2025 Rule Change Suggestion -PASSED

Sometimes, when I sit around in a dark room by myself and my mind starts wandering to the glory days of the Tot Blog, hard-rock-band-turned-soft Staind and lead singer Aaron Lewis start playing in my head..."It's been a while, since I have..." and then I fill it in with, "blogged about the Tots."  And then there is much sadness.  But not today...today is a day for rejoicing!  For we have eaten the minstrels returned for a brief, yet glorious engagement.

In fact, we have a proposal from Eric and Kyler! Engagement...proposal...?   Can it be?  No, Eric hasnt found Wirtgen- Hamm to his asphalt, but you can imagine what it would be like if he did...

Rather, in the continual effort to keep things interesting, Eric and Kyler have made a rule change/modification proposal.  It is as follows:

- For each team, the last protected keeper position (2nd for playoff teams, 3rd for non-playoff teams), each owner will put forward 2 players.   We will use a randomizer (or a coin, or something easy) to select which of the players will be protected.  The player who is not protected will be put back into the draft pool.  This will reduce the number of keepers per team to 10.

This would happen at the beginning of the auction on draft day.

Example:

Kyler wants to protect and keep Sir Fredrick Freeman of Batslandia ($1).

For the second spot, Kyler nominates docTor deGrom ($1) as heads, and Randy Arozarena ($1) as tails.

The coin is filled and it comes up tails.   Randy then kept and protected at $1 and the docTor is sent back to the auction pool for everyone to bid on.

The idea is to put more good players back into the auction, and potentially allow players who have been historically protected to be available for challenge.

Please vote by texting me a yes or no.  If there are questions, feel free to ask them in the league text chat so that we can all see them and get the answer.

2021 Trades

 Trade Log-

During the 2020 season, which affect 2021:

Kyler received:
SS Bo Bichette
$5 2021 draft money

Zach received:
SS Xander Bogaerts
2b,SS,OF Ketel One Marte
SP Zack Wheeler and Dealer

2021 Trades:

Lou receives:
OF Luis Robert

Bob receives:
SP Zac Gallen

Lou receives:
$5 2022 draft 
2b Keston Huira

Bob receives:
OF Luis Robert

2021 VOTING RESULTS

 Hi Everyone!

2020 was a major year of change for the world; 2021 will be a major year of change for the Tater Tot League of Fantasy Baseball Playing Gentlemen, brought to you by Montucky Cold Snacks.

Here is the rundown of the rules and voting:

1) Add 1 Util spot to all rosters, increase roster size from 25 to 26. PASS with 9 of 10 votes

This one was somewhat surprising to me, as we had the same suggestion last season and it was voted down with only 4 votes in favor. Personally, I don't love it, as I am an NL traditionalist, but I dont see any way that the DH is not in both leagues in some fashion starting in 2022 - and once that happens, we run the risk of losing players who may be perfectly useable. As it is now, this re-opens up the great Shohei Ohtani debate of 2018 - with the person winning him (or keeping him) getting both the hitter and the pitcher version, and playing 1 player short.


2) Each team would be able to keep 1 player who finished the season eligible for N/A as a non-challengeable keeper. This player would not count towards the 11 keepers, so the keeping team would be able to keep an additional 11 players and protect 2, or 3 more depending on previous season's finish, additional keepers.   NOT PASS with 5 of 10 votes

3) For 2021 only due to shortened 2020, each team gets 4 protected keepers, with non-playoff teams getting an additional protected player.  PASS with 9 of 10 votes

This one has some pretty large implications for this upcoming season, but clearly almost all of us felt that we did not get a full shake with our 2020 teams. In looking at some of the rosters, this change could make the challenges this year get a little crazy.

4) When a team is challenged during the draft, the challenged team gets to protect another player only if they choose not to match. i.e. I challenge Bob, Bob decides not to match my challenge, Bob would then get to protect an additional player. If Bob matches, then he would not get to protect another player.  PASS with 8 of 10 votes

Speaking of challenges...the combo of 20 additional players being removed from the "challengeable" pool to start, and then additional players coming off the market when challenges are successful may lead to some new and interesting challenge strategy -- which should make things more fun.

5) When a team makes a challenge in the auction, they receive an additional $5 in money to spend in the current year's auction. NOT PASS with 3 of 10 votes

6) Each team gets an additional challenge to be used in the first 5 rounds of the auction. If it is not used before the end of the 5th round of nominations, it is forfeited. NOT PASS with 5 of 10 votes

7) For 2021 only, eliminate challenges and have a standard auction for available players. NOT PASS with 2 of 10 votes

8) Each year, the teams that finished in 3rd place from the year before, swap divisions. They do not swap back unless they finish in 3rd again.  NOT PASS with 5 of 10 votes

9) Each year, the league is realigned so that the top 5 teams from the previous regular season (not from the standings after the playoffs) are placed into the division of the previous year's league champion with the bottom 5 teams from the previous season being placed into the opposite division. PASS with 8 of 10 votes

As the reigning league champ, I would like to christen the Bone Thugs division as the toughest our league as seen yet. I am actually super excited about this rule, in that it shake things up a bit and should help to ensure that we are creating opportunities for teams to improve.

