BullpenGuru
LEAGUE ACQUISITION SUMMARY
The penny-pinching has commenced! After last week’s Elly-induced spending spree, FAAB spending has really pulled back and this past Sunday was the least money spent since the Week 1 partial FAAB run. The big ticket items were Emmet Sheehan and Luis Matos, both of whom were added in all 53 leagues.
We are just about at the half-way mark of MLB regular season and we enter this week with teams on average having $223 in FAAB remaining. The most FAAB spent spent resides in League 1419, which has spent $12,902 FAAB dollars, or about 86% of total FAAB, leaving each team in that league with $140 remaining on average. Conversely, the least amount of money spent resides in League 1673. This league has spent $9,512 in total FAAB dollars, leaving each team in that league with $366 remaining on average.
PLAYER ACQUISITION SUMMARY
Most Frequently Added
Only seven players were added in over 50% of Main Event leagues. Emmet Sheehan and Luis Matos lead the way, being added in each league in the Main Event. Sheehan is very interesting to me. He went as high as $178 and as low as only $12! Based on how bids for other rookie pitchers have gone this year and how Sheehan excelled in Double-A, I figured for sure we were looking at another $150+ average winning bid pitcher. He checks all the boxes, 6’5 stud pitcher, shot up prospect rankings, plays for the Dodgers, seemingly has the fifth starter role to call his own, oh and he threw SIX NO-HIT INNINGS in his debut. I realize he didn’t get the swing-and-miss we would have preferred in his first start, but it was just one start. I figured there would be at least one person from each league that had the funds and was tantalized enough by Sheehan’s Double-A numbers and no-hit debut to go aggressively after him. I guess time will tell if we as a fantasy community were right to be somewhat tepid on his value the remainder of the season!
Matos is intriguing as well. He was once considered to be a top prospect that hadn’t displayed the power potential that scouts thought he could develop; however, he is still just 21 and did manage 10 homers in just 55 games across Double-A and Triple-A this year. He is still yet to strike out in a Major League plate appearance, is drawing walks, and playing in Center seemingly every day for the Giants. My only hesitation with him was if the Giants would platoon him, but it seems like he might just carve out an everyday role for himself. Samad Taylor is another interesting prospect call-up with the Royals. He has been a beast on the bases, 23 steals in 70 games at Triple-A last year for the Blue Jays and 34 steals in 62 games in Triple-A this year with the Royals. He can play 2nd and outfield which is promising for fantasy managers given how crowded the corner outfield is in Kansas City. The question I have is whether or not his bat can handle MLB pitching and if he can carve out a regular role in Kansas City given the competition (Isbel, Olivares, Melendez, Massey, and Lopez).
Jordan Hicks and Jason Foley were the guys to speculate on this week if hunting for saves. Hicks appears to be “the guy” while Ryan Helsely is out, garnering back-to-back saves on Saturday and Sunday before converting one more on Monday to the delight of his new fantasy managers. There has been no concrete timetable on Helsely’s return, but I think it’s safe to assume Hicks will be heavily involved in closing out games until Helsely returns. Foley grabbed the 2-inning save on Sunday after another Alex Lange meltdown. Lange has seemingly reverted to the pitcher he was in 2022, as his strikeout rate has nearly cut in half from where it was in April and May down to 17.6% in June. He’s rocking a 15.00 June ERA and has given up runs in 4 of his 8 June appearances. Of course, on Monday Lange threw a perfect inning to get the save while Foley was unavailable after his 2-innings on Sunday, which could complicate Foley’s path to saves going forward. Isn’t chasing saves the best?!
Wade Miley and Paul Blackburn were the other two popular starting pitcher adds this week after Sheehan. Quite a big difference in profiles between the exciting potential Sheehan has and the boringness of Blackburn and Miley’s, but sometimes boring can be beautiful!
Most FAAB Dollars Spent
Bo Naylor and Alex Wood are the only two players that had $500+ in total FAAB dollars spent this weekend that were not already covered in the Most Frequently Added section. Naylor was gobbled up in the 21 leagues he wasn’t already rostered in after Cleveland DFA’d Mike Zunino. Cleveland needs all the offense they can get and it seems they’re willing to sacrifice the defense Zunino was providing for some offense, as he was doing nothing but striking out regularly at the plate.
Wood returned to the Giants’ rotation last weekend and got a win for the soaring Giants and was added in all 15 leagues that he was available. A $35 average price for Wood feels fair to me.
Highest Average Cost Acquisitions
As is the case when looking at the adds with the highest average price, it is a mix of exciting rookies (Sheehan, Matos, Naylor) and players that are only available in a handful of leagues and thus are highly sought after in the leagues in which they become available.
ADD OF THE WEEK
This week’s Add of the Week are the three teams that were able to secure Emmet Sheehan’s services with optimal bids, matching their backup bid dollar-for-dollar, especially at some of the cheapest prices he’s gone for. Well done to the Whitestone/Anderson tag team from League 1429, my buddy Ricky Zito in League 1567 and Mark Evans from League 1717, who was able to get Sheehan at the lowest bid of the week at just $12!
DROP SUMMARY
Only 10 players were dropped in over 20 leagues this week. As per usual, demotions (Grove, Mervis), injuries (Haniger, Pasquantino, Segura, Moncada, Urshela, Clevinger), and underperformance (Bielak, Greinke) were the overriding themes behind this weeks popular drops. Interesting drops in fewer than 20 leagues included Connor Wong (10 leagues), Colin Rea (10 leagues), Pavin Smith (9 leagues), Jarren Duran (9 leagues), Matthew Liberatore (9 leagues), Justin Lawrence (7 leagues), Tyler O’Neill (6 leagues), Triston McKenzie (5 leagues), Hunter Harvey (5 leagues), Sean Manaea (5 leagues), CJ Abrams (3 leagues), Will Brennan (3 leagues), Nick Senzel (3 leagues), Ryan Helsley (3 leagues), Liam Hendriks (2 leagues), Kyle Gibson (2 leagues), Trevor Rogers (2 leagues), Seth Lugo (1 league), Jose Alvarado (1 league), Kenta Maeda (1 league), and Jeff McNeil (1 league).
UNOPPOSED BIDDING
Ryan O’Hearn and Mike Tauchman are on heaters. Hopefully those that invest in Daniel Hudson this week are rewarded with somebody who gets the Dodgers’ primary save share (I say this only because I am one of those folks). Tylor Megill is terrible and rightfully did not have a backup bid in 11 of the leagues he was added for an average of $3 this week.
