'Toga Party! - The Nephews of Jody Reed 2014 Season Revue

With a sensational playoff run through the top teams in the league, the Saratoga Oldtimers are your 2014 NoJR champions! 'Toga snagged the 6th seed to enter the playoffs, and proceeded to take out the #3, #2, and #1 seeded teams, earning every bit of that sweet, Jody Reed-licious postseason glory.

The Oldtimers claim a victory rivaled in splendor only by the decisive triumph of America in their hometown 237 years ago.

The victory ends a two-year reign of terror by the Rip City Reavers, and there were many more story lines as the season unfolded. Let's take a look back at a competitive and memorable year.

The Billy Beane Award

Just like last year, I tabulated and the end-of-season Yahoo ranks for all drafted players, added them up for each team, and divided by the number of roster spots (23) to arrive at the average draft ranking of players for each team. This year was perhaps the strongest showing as a league that we've ever had:

1. Lloyd's Christmas - 286
2. Lavallee Team - 291.6
3. Nickel Blitz - 295.4
4. Teltecies - 303.6
5. Non-Stop - 320.8
6. Nuckin' Futz - 323.8
7. SHAQGASM - 340
8. Gmonie16 - 368.6
9. Saratoga Oldtimers - 387.7
10. Hughes Drubbers - 396.2
11. The Highlander - 406.7
12. Rip City Reavers - 471

The winner of the 2014 Billy Beane Award is returning GM Lloyd's Christmas! LC showed little rust after taking a year off, snagging some quality players that met their auction draft expectations, like Adam Wainwright, Adam Jones, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Ian Desmond.

I'm not going to get too carried away congratulating Lloyd's Christmas, though: this year's average draft rankings are, on the whole, much worse than last year's. Five GMs had a better draft last year than Lloyd's Christmas, and the overall league average was 307.6 last season compared to 349.3 this year.

Does this mean that collectively we're getting way worse at fantasy baseball? I don't believe so, and the reason I would give for this shift is the "NA" slot: many teams made some prospective picks in hopes that a minor leaguer would make the Show and have a mid-season impact. In most cases this didn't happen, and the end-of-season rankings for those players were typically around 1,000. That'll skew your data for sure.

Saratoga Oldtimers still holds the record for best draft based on his 209.7 showing in 2013. Meanwhile, my Rip City Reavers had the worst draft thanks to a variety of busts (more on those later). At a score of 471, I still was not as bad as Nuckin' Futz's score of 487 from the 2011 draft.

Your 2014 All-Bargain Team

Catcher: Yan Gomes - TheHighlander

$1 - Ranked 138 - 138

- The #4 catcher in the game went for one measly auction dollar on draft day. He clocked 21 home runs for an Indians team that provided some of the best fantasy values at a variety of positions. It's a shame, however, that Evan Gattis only got 365 ABs, because his ability to crush the ball could have had him in the conversation here. I smell a Mike Napoli-type conversion in his future.

Honorable mention: Jonathan Lucroy at $7 (Gmonie16)

V-Mart was feelin' it this year.

First Base: Victor Martinez - Nuckin' Futz

$2 - Ranked 7 - 14

- No doubt about this one: V-Mart was a monster at the dish all season long. He produced "plus" numbers in 5 out of the 6 offensive categories with 87 runs, 32 HR, 103 RBI, 70 BB, and a .337 BA. I should note, though, that his 3 SB were a career high. Now permanently removed from catching, he has been able to put more energy into his offense, and it shows.
By the way: if you had told me that Victor would have a better end-of-season ranking that his teammate, Miguel Cabrera, I'd have thought you were nuckin' futz...

Honorable mention: Jose Abreu at $11 (Non-Stop)

Second Base: Jose Altuve - SHAQGASM

$16 - Ranked 5 - 80

- There were actually quite a few outstanding value options at the "4" this year, but I'm going with the sensational Altuve, who ended the year just inside the top-5, thanks largely to an impressive .341 BA and 56 steals. This is one of a couple auto-draft snags for SHAQGASM that makes me wonder if I should just let Yahoo auto-draft for me from now on.

