Updated Ranking - 2/16/17

Offseason Ranking - as of February 16, 2017
#	Team	Keep	Pick	Avg
1	The Angry Pirates	5	2	3.5
2	Ring of Fire	2	7	4.5
3	Urban Achievers	8	3	5.5
4	One Nut Wonders	1	11	6.0
4	Brokeback Moundmen	3	9	6.0
6	Donkey Punchers	12	1	6.5
7	Anal Hersheiser	8	6	7.0
8	Thor's Hammered	10	5	7.5
8	Montezuma's Revenge	3	12	7.5
10	Stroman my Cobb Odor	12	4	8.0
11	Sexual Napalm	8	10	9.0
12	Cowhide Joyride	5	14	9.5
13	Livin on Correa	7	13	10.0
14	Moose is Loose!	14	8	11.0

Draft Order, Updated Ranks, Long Waits

The Draft Order has been updated to reflect all the trades and the recent lottery. The full order can be found in the Offseason Guide. Here is the cumulative total of your picks:
 

1	Donkey Punchers	1314
2	The Angry Pirates	1367
3	Urban Achievers	1537
4	Stroman my Cobb	2191
5	Thor's Hammered	2196
6	Anal Hershiser	2213
7	Ring of Fire	2363
8	Moose is Loose!	2391
9	Brokeback	2476
10	Sexual Napalm	2483
11	One Nut Wonders	2532
12	Montezuma's	2791
13	Cowhide Joyride	2988
14	Livin on Correa	3036

 Along with this, I've reassessed keeper scores and recalculated my rankings:
 

Overall	Team	Keeper	Picks	Avg
1	Ring of Fire	2	7	4.5
2	Urban Achievers	8	3	5.5
2	Donkey Punchers	10	1	5.5
4	One Nut Wonders	1	11	6.0
4	Brokeback	3	9	6.0
4	The Angry Pirates	10	2	6.0
7	Anal Hersheiser	7	6	6.5
7	Thor's Hammered	8	5	6.5
9	Stroman my Cobb	10	4	7.0
10	Montezuma's	3	12	7.5
11	Cowhide Joyride	5	13	9.0
12	Livin on Correa	5	14	9.5
13	Sexual Napalm	10	10	10.0
14	Moose is Loose!	14	8	11.0

 In case you're wondering, these are the teams with the longest waits, currently:

#	Team	Wait
1	The Angry Pirates	98
2	Cowhide Joyride	77
3	Livin on Correa	67
4	Brokeback	56
4	Montezuma's	56
6	Brokeback	54
7	Thor's Hammered	53
8	Urban Achievers	43
9	Sexual Napalm	42
10	Sexual Napalm	39
10	Urban Achievers	39

2017 Offseason Rankings

Updated 1/16/17
 1(t). Urban Achievers (Dan Plourde) – At this moment, Dan has the most balanced combination of draftboard and keepers. That says a lot since, you know, his best player kinda died in the offseason. Excellent draft board with two picks in rounds 8, 9, and 10. Marte ranks high for broad category contribution, even if it seems to change from year to year. Cespedes, Polanco, Franco, and Gary Sanchez add to a solid group. Felix is hard to consider a keeper still, but I’m sure someone will take a shot.   

1(t). Thor's Hammered (Chris Shomphe) – Having wavered between going for it or not at the deadline, Chris lands in the top four in draft, but only barely. His draftboard is only slightly above the baseline, which is a tiebreaker for the top spot in my eyes. The keeper group is quite good with Harper, Thor, Story, and Cutch. Mazara and Joc are talented youngsters, but less of a sure thing. Crawford, Schoop, Gomez, Reyes, Tomas, Puig, Glasnow, Gallo all could look like keepers if you squint hard enough, but each has some warts.

3(t). One Nut Wonders (Jason Ouellette) – Despite his propensity to deal, Jason’s is a solid draft situation with the only early holes in the 9^th and 11^th. I expect this to improve because his roster is littered with potential keepers. Desmond’s placement in COL helped in the offseason, while Trumbo still is looking for a team but could also gain a boost. Can’t list them all but he could deal eight players and maintain the same keeper score. Jason will probably have the top spot here eventually.

