Category: About Tout Wars

It’s Full Moon on a Full Moon This Week! Plus, Tout Daily Finals Field Is Set!

Screenshot 2016-08-20 09.20.23Last night’s full “sturgeon moon” was anything but a fish for Rick Wolf’s Full Moon Tout Daily entry.

Launched by Cole Hamel’s dominant win and brought home by Masahiro Tanaka’s equally strong performance, Rick’s team danced in the moonlight to a 17 point victory.

Full Moon’s offense was powered by stalwart Joey Votto, the surprising Keon Broxton, this year’s biggest surprise Jonathan Villar, and youthful powerhouse Gary Sanchez.

full-moon-2Last night’s contest, the last of the Tout Daily regular season, determined the winners of the final three golden tickets to the Tout Daily finals, which will be held next Friday, August 26th, at RTSports.com/tout-wars.

Brian Walton finished 11th on the week and first for Period 5, winning his second ticket to the finals. He’ll have two entries next week, having also finished first in Period 1.

Todd Zola finished third on the week, and second for Period 5, winning his second ticket to the finals. He finished first in Period 4.

Mastersball partners Zola and Walton also finished first and second in Total Points over the 20 weeks of Tout Daily. There’s no award for that, apart from the special satisfaction of a job well done.

Eno Sarris finished 12th on the week, and third for Period 5, winning his first ticket to the finals. He finished 19th overall, demonstrating that there are many paths to the staging ground for the assault on the pinnacle (otherwise known at the 2016 Tout Daily Championship).

The estimable Charlie Wiegert is the reigning Tout Daily Champion, and he will pass his crown next week to one of these on the full roster of Tout Daily Finalists (sorted by Total Points on the season):

Todd Zola X 2
Brian Walton X 2
Mike Gianella
Jeff Erickson X 2
Tim Heaney
Tristan Cockcroft
Rick Wolf
Jason Collette
Eno Sarris
Patrick Davitt
Rob Leibowitz
Patrick Mayo

You may follow along live next Friday night, or check in on the results at RTSports.com/tout-wars. And check ToutWars.com for a preview of the night’s contest, and the game story on Saturday morning.

Use the RTSports.com/tout-wars link to sign up to play daily fantasy baseball games for free for fun or enter pay contests to win prizes.

The regular season final leaderboard can be found here.

The state of the moon on August 26th will be Waning Crescent.

 

Who’s Winning Tout Wars: Mixed Auction

Today, Cory Schwartz and Fred Zinkie are tied for first place. You can see the standings and rosters here.

Note that Bret Sayre and Zach Steinhorn are within spitting distance.

If you apply Clay Davenport’s Rest of Season projections to the current rosters, Sayre comes out on top.

If you apply the BaseballHQ Rest of Season projections to the current rosters, Zinkie, Schwartz and Steinhorn finish within two points of each other. And Sayre not that far back.

Anything could happen! That’s certainly what fifth-place Joe Pisapia is hoping.

August 15 Tout Wars FAAB Reports Posted Now!

Mastersball weighs in on all five TW Leagues, plus Todd offers a nice hat tip to our friends at Baseball HQ.

Mike Gianella’s FAAB report at Baseball Prospectus covers AL and NL Tout, as well as LABR Mixed (with references to the Tout wars prices in mixed).

 

 

Tout Daily Tonight! Third week of final period kicks off at 7pm!

Steve Moyer and Brian Walton have big leads going into the third week, but one stumble can erase those. Jake Ciely, Lawr Michales, Derek Van Riper, Adam Ronis, Scott Pianowski, Jeff Erickson, Jason Collette and Rob Leibowitz trail them, right now competing for the final ticket to the Tout Daily Finals on August 26th.

You can watch all the action at rtsports.com/tout-wars. Or play along for cash prizes or fun, just follow the link to get set up.

Of those competing for the final tickets, Brian Walton, Jeff Erickson and Rob Leibowitz already have tickets. Jeff Erickson already has two tickets!

Adam Ronis has the third highest point total for the season, but doesn’t not yet have a ticket to the finals.

We asked the Touts for their best picks in tonight’s games. Here’s what they told us:

PHIL HERTZ

Favorite Pitcher: Stephen Strasburg ($9,200 vs. Atlanta). Favorite Hitter: Neil Walker ($4,200 vs San Diego).

