BullpenGuru
LEAGUE ACQUISITION SUMMARY
As you can expect, there was FAAB activity in all 53 weeks this week. The spending has not slowed down. This was the second biggest week in terms of money spent, and the third biggest week in terms of total number of adds.
- Most Adds: League 1717 – 44 adds, $1,278 total spent, $29 average per add, $85 average spent per team
- Most Money Spent (Week 6): League 1521 – 25 adds, $1,546 total spent, $62 average per add, $103 average spent per team
- Most Money Spent (Full Year): League 1614 has spent over half of the league’s FAAB allotment, totaling $7,894 FAAB dollars spent. The average remaining budget for teams in this league equal $474.
- Least Adds and Least Money Spent: League 1520 – 23 adds, $832 total spent, $36 average per add, $55 average spent per team – unsurprisingly one of the four leagues that Bibee was not available. For the year, League 1520 has the least money spent with only $3,653, or $238 per team.
PLAYER ACQUISITION SUMMARY
Most Frequently Added
Once again, there were 13 players added in over 50% of leagues. The Cleveland rookies led the way, with Logan Allen being added in all 53 Main Event Leagues and Tanner Bibbee being added in the 49 leagues in which he wasn’t rostered in already. Louie Varland helium rose on Sunday after news regarding Tyler Mahle’s elbow injury came out, coupled with managers worried about being priced out of the Allen and Bibee Sweepstakes. Yennier Cano’s perfect season, coupled with stepping into two saves throughout the week when Felix Bautista was unavailable, put him on the radar of Main Event participants and bumped his ownership percentage up to 85%. Yonny Chirinos appears to be the beneficiary of Taj Bradley’s demotion to AAA while Dane Dunning is presumed to step into the rotation to fill the void from Jacob deGrom’s most recent injury. I think getting these types of pitchers for less than $20 feels like a win considering the prices managers are paying for prospect pitchers without MLB track records. Ezequiel Duran and Zach McKinstry each provide power/speed combinations to go with positional versatility that will look to be useful adds if playing time will be there. The Braves’ 8-game week, 7 of which are against right-handed starters, made Eddie Rosario a logically popular add, while his teammate Orlando Arcia appears set to return this weekend, leading to his addition in 30 leagues. 30 managers chose to ride the Paul DeJong heater, although if you’ve been playing fantasy for a few years, you know he’s good for one of these a year and should revert to the DeJong we know in due time. Kutter Crawford was added in 28 leagues, although he seems to be stuck as a multi-inning reliever limited to mop-up duty for the time being.
Most FAAB Dollars Spent
In previous weeks, I would look at players who fetched more than $1,000 in total FAAB dollars. I’ve now expanded that view to $750 or more, as players are logically going to get cheaper as teams have less money to spend. Many of these guys were already discussed in the frequently added section. The two that weren’t touched on already are Nick Senzel and Bailey Ober. Ober was a very expensive add in the 4 leagues he was available, as the Kenta Maeda and Tyler Mahle injuries opened a relatively safe spot in the Twins’ rotation for Ober for at least the next few months, while Senzel has been hot since coming off the IL and is soon to pick up 3rd base and possibly 2nd base eligibility to go with his outfield designation. If he can stay healthy, he could be a useful addition.
Highest Average Cost Acquisitions
Twenty players averaged triple digits this week. As is usually the case when looking at the highest average bids, it’s the popular prospects that everyone is looking to add (Bibee and Allen), alongside a bunch of regulars that were only available in a handful of leagues. Brandon Woodruff has been available in two Main Event leagues this year, last week and this week. The “positive” news about his shoulder that came out towards the end of last week that he would be out for the next 2 months made his price practically double, as he went for $88 (back-up bid $77) in the league he was available in Week 5, where he went for $155 ($131 backup) this past weekend. It feels like managers are really getting anxious about saves, and that is evident when I see Brad Boxberger and Brusdar Graterol going for over $100 on average. I think Will Smith may be the one of these 3 that may end up justifying the $100+ average price tag. Brandon Drury being available in 2 leagues and going for less on average than teammate Zach Neto is kind of crazy to me.
ADD OF THE WEEK
This week’s Add of the Week comes from Week 1412, where Bob Cramutola placed the perfect bid to secure Tanner Bibee’s services. Bob was last year’s Main Event Overall winner. Some guys have all the luck!
DROP SUMMARY
Eighteen players were dropped in over 20 leagues this week. Injuries and demotions drove most of the cuts. Dean Kremer, Spencer Turnbull, and Colin Rea, while possessing MLB starting rotation spots, appear to be nothing more than streamers. Both David Villar and Oscar Colas have underperformed and thus lost some of those seemingly every day at bats they had early on in April. I think people got a little overzealous with Jeremiah Estrada’s call up and corrected their mistake by putting him back on the wire this week. Until he’s ascending the Cubs’ leverage ladder, I don’t think he has much fantasy value despite the skills he possesses.
UNOPPOSED BIDDING
Unopposed bidding is my favorite phenomenon to look at as I write this article. Zach McKinstry going unopposed in almost half of the leagues he was added in is surprising to me. He had led off 5 straight games going into the FAAB run and has been playing all over the diamond. Given all the middle infield injuries and teams looking to hoard pitching, a guy like McKinstry I thought would be in higher demand. Alex Wood could be a sneaky stash, as it appears he is close to returning for the Giants. On the otherhand, I understand the unopposed bids for Miguel Andujar (good weekend after getting called up for a double header, but does he stick around/play regularly?), Luke Weaver (2 step, I get it, good luck), Paul DeJong (see earlier), and Travis Jankowski (only contribution is speed and only plays against RHP – Texas faces 3 LHP this weekend and only has a 5 game week).
