandon Woodruff – Like Brandon Woodruff’s price. If nothing else should bring some K’s with him.

Hitter: Bryce Harper – Talk about red hot; I’m sticking with him until he cools off.

Todd Zola (Mastersball, @toddzola)

Pitcher: Trent Thornton – Out of character for me, I prefer safe arms in Tout Daily but I’ll go with the deceptive Thornton facing a weakened Indians lineup

Hitter: Justin Bour – Angels Stadium new-found friendliness to LHB power is still a secret. Lynn has been known to serve up a homer now and again.

Michael Florio (NFL Network, @MichaelFFlorio)

Pitcher: Shane Bieber – I know it is pretty crazy to write up about the second highest pirced pitcher on the board, but the Blue Jays are nearly getting no hit nightly and strikeout a bunch.

Hitter: Kole Calhoun – Angels stadium plays well for left handed power bats, and Lynn does not fair too well there. Also, he has been hitting leadoff which should allow me to squeak in an extra PA.

Dan Strafford (FNTSY Radio, @DanStrafford)

Pitcher: Trent Thornton – If everyone isn’t playing Trent Thorton on DraftKings, I’m not really sure what to say. The guy has an elite spin rate on his breaking ball and is facing an Indians lineup that is devoid of talent. Jose Ramirez is out of a lineup that currently sports a 36 WRC+ and league worst wOBA (.215) against RHP. As the cheapest pitcher on the slate, Thornton should be an easy SP2 for everyone.

Hitter: Joey Gallo – Go big or go home. Joseph Nicholas Gallo is an absolute beast with the power bat. Over his short career, he sports .304 ISO against RHP on his career. Felix Pena may strike hime out once or twice, but does yield 1.27 hr/9 with just 19.7% K%. Look for a moonshot tonight.

Derek Carty (RotoGrinders, @DerekCarty)

Pitcher: Kevin Gausman – Most people will gravitate to Collin McHugh or Shane Bieber at this price point, but Gausman faces easily the weakest lineup (Miami) of the trio and has the elite pitch-framing Tyler Flowers paired with an extreme pitchers’ umpire behind the plate. He’s coming off the DL, but he threw 90 pitches on Saturday so he shouldn’t be any more limited than Bieber, who is also making his first start of the year. Gausman always has that blowup outing potential, but the matchup is elite and the ownership will be likely be lower than the other top guys today.

Hitter: Justin Bour – Lance Lynn is one of the weaker pitchers on the slate, and he comes with an extreme platoon split, making a lefty like Bour (who is severely underpriced) one of the top overall 1B plays today.

Gene McCaffrey (The Athletic, @WiseGuyGene)

Pitcher: Trent Thornton – Good night to go cheap with pitching – no obvious dominators – so I’ll go with Trent Thornton

Hitter: Joe Musgrove – The Reds’ offense has been abysmal over the past week, and I don’t think they get it going tonight against Musgrove. He has only pitched in relief so far this season, but Musgrove looked excellent in that outing. His willingness to pound the zone and ability to induce swings and misses will be a winning combination tonight and throughout the season.

Clay Link (Rotowire, @claywlink)

Pitcher: Joe Musgrove – The Reds’ offense has been abysmal over the past week, and I don’t think they get it going tonight against Musgrove. He has only pitched in relief so far this season, but Musgrove looked excellent in that outing. His willingness to pound the zone and ability to induce swings and misses will be a winning combination tonight and throughout the season.

Hitter: Carlos Correa – I’m fading Frankie Montas’ brilliant debut a bit and rostering both Correa and Jose Altuve. Correa has said he feels good and the early hard-hit numbers bear that out (41.7% per FanGraphs).

Rick Wolf (Fantasy Alarm, @RickWolf1)

Pitcher: Frankie Montas – The main reasons to take Montas is the price. Colin McHugh is much more of a sure thing tonight, but by saving $1500 on the pitcher, I can execute the Rangers left handed bats stack plus get all the hitters with tons of upside versus opposite handed pitchers. Montas needs his command tonight. Major leaguers hit his mistakes. He was sharp last time out with the single mistake to Kole Calhoun who took him yard.

Hitter: Joey Gallo – Gallo has a .527 wOBA versus RHP this season and is the kind of player you need in your tournament play. He is capable of a double dong on any given night. Tonight he faces Felix Pena who took 61 pitches to get 11 outs on the 30th of March. This is a great spot for all the left handed bats on the Rangers. Go big, baby!

