Tout Wars - It's Good to Be the Champ
2025 Tout Wars Mixed League Auction Recap
On Saturday, March 15th I traveled to midtown Manhattan to take part in the Tout Wars Mixed League Auction for the 15th time. The league consists of 15 teams, each having 14 hitter spots and 9 pitcher spots, and uses a 5x5 format, with On-Base Percentage substituting for Batting Average in the usual array of categories.
After several previous narrow defeats, last season was the first time I came out on top in this hypercompetitive league. However, as was appropriate for an event held on the Ides of March, it was obvious the competition was there to bury me, not to praise me.
I had decided ahead of time to stick as closely as I could to an allocation of $180 for hitters and $80 for pitchers. Further, I had developed three potential pitching budgets: all three allocated $35 for the purchase of three closers, and $45 for the purchase of six starting pitchers. option 1 featured $25 for a high-end ace and $4 for each of the other five; option 2 featured $20 for an ace and $5 for each of the other five; option 3 featured $15 and $10 slots for my first two pitchers and $5 each for the other four.
In most auctions I’ve participated in previously, the first handful of players nominated are hitters, with the idea of getting as much money off the table as quickly as possible. However, since I needed to pick a direction for my pitching budget, I led off with Paul Skenes. He and Tarik Skubal were the only starting pitchers I was willing to pay $25 for, but based on the history of bidding in this league, I was pretty sure both would go for well north of $30, and that indeed proved to be the case (Skenes: $37; Skubal: $39). When several other starting pitchers I’d valued at $15-$20 all went for prices in the mid to low $20s, it became clear that I was going to be working with starting pitcher budget option 3.
Some brief thoughts on the roster I ended the auction with (you can see the full results here):
C Ivan Herrera ($9) and C Austin Wells ($11) - I overpaid a bit here and wound up with buyer’s remorse when Logan O’Hoppe ($9) and Shea Langeliers ($11), both of whom I’d valued more highly than my duo, subsequently went for comparable bids. Still, I thought the catcher pickings were pretty slim after my duo, and I had vowed to avoid getting into bidding wars on low-end catchers.
1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ($35) - during last year’s auction I spent $25+ on three Hitters, two of whom were decent sources of stolen bases (Corbin Carroll and Jose Altuve). While I had hoped to employ a similar approach this year, and with OF Yordan Alvarez ($40) already on my roster, when the bidding for Vlad Jr. stopped a couple of dollars shy of my valuation for him, I felt good about this purchase. If he has a walk year anywhere near as good as Juan Soto’s effort last year, I’ll feel even better about this purchase.
2B Gleyber Torres ($4) - time will tell whether I’ve bought a rebound here or a falling knife. Still, timing is everything during an auction, and Torres wasn’t nominated until fairly late in the proceedings, when most managers were down to bidding $2 per player. Hopefully, that will work to my advantage.
SS Willy Adames ($17) - a holdover from last year’s team, I paid $10 twelve months ago for what will likely go down as his career season, unsurprisingly in a walk year. Now in a less favorable home park and with a big dollar, long term contract in tow, he’s unlikely to run as much as he did last season. Hopefully, the power doesn’t fall off too much.
3B Ryan McMahon ($4) - another player who wasn’t nominated until late in the auction. I certainly wasn’t targeting him, but when you wait too long at a relatively thin position, you make do with what you can get.
OF Yordan Alvarez ($40) - he was a cornerstone of my team’s offense last year too, and I got him for $5 less this year. I realize the Astros’ offense probably won’t be as good sans Kyle Tucker (or even a half season of Kyle Tucker), and Alvarez always seems to be dealing with some injury or another. The hope is that his injury propensity will decrease somewhat if he’s limited to DHing - we’ll see how that works out.
OF Anthony Santander ($17) - I’m usually leery of players in their first year in a new situation unless the new situation represents a clear upgrade. Moving from Baltimore to Toronto does not seem like an upgrade, much less an obvious one. Still, I needed another power source, and his price seemed reasonable. I guess I’ll be rooting for Toronto’s offense to be a top performer this season.
OF Taylor Ward ($8) - certainly not the most exciting player, but another decent power source, albeit in a lineup that doesn’t figure to be among the league leaders in offense.
OF Colton Cowser ($9) - another bat with power that offers non-zero speed in what figures to be one of the league’s better offenses. Sign me up!
OF Cedric Mullins ($7) - apparently I was hellbent on cornering the market on Orioles’ outfielders. A downstream consequence of not getting any speed with my big ticket purchases.
CI Josh Bell ($4) - he’s fine as end-game filler, but certainly not someone I was hell-bent on rostering.
MI Xavier Edwards ($13) - the downside to making two speed-challenged hitters the cornerstones of your offense is that you end up chasing stolen bases for the remainder of the auction (unless you intend to punt the category, which I didn’t). Edwards will contribute next to nothing power-wise, so here’s hoping that his results in the other three categories are well above average.