BRIAN WALTON

Yordano Ventura ($7,100 @ Minnesota) may not excite, but the Royals right-hander has allowed three runs or less in each of his last six starts while averaging almost 10 points per outing. On Friday evening, Ventura draws the last-place Twins, 23 games under .500 and coming off three straight losses during which they were outscored 32-14.

Neil Walker ($4,200 vs San Diego) is working on a nine-game hitting streak during which the Mets’ second baseman is 17-for-37 (.459), including three home runs and six RBI.  He will take on Paul Clemens of San Diego this evening.

LAWR MICHAELS

Going high and low with my pitching, riding David Price ($9,200 vs Arizona) and then Jonathan Gray ($6,000 @ Philadelphia), hoping both can twirl away from home.

For hitters I like Ryon Healy ($2,800 vs Seattle) on the low end facing newbie Southpaw Ariel Miranda, and Michael Saunders ($5,100 vs Houston) facing Joe Musgrove.

JEFF BOGGIS

I’m just playing the role of spoiler and need a DFS miracle tonight, so I am going to go with SP Joe Musgrove ($4,000 @ Toronto). He faced Toronto on August 2nd a and struck out 8 betters in only 4.1 innings pitched. For my top hitter, I am also going try to steal some DFS points with starting Billy Hamilton OF ($4,500 @ Milwaukee) for $4,500. If he gets on base and steals some bases, he’s good for 10-15 points. If he goes 0-4, then I will take the 0 DFS points for the night. High risk, high reward player.

HOWARD BENDER

Ross Stripling, SP ($4,400 vs. Pittsburgh) I love his ground ball rates, especially when he’s facing a team like the Pirates who have been mashing the ball in the dirt 49.2-percent of the time over the past week. On top of that, Pittsburgh has just a .292 wOBA which comes with a .095 ISO and 22.7-percent strikeout rate.

David Dahl ($4,600 @ Philadelpha) and Gerardo Parra ($4,500 @ Philadelphia) Stacking Rockies? Come on! How cheap can you get? Well, they’re not in Colorado tonight so the prices are a bit more reasonable. With Dahl and Parra batting fourth and fifth in the lineup tonight against Jake Thompson, I’m looking for a whole lot of BOOM and hopefully very little bust. Thompson’s MLB experience isn’t extensive but when I see lefties posting a .484 wOBA against him, I’m willing to overlook the sample size.

[We’ll update later if more picks come in. Good luck tonight!]

 

 

August 8 Tout FAABaganza Commentaries.

The big trading-deadline FAAB bids have been made. Who are the winners? Who are the losers?

Mastersball has all the action here.

George Bissell of Baseball Prospectus takes on Tout AL and NL, plus LABR mixed, with his commentary here.

Tout Daily P5 W2: Pianowski Says It Loud!

Scott Pianowski led the field in Week 2 of Period 5 of Tout Daily by RTSports.com, five points ahead of Brian Walton, who edged Week 1 winner Steve Moyer.

Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge

He did it by rostering the day’s big pitchers, Stephen Wright, who was owned by just six-percent of teams, and a resurgent Justin Verlander, who was owned by a resounding 61 percent. The two combined for 39 points.

Second place Brian Walton paired Verlander and John Lester for 34 points, while Moyer continued the daisy chain, mixing Lester and Jameson Taillon (who pitched well, but didn’t win) for 28 points.

Pianowski’s offensive squad received significant contributions from newly-annointed Seattle catcher Mike Zunino, who hit a three-run homer, and Cubs outfielder Dexter Fowler, who also homered, but all his hitters contributed something to the win.

You can see the complete results at RTSports.com/tout-wars.

Halfway through the final tilt for the last golden ticket to the Tout Wars finals, Moyer and Walton have sizeable leads over Jake Ciely and Lawr Michaels.

Three tickets to the August 26 finals will be awarded to the Top 3 finishers in the fifth period.

View the entire leaderboard here.

Check in here at ToutWars.com next Friday, August 12, for a preview of the Week 3 contest and Tout picks.

And play every day for prizes (even New York residents!) and/or fun at RTSports.com.

 

 

The Final Countdown For Tout Daily!