3(t). Ring of Fire (Dagan Loisel) – Dagan’s team is highlighted by a keeper group that is both solid and exciting. Carassco, Schwarber, and Russell still have some work to do to become stars, but the talent is there – to go with Votto, Goldy, and Bryant. After that, you could make arguments for Pence, Semien, Duvall, Matz, Diaz, and Eaton. As is typical with Dagan, he held onto most of his picks and his the draft board is predictably boring, finishing just below the baseline.

3(t). Stroman my Cobb Odor (Jeff Frizzell) – Jeff has a slightly above average draftboard and a good and large but potentially risky group of keepers. While you know what you’re getting with Blackmon, Beltre and Verlander are age risks, while guys like Lindor, Bregman, Dahl, Odor, JGray, and Rodon are also age risks – just at the opposite end of the spectrum. Odubel, Salazar, VMart, Choo, AGon, and Hendricks have promise but can’t be considered stable. I can tell you six of those guys are going to be excellent – just which ones that will be is more difficult. 

6. Donkey Punchers (Chris Shannon) – Chris did his typical masterful job of liquidating assets leading up to the trade deadline, giving him arguably the best draft board thanks to two first rounders. That said, the keepers may need some work. Hosmer, Seager, and Kershaw are great. Segura put up keeper-worthy numbers, but is hard to trust fully. Baez has considerable talent but is a wildcard. JUpton has enough of a track record to forgive the volatility. Do you trust Brantley again? That group may be fine, but are not without some risk.

7. Montezuma's Revenge (Adam Leech) – The Revenge are in a similar situation to One Nut, but not as rich. The draft board isn’t horrible with the first two picks secured, but holes in rounds 9-11 and 13 bring down the score. There’s some currency to play with though. The group is headlined by Rizzo, Miggy, Dozier and Scherzer. Villar is another surefire keeper, just without a track record. Kluber and Price are easy keepers as well. Sano and Ozuna are considerations thanks to their young power, while Swanson and Taillon are being hyped. 

8(t). Sexual Napalm (Mike Gibson) – It’s rather fitting that Angry and Napalm are tied for 8^th since they represent extreme imbalances in opposite categories. Gibby is rather remarkably imbalanced with a horrific draftboard with only 4 picks in the first 11 rounds. There’s a lot of work to do, but there’s also a lot to work with. Betts, Machado, and Freeman are elite, while Myers and Correa aren’t far away. Lester is unsexy but obvious while Strasburg is sexy and risky. Contreras could be the top C with enough at bats. Zobrist could even make some sense. Duffy clearly has potential too, as well as Gibby binky Urias. I expect some movement here. (By the way, for all the talk about imbalanced trades last year, take a gander at Gibby’s return for Trea Turner last year and just imagine the vomit-inducing nightmares this must cause the Gibster). 

8(t). The Angry Pirates (Kyle Baker) – The other side of spectrum, is Kyle. I like Turner, Pollock, and Xander, but I’d prefer them to be my #4-6. Benintendi will be hyped, but is clearly a risk – both from a youth perspective and a real life value-to-fantasy life value conversion perspective. Longo had a great season, but that OBP is plummeting. Is this Buxton’s year? Not sure I’m betting a keeper spot on it. At 23, he’s running out of excuses. That said, the draftboard is great and incredibly unusual with only one pick in the first four rounds, and then a remarkable 14 picks in rounds 11-14. Then he’s done drafting. I expect that may change a bit.

10(t). Brokeback Moundmen (Matt Watson) – Unlike Kyle and Gibby, Matt represents a balance of draft and keepers, with slightly sub-baseline draftboard but no real holes until the 12-13. The group of potential keepers includes the obvious like Trout and Cano and the notso obvious but still potentially great like CMart, JD Martinez, Rendon, Gerrit Cole, and Harvey. It’s just hard to tell which versions of those guys will show up in 2017.  Watson could potentially upgrade there or take his chances, but the top two are a nice start. 

