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March 9, 2007, 3:15 PM

Cockcroft: LABR Draft Review

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By Tristan H. Cockcroft
ESPN.com
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LABR 2007 Review -- the American League

Those of you who have followed my columns of the past several seasons know all about my affinity for Twins ace -- and fantasy ace -- Johan Santana.

He's a guy whose second half of 2004 I once called the greatest four-month pitching performance I've ever witnessed. From June 9 until that season's end, Santana was 18-2 with a 1.36 ERA, 0.697 WHIP and 204 strikeouts in 22 starts.

He's a guy I once called the "most dominant pitcher of our generation," and that was in May 2005, when at the time he had all of 48 career wins to his credit. I still stand by the statement, too, taking into account my expectations for him the next few years.

He's also a guy for whom I once traded Josh Beckett and Bartolo Colon in a keeper league in May 2005, if only because at the time, overpaying for him was my only chance at getting a deal done. The Beckett/Colon combo beat out Santana alone in wins (25-11) and strikeouts (224-155) from that day forward, but Santana had the edge in both ERA (2.48-3.78) and WHIP (0.967-1.164), and he has been the anchor of my rotation ever since. Meanwhile, Colon was cut by the other owner the following winter, Beckett this past one.

And this past weekend, in the annual League of Alternative Baseball Reality (LABR) expert drafts, I once again tabbed Santana the ace of my staff in the American League

The asking price: $39.

It's probably my most brilliant use of the auction strategy known as "price enforcing." For those unfamiliar, price enforcing is deliberately boosting a player's auction price tag to ensure the eventually winning bidder doesn't land a bargain, or in many cases, get that winning bidder to blow a huge chunk of his/her auction budget.

Of course, price enforcement's a risky strategy, increasing the probability you'll end up saddled with a player you didn't want at a price you didn't plan to pay. It's an angle that has burned me in the past -- I'll never forget my ill-advised $17 bid on Jason Kendall in the 2004 LABR-NL draft -- and, as such, I went into this year's auctions with one plan in mind: With the exception of the "big guns," the $30-plus players, don't price enforce.

And in the first few rounds of the LABR-AL, the bidding on the game's elite was hardly as enthusiastic as I expected. Santana wound up the most expensive player sold, and Carl Crawford ($38), Grady Sizemore ($38), Alex Rodriguez ($36), Vladimir Guerrero ($35), Travis Hafner ($34), Mark Teixeira ($33), Derek Jeter ($32) and Ichiro Suzuki ($30) were the only ones who cost as much as $30. As such, anyone "caught" price enforcing in the early rounds might actually have landed himself a bargain, like in Santana's case.

On my sheets, I actually had Santana down at as much as $44. Considering Pedro Martinez once earned a $50 bid in LABR-AL, back when he was head and shoulders ahead of the rest of the starting-pitching pack, it made sense anyone who wanted Johan should be required to bid at least $40. Among my other oft-used auction strategies is to ensure that, whenever possible, land yourself the "ending-in-nine" bid, i.e. $9, $19, $29, $39. For some reason, I've found in the past that certain owners have a psychological block against going the extra buck, as if a $40 bid is so much more than $39.

Besides Santana, of those $30-plus bids, Teixeira and Jeter were mine, although only Jeter was a result of price enforcement. Even in a down year by his standards in 2006, Teixeira's on-base percentage, extra-base hit rate and contact rate were right in line with his 2005 numbers, and his second-half line -- .291-24-61 -- looks awfully promising. Jeter, meanwhile, earned more than $40 in value for his impressive 2006, and with the Yankees returning largely the same offense, there's no reason he can't come close to those totals.

Jeter leads a formidable duo of Yankee middle infielders; Robinson Cano also came cheap by my standards, at $19, $6 less than Brian Roberts. I can't stress enough the importance of quality middle infielders in an AL-only league, and adding unheralded utilityman Esteban German ($5) to that mix isn't a bad corps at all.

