Todd Whitestone
MLB SEASON COUNTER 94.4%
There are 10 days left in the Major League Baseball regular season; one more FAAB session and three more lineup sets – or one and a half weeks. Through Sunday September 25th, we have hit the 94% mark. Fantasy players entered in the Main Event have now pushed through 26 FAAB runs (of 27) and have just the final FAAB to go – slated for October 2nd.
Bryce The Elder
Named after an ancient medieval king, Bryce also proved to be the most widely added player this past week, as there are fantasy owners were looking for pitching help. Elder is not to be confused with his son, Bryce the Younger, by the way. In any case, Elder was added in 34 leagues, with a high bid of a whopping $28 and a low of $1. In addition, 9 other players were picked up in 15 or more leagues (see chart below) – as fantasy managers prepared for the final push. Other additions included Nate Eaton (for speed); Joey Wentz (has a nice pair of starts coming up); Bryan De La Cruz (who is hitting well); and Braxton Garrett (back from the IL and has a pair of appealing starts left.
The Wow Bid of the Week
The Main Event Wow Bid of the Week – goes to the largest bid of each FAAB period. This week that honor goes to a $58 bid for Aaron Civale, who was added In 8 leagues. In one case, though, an owner won Civale’s services handily – $58 unopposed (the highest bid he attracted in any other Main Event league was won $5).
9/25: Aaron Civale; $58
9/18: Hunter Greene: $111
9/11: Josh Jung: $87
9/4: Gunnar Henderson: $621 – Highest Main Bid This Year
8/28: Jack Flaherty $161
8/21: Dustin May $240
8/14: Vaughn Grissom $331
8/7: David Robertson $108
7/31: Salvador Perez: $277
7/24: Jesus Luzardo $142
7/17: Esteury Ruiz $311
7/10: Jorge Soler $201
7/3: Vinnie Pasquantino $373
6/26: Jake Meyers $315
6/19: Riley Greene $361
6/12: Stephen Strasburg $227
6/5: Edward Cabrera $331
5/29 Ryan Helsley $312
5/22: Nolan Gorman $482 – #5 Wow Bid
5/15: George Kirby $557 – #3 Wow Bid
5/8: Brendan Rodgers $424
5/1: Eloy Jimenez $452
4/24: Jesse Winker $508 – #4 Wow Bid
4/17: Matt Manning $475
4/10: Josh Lowe $613 – #2 Wow Bid
4/3: Matt Brash $244
The Century Club Closed Down Again!
IMAGE – CENTURY CLUB
Even though two weeks ago was the first time this season that there were no bids of $100 or more, last week there WERE two players added for more than $100. This week, though, there were no $100 players, so the club has shut down once more.
Average Main Event Team FAAB Remaining: $60
For the 26 FAAB runs thus far, there have been 33,553 winning bids recorded. That means the average Main Event team has won 47.6 bids this season (dropping down to 1.83 from 1.85 winning bids per team per week) and spent $940.20 per team. This dollar amount is just slightly ahead of last season’s pace (by 0.2%) when $938.53 was spent per team in the same time frame. In addition, approximately $57 per team went unspent last year as fantasy owners fell out of the running, so the active FAAB dollars left per team is more likely around $3 ($60-$57) for the final FAAB runs.
Colosseum Stats: Four Players from Three Weeks Ago…Results: 2 Good Adds out of 4:
Again this season we have been keeping tabs on the 4 most added players from 3 weeks ago to see how some of the biggest free agent acquisitions have been doing for their fantasy owners. These are the players acquired in the most leagues on the 23rd FAAB run this season – on 9/4 (stats are from 9/5 through 9/25):
- Gunnar Henderson: 18-for-68 .265 AVG; 2 HR; 0 SB – Henderson has been solid since his big acquisition in the Main Event. He has hit for a reasonably good average, contributed a couple of homers, and chipped in with 6 runs scored and an impressive 14 RBI. WIN.
- Corbin Carroll: 15-for-53 .283 AVG; 3 HR; 1 SB – As anticipated, Carroll has not played quite a full-time role for Arizona, sitting against at least some LHP. But the average has been strong and the homers are nice. I might have guessed that he would produce more SB, but he did add a few counting stats (4 runs scored and 7 RBI). I’m feeling like he didn’t help quite as much as Henderson, but I still think he is a win as a 15-team addition – WIN.
- Jimmy Herget: 10.0 IP; 1 ER; 0.90 ERA; 0.80 WHIP; 8 K; 2 BB; 0 WINS; 1 SAVE – A tough one – Herget’s numbers have been good but the Angels kept using other pitchers in save situations – despite the help in ERA and WHIP I think this was only a mediocre addition since the saves did not come – PUSH.
- Michael Toglia: 13-for-62 .210 AVG; 1 HR; 1 SB – the Rockies played Toglia most of the time over the past three weeks, but he never had a breakout. He’s not far from Corbin Carroll’s production level except that the batting average was significantly worse and he didn’t provide 3 homers like Carroll did. He did add 7 runs scored and 7 RBI but he had 13 games at Coors Field and didn’t really take advantage. I’m calling this a PUSH.
2022 RECORD:
- 34 thumbs up – 39% (full year 2021 24%)
- 19 side thumbs – 22% (full year 2021 27%)
- 35 thumbs down – 40% (full year 2021 49%)
Main Event owners are finishing strong, and this week’s 2-for-4 effort pushes up the cumulative record of top adds in the Main Event. Through the 26 FAAB periods good pickups stand at 39% compared to the 24% rate from last season, so Main Event owners have been averaging more than one good add per week thus far (34 good adds in 26 FAAB periods). I’m not sure if we should expect the 2022 or 2021 rate going forward, but either way it’s a good performance by the 705 Main Event teams.