Michael Beller (Sports Illustrated, @MBeller)

Pitcher: Joe Musgrove – I’m a pay-for-pitching zealot, but there’s no one on tonight’s slate that warrants the price tag in my estimation. Cincinnati’s offense is off to a terrible start, and this should be a good spot for Musgrove in his first start of the season. He’s going to force every team he faces to swing the bats, and I’m just not afraid of a Reds team that has to be aggressive.

Hitter: Bryce Harper – I love the look of a Phillies’ stack tonight, and I’ve got Harper paired with Jean Segura. No reason to get too cute, here. Harper is 8-for-16 with three homers in his brief tenure with the Phillies.

Jeff Erickson (Rotowire, @Jeff_Erickson)

Pitcher: Brandon Woodruff – Like seemingly everyone else, I’m looking to save money on my pitching so that I can load up on hitters – maybe that’s too chalky, but oh well. I like Woodruff’s stuff and price.

Hitter: J.D. Martinez – I’m running a Red Sox stack – Martinez, Betts, Benintendi, Xander and Devers. If Zach Godley beats me, so be it.
Mike Gianella (Baseball Prospectus, @MikeGianella)

Pitcher: Rick Porcello – Everyone’s shying away from the “higher priced” arms on this slate, but give me Porcello, a humidor and an NL lineup where he gets two free at bats against the pitcher, please. I did go cheaper on my second arm, which gave me an opportunity to add Acuna, who is a HR/SB threat every night.

Hitter: Ronald Acuna

Charlie Wiegert (CDM Sports, @GFFantasySports)

Pitcher: Brandon Woodruff – Saving some $’s hoping to get 7 innngs and 5-7 k’s vs Cub lineup still not clicking yet

Hitter: Carlos Santana – He’s been hot and Cleveland desperately needs him. Going against Blue Jay rookie Thornton, hoping experience wins out.

This is the second of our weekly reports for 2019, summarizing the top free agent bids in each of the five Tout Wars leagues, with links to the detailed bidding action following our 8 p.m. ET deadline each Sunday evening. All prices are on a $1000 base.

(In case you missed the results from our first FAAB period, held on Wednesday, March 27, just scroll down the page. 82 players were rostered across the five leagues.)

After you scan the detail, please join our live chat below, starting at 9 p.m. ET Sunday evening, to discuss these results with Todd Zola of Mastersball and other Touts.

American League

For the second straight period, bidding was relatively heavy in AL, with 18 players taken.

Dumped by the Royals and scooped up the injury-challenged Angels, outfielder Brian Goodwin drew a strong winning bid of $109 from Patrick Davitt of BaseballHQ. Goodwin should see time as long as Justin Upton will be out, which could be a couple of months. In the same race, Jeff Erickson spent $31 on Peter Bourjos, who must have more than nine lives.

If one can believe Ned Yost, former starter Ian Kennedy will share save opportunities for KC with Wily Peralta. One save is on the books, and Howard Bender snapped up Kennedy for $81. At $53, another potential saves source, Seattle’s Cody Gearrin, joined the roster of Colton and the Wolfman.

Review all 3/31 AL bids here.

National League

It is a selfish question, but the reason I want to know if Padres lefty Nick Margevicius is going to stay around is to determine if I am going to have to memorize his name like Grudzielanek, Mientkiewicz and Rzepczynski. Despite never pitching above A-ball, Nick spun five one-run innings at the Giants. His new owner is Derek Carty, who paid $31.

The top dollar player this week in NL is outfielder Rosell Herrera, formerly of Kansas City and now with Miami. Herrera holds the honors of being the only free agent available this week with 10 or more at-bats. (Margevicius was also the only hurler with at least five innings pitched.) The talent pool is that depleted.

None of the 16 other players added fetched more than $19.

Review all 3/31 NL bids here.

Mixed Auction

Wow! A whopping 32 players were purchased in Mixed Auction this week.

Leading the way at the top price across all five leagues this week is the $228 spent on Taylor Rogers of the Twins by Michael Rathburn. Rogers received and converted the save opp on Opening Day, but it is not clear he owns the job over Trevor May or Blake Parker.

Tim Beckham, he of the first-week home run feats for the Mariners, joins Al Melchior’s roster for $76. Al does not get the stats already accrued, however. Ray Flowers plucked Goodwin for an interesting bid of $69 and outfielder Scott Schebler of the Reds landed on Jeff Zimmerman’s roster for $63.