The new league alignment for 2021:

BONE THUGS:
1) UJADS - Uncle Jimmy
2) BYSS - Kyler
3) Open Wide - Steve
4) AcunaMaTaterTot - Commish
5) Forever Les Moles - Tom

HARMONY
6) Ghetto Cowboys - Kevin
7) Bob's Autotrackers - Bob
8) Rizz on Me - Zach
9) Cunning Stunts -Alex
10) Game of Throws - Eric

2020 Trades

2020 Pre-Auction Trades

Bob gets:  2b Keston Huira $4
Lou gets : 1b Josh Bell $3
                 $7 - 2020 auction

Steven gets: 1b Jose Abreu $18
Kyler gets: $15 - 2020 Auction

Kevin gets: OF Byron Buxton $1
Lou gets: $5 - 2020 Auction

Tom gets: P Zach Wheeler $1
Kyler gets : $5 - 2020 Auction

2019 trades

Hey Everybody-
I realized that I am terrible at keeping track of our in-season trades, especially ones that have $ for the next draft attached to them.   For that purpose, I am going to create a trade log, where all trades will be noted, money or not.

We have a few trades pre-auction so far:

Alex gets: Lorenzo Cain and $5
Kyler gets: Zach Wheeler

Zach gets: Robinson Cano
Kyler gets: Anthony Rendon

Eric gets: Michael Brantley, Aroldis Chapman, Miguel Cabrera and $10
Kyler gets: Aaron Judge

Uncle Jimmy gets: Mookie Betts, Corey Seager
Alex gets: Carlos Correa, German Marquez

Uncle Jimmy gets: Mike Clevenger
Bob gets: Andrew Benintendi


In Season Trades:
Uncle Jimmy gets: 1b Pete Alonso
                               RP Ty "Oh So" Buttrey

Kyler gets:             RP Jose Alvarado
                               SP Masahiro "Kamikaze" Tanaka
                               $5 2020 draft
--------------------------------

Alex gets:               SS Elvis Andrus
                                SP Joey Lucchesi

Kyler gets:               SS Carlos Correa
                                SP Marco Gonzales
                                $5 2020 draft

--------------------------------
Uncle Jimmy gets: SP Corey Kluber
                               RP Will "Don't Call Me Jazzy Jeff" Smith

Alex gets:               RP Ty "Oh So" Buttrey
                               RP Griffin Canning
                               $11 2020 draft

2017 kick off trade

The 2017 season is upon us, and well, after about a decade of radio silence, I am here to make a quick post on the start of the trading season.   I had wanted to do a big 2017 kickoff show type post, but then Lady Gaga went and stole my idea of starting off on top of a building and repelling down as the show went on. None of you would have been able to see this, of course, since I am writing, but it would have been epic.  Frickin Lady Gaga steals all the good ideas.  So instead, you get a post on the first trade of 2017.

Kyler and Tom got us going this year shortly after the league was created on yahoo.

BySs gets OF Ian Desmond ($5)
Les Moles get SS Trevor Story ($2) and SP Sonny Gray ($3)

Here's the thing.  I don't get this one at all.  Well, that's not entirely accurate.  I totally get it from Tom's perspective.  Story was fantastic in his first season in the bigs.  Even though it was cut short by injuries that limited him to about 400 plate appearances, he hit 272/341/567 with 67 runs and 72 RBIs.  He also hit 27 HRs, which don't count as a stand alone stat in our little game, and stole 8 bags.  He was basically a 6 category asset at SS, a position where it is entirely possible that someone is starting Brad Miller this year.  On top of that, Story is a whopping $3.   Gray is coming off an injury plagued season that saw him fall from the second tier of MLB starting pitchers down to the "Andrew Cashner" tier -- This is the tier for players who fit any of these categories A) They are ridiculously talented but cannot stay healthy enough to be relied upon in fantasy, real life or in pick up botchee ball; B) Have been dealt in trades that seem to be extremely one sided, often involving Anthony Rizzo or C) are, in fact, Andrew Cashner.  It is easy to forget that Gray it was 12 long months ago that Gray had dealt back to back 200+ inning seasons with WHIPs in the 1.10 range and was widely considered one of the better young arms in the majors.  It is certainly possible he never gets back to that after his injury, but this seems like a sell low.