Other strengths: Undervalued power sources like Michael Cuddyer ($21), Craig Monroe ($15), Ramon Hernandez ($14), Marcus Thames ($7) and Wily Mo Pena ($6). Plus, with Jeremy Bonderman ($25) and Ervin Santana ($15) backing up Johan, this squad has a good shot at carrying the wins and strikeouts categories.

Weaknesses: There isn't a pitcher who might even sniff a save on my roster, with only Rafael Betancourt ($3) a decent sleeper in his team's pen. In a way, I wish I had left Bonderman to another owner and spent his $25 on a closer like J.J. Putz or B.J. Ryan, or passed on Ervin Santana and used his $15 on a Todd Jones type. Hey, that's what trades are for, right? Plus, B.J. Upton at $13 was about $4 more than I had planned to spend, but the roster was badly in need of some stolen-base help at that latter stage of the auction.

LABR 2007 Review -- the National League

While no one player went for $40-plus in Saturday's American League auction, four players cracked that barrier in Sunday's National League event: Albert Pujols ($43), Ryan Howard ($40), Jose Reyes ($40) and Alfonso Soriano ($40). In short, people came out to bid on Sunday, making the early rounds a less likely source for potential bargains.

That's simply the name of the game in auction leagues; knowing when and where to pounce for potential bargains. In the NL, more bargains could be found on the pitching side than hitting, allowing me to pick up guys like Brett Myers ($21), Rich Hill ($18) and Freddy Garcia ($15) to lead the way. Jeff Francis at $5 isn't a bad lower-priced sleeper, either.

Again, the old "ending-in-nine" strategy paid off with closer Trevor Hoffman ($19), a player I have ranked second among NL closers but one who went cheaper than Billy Wagner ($24), Brad Lidge ($21), Chad Cordero ($20) and Takashi Saito ($20). How Hoffman continues to be underappreciated in fantasy is beyond me, but he's coming off a 46-save, 2.14-ERA campaign, one of the better seasons in his career. Even at 39, he should be a lock for 40-plus saves, and even if the worst case occurs, I picked up Scott Linebrink ($7) as a handcuff, or perhaps a trade candidate to another team in need of a closer.

The strength of my NL team is in pitching, particularly the bullpen. Beyond Linebrink, closers-in-waiting Rafael Soriano ($7), Dan Wheeler ($7) and Brandon Medders ($1) could be useful trade parts if they emerge in their teams' saves races, and for now, each might make a useful trade chip for the owners looking for handcuffs to their current closers. (Jonah Keri, Brad Lidge's owner, has the very attractive Xavier Nady, while Steve Gardner, Bob Wickman's owner, has an appealing shortstop in J.J. Hardy, a weak spot for me.)

On offense, though, my NL squad's clearly lacking, particularly in batting average. I'll clearly need a few breaks coming from some lower-priced sleepers like James Loney ($9 in a late-round lock-out bid), who could start at first base if you believe the Nomar Garciaparra-to-third base rumors; Jose Bautista ($7), now battling Jose Castillo for the third-base job in Pittsburgh; and Carlos Ruiz ($3), a .303 hitter in Triple-A ball the past two seasons and a strong candidate for a starting role.

Other values: Barry Bonds ($15) went early, while other outfielders I had ranked comparably went for $20 or more. Andruw Jones ($31) was a few dollars below my projections, though I'd have preferred to nab Jason Bay, who went for $30 earlier in the auction. Top reserve pick Mike Stanton might share the closer role in Cincinnati to begin the season, perhaps earning a few bucks on the investment in April alone.

More on price enforcing: Sadly, in the later rounds of the auction, whether you still have a decent share of cash to spend, as I did, it becomes easier for your opponents to price enforce on the players you truly want. Loney, Ruiz, Soriano and Wheeler were four players I wanted, but had to spend $2-3 more than planned due to a lack of reliable fall-backs.

Got a question or comment? Send them right here, and I'll address them in my column every week. Note: Please be sure to include your full name, city and state with your submission to be considered.