Once again, Scott emphasizes getting the right price over the the right player
Mar 10, 2026 at 10:31 am ET • 21 min read
I've written repeatedly about my new approach to auctions (otherwise known as salary cap drafts), with this being Year 3 of me implementing it.
In short, I can no longer splurge on personal favorites and trust that I'll be able to make up the difference with smarter low-dollar buys than everyone else. The widespread acceptance of Statcast, among other analytical advancements, has closed whatever knowledge gap I once had. The better way to gain an edge now is through pure drafting efficiency, which means putting aside my personal feelings about players and accepting whatever discounts come my way.
But which discounts? After all, the typical auction will see dozens of players go for less than I project them for, and I can't have them all. How can I be sure that I'm winning the right ones? I'll reuse a phrase that I introduced in my Head-to-Head points auction recap just one short week ago: The discounts I want are the highest quantity of the highest quality possible.
A 12-team Rotisserie league isn't as shallow as a 12-team Head-to-Head points league, but it's still shallow enough that we aren't going to struggle to fill out our lineups with everyday players. Compilers won't set me apart, then. Difference-makers will. But again, my entire premise is that they have to come at a discount.
You know who didn't come at a discount in this auction? The first-round types. Whether it was Aaron Judge for $53, Shohei Ohtani for $51, or Bobby Witt and Jose Ramirez for $47, virtually all went for multiple dollars more than I projected them for, which meant I was out. But the extra dollars spent there had to come from some other range of the rankings, and it turns out the second- and third-round types consistently went for multiple dollars less than I projected them for. So I loaded up on them, coming out of the draft with more players costing $20 or more (six) than any other team.
That's what I mean by getting the highest quantity of the highest quality possible.
Now, all six of those players were hitters, and if you scroll down to my team, I think you'll agree that I'm poised to dominate the hitter categories. Like, it may be overkill, particularly with regard to home runs, which means I might have been better off splitting my $39 Kyle Tucker into two higher-end pitchers. But the build-a-staff-on-the-fly approach is one I'm accustomed to in a league of this size. I actually think a top five of Jesus Luzardo ($14), Nick Lodolo ($8), Nick Pivetta ($7), Kris Bubic ($6), and Sonny Gray ($3) makes for a pretty good starting point.
There were other teams in this draft, of course, and I'd like to comment on some of the things they did as well. So let's make with the introductions already.
- Nathan Judah, Express & Star (@NathanJudah)
- Greg Lathrop, Triple Crown Fantasy Baseball (@roto_Greg)
- Doug Roe, former Podcast League champ
Here's what I have to say about them:
- While some might describe my approach to this draft as "stars and scrubs," I think the two builds that would come closer to meeting that description belonged to B_Don and Doug Roe. The former doubled up on those first-round types that were out of my price range with a $51 Ohtani and a $47 Witt, and the latter actually tripled up with a $53 Aaron Judge, a $46 Juan Soto, and a $41 Elly De La Cruz. I really like how B_Don was careful to address the pitching side with his few remaining dollars, grabbing two aces in Logan Gilbert and Hunter Brown, a high-end third starter in Freddy Peralta, and two of the most sensible closer buys in a $9 Ryan Helsley and an $8 Adolis Chapman. Doug, on the other hand, drafted a $3 Edward Cabrera as his ace and no other starting pitcher for more than $1. I'm not saying it can't work -- he's sort of leaning into the volatility of the position -- but even if he can corral enough of the unexpected breakouts to put together a respectable staff, he'll be in a deep ERA and WHIP hole by the time he gets there.
- Conversely, Doc Eisenhauer didn't spend more than $25 on any player, with that player being his longtime personal favorite, Wyatt Langford. But what's strange is that he didn't redistribute the money he saved by forgoing the top-tier players, leaving $38 on the table. Stranger still is that I don't hate the look of his team. Yes, it would look better with a $40 Tarik Skubal in place of a $2 Aaron Nola -- I'm not advising anyone to spend $38 less than they have -- but Doc left himself without any obvious trouble spots and landed enough upside types that I could see it working out, almost. Before you go too hard on him, I should mention that he's always had trouble wrapping his head around the idea that the bench is filled separately through a reserve draft and was probably saving some of his money for that.
- Greg Lathrop is the defending champion and has won this league four times in the past seven years; in fact, so we should take an extra close look at what he did. His build is similar to what you'd see from an NFBC high roller, featuring two high-end catchers, a high-end closer, and a sizable investment in pitching overall. Those positions can be bigger differentiators if you nail them, but since they're harder to nail and I hate being uncompetitive, I tend to eschew them.
There's so much more I could dig into here, but time and attention spans are short. So here's where I share the results and let you draw your own conclusions. Before I do, though, allow me to direct you to the Fantasy Baseball Today YouTube channel, where we livestreamed the whole thing, all four hours and 22 minutes. Plenty of insights to be found there.
(Note: Players listed as RES were selected in the reserve rounds immediately after the salary cap portion of the draft. They make up each team's bench.)
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