Who Is Winning Tout Wars? Mixed Auction Edition

The current standings, on the morning of August 28th:

Jeff Zimmerman, last year’s Head to Head winner, has been in first place pretty much all season, and has a commanding lead. Who is winning Tout AL? Jeff Zimmerman is.

But Zimmerman’s dominance came in the first half. Since the All Star break Ron Shandler’s team has been a little better than Zimmerman’s.

A quick survey of the current standings shows that if everything broke incredibly well for Shandler, he could potentially add 16 points, and would pass Zimmerman in a few categories. That would put him just a few points behind.

It’s a long shot, for sure, but this isn’t over yet, at least not completely.

See the league’s rosters and standings here.

Jonathan Pierce Wins Doubt Wars Mixed Too!

doubtwarslogoJonathan Pierce won Doubt Wars NL, and he won Doubt Wars Mix, too, the first time a single player has won two Doubt leagues in the same year.

Doubt Wars players put together dream rosters after the Tout Wars auctions are done, pricing players at $1 more than their Tout Wars price. Draft day rosters are held all season long, and then combined with the Tout Wars draft day roster to form one big roto standings.

The team with the highest average rank in the TW 5×5 categories is the champion.

The highest Tout Wars finisher in Doubt was Scott Pianowski, who finished third overall. He finished sixth in Tout’s full season Mixed Auction league.

See the results here.

Pierce’s team had four 20/20 hitters and a solid rotation led by Noah Syndergaard, Kenta Maeda and Anthony DeSclafani.

 

screenshot-2016-10-06-17-27-27screenshot-2016-10-06-17-27-52

For a second time, congratulations Jonathan!

THE FINAL WEEKEND: The Tout Wars Mixed Auction Race

Heading into the final seven days of this Tout Wars season, multi time former champion Fred Zinkie had a one-point lead over Zach Steinhorn. Now, as we enter the last three days, Steinhorn leads Zinkie by four. The Standings:

screenshot-2016-09-30-13-12-44

The key battle is in stolen bases, where Steinhorn caught up with Zinkie this week. The two are tied, with 142, two ahead of Nando DiFino and three ahead of Bret Sayre.

Another race in which they’re fighting for the same points is strikeouts, where Steinhorn is five ahead of Zinkie. This might not be quite so close as it looks, since Steinhorn has eight starters this weekend, while Zinkie has only five.

The rest of the board looks pretty set for Zinkie. He’s lost two points in ERA since this past Monday, but is .04 points behind Nando DiFino and .07 behind Ray Flowers in that category. Could he regain those? Sure, but it isn’t likely.

The situation is much more fluid for Steinhorn, who could gain or lose one point in Runs, lose a point in RBI, gain a point in OBP, giving him a potential +2.5 and -3.5 in the hitting categories.

On the pitching side, he’s two wins behind Al Melchior and three behind Cory Schwartz, and two ahead of Scott Pianowski, who has only two starts this weekend. Probably set, but those eight starts this weekend make it unlikely he’ll lose ground, and it’s possible he could finish ahead of Schwartz. (For the record, Al Melchior has six starts this weekend, while Schwartz has only two.)

Steinhorn is also two saves ahead of Scott Swanay, which perhaps leaves him vulnerable to the loss of a half point. He’s got one closer (Britton), while Swanay has three (Ramos, Melancon, Bailey).

The final tally?

Steinhorn has 125.5 points. If things go right he could end up with 128.5 points. If things go wrong he could finish with 121.5

Zinkie has 121.5 points. If things go right he could end up with 124 points. Wrong? 119.

 

The Tout Mixed Auction Challenge

This morning Scott Pianowski messaged the Mixed Auction league:

Just a reminder, my entire roster is in play at any time. Not just the scrubs I’m going to cut. Not just the obvious sell-high guys, or players at a position I’m deep in. I’ll trade anyone (or FAAB) at any time.

Sometimes, just for fun. This is supposed to be fun, right?

– pianow

Fred Zinkie, likely the world’s most prolific and successful trader (and Ontario native), replied:

You now have me totally focused on getting Donaldson! It’ll bug me every time I watch the Jays. I just have to figure out how…..

Let’s see what happens next!

THIS is Tout Weekend!

A scene from the Tout NL 2015 auction.
A scene from the Tout NL 2015 auction.

Where will the best and brightest fantasy baseball writers and broadcasters be this weekend?

Many will be in New York City, for the annual Tout Wars weekend of drafts and parties.

