BullpenGuru
LEAGUE ACQUISITION SUMMARY
This was the biggest week of FAAB this season in every regard, we saw the largest number of FAAB moves made this week as well as the most money spent, resulting in the largest average winning bid this year. It has been impressive to see how collectively aggressive the bidding has gotten for these prized prospects across the entire Main Event Contest, with Bryce Miller and Matt Mervis driving the aggressiveness this week.
After this past week, the average team has $533 in FAAB remaining. It’s fascinating looking at the disparities between leagues just 7 weeks into the season. League 1614 leads the way with $9,180 in FAAB dollars spent. Leaving only $388 per team on average. Meanwhile, League 1520 has been the most stringent with their FAAB. Only $4,836 has been spent in that league, leaving teams with $678 on average. That’s almost a $300 difference in average remaining dollars between teams in this league. This is going to have a huge impact the rest of the way on bid prices for players in these two leagues and why I think it’s important to start monitoring how much money is left on the table in your league, especially if you’re a player with multiple Main Event teams. The disparity in spending between leagues will make bids of a similar dollar value matter much more the rest of the way depending on whether or not your league has been aggressive or more conservative.
- Most Adds: League 1276 – 47 adds, $1,564 total spent, $33 average per add, $104 average spent per team
- Most Money Spent (Week 7): League 1489 – 43 adds, $1,837 total spent, $43 average per add, $122 average spent per team
- Most Money Spent (Full Year): League 1614 as mentioned above.
- Least Adds: League 1444 – 27 adds, $1,460 total spent, $54 average per add, $97 average spent per team
- Least Money Spent (Week 7): League 1412 – 35 adds, $948 total spent, $27 average per add, $63 average spent per team. Bryce Miller went for $275, tied for the third lowest price he went for in the contest in League 1412.
- Least Money Spent (Full Year): League 1520 as mentioned above. Bryce Miller also went for $275 in this league.
PLAYER ACQUISITION SUMMARY
Most Frequently Added
Eighteen players were added in over 50% of leagues. Bryce Miller obviously led the way, getting added in all 53 leagues and drawing the most amount of FAAB dollars of any player this season, totaling nearly $19k in FAAB dollars. J.P. France was a popular fallback for anyone looking for starting pitching help, as he and Brandon Bielak (added in 29 leagues for an average cost of $16) appear to be set to enter the Astros rotation after back-to-back days of injuries to Jose Urquidy and Luis Garcia last week. Maikel Garcia was also added in all leagues. He currently is shortstop eligible in the NFBC; however, has been playing 3rd base regularly for the Royals. Steals appear to be his primary roto contribution, which is notable especially once he picks up 3rd base eligibility. JJ Bleday was called up by Oakland and really cut down on the strikeout issues that plagued him as a member of the Marlins last year (28.2% K-rate for Miami in 2022, 12.6% K-rate in AAA for the A’s in 2023 alongside a 16.8% BB%). Tyrone Taylor came off the IL for the Brewers and could provide some power and speed in a thin Milwaukee outfield. Marcell Ozuna is on a heater. Matt Mervis was the other FAAB prize of the week; however, he was already rostered in 9 leagues, thus was only added in 44 this week but at a significant $224 average per add. Peyton Battenfield seems to have secured his spot on the rotation until at least Aaron Civale or Triston McKenzie return, as Zach Plesac was optioned to AAA. Nick Pratto and Gavin Sheets each have 7-game weeks against exclusively right-handed pitchers. Mark Leiter Jr., Zach Jackson, Ian Hamilton and Pierce Johnson were this week’s “Flavor of the Week” adds at closer. Connor Wong and Enmanuel Valdez were popular adds; however, Boston only plays 5 games this week.
Most FAAB Dollars Spent
After looking at players that had $750+ last week to expand the players analyzed, this week I am back to looking at players that only passed the century mark thanks to the heavy spending this week. Many were already discussed in the Frequently Added section, so I will focus on the 3 that weren’t already mentioned. Alex Kirilloff was recalled, and Trevor Larnach was optioned to AAA. The Twins’ corner outfield/infield situation seems really crowded, so I was surprised to see managers willing to spend nearly $70 on average to secure Kirilloff’s services, especially given his injury history. Michael King was a target of mine this week in leagues he was available. I was not close to getting him at the average cost of $127 that he went for. The fact that he has not thrown back-to-back days this year I think is going to limit his ability to compile saves. Aaron Boone mentioned on Monday that there are upwards of 5 guys he would be comfortable using in save situations, so it might be frustrating to see others grab saves on days King is unavailable. Regardless, the ratios King should contribute might be enough to assuage managers who paid up for him this week. Jason Adam went for slightly north of King’s pricetag this week and locked down his 4th save of the season on Monday. The reports about Peter Fairbanks’ forearm have been positive, at least to the media. I am sure owners who paid up for Adam want Fairbanks to take as much time as he needs to get healthy.
Highest Average Cost Acquisitions
Only eight 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 (Miller and Mervis), alongside a bunch of regulars that were only available in a handful of leagues. Eugenio Suarez and Miles Mikolas were added in the one league each they were available. These appear to be “One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure” type of situation. Suarez seems to be a very similar player to the one that hit 31 homers last year, he just needs to lift the ball a little bit more. Mikolas projects to be about a 4 ERA starter with below average strikeouts the rest of the way, but a guy who takes the bump every 5th day on what should be a decent team must be owned. He turned in a 7 strikeout start on Monday the 8th, but only was able to go 4.1 innings. Eqequiel Duran was gobbled up in the 2 leagues he remained available in after being a popular add. He added shortstop eligibility from last week where he was only 3rd base eligible, and is now 3 games from adding outfield eligibility, which is music to his fantasy managers’ ears. Wil Myers was added in 2 leagues as well, he still stinks, and Great American Ballpark can’t even save him.
ADD OF THE WEEK
This week’s Add of the Week comes from Week 1429, where Mark Srebro went thermos nuclear with his bidding in order secure Bryce Miller’s services, outbidding his competition by a mere $3 on a $380 bid. Very impressive!
DROP SUMMARY
There were 21 players dropped in over 20 leagues this week. As is normally the case, injuries and demotions being the main driver for most of the cuts. There are not really any big shockers here to me. Some more difficult decisions can be seen when analyzing the cuts in the 10-20 league range. Players like Brad Boxberger (19 leagues), Craig Kimbrel (17 leagues), David Peterson (15 leagues), Yonny Chirinos (14 leagues), Pavin Smith (14 leagues), Johan Oviedo (12 leagues), Jean Segura (11 leagues), Luke Raley (11 leagues), and Joey Wiemer (11 leagues) were all interesting drops this week.
UNOPPOSED BIDDING
I think the unopposed bid analysis gives insight into the disparity of how players are analyzed. Brandon Bielak and Chase Silseth are great examples. They were unopposed in over half of the leagues they were added in yet elicited double-digit bids on average ($16 for Bielak, $24 for Silseth). Obviously, some managers are excited by these guys’ chances to contribute whereas they are totally overlooked by others. I would like to see how this plays out!