Honorable mention: Brian Dozier at $1 (Hughes Drubbers)

Shortstop: Alexei Ramirez - TheHighlander

$2 - Ranked 63 - 126

- Alexei has always had an intriguing combination of speed and pop, but this is the first time since his rookie season where he had a strong year in both respects. TheHighlander snagged him at a primo discount rate of 2 dolla. Other than him, it was a pretty weak value market for shortstops.

Honorable mention: Jimmy Rollins at $1 (Saratoga Oldtimers)

Third Base: Anthony Rendon - SHAQGASM

$1 - Ranked 16 - 16

- There were two exceptional values at the hot corner this year. Rendon broke out in a big way in his first full year, showing surprising pop and wheels and consistently producing for the playoff-bound Nats. Meanwhile, Frazier had a career year, hitting 29 homers and shockingly stealing 20 bases. Yahoo has Rendon ranked slightly ahead of Frazier, plus I like his eligibility at 2B and prospects as a keeper slightly more, so I've crowned him the top value.

Honorable mention: Todd Frazier at $1 (Teltecies)

Brantley did it all for the Tribe

Outfield: Michael Brantley - SHAQGASM

$1 - Ranked 6 - 6

- Brantley was the best value in the draft, exploding for a 20/20 season with 90+ runs and RBI, and an impressive .327 average. He was gradually improving year after year, but few could see this leap coming, except for that ever-so-impressive auto-draft that continues to put us to shame.

Honorable mention: Ben Revere at $1 (Nuckin' Futz)

Outfield: Melky Cabrera - Lavallee Team

$1 - Ranked 61 - 61

- Melky was a category-juicy player in the past, but injuries and suspension cast his 2014 prospects in doubt. The Lavallee Team smartly gave him a $1 flier and he managed to turn back the clock before succumbing to a broken finger.

Honorable mention: Jose Bautista at $26 (Saratoga Oldtimers)

Outfield: Nelson Cruz - Lavallee Team

$6 - Ranked 17 - 102

- The Lavallee Team seems to have a draft strategy that involves targeting outfielders who have served PED suspensions. Cruz signed a 1-year deal with the Orioles and was hardly a lock for solid production, especially considering his injury history as well, but he ended up leading the league in homers with 40.

Honorable mention: Hunter Pence at $18 (Teltecies)

How... what... physics... WHAT IS REAL?!?!

Starting Pitchers:

Corey Kluber - Nickel Blitz - $1 - Ranked 12 - 12
Johnny Cueto - Hughes Drubbers - $6 - Ranked 3 - 18 
Clayton Kershaw - Teltecies - $48 - Ranked 1 - 48

Tyson Ross - Nickel Blitz - $1 - Ranked 97 - 97

Felix Hernandez - Nickel Blitz - $28 - Ranked 4 - 112

- Nickel Blitz got two amazing values with Kluber and Ross, both posting sub-3 ERAs and at least a K per IP.
- Meanwhile, Cueto seems to be reprise his Rodney Dangerfield role at every draft, rarely going for more than a few bucks. He had a remarkable year, but we all knew he had the ratios. My favorite stat for him is the 243.2 IP.
- Kershaw: what else is there to say. He had the best season since Pedro Martinez, which is to say it was the best season by a pitcher since the best season by a pitcher ever. It was hard to imagine him improving on 2013. Now that he has, is there any chance he gets even better?
- Lost in the Kershaw hubbub was a career-best season from King Felix, who is as reliable as can be, but went $20 cheaper than Kershaw.
- Honorable mention goes to Gmonie16 for picking up Jon Lester for $6. He had a great comeback year and was the 7th best fantasy starter overall.

Johnny Cueto = confirmed bag tagger

Relief Pitchers:

Mark Melancon - Non-Stop - $1 - Ranked 77 - 77

Joaquin Benoit - Rip City Reavers - $1 - Ranked 131 - 131

Huston Street - Lavallee Team - $3 - Ranked 79 - 237

- Most of the best values in relief were technically in free agency as several RPs came out of nowhere and posted elite hold and save numbers. Among those drafted, Melancon had another great year for the Pirates, eventually taking over at closer for Jason Grilli. Benoit, though injured toward the end of the year, posted elite ratios and contributed as both a closer and a setup man. Similarly, Street offered up a great ERA and WHIP while finishing 7th in saves. He's become more reliable lately with back-to-back years of 55+ IP.

