Category: AL

The 2011 TOUT AL Hypothetical Standings

 

I first came upon Hypothetical Standings in the legendary reports of stat service pioneer Jerry Heath. The idea is simple: Compute the standings based on the Draft Day rosters of teams, using the actual stats they accumulated this year to see just how much of their success or failure came via the draft, and concomitantly how well their inseason moves helped their chances.

These draft day rosters don’t tell you why the teams that did poorly failed. It could have been injuries or buying Adam Dunn. The point is that these are the teams each owner bought in the auction, and how they would have ended up in a Draft and Hold league.

Continue reading “The 2011 TOUT AL Hypothetical Standings”

We have three winners!

Steve Gardner
Fred Zinkie gets a bath
Fred Zinkie meets Gatorade
Larry Schechter, 2011 draft

The Tout Mixed flag, in a vigorous turn, goes to rookie Fred Zinkie!

The Tout AL title goes to three-time mixed champ Larry Schechter, in his first Tout AL appearance.

The Tout NL winner is Steve Gardner, his first Tout Wars championship. He writes about how his win came about at USA Today.

Well played, fellas! You’ll be receiving your SABR Trophies next March, at the 2012 Tout Wars draft.

Tout AL: All Over But…

We asked Tout AL second placer and RotoWire founder Jeff Erickson how he saw his chances of catching Larry Schechter for the AL crown:

Jeff says: “I need a time machine, so that I can tell a young, impressionable Jeff that investing in Jacob McGee and Fernando Rodney is a fool’s errand. Spend that money on Kyle Farnsworth and Jordan Walden, or on starting pitching, so that I don’t have to tear apart that beautiful offense that I assembled. I spent too much of my surplus chasing saves, all for a 2.5-to-3.0 point boost. I think I lost at least that much in trading away the bats in the process.

Oh yeah, and not owning Vin Mazzaro would have been a good play, too.

I don’t see where I can gain enough and Larry can lose enough in points to catch him at this point. Second place in a money league is nice, but here it’s just a case of being the first loser. Hopefully I can hold off Jason for second.”

Sandlot Shrink vet Larry Schechter’s perspective is just a bit different: “I’ve got such a big lead, I can’t possibly blow it now!  Oh wait, isn’t that what the Red Sox said a few weeks ago?”

Good luck, gents!

Jason Collette’s TOUT AL midseason review

If you were a subscriber to baseballprospectus.com you could have read Jason Collette’s midseason Tout Wars roundups two weeks ago. Jason and BP, however, are making them available to us all now, for which we are thankful. Jason Collette’s column appears at every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at baseballprospectus.com.

Playing in Tout Wars is a rewarding experience because of the exposure the league gets. It, like the LABR (League of Alternative Baseball Reality), are the two best gauges fantasy players have to see how the “experts” apply their knowledge at the draft table. It is one thing to read the work each of them publishes online, but it is another to see what they do with their imaginary money, or in the case of playing in high-stakes leagues such as the ones in the NFBC leagues, real money.

Over the next three pieces, I will examine each of the three Tout Wars leagues to see which touts have done the best job so far in 2011 in terms of current player values compared to what those players went for at the draft table. This will allow us to see who did a good job in player valuations, who struggled, as well as who was affected by injuries. Lastly, it will show any kind of correlation between value attained and current place in the standings.

Here are the current standings for the 12 team AL-Only League:

  1. Larry Schechter – 97.5 points
  2. Jeff Erickson – 90.0 points
  3. Jason Grey – 79.5 points Continue reading “Jason Collette’s TOUT AL midseason review”

The FAAB Hatchet

Only Baseball Prospectus subscribers can read all of Jason Collette’s excellent look at the Tout Wars FAAB reduction rule that went into effect this year, but enough is available before you hit the paywall to be worth a look, if you’re interested in what JC dubs the “FAAB Hatchet.” Non subscribers will unfortunately find their palates whet, their thirsts unslaked.