(Note to self: For a good story idea, poll the Touts on how they select their precise bid amounts.)

Review all 3/31 Mixed Auction bids here.

Mixed Draft

Old standard Jake Odorizzi of the Twins was the top player off the board in Mixed Draft with a winning bid of $125 submitted by Seth Trachtman. Odorizzi yielded a solo home run over six innings in his initial start. Tim McCullough was also in search of a starting pitcher and nabbed Marco Estrada of the A’s for $91. The 35-year old fanned just three, but tossed six scoreless innings against the Halos on Friday.

Tom Kessenich of the NFBC apparently favors symmetric bids as he speared a pair of Mariners for a total off $99. Beckham cost $66 and Gearrin was a $33 buy. D.J. Short added Schebler for $50.

Lucas Giolito carried a no-hitter into the seventh against the Royals on Sunday and for $37, Michael Beller wants to see more of those kinds of results from the former White Sox top prospect.

21 players in all were acquired in Mixed Draft this week. Review them all via the following link.

Review all 3/31 Mixed Draft bids here.

Head to Head

18 players were the subject of winning bids in Head to Head.

Top dollar of $150 went to Brad Keller of Kansas City, acquired by A.J. Mass. The Royals’ Opening Day starter dominated the Pale Hose hitters for seven shutout innings. If there is more to come, Keller will be nice buy.

Never a shy guy, Paul Sporer whipped out his checkbook and dropped almost a quarter of his full-season spend, a total of $246, on the trio of Beckham ($119), Toronto starter Marcus Stroman ($89) and Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong ($38).

Ian Kahn spent $176 himself, primarily chasing saves with Arizona’s Greg Holland ($81) along with injured Brewers reliever Jeremy Jeffress ($77) plus some DH from the Indians named Hanley Ramirez ($18), who took Odorizzi deep on Saturday.

Review all 3/31 Head to Head bids here.

Welcome to the first of our weekly reports for 2019, summarizing the top free agent bids in each of the five Tout Wars leagues, with links to the detailed bidding action. All prices are on a $1000 base.

A provision reportedly forgotten by some of the Touts was the annual pre-Opening Day free agent period. This year, it was pre-US opener, held on Wednesday evening, March 27.

There was one significant rub, however. Only a handful of MLB clubs made their formal injured list proclamations prior to Thursday – and until they did and it was reflected on the league site, such players were considered active.

This required many Touts had to take a calculated risk that if they acquired replacement players via FAAB that they could move their injured players to the IL prior to Thursday’s first pitch. That may have tamped down bidding action.

American League

Not so in the AL, however, as action was heavy, with 22 players acquired. Leading the way was right-hander Aaron Brooks, named Oakland’s fifth starter with Chris Bassitt out. Howard Bender doled out $116 for the privilege of rostering Brooks.

Doug Dennis of BaseballHQ went heavy on offense, paying $101 each for Lucas Duda and Carlos Gonzalez. While parking Mark Trumbo on the injured list, Larry Schechter added new Orioles’ right fielder Dwight Smith Jr. for $65.

All 3/27 AL bids here: http://onroto.com/baseball/webnew/display_bid_reports.pl?toutal+0&session_id=CnE2y

National League

Bidding was lighter in the NL, as 16 players were acquired, but just seven for a non-zero amount. Worried I would be fighting with Florida-based Craig Mish for new Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara, I checked first-week bids last year and upped my offer to $105. Sadly for me, Mish remained on the sidelines and most other owners did too, meaning I paid almost $90 more than necessary.

The top acquisition on offense was new Reds shortstop Jose Iglesias, who went for $59 to Steve Gardner of USA TODAY.

All 3/27 NL bids here: http://onroto.com/baseball/webnew/display_bid_reports.pl?toutnl+0&session_id=UAct7

Mixed Auction

18 players were added via the initial bidding period, with $117 spent by Gene McCaffrey to snare new Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson in spirited bidding. For just $2 less, Jeff Zimmerman added presumed Twins closer Blake Parker and doubled down on relievers, paying $54 for Wily Peralta of Kansas City.

A new fifth starter with strikeout potential, the Angels’ Felix Pena, was acquired by Zack Steinhorn for $65. Pena seems to have a spot at least until Andrew Heaney returns. With Greg Bird seeing time at first base for the Yankees currently, Al Melchior won his services for $52.

