BullpenGuru
Another week, another big prospect pitcher commanding $200+ dollars on average in FAAB. After last week’s mini-FAAB-a-palooza on three prospects: Taj Bradley, Zach Neto, and Eduoard Julien, this week’s FAAB run only had one headliner, and that was Oakland A’s pitching prospect Mason Miller. Miller was added in all 53 Main Event leagues, averaging $208 per winning bid, for a total spent of nearly $11,000 in FAAB dollars throughout the contest. The early results on last week’s big targets are mixed, as Bradley pitched great in Cincinnati, Neto is yet to make a significant impact, and Julien was demoted to AAA over the weekend.
After substantial spending in the last 2 weeks, we saw a bit of a pullback in terms of spending this week. The average winning bid was $31, and the average spent per team this week was $68, which is down from Week 4 spending and in-line with how much was spent during Week 3 of FAAB. The average team has spent $296 in FAAB thus far in the year, so if you have $700 or more you should consider yourself in pretty good shape.
LEAGUE ACQUISITION SUMMARY
As you can expect, there was FAAB activity in all 53 weeks this week. Going forward, I will be including a total spent per league.
- Most Adds: League 1276 – 42 adds, $985 total spent, $23 average per add, $66 average spent per team
- Most Money Spent: League 1614 – 32 adds, $1,760 total spent, $55 average per add, $117 average spent per team
- Least Adds and Least Money Spent: League 1673 – 21 adds, $611 total spent, $29 average per add, $41 average spent per team. Interestingly, only 10 of the 15 teams in this league made roster moves in FAAB this week.
PLAYER ACQUISITION SUMMARY
Most Frequently Added
There was a baker’s dozen of players added in 50% or more of Main Event leagues this week. As mentioned earlier, Miller led the way in terms of total spent, but Jarren Duran and Joey Lucchesi were both added in all 53 leagues, as they were both called up for their respective teams due to injury and in the FAAB pool for the first time this year. Jack Suwinski was added in the remaining 42 leagues he was available in after swatting 4 homers this week. Despite a lack of everyday playing time, Taylor Walls was also added in 42 leagues, likely a result of his strong performance when playing as well as his positional flexibility. After that, it appears teams were really interested in speculating on saves, as Brusdar Graterol, Jeremiah Estrada, Bryan Abreu and Jeurys Familia were all added in a majority of Main Event leagues this week. It will be interesting to see if any can wrangle a full-time or primary share of saves for their respective teams, as it appears many fantasy managers are starting to feel anxious with the lack of available saves on waivers (me included).
Most FAAB Dollars Spent
Eight players fetched over $1,000 in total Main Event FAAB bids this week, many of whom were already mentioned earlier in the most-added discussion. The exception is Oswald Peraza, who was recalled by the Yankees because of Josh Donaldson’s latest injury. He was added in every Main Event League he was available this week; however, he was also dropped in one league. It will be interesting to see if Peraza will play enough 3rd base to get corner infield eligibility to add to his shortstop position in the NFBC.
Highest Average Cost Acquisitions
Fifteen players averaged triple digits this week. This list is comprised of Mason Miller and a bunch of guys that were only available in a handful of leagues, and thus managers had to bid aggressively to get them on their rosters. There are definitely some intriguing names here so the aggressive bids check out to me!
ADD OF THE WEEK
This week’s Add of the Week comes from Week 1419, where Chris Fessler was able to secure Mason Miller’s services for $179, only $3 more than the runner-up in his league. When you’re dropping that kind of coin on FAAB-bid, it’s always a good feeling when you do it by just enough over your competition!
DROP SUMMARY
Only 8 players were dropped in more than 50% of leagues this week, most of those were due to injury or demotion so I expanded my filter a bit to look at players dropped in 20 or more leagues this week just to see who else was dropped. I was surprised to see Vierling being dropped so widely because he has been playing most games and has tools that many were excited about when adding him a few weeks ago. Michael Fulmer caught my eye as well. It feels like he may have been a “spite drop” by a few scorned managers this week, when in reality I am not sure anybody in that Cubs’ bullpen is running with the role, as Boxberger also had a rough outing over the weekend. Some other drops that caught my eye included Rafael Montero (17 leagues), Nick Martinez (17 leagues), Michael Massey (14 leagues), Will Brennan (13 leagues), Jorge Lopez (10 leagues), Drey Jameson (7 leagues), Oscar Colas (7 leagues), Chas McCormick (7 leagues), Nick Senzel (7 leagues), David Peterson (7 leagues), Manuel Margot (7 leagues), Will Smith (6 leagues), Oscar Gonzales (6 leagues), Nick PIvetta (5 leagues), Bryan Abreu (3 leagues), Jake Burger (3 leagues), Bailey Falter (2 leagues), Brayan Bello (2 leagues), Wade Miley (2 leagues), Jose Quijada (2 leagues), and Brady Singer (2 leagues).
UNOPPOSED BIDDING
Another list of interesting players that were the most popular unopposed adds this week. With Jeremiah Estrada being the most uncontested add this week, it makes me wonder if that somehow aligns with scorned Michael Fulmer owners that dropped him? I’m sure Rob and I will talk about a few of these guys on the pod, so tune in tomorrow when we finally get back to recording after some conflicting schedules the last two weeks!