The All-Bust Team

Catcher: Yadier Molina - SHAQGASM

$16 - Ranked 520 - 8320

- Usually Yadier is on the bargain list, but he dealt with ailments all year and lost some of the pop that made him a top tier catcher. Matt Wieters also missed most of the year for the AL East-winning Orioles, but he went for only $5.

Honorable mention: Joe Mauer at $20 (Non-Stop)

Votto already looking at his next career as Dudley Do-Right.

First Base: Joey Votto - Hughes Drubbers

$45 - Ranked 1043 - 46935

- Votto and Fielder were 1 and 1A when it came to the biggest busts of the year. I'm giving the edge to Votto even though he played a bit more. It seemed for a while that he might come back from his injury, versus Fielder's injury clearly had him missing the year. It'll be interesting to see what kind of impact their 2014 futility will have on their auction values next year.

Honorable mention: Prince Fielder at $40 (Rip City Reavers)

Second Base: Jason Kipnis - Non-Stop

$30 - Ranked 319 - 11547

- What a season to forget for the Kipper. Besides his hamstring issues late in the year, he hit only .240 with hardly any pop, forcing Non-Stop to deem him unrosterable. His preseason ranking was #2 for second basemen, but he ended the year ranked #25. Had he played to his potential, I truly believe the Indians would be in the playoffs instead of the Royals right now.
- Dustin Pedroia was also a disappointment and needs to return to health. I could use a good laser show in 2015.

Honorable mention: Jedd Gyorko at $7 (Lloyd's Christmas)

Shortstop: Everth Cabrera - Hughes Drubbers

$15 - Ranked 1009 - 15135

- Everth was pegged for some potentially elite value given his recent BA and steal numbers, but he could just never get his hamstrings to cooperate with what his mind was telling them to do. Given his past suspension with PEDs, you've got to wonder if going cold turkey off the juice has made him injury-prone.

Honorable mention: Jean Segura at $26 (Teltecies)

Time to break in a new glove.

Third Base: Ryan Zimmerman - Nuckin' Futz

$20 - Ranked 970 - 19400

- Despite an impressive season for the Nats as a team, Zimm didn't do much to contribute to it, mustering only 214 ABs. With both a degenerative hip and an arthritic shoulder, it's tough to imagine him having much long-term value, but perhaps the change of position will help.

Honorable mention: Brett Lawrie at $9 (Rip City Reavers)

Outfield: Carlos Gonzalez - Lavallee Team

$48 - Ranked 835 - 40080

- CarGo joins Votto and Fielder in the top (or is it bottom?) tier of auction busts this year. He missed most of the year with a knee injury, but even when he played he wasn't living up to the price tag, batting just .238. If the injury hurts his wheels, it may significantly stunt his value for 2015.

Honorable mention: Allen Craig at $19 (Saratoga Oldtimers)

Outfield: Wil Myers - Gmonie16

$24 - Ranked 1020 - 24480

- A blue chip prospect and possible breakout candidate, Myers ended up disappointing and was un-rosterable even when he returned to the lineup. He will still be just 24 entering next season, so it's hard to imagine GMs losing intrigue at this point, but he's got a long ways to go before meeting his potential. 

Honorable mention: Shin-Soo Choo at $26 (Lavallee Team)

Who cares about fantasy? Beer me!

Outfield: Bryce Harper - Nuckin' Futz

$47 - Ranked 461 - 21667

- I can feel NF rolling his eyes from miles away, but the numbers just weren't there for his boi Bryce. He lost over 2 months to injury and suffered through a brutal July, but eventually bounced back a bit in August and September. The problem is that you can't even look at his numbers in those months and say that he was worth $47. He will, however, be just 22 years old heading into next year, so I'm dying to know if NF sticks with him as a keeper at this price.
- I was also tempted to put Ryan Braun here since he had a brutal season while playing with a bum thumb.