UT Matt Wallner ($7) - the 27-year-old’s career high for plate appearances is 261, set last season. Assuming health, he should easily exceed that total this year, but if he remains stuck in a platoon, this purchase may not age well.
SP Bryan Woo ($13) - as mentioned above, the starting pitching budget I decided on included $15 and $10 slots. Woo fit neatly into the first slot, but I’m definitely concerned about Woo’s innings, given his injury history. However, for the innings he does manage to pitch he should provide a low WHIP, which is the main thing I look for in a fantasy “ace”.
SP Shane McClanahan ($12) - another potential high-level “ace” with significant injury concerns. I felt good about getting him at this price, but fast-forward a week, and he’s dealing with a triceps injury of unknown severity. I’m resigned to either a lengthy absence or a hefty FAAB reclamation.
SP Reynaldo Lopez ($5) - Michael King wasn’t the only former relief pitcher who made a successful transition to the starting rotation last season. I understand the skepticism about Lopez’ 2024 results, but even if we assume significantly higher ERA and WHIP for 2025, he should be a good value at this price.
SP Ryan Pepiot ($5) - this is a vote of confidence in the Rays’ pitching coach and analytics team’s ability to help him take another step forward this season. The new home park is a concern, but I don’t want to overthink things.
SP Drew Rasmussen ($4) - the final piece in my unintentional efforts to corner the market on Rays starting pitchers. Another pitcher with a lengthy injury history - the only silver lining to a potential Shane McClanahan absence is that Rasmussen should find his spot in the starting rotation solidified.
SP Shohei Ohtani ($2) - a la Severance, in Tout Wars Shohei Ohtani the Hitter and Shohei Ohtani the Pitcher are two separate people. Predictably, Shohei Ohtani the Hitter went for $51, which was the third highest amount paid for a hitter (Judge: $56; Soto: $53). Even if he doesn’t pitch the first couple months of the season, I think this is a good price for someone who’s at least a Top 15-20 starting pitcher if he’s fully healthy.
RP Mason Miller ($18) - prior to last season I had always tried to avoid high-priced closers. I was very fortunate to get a career year from Emmanuel Clase, and his performance helped convince me of the value of the low ERA and WHIP that a top-flight closer can provide. Miller is another pitcher with obvious injury risk, but with his high K/9, he’s the rare closer capable of making meaningful contributions in four of the five pitching categories.
RP Jeff Hoffman ($12) - yet another injury risk, he’s a new closer on a new team who’s never saved more than the ten games he racked up last season with the Phillies. Still, there are always a handful of new closer who succeed each season, and I feel good about his chances to be one of them (provided he stays healthy).
RP A.J. Puk ($4) - he may be another new closer, although it certainly appears he’ll be in a committee at least to start the season. Even if he isn’t the full-time closer, he’s still someone I’m happy to start in weeks when I don’t find enough matchups I like for my starting pitchers.
SP Ranger Suarez (Reserve Round 1) - I was a little surprised he was still available after the auction - perhaps it was the way he fell off during the second half of last season and/or his back injury (which may be a recurring problem). Since I needed at least a serviceable short-term fill-in for Shohei Ohtani the Pitcher, I was happy to roster him at this point in the proceedings.
3B Brett Baty (Reserve Round 2) - he’s a post-hype prospect who looks to be the Mets’ starting second baseman while Jeff McNeil is out. Second base and third base are two of the weaker spots in my hitting lineup, so I’m hoping Baty makes something of his latest opportunity to shine.
SP Eury Perez (Reserve Round 3) - he’s projected to be out until at least the All-Star break, but the chance to add a starting pitcher with such a high ceiling was too tempting to pass up.
SP Tony Gonsolin (Reserve Round 4) - another pitcher starting the season with a bad back (and, more importantly, a history of arm trouble). Given the level of injury risk among Dodgers’ starting pitchers and their stated intention to use a six-man rotation, Gonsolin has the potential to carve out a significant role for himself this season.
SP Luis Garcia (Reserve Round 5) - another round, another starting pitcher with a history of arm problems who’ll miss a significant chunk of the season. After the auction it was revealed that he’ll likely miss even more time than previously thought. I’m not expecting this pick to pan out, but thought it was worth the dart throw in the unlikely event it does.
SS Jordan Lawlar (Reserve Round 6) - another post-hype prospect, albeit one who will begin the season in the minors. I probably won’t be able to roster him until he gets called up, given my obvious need for healthy starting pitchers.
Overall outlook: this team probably has too much injury risk, especially on the pitching side, to be a legitimate contender for another Tout Wars title. It’s unusual to have a roster stay as healthy as mine did last season, and in hindsight, that one had a lot less injury risk than this one does. Still, it will be fun to play out the season and see what happens.
Thanks to the Tout Wars Executive Board (Ron Shandler, Todd Zola, Peter Kreutzer, Jeff Erickson, Brian Walton, Justin Mason, and Nick Pollack) for staging such a wonderful event, and to Rotowire for livestreaming the auction on YouTube!