This year’s drafts are being held in the studio at SiriusXM and aren’t open for the public, but you can follow along live on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel, and on the live blog and spreadsheet at toutwars.com.

When are the drafts? Where and when are the parties?

The SCHEDULE:

Tout H2H: March 18, 7pm. Doors open at 6pm. Ron Shandler is auctioneer. Joe Pisapia has the spreadsheet. Mike Gianella is on chat.

Tout AL: March 19, 9am. Doors open at 8am. Brian Feldman is auctioneer. Paul Sporer is on spreadsheet. Al Melchior is doing chat.

Tout Mix Auction: March 19, 3pm. Doors open at 2pm. Jeff Erickson is auctioneer. Ray Murphy has the spreadsheet. Jason Collette is on chat.

Foley’s NY Party: March 19, 8pm. 18 West 33rd Street. Party with the pros!

Tout NL Auction: March 20, 10am. Doors open at 9am. Brian Feldman is the auctioneer. Steve Moyer is on spreadsheet. Jason Collette will chat.

The live blog for each auction will be available at toutwars.com, where there will also be a link to the live spreadsheet. You can access the live spreadsheet now at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12AvDtjmYjr-mlFHXIUkFRDK3EBs_Zy-iJzPZNqRONfQ/edit?usp=sharing. Until the weekend comes, nothing is happening.

Here’s the Menu of Champions at Foleys on Saturday night:

Cdsuz5EUEAAhtk7

 

LINK Al Melchior Laments, and gives good advice

almelchiorEvery fantasy baseball season brings its own challenges. Al Melchior graciously shares his observation about his 2015 results, and how that might help him plan for 2016.

At CBSsports.com. With some references to FOMO, which I know about because I have a teenaged daughter, and TOFU, which I know about because my teenaged daughter is vegetarian. But I’m pretty sure Al means something else.

Who Is Winning Tout Wars? An Overview

With a month left in the season we’ve crowned one Tout Wars Champion for 2015: Charlie Wiegert is Tout Wars Daily champion. But what about the other leagues? While you can alway check in on the standings and transactions by using the links in the right nav at toutwars.com, at this point it might be a good time to check in on the pennant races.

TOUT WARS AL

Chris Liss is having a classic Liss season, young pitching, lots of hitting, lots of risk, and is seven points ahead of Jeff Erickson and nine points ahead of Mike Podhorzer. The three have bubbled up and down around the top of the standings all season, but Liss has benefited from Chris Davis’s spectacular season, and Carlos Correa’s emergence after being called up earlier in the year. There are plenty of points in play for all three teams, up and down, for this to turn any which way at any time, but Liss is clearly the fave.

Screenshot 2015-09-06 15.02.22

TOUT WARS NL

Mike Gianella is seven points ahead of standing three-time champ Tristan Cockcroft, but just two weeks ago his edge was only two points. For Cockcroft, the problem has been a freefalling pitching staff, which has won just a single game in the last 13 days, allowing Gianella to pass him. These teams have lots of points in play, too, so while you have to prefer to have the lead, there is no sitting comfortably at this point. Still, Gianella has to appreciate that he was the best team in the first half and has been the best team in the second half. Now he just has to bring it home.

Screenshot 2015-09-06 15.12.23

TOUT WARS MIXED AUCTION

At the halfway mark on the season Zach Steinhorn had a commanding lead, but that was before Fred Zinkie went to work. Zinkie was in 12th place on June 28, 39.5 points behind Steinhorn. From that point to the August 31 trading deadline he made 19 trades, and has taken a slim lead ahead of Scott Swanay and Steinhorn. Swanay was in 10th place on June 28th, and has nearly matched Zinkie in the second half. Meanwhile, Tim Heaney is just five points behind Zinkie, in fourth place. There’s a lot of pennant race to come in this one.

Screenshot 2015-09-06 15.21.40

TOUT WARS MIXED DRAFT

Adam Ronis and Paul Greco have been near the top of the standings all year long, but their weak second half performances have given Rudy Gamble a chance to open up some space ahead of them and Eno Sarris (whose had the best second half of them all). Gambles position is pretty strong, but he’s vulnerable in Wins and the pitching qualitatives,

Screenshot 2015-09-06 15.24.53

TOUT WARS X

Bret Sayre entered the last four-week contest 14.5 points ahead of Patrick Mayo and 31 points ahead of Doug Anderson. As we approach the halfway point, Sayre is 15 points behind Mayo, who has moved into a tiny lead. What looked like it might be a blowout has ended up a a nail-biter, if you’re Sayre and Mayo.

Screenshot 2015-09-06 15.34.09