All 3/27 Mixed Auction bids here: http://onroto.com/baseball/webnew/display_bid_reports.pl?toutmixed+0&session_id=7wREf

Mixed Draft

Again, 18 players found new homes on Wednesday night, with starting pitching the primary target. Frankie Montas of Oakland was the top dollar player acquired in the Mixed Draft league. In fact, the A’s starter drew the highest winning bid across the five leagues, $161 from Tim McCullough. Tims were spending big that evening, with Tim McLeod adding Hudson for $111.

Yet another new starting pitcher, Kyle Wright of the Braves went to Charlie Wiegert for $51 and Marlins pitcher Caleb Smith went to Scott White for $43.

All 3/27 Mixed Draft bids here:

http://onroto.com/baseball/webnew/display_bid_reports.pl?toutdraft+0&session_id=kJ15n

Head to Head

Action was relatively quiet in Head to Head, with just eight players acquired on Wednesday night. Marlins starters were hot commodities across the leagues, as a third one, Pablo Lopez, went to Ian Kahn for $101.

Hunter Strickland of Seattle, who picked up two saves in Japan, dropped his first in the US after being acquired by Ryan Bloomfield for $68. Hang on tightly!

All 3/27 Head to Head bids here:

http://onroto.com/baseball/webnew/display_bid_reports.pl?touth2h+0&session_id=efxW0

What is next

Check back Sunday night, March 31 for the next round of bidding results and our live chat session!

With competitions in five different formats, one or more of the Tout Wars 2019 leagues likely matches up with your chosen style of play, whether AL- or NL-only, or Mixed Auction, Draft or Head-to-Head.

For those whose leagues have weekly free agent (FAAB) acquisitions each Sunday night, the Touts are here to help you. We’ve moved our own deadlines to 8 p.m. ET each Sunday. That enables us to share with you our bids, hopefully before you have to make your own.

Sunday Night FAAB Reports

To that end, right here on ToutWars.com, we will post as quickly as possible after 8 p.m. ET Sundays, a quick summary of the week’s top bids along with links to the detailed bidding results in each of the five leagues.

Sunday Night Chats

Further, we are going to test a new Sunday night chat, also here at ToutWars.com. It will begin at 9:00 p.m. ET and continue until all questions are answered, or midnight, whichever comes first. The chats will be hosted by one of the Touts. You can ask about the week’s bidding in any of the leagues as well as get your own league questions answered by a prominent industry analyst. Other Touts may also stop by to defend/explain their moves.

Whether these chats will become a weekly fixture will depend on how much they are used and how effective they are perceived to be – so, if they are of interest to you, please take advantage.

All of this – the weekly FAAB Reports as well as the chats – begin this Sunday evening, March 31.

Please join the Touts to gain a bidding edge in your leagues!

Jason Collette is working the keys beginning at 3 p.m. EDT.

The draft room spreadsheet is here.

The Mixed Auction Chat Transcript for 2019 is here.

Jeff Zimmerman, Fangraphs and Fantrax

Scott Swanay, FantasyBaseballSherpa

Eric Karabell, ESPN

Michael Rathburn, Rotowire

Derek VanRiper, Rotowire

Scott Engel, Rotoballer

Brent Hershey, Baseball HQ

Zach Steinhorn, Baseball Prospectus

Tim Heaney, Rotowire

Bret Sayre, Baseball Prospectus

Ron Shandler, RonShandler.com

Scott Pianowski, Yahoo! Fantasy Sports

Al Melchior, FNTSY Radio

Ray Flowers, Fantasy Guru Elite

Gene McCaffrey, The Athletic/Wise Guy Baseball

At #ToutWars in tribute to @lawrmichaels, we don the official uniform. @B_Walton @ToddZola @nandodifino @DougDennis41 @glenncolton1 @RickWolf1 @mikepodhorzer pic.twitter.com/ezSvHJW1lj

— Ron Shandler (@RonShandler) March 16, 2019

The annual "@lawrmichaels Zen and Now Award" winner will be the peer-nominated Tout who demonstrates most positive energy, greatest contributions to the competitive experience and inspiration to others in #ToutWars and across the fantasy industry. https://t.co/ZLYl8QtQaK

— Tout Wars (@ToutWars) March 16, 2019

#ToutWars offer our thanks those auctioneering and running the boards and chats this weekend, including @Jeff_Erickson, @ToddZola, @jasoncollette, @rob_leibowitz, @claywlink, Brian Feldman, @JustinMasonFWFB and members of @FantasyBenefits. Great work is being done by all! https://t.co/IcN66ZTmFh

— Tout Wars (@ToutWars) March 16, 2019