10(t). Anal Hersheiser (Justin Simons) – The notso new guy’s description of last season’s debate with his co-owner is reflected in this team. They could’ve made a serious playoff run with a few more pieces or they could’ve made out like bandits by trading some of the fringe guys. Instead, there’s a good-not-great group of keepers and a good-not-great draft board. Arenado and Springer are top-of-the-line, but there’s question marks after. JBJ may be fine, but regression could make him very Markakisish. DGordon, Lamb, BMiller, JoRam, Fulmer all require a leap of faith on some level. Yu and DeGrom are obviously talented keepers, but the injury concerns need to be considered.

12. Cowhide Joyride (Dave Fox) – Dave sold his soul for a title run and it almost worked. But now he’s got some work to do with only two picks in the first eight rounds. That said, it’s nice to start with guys like Altuve, Stanton, and C. Seager. Posey is surely a keeper even if the overall numbers aren’t that appetizing. Cueto is similar. Murphy, Kemp, Pujols, HanRam, and Frazier all have enough qualities to overlook some of their shortcomings, so there’s some currency to work with. I’m just not sure it will send Dave skyrocketing up this list.

13. Moose is Loose! (Brian Bishop) – Like Anal, this is sort of a function of going and back and forth between pursuing the playoffs or rebuilding. The indecision led to a stable draftboard that -- for all intent and purposes -- is intact, and a group of potential keepers that lack a true headliner. Three guys had more than 100 RBI, but each have consistency concerns (CarGo, Khris Davis, and Napoli). Kinsler is still a broad contributor, while the output of Tulo and the other Chris Davis seem to fluctuate between star and fringe keeper each year. Hamels was predictably solid and Grienke was a huge disappointment. Hard to knock em, but hard to trust em. 

14. Team Chad (Chad Woodward) – Despite the low ranking, Pierce rode a hot streak and some excellent cheap deadline additions to a championship without doing serious damage to the 2017 draftboard. There’s a big gap from 12-15 but Chad has his first five picks and a decent group of keepers, despite Papi’s retirement. The problem is the group lacks headliners and gets pretty shallow when you get past Abreu, Yelich, Sale, and Santana. LeMaheiu, Carpenter, and Porcello are all stable but not flashy.  Moncada is flashy, but not at all stable. A boost is needed in the keeper department to ascend up this list.

Justin's Response

1.  Why do you want to join High & Tight? 

 

To an extent, I am already part of the league; I just need the training wheels taken off!  I have been part of this league for nearly three years as part of Andrew's team.  3 years ago, purely as a 'consultant' to Andrew on different deals and roster moves.  2 years ago, was equal partner with him, although he had final say on all deals which handcuffed what I wanted to do.  And this year, I pretty much ran the day to day with his occasional input and stopping me from blowing up the team.  While he did not let me make all the moves I wanted to make I got a couple done.  I wanted to blow the team up, get young players, draft picks, etc.  He wanted to sneak in the playoffs and hope to upset 3 teams on the way to the title.  I don't think we had a 3 week winning streak all year, so that logic was just off to me. 

 

While I can't promise the name of team stays or that the below .500 mark will continue, or that the affinity for steals will stay as part of the plan, I have really enjoyed being part of this league.  I truly respect the work that Adam puts into the league, breaking down of the draft, the trade analysis (even when he doesn't like mine!) and how just about everyone stays involved in the league for the entirety of a long season.  This really is how a fantasy league (regardless of sport) should be run.  I have not been part of another league like this and really do want to have my own team.  Now that I would have full control of the team and able to rebuild it as I want, I will be in the finals within 3 seasons or you can boot me out if you so wish!  Call it a trial run!

2.  Please share any information as it relates to your qualifications. This may includes leagues you are in or have been in, championships, noteworthy acquisitions/strategies, offseason activities, etc. – related to baseball only. 

 

 - A Member of Dagan's Hometown league, Sippin on Gin Andrus, highly competitive in the league with two appearances in the playoffs in 3 years with a team comprised of a slew of Rangers who have been injured.  Had to grind away all year just to make it in the playoffs.  

 - 2 years ago, orchestrated a 3 hour text-mania negotiation that ended up as a last minute blockbuster deal with Jason at the deadline that to this day he I think he is still bitter about.  For all his crazy trade offers, I do enjoy negotiations with him!