Honorable mention: Shane Victorino at $9 (TheHighlander)

Starting Pitchers:

Justin Verlander - Saratoga Oldtimers - $27 - Ranked 908 - 24516
Cliff Lee - SHAQGASM - $28 - Ranked 483 - 13524
Mike Minor - TheHighlander - $11 - Ranked 1076 - 11836

Tony Cingrani - Nickel Blitz - $12 - Ranked 965 - 11580

Matt Cain - Lavallee Team - $13 - Ranked 762 - 9906
- Injuries always produce a heavy toll on real and fantasy pitching staffs, but some of these guys were just plain bad. Verlander could produce only pedestrian numbers this year as his fastball velocity tumbled. Lee and Cain fell to injuries but were hardly elite pitchers before hitting the shelf. Meanwhile, Minor and Cingrani have us wondering whether their 2013 breakout years were flukes.
- Let us hold some of the other notable drafted pitchers who fell to injury in 2014 In Memoriam: Jose Fernandez, Matt Moore, Yu Darvish, Homer Bailey, C.C. Sabathia, and of course the undead injury zombie of MLB, Josh Johnson.

Johnson did more work on the Padres' Twitter account than on the mound this year.

Relief Pitchers:

Jim Johnson - TheHighlander - $5 - Ranked 1144 - 5720
Ernesto Frieri - Hughes Drubbers - $4 - Ranked 959 - 3836

Jason Grilli - Saratoga Oldtimers - $9 - Ranked 396 - 3564

- All three of these relievers imploded, but Johnson was the worst of all. He had a great situation, pitching for a winning team in a spacious ballpark, but for the life of him he couldn't keep his ERA below 7.
- In a so-sad-it's-fun story, Frieri and Grilli were actually swapped for one another in real life, each team hoping that the move would breathe new life into their abysmal seasons to that point. The result: one of them (Grilli) got slightly better but was still mediocre, while the other (Frieri) was so bad that he was demoted to AAA and ultimately released.

All-Free Agent Team

Last year's list included the #1 position player and pitcher in fantasy for 2012, so it was a tall order to find that kind of value this season. 2013 played out a bit more typically, but judging by the players below, a manager still could've done very well for himself just building a team off of free agency. Here are the stars who made a name for themselves this year.

C - Devin Mesoraco - 131

1B - Lucas Duda - 74

2B - Dee Gordon - 23

SS - Alcides Escobar - 115

3B - Josh Harrison - 62

OF - Charlie Blackmon - 26

OF - Corey Dickerson - 38

OF - Denard Span - 55

Util - J.D. Martinez - 69

The biggest game-changer this year was Dee Gordon, who blazed for 64 steals to lead MLB, but also posted a surprising batting average and tied for 10th in runs. Span had a similar breakout year for the Nats but made up for lower steals with a higher BA.

That'll help the ol' BA.

Blackmon and Dickerson represented a productive Rockies outfield. Blackmon in particular was a notable performer in April, posting an OPS over 1.000 and even had a rare 6-for-6 game.

For pure power, the greatest finds were Duda (30 HR), Mesoraco (25 HR), and Martinez (23 HR, .315 BA). Adam LaRoche also hit a notable 26 HR (rank: 80) and was a staple in the Futz's lineup.

SP - Garrett Richards - 48

SP - Jake Arrieta - 51

RP - Dellin Betances - 56

RP - Wade Davis - 60

P - Zach Britton - 67

P - Collin McHugh - 70

P - Tanner Roark - 77

P - Joe Smith - 82

Among free agent pitchers, Richards and Arrieta emerged as elite performers. Richards had a lot of value generated from his #2 best fastball velocity among starters, while Arrieta has dramatically increased his slider usage (see the .gif later in this post - wow). Meanwhile, McHugh was on nobody's radar and averaged a strikeout per inning with solid ratios. Lastly, Roark came out of nowhere to be one of the most reliable starters in DC. There's an old baseball proverb that I think applies to him: when you throw strikes, good things will happen for you.

You know you've got good stuff if a hitter like Rizzo swings at a pitch that hits him.

