2022 was the worst yr I’ve ever had as a fantasy participant. I performed in 16 leagues and didn’t money in a single one. The onerous half is that I didn’t even know what went flawed. I had groups I actually favored popping out of the draft and a few that have been doing very properly all through the season. I might have simply brushed it off as a nasty season or crushed myself up over it. Nevertheless, I labored my butt off to get higher.
Getting higher began with my 2022 Apology Tour. I broke down every considered one of my leagues in depth to see the frequent strings between every workforce. It was a particularly illuminating train that helped inform my selections when it comes to my prep and drafting in 2023. It was a fruitful endeavor. I cashed in eight of my 20 leagues this season, together with my largest cash leagues which led to a really worthwhile season.
2024 was a blended bag. Whereas it was worthwhile for me by cashing in seven of my 1 leagues, I wasn’t as worthwhile as final season and I solely received one league. Over the course of the following few weeks, I shall be overlaying my groups that disenchanted in 2024, dissecting what I did proper and what I did flawed in an effort to proceed to enhance heading into 2024. I will even be overlaying my groups that I did money in to look at why these groups have been extra profitable.
We start with my Tout Wars Combined Public sale league the place I completed eighth out of 15 groups.
Tout Wars Combined Public sale Last Standings
Workforce Title
R
HR
RBI
SB
OBP
W
SV
ERA
WHIP
SO
TOTAL
Scott Swanay
14
12
13
5
12
12
15
13
14
8
118
Bret Sayre
11
15
14
10.5
15
7
9
5
7
7
100.5
Alex Chamberlain
4
13
11
13
1
5
14
12
9
10
92
Kev Mahserejian
7
9
3
2
11
14.5
10
9
8
15
88.5
Scott Engel
12
6
8
10.5
14
11
4
6
6
11
88.5
Andy Behrens
15
14
15
14
13
3
3
2
5
4
88
Dave Adler
1
11
7
4
2
13
5
14
15
14
86
Justin Mason
13
5
12
12
6
8
11
4
10
3
84
Tristan Cockcroft
5
10
10
6
5
9
1
10
12
12
80
Scott Chu
8.5
7
1
7
10
1
12
15
11
1
73.5
Frank Stampfl
10
4
6
8
8
6
13
8
4
2
69
Jeff Zimmerman
8.5
1
5
9
4
10
8
3
2
13
63.5
Doug Anderson
2
3
9
1
9
2
2
11
13
9
61
Todd Zola
3
8
4
3
3
14.5
6
7
3
6
57.5
Brent Hershey
6
2
2
15
7
4
7
1
1
5
50
Huge congratulations to Scott Swanay who ran away with the league within the second half. There have been a lot of groups that fought for second place, together with my very own earlier than my workforce fell aside in the previous couple of weeks.
The Draft
My technique coming into the public sale was to construct a balanced roster and to try to extract as a lot worth as attainable whereas having a deep workforce versus a stars and scrubs sort of construct.
My Tout Wars Draft
Blue = Completed on my teamRed = InjuredYellow = Traded Away
On reflection, this isn’t a nasty workforce and I used to be capable of preserve 15 of my 29 drafted gamers, however I struggled with huge accidents and wasn’t capable of finding the proper items to switch what I misplaced in energy particularly. My pitching was good, however I didn’t have a real ace with Eflin and Ober having their very own struggles. I additionally made some errors in FAAB that value me which we’ll cowl under. Nevertheless, the actual fact I misplaced a participant like Acuna and I stayed aggressive over the vast majority of the season reveals the general power of the workforce was high-quality.
April
There have been some good pickups for me in April. I used to be capable of seize Luis Gil previous to the beginning of the season in addition to Trevor Williams and Alec Marsh who have been each efficient pitchers early on within the season. I used to be additionally capable of seize David Hamilton who can be a pleasant supply of stolen bases for me. The issue was I made a horrible drop early within the season. Brenton Doyle was a reserve decide for me within the public sale and I dropped him. I had a roster crunch with each Michael Massey and Nathaniel Lowe getting back from the IL and made a extremely horrible selection of who I dropped. There isn’t a excuse for it contemplating how properly Doyle began the season. He would go on to hit 20 extra house runs and steal 28 extra bases which might have been huge for my workforce. I additionally dropped Trevor Williams, lacking loads of his good early work.
Could
In Could, I used to be capable of decide up Lucas Erceg, however sadly I dropped him earlier than he was traded and have become a better in Kansas Metropolis. My solely actual good decide up for Could was Simeon Woods Richardson who would have been a dependable workforce streamer early on within the season, however I didn’t get sufficient of his early work and ate an excessive amount of of his summer time duds.
June
Within the month of June, I had a really comparable story to my first two months. I made what might have been some very nice pickups, however I didn’t maintain onto the platters lengthy sufficient. I grabbed Bowden Francis for simply $7 however I dropped him in July. I additionally was capable of decide up Miguel Amaya, however dropped him earlier than his sizzling streak that occurred on the finish of the season. I did make a commerce to amass Wyatt Langford from Jeff Zimmerman for $210 of FAAB. I used to be ready to do that as a result of considered one of Tout Wars’ nice guidelines is that when you lose a participant to damage you possibly can drop him and get again 10 occasions the quantity you spent on him within the public sale again in FAAB. This gave me the chance so as to add $610 price of faab as soon as I misplaced Acuna.
July
My huge decide up in July occurred on the finish of the month after I was capable of decide up Cody Bellinger when somebody dropped him. He would go on to hit 9 house runs and steal 4 bases, which was high-quality, however not recreation altering for me. My largest downside in July was that I wasn’t lively sufficient on the wire, counting on my workforce as is to make strides and it didn’t do it.
August
In August I used to be capable of seize Ryan Walker from the wire as soon as he turned the nearer. Sadly, I didn’t actually need that many extra saves and I most likely ought to have traded him or one other nearer for extra energy, however the one individual that wished to commerce for saves was Scott Swanay and he was working away with the league at that time.
September
The one huge pickup I had in September was Ozzie Albies, however he was activated so late within the season that his influence was minimal. By this time, my workforce had plummeted. To be sincere, by the final month of the season, I had shifted my consideration to groups the place I used to be aggressive. I’m not happy with that truth, however it’s the reality. Had I been extra on prime of it, I might have competed for second or third which I had been battling for in July and August.
Conclusion
Clearly I made a giant mistake with spending a lot of my public sale cash on Acuna. I knew the dangers coming in and may have caught to my conventional technique of spreading the wealth. Extra importantly although, I wasn’t lively sufficient in FAAB particularly with the added FAAB I obtained from reclaiming Acuna. If I had unfold that cash extra rapidly, I might need been capable of make up for the misplaced stats from shedding guys like him. I are inclined to not make these errors usually, however after years of enjoying 15-20 leagues a season, the workload of that many groups lastly caught up with me and it’s one thing I’m severely taking a look at this offseason.