It’s Week 1 of Period 5 in Tout Wars Daily, by RTSports.com.

All the Touts start fresh, though 11 of them hold tickets to the August 26th Tout Daily Finals. Jeff Erickson has two tickets already, and is pursuing a third. Follow the action tonight at RTSportsc.om/tout-wars.

We asked the Touts who they were picking in tonight’s contest:

JEFF BOGGIS

I’m rolling with Jose Quintana ($7,800 @ Minnesota) at starting pitcher and Josh Donaldson ($6,800 vs. Baltimore) as my top hitter.

LAWR MICHAELS

I like Jose Quintana ($7,800 @ Minnesota) and Vincent Velasquez ($6,800 @ Atlanta) as starters. Well, I picked them and hope I like them in the morning.

As for hitters, Joey Votto ($6,500 @ San Diego) and Tucker Barnhart ($2,500 @ San Diego) going against Edwin Jackson.

CHARLIE WIEGERT

Top Pitchers..still trying to find a diamond in the rough, I’m going with Ivan Nova ($4,500 @ Tampa Bay). Hoping he’ll put up a good game for all the scouts that will be watching. Staying on the cheap, Kendall Graveman ($5,100 @ Cleveland) has been good his last three starts, hoping for one more at Cleveland.

Top Hitters…Riding some hot hands; Freddie Freeman ($5,500 vs. Philadelphia), Justin Turner ($4,200 vs. Arizona), Neil Walker ($4,200 vs. Colorado) and Aledmys Diaz ($4,300 @ Miami). And went big in the OF with Matt Kemp ($5,400 vs. Cincinnati), Mark Trumbo ($5,700 @ Toronto) and Andrew MuCutchen ($5,500 @ Milwaukee).

MIKE GIANELLA

Top Pitcher: Max Scherzer ($9,800 @ San Francisco) – After some bumps in the road earlier in the year, Scherzer has been a near-automatic points machine in DFS. There is a risk he doesn’t cash in on the win in a tough matchup in San Francisco, but he is worth the start anyway.

Top Hitter: Trevor Story ($5,900 @ NY Mets). Story’s pedestrian numbers on the road bury a significant split against left-handers and right-handers away from Coors. His match-up against Steven Matz looks very favorable for Story in this light, and while it is a high price to pay, Story is a strong play this evening.

SCOTT SWANAY

Pitcher: Vincent Velasquez ($6,800 @ Atlanta) – one of the few times all season the Phillies should be heavy favorites on the road; facing Atlanta will do that for you.

Hitter: Jay Bruce ($5,300 @ San Diego)– assuming he isn’t traded by game time, he’ll get to take batting practice against Edwin Jackson for at least a few innings.

BRIAN WALTON

Phillies starter Vincent Velasquez ($6,800 @ Atlanta) is a steal at just the 10th-most expensive pitcher. After averaging 13 points over his last five outings, the right-hander draws the power-free Braves Friday night and his mates should tee off on rookie Tyrell Jenkins.

I had been looking at Milwaukee shortstop Jonathan Villar’s ($4,700 vs. Pittsburgh) splits closely, as I just acquired the National League steals leader in NL LABR on Thursday. Villar has a stellar .910 OPS this season against lefties and draws one in Bucs’ rookie Steven Brault Friday night.

GENE McCAFFREY

Pitcher: Steven Matz ($7,800 vs. Colorado) at home against the Rox, who are better vs. righties.

Hitter: Tim Lincecum is begging to be hit, let Travis Shaw ($4,300 @ LA Angels) answer the call.

JEFF ERICKSON

Going with Mad Max Scherzer ($9,800 @ San Francisco) and Ivan Nova ($4,500 @ Tampa Bay), who’s been surprisingly capable lately and allows me to afford right-handed Red Sox, who get their turn to paste Tim Lincecum.

There is an incredible battle royale going on in Tout Wars Mixed Auction! Check this out!

Check this out:

Screenshot 2016-07-27 11.46.59

You can see the whole standings, with category breakdowns at onRoto.com.

Although it’s hard to parse, a gander at the Transactions All Teams By Period might astound. A total of 187 players have been traded in this league. In the similarly configured Tout Mixed Draft, a total of six players have been dealt.

Everybody is looking for an edge. They will need it.