Desmond was a very productive SS with the Nats, until he wasn't anymore and managed to damage his playing image so much that he ended up with a 1 year prove it deal with the Rangers and no sure position to play.  Prove it, he did, turning in a massive bounce back season with a monster 6-cat contribution of a 285/335/446 slash with 107 runs, 86 RBIs and 21 SBs while playing center and left fields (not at the same time, only Billy Hamilton, Trouty Pretzels and the Kevins - Pillar and Kiermeier - can pull that off).  A closer look shows some problems though.  After a dominating first half, Desmond turned back into the guy who played himself out of Washington, hitting just 237/283/347 in 293 post all-star PAs.  If he is your SS, you can handle that type of production when it comes with the runs and SBs, but Desmond no longer qualifies there.  Now he qualifies only in the OF and, if the Rockies stick to their plan, he will soon qualify at 1b.  If the Rocks change course and make him a backup around the infield and Desmond picks up 1b, 2b, ss, and or 3b, his value as a guy who adds counting stats obviously goes up.

I know that Kyler has Xander Bogaerts manning SS, so Story has less value to him than to most of the rest of us and he was unsure about Gray.  So I get the reasoning behind the trade, I just think that he could have gotten more for an upcoming power hitting SS and a recent Cy Young caliber pitcher.

Is Kyler's team better with Desmond than with Story and Gray on the bench?  Probably, but I am not sure by how much.  Tom's team, on the other hand, has improved a great deal with the addition of Story alone.  He also helps to bring us tacos, and I can say "Oh, Trevor" every time I see his name.  Gray is just some potential icing on the cake.

ADVANTAGE: LES MOLES

13 days until Keepers are due! Bigger, longer and uncut.

Welcome to the 2016 edition of the Tater Tot Fantasy Baseball Extravaganza. 

A couple of quick hits for Friday then hopefully more next week.


Tom and I broke the league cherry yesterday with the first official trade of the year.  And its a doozy, with stars going both direction.

Les Moles receives SP Felix Hernandez ($44) and OF Carlos Gonzalez ($23)
MBHB receives OF Andrew McCutchen ($78)--

So...This one is pretty one sided at face value.  Tom picks up a pair of players, CarGo a perennial all-star and one of the few players in MLB with a chance to be a legitimate .300 hitter with 40 HRs.  Felix is a multi-Cy Young winning superstar who really needs no more description than, "He has an entire section in his home stadium dedicated to people who wear t-shirts with his picture on it."  They don't give those out for people like Ricky Nolasco or Matt Garza.  In getting these two, Tom actually SAVES himself $10 in keeper costs.  Doesn't sound like the commish can come out in a good way on this one.  But this is where I can give a little insight because...well, I know what I am thinking.  I wasn't planning on keeping CarGo anyways (essentially making this a Felix for Cutch deal), and I wanted to make a move for someone who would be a 6 category addition on offense...and to do so, I knew that I needed to give up something that was extremely valuable in addition to CarGo.  Felix made the most sense because his salary is high enough, that acquiring a stud and keeping Felix would have made it difficult to go after anyone in the auction.  So really, Tom and I both got exactly what we wanted; Tom got 2 keepers and saved some money, I got a superstar using a player I wasn't planning on keeping.  In the long run, I think Tom ends up on the better end of the deal, but I am not going to be complaining.


Then Uncle Jimmy and Dusty completed their own deal just a day later.

UCCMA receives 1b Miguel Cabrera ($76)
The Dust Bunnies receive SP Chris Archer ($12) and SP Danny Salazar ($3).

This one is somewhat similar to the deal above, but with the added bonus of Dusty saving enough money that he actually might be able to field a pitching staff that doesn't include 8 $1 Twins this year. 
On first glance, the deal seems to be heavily slanted towards Uncle Jimmy's Army of Darkness (new moniker I am trying out for his team this year...seriously, we might as well start calling them the Imperial Death Stars) because Cabrera has been one of the greatest hitters to ever walk the planet for the last decade or so.  But Cabrera is coming off an injury that severely hampered his power production last season and he is one of the most expensive players in our fake little game.  Luckily for Jimmy, he can rest easy knowing that a full season of TMGS, Kris Bryant, Carlos Correa and Mookie doing Mookie things will take some of the slack if Miggy does struggle this year.

Dusty gets 2 young, high upside starters in Archer and Salazar (and Archer is a superstar, but since he plays in the Tampa catwalk box in front of 18.4, approximate, people each game, not many people have caught on yet...it kills me that he was a Cub and that they gave him up for 2.5 seasons of Matt Garza and a box of not-yet Mike Trout salty pretzels) who he can add to Michael Wacha and, for the first time in 3 seasons, have a real life pitcher throwing the majority of his SP innings.  If he smartly uses the $61 he saves, Dusty could be looking at having a team that is really good in addition to being really lucky.

In the short term, I give the edge here to Uncle Jimmy's Army of Death Stars (UJADS?  Judges?  Yes?!?!!!!!), because I'm not sure how Dusty will spend the savings and Jimmy was in the position to use some of his non-keeper assets to score a super-duper star.  But it would not surprise me at all if by this time next year we are looking back at this trade as a win for Dusty Manager.

A nice kickoff to the hot stove season.  Let me know if there are any other trades that are agreed upon.


More next week: Meet the new guys, who happen to be 2 separate people both named Steve.