Bob Bites Back!
Congratulations to Bob Cramutola for re-taking the Number One overall position after Scott Jenstad led last week! Bob was in first on 7/4, 8/8, 8/15, 8/22, 8/29, 9/4, 9//11 and now 9/25! However, Bob’s lead is just 74 points so this race is not over. Also, Big Bucks Bob is out of FAAB so his team will not benefit from any reinforcements. It’s going to be close!
The rest of the pack is in hot pursuit – Steven Weimer is now 3rd (and 8th!); Ben Tidd is 4th; Robert Catsiroumpas is 5th; Stephen Jupinka jumps up to 6th; Bob Mazur is 7th; Ned Donohue is 9th; and the Operatic Duo of Robert Mirshak and Ian Kahn are in 10th. Interestingly – at least to me – fantasy managers named Bob are in 1st, 5th, 7th and 10th. As a result, I am going by the name Bob Whitestone on my registration for next year’s Main Event.
In addition to that outstanding bit of analysis, I can tell you that I’m very impressed with Scott Fleming – who is both 111th and 16th overall; Matthew Davis, who came from WAY back to sit in 12th overall position; Scot Waggener – who has had a terrific campaign and is 14th; and the famous David Bone/Alex Thistlewood pairing who are solidly in 15th. It’s an outstanding job by all members of the top 20!
Philippe Dussault: 63rd and 73rd
Philippe Dussault has really had an excellent year. He’s now a very impressive 63rd (and 73rd) overall – and deserves praise for his ability to finish very well even if he didn’t draft EVERY BREAKOUT PLAYER like he did in 2021 (not that I’m bitter at all). However, in an effort to be fair, I checked with every other owner in the Main Event and asked them whether I should respectfully report on Phil’s standing as a great fantasy baseball player of should I continue to make fun of Phil? Based on a careful analysis of the responses, here is Phil on his latest night out. You’re welcome.
Final Update on our 2022 Previous Overall Leaders
Tim Lilly (4/11): Tim was moving up; reaching to 393rd three weeks ago – but fell back to 447th then 501st and is now 529th with a week and a half left. I for one am very glad that Tim will be back next season, even though I gave him a hard time about flowers and gardening. I see better finishes on the horizon for him!
Scott Fleming (4/18): As mentioned above, Scott is 11th AND 16th overall – outstanding – and not only is the Scottish Government sponsoring him but he has moved to Scotland so he can serve as honorary chair of Cultural Board. Scott reports that he is fully ready to assume all duties that are needed to secure this role.
Chris Read (4/25-5/8): Chris is up to 69th this week and says he has given up on working at Reader’s Digest. Even though he is disappointed, he has committed himself to a new personal campaign to help kids enjoy reading this winter. Good for you, Chris!
Tyler Jung (5/15): Tyler dropped back a bit to 43rd overall (from 39th), but we can now conclude our story of Tyler’s return from his “Welcome to the Jungle” tour in deepest, darkest Africa. If you recall, he boarded a flight in Maputo in Mozambique; his plane was re-routed to Reykjavic; he says took a ferry to Greenland; and boarded a trawler across the Labrador Sea bound for Goose Bay in Newfoundland. Upon arrival in Goose Bay, he wrangled his way with a local truck driver that was heading south to Montpelier, Vermont, and caught a Greyhound Bus in Montpelier trying to get to Youngstown, Ohio (or as Tyler likes to put it – JUNG stown). He then made his way to Arlington, Texas to see his nephew Josh Jung, who recommended that Tyler visit the Fountain of Youth – this way, as Josh explained, Tyler can be Forever Jung!
Leonard Ringle (5/22-29): Leonard is in 18th place, down slightly from 17th last week (excellent work Leonard!) and is patiently waiting for a response from Greg Ambrosius and Tom Kessenich about whether he should plan a 20 or 30 minute singing interlude between the 10th and 11th round of the Main Event drafts in Las Vegas to sing his jingle from the podium. He also says he is looking forward to mingling with the other Main Event owners.
Mark Bendar (6/6; 6/20; 6/27): Mark dropped from 43rd overall to 44th and says he is practicing soccer so that he doesn’t need to ask David Beckham to appear in his next feature film.
Scott Jenstad (9/18): Scott is in 2nd so we really can’t make fun of him – he’s done a great job podcasting for Rotowire and is a humble and helpful fellow. But we do want to mention that his favorite team is the Oakland Athletics, who shall we say have not had the best year ever…
League of Legends
In addition, we’ll follow the individual league races this season. It is no small feat to win a league championship in the Main Event regardless of a fantasy owner’s overall place, and the top three in each league earn a cash prize and deserve recognition. You can see the 47 leagues listed in the chart below – along with the top three in the standings as of Monday morning.
There are multiple NFBC players who are in the top three places in more than one Main Event league. Extremely impressive!
Shout-outs:
- ONE FIRST; TWO SECOND; ONE THIRD – Brian Slack
- TWO FIRST; ONE SECOND – Ned Donohue
- ONE FIRST; ONE SECOND; ONE THIRD – Scott Waggener; Stephen Jupinka
- ONE SECOND; TWO THIRD – John Pausma
- TWO FIRST – Scott Jenstad, Mark Srebro and Scott Fleming
- ONE FIRST; ONE SECOND – Steven Weimer; Rob Silver; Philippe Dussault
- ONE FIRST; ONE THIRD – Clark Olson; Shawn Childs; Abdulaziz Madani; Eric Heberlig
- TWO SECOND –Robert DiPietro; Toby Guevin; Richard Dimondo
- TWO THIRD: Daniel Prepas
GOOD LUCK OVER LAST 10 DAYS (the MLB regular season ends October 5th)!