 - This past season was the ring leader in the highly publicized Josh Donaldson / Nolan Arenado deal; again with Jason.  After trying to acquire him the past two years, I got the player I wanted and hope that I will be able to build a new look team around him.  While some did not like the deal, I got the player I wanted, he got a shot to win this past season and I have what I believe is the better player moving forward.  

 - Haven't attempted any off season deals in this league yet, as I didn't think it would be fair or even allowed not yet having control of the team.  Absolutely will be involved if given the team.

 - I take the draft seriously and will be prepared as anyone outside of probably Adam (respect) once the clock starts ticking!

3.  Describe your management style (active vs. passive, aggressive trader, analytical, specific methodologies, etc.) 

 - Aggressive and very active in the trade market.  I'm not going to get into my methodologies too much as that could be used against me in a trade down the road!!

 - A deal is not going to happen unless both sides think they are winning some portion of the deal.  I am not going to ask for you top two players and then turn around and offer you my worst 4.  It's a waste of time and for a deal to happen, it should sting both sides a bit.

 - It won't matter if I am in first place or last, I will be working the waiver wire, trade market and any other possible avenue to improve my team from the start of the season to the end and in to the off-season.

 - If you send a trade offer over to me, it won't just sit there for days or weeks where you get pissed at no response and withdraw the trade.  That is very frustrating to me and as soon as I see a deal, I begin breaking it down to see if something could be worked out.  Odds are, it won't be a straight accept or decline, but a negotiation will have to take place.  If it is a decline, you will get a reason as to why I declined it in my response.  I love any and all trade offers; even some of the crazy ones!!!

You may attach any supporting documents if you choose to do so. This may include spreadsheets, rankings, recommendations/referrals, etc.  

I know my back and forth with Adam after the analysis of the Arenado/Donaldson deal got out of hand.  It really was meant as a joke in the early stages and it escalated quickly.  I did feel bad for it, apologized to Adam and I apologize again to any and all involved.  I think Dagan could verify that there has never been an issue with me in his league and I don't foresee there being another one in this league.  I understand between this and most of you knowing the other guy, I may be a bit behind the 8 ball getting into the league.  

 

I can guarantee you I will be as active as anyone and am here to win the entire thing!  I already know my team and how to improve it quickly.  I have been waiting for a chance to have my own team in this league the past three years and have seen others join without me even getting a chance to be part of it.  I can assure you that no one wants to be in this league more than I do.  I ask that the league give me the opportunity to lead this team that I have already been working to make better. Thanks to you all and I hope to be seeing some seeing off-season deals from each of you soon!

Chad's Response

Hello gentlemen my name is Chad Woodard and I live in the Bangor, Maine area.  I have been playing fantasy for 10+ years which has included baseball, football and basketball leagues.  I am excited to be chosen as a candidate to fill the current owner vacancy in High & Tight.

1.  Why do you want to join High & Tight?

   

I hope to become an owner in H&T because of my passion for baseball and the challenge of season long leagues to compete for championships.  I have played fantasy baseball with several of the current owners of your league and know how knowledgeable and competitive they are individually, therefore I anticipate this would be a fun league to be a part of.

2.  Please share any information as it relates to your qualifications. This may includes leagues you are in or have been in, championships, noteworthy acquisitions/strategies, offseason activities, etc. – related to baseball only.

I am currently in two other baseball leagues.  One is an auction league on CBS that I commission and the other is a Yahoo H2H league.  I have several regular season and league championships in my fantasy tenure.  I took an expansion team in the previously mentioned 14 team Yahoo league to the playoffs in my second season. Followed by two championship matchups and a regular season championship in consecutive years.  I was also part of another 14 team H2H Yahoo league that I three-peated in and left due to lack of league competition.  

3.  Describe your management style (active vs. passive, aggressive trader, analytical, specific methodologies, etc.)

I am a very active owner.  I do extensive draft prep. I speculate on break-out bargains based on my own analytical research as you will see in the draft room if I am chosen.  I will utilize the waiver wire for tweaking of my roster.  I attempt to actively address my team weaknesses through trade if the opportunity presents itself.   Of course I want to “win” all trades but I realize every owner has different values so I will negotiate based on the needs of both teams involved.  I have also been known to pull off a three team trade from time to time.