If you're wondering what it's like to have an ERA of 1.00, ask Wade Davis. He was a revelation for the Royals as a setup man. Betances was as well, finally showing some control on his pitches and posting an elite K-rate. Britton, who floundered as a starter in recent years, also became an elite reliever, thanks in large part to a high ground ball rate. With successful SP-to-RP conversions like Davis and Britton, it makes me wonder if it's time that Tim Lincecum should be re-invented as a closer. He's always had the hair for it.

Anatomy of a Championship: "Pirates Plunder" and the Rise of Arrieta

Saratoga did an amazing job working the waiver wire and building a team which, by the end of the year, was clicking on all cylinders and could not be defeated. He had some highly valuable players contributing, like former Pirate Jose Bautista and Justin Upton, but another big reason I think he had sustained success through 3 playoff match-ups was due to where his players primarily played: Pittsburgh.

Inside the park homer, 9/10/14

This was a team fighting to qualify for a playoff spot, and they rolled out their starters every day throughout September to scratch and claw for wins. And the wins part is important, because they weren't just playing every day, they were thriving as well, going 17-6 down the stretch, led by Andrew McCutchen. Having your starters get days off towards the end of the year can be a killer in fantasy, so trotting out a bunch of Pirates helped.

The other big piece of 'Toga's success, from my perspective, was the breakout performance of Jake Arrieta. I said in my mid-summer power rankings that the Oldtimers would need an ace to contend, but the team evidently had one on their bench all along, just waiting to bust loose.

Over his last 4 starts, Arrieta's lines were quite clutch:

• 9/24: W, 7 IP, 0 ER, 10 K, 0.43 WHIP
• 9/16: W, 9 IP, 0 ER, 13 K, 0.22 WHIP
• 9/9: ND, 6.1 IP, 2 ER, 5 K, 1.26 WHIP
• 9/2: W, 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 K, 0.83 WHIP

Unreal.

Those are the kinds of performances that win championships, particularly those double-digit K games that are so difficult to match as an opponent. Arrieta finished the year 10-5 with a 2.53 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, and better than a K per IP.

Odds and Ends

• One player has been on each of the past 3 championship teams: Aroldis Chapman. Those also happened to be the 3 years in which he eclipsed the century mark in strikeouts. Coincidence?
• Rip City Reavers led the league in trades made with 3. 4 trades in total were transacted.
• Nelson Cruz for Rex Brothers may go down as the most lopsided trade this league will ever see. At the time, I do see a reason for the trade: Cruz was coming off a PED suspension and probably wasn't hitting at a sustainable pace, and the Lavallee Team had a ton of OF depth. Meanwhile Brothers was coming off a stellar 2013 and was projected to be an elite holds guy before taking over for ancient closer LaTroy Hawkins. Things worked out differently...
• Saratoga Oldtimers again led the league in free agent/waiver transactions (65) for the second year in a row. The Rip City Reavers still hold the all-time record for such transactions with 69, set back in 2011.
• For the first year ever, NoJR included free agent bidding budgets for waivers. In total, there were 3 competitive bids, with the record-highest being by Nickel Blitz to acquire Charlie Blackmon ($30).
• A total of $149 were spent, with the Saratoga Oldtimers spending the most ($56).
• I stand corrected: the highest ever bid for a player was $40 for R.A. Dickey by 'Toga. No one else bid on him...
• This was by far the most active season overall: there were 365 total transactions this year, beating out last year's record high of 266. Once SHAQGASM is replaced, I hope to see yet another record set next season.
• Non-Stop led the league in regular season winning percentage for the second straight year, finishing at .625. This mark is second all-time, finishing behind the mark he set last year as SilverLiningsPlaybk (.633). 
• This is the first year that Hughes Drubbers was not in the NoJR finals.
• Saratoga ended Rip City's record-long playoff win streak at 5.
• I can't help but mention that I totally nailed a lot of my mid-season predictions. Call me an overzealous homer on the Billy Hamilton prediction, though...

Swing and a miss on that one...

Thanks to everyone for participating and being a Nephew of Jody Reed in 2014. I look forward to competing with everyone next year, this time with keepers! I'll be in touch next Spring.