BullpenGuru
Week 2 FAAB
We now know that there are going to be 795 teams in this years Main Event on the NFBC, as the last of handful of drafts went off hours before Opening Day last Thursday. Half of the leagues in the contest had a FAAB run, so this will be the first week where we see every league in the contest active in FAAB. Let’s get into it!
LEAGUE ACQUISITION SUMMARY
There was FAAB activity in all 53 Main Event leagues this past Sunday. The league with the most transactions was League 1444 with 35 additions, ($914 total spend, average of $26 per add). The most money spent came from League 1412 with $1,877 spent this week (30 additions, average of $63 per add, also the league with the highest average spent per add this week). The league with the fewest transactions was League 1673 with 14 additions ($481 total spend, average of $34 per add). The least money spent came from League 1578 with $447 spent this week (16 additions, average of $28 per add). The average acquisition was $36, up $16 dollars per add from last week! Here is the summary of activity by league and by week:
PLAYER ACQUISITION SUMMARY
Most Frequently Added
A dozen players were added in 50% or more of Main Event leagues this week. The most frequently added player was Pierce Johnson, who was added in every single league. As somebody who works with Greg Jewett and the rest of the crew over at Reliever Recon, I am all too familiar with how sought out saves are in high stakes leagues, so there is no surprise here that the average bid for Johnson was well north of $100. It will be interesting to see how he performs when the Rockies head home to Coors this week and how long the team will be without Bard. Behind Johnson, Andrew Chafin and Dany Jimenez were the most added relievers for fantasy managers hoping they are going to accumulate saves for their respective teams. Ryan Pepiot’s injury opened the way for Michael Grove to enter the Dodgers’ rotation and gets to do it with a 2-start week potentially this week, making him the second most popular add. Injuries also opened potential playing time for Joey Wiemer, Jhony Brito, and Tylor Megill who were all popular adds this week, interestingly, Tylor’s brother Trevor was added in two leagues as well! Ji Hwan Bae’s homer and two stolen bases on Opening Day and potential 2nd base and outfield eligibility made him the third most popular add, while Trayce Thompson’s 3 homer game on Saturday put him on the radar of managers in 27 different Main Event leagues.
Most FAAB Dollars Spent
Eleven players garnered $1,000 in total Main Event FAAB bids this week, many of whom were already mentioned earlier in the most-added discussion. Will Smith’s save on Sunday Night Baseball likely added him to many managers’ FAAB bid lists at the last minute, the only player that was added in fewer than 50% of leagues, yet garnering over $1,000 in total FAAB dollars, at an average cost of $82 per addition.
Highest Average Cost Acquisitions
Eleven players averaged triple digits this week on a per-addition basis. Nolan Gorman’s 2-homer Sunday likely drove his price up a few extra dollars in the two leagues he was available, while I can attest to the fact that Logan O’Hoppe’s Sunday home run did the same for his price, since I am the one that shelled out $211 for him! The positive news about Liam Hendriks’ recovery made him a popular (and pricey) add in the five remaining Main Event leagues he was available. Two of the most popular adds this week, Tylor Megill and Pierce Johnson, came at a hefty price as there was fierce competition for them in the leagues in which they were available. On a lesser scale, Josh Lowe, Brice Turang, Tanner Houck and Elehuris Montero all were expensive in the handful of leagues they were each available in. Lastly, Brandon Pfaadt was scooped up and stashed in the two Main Event leagues he was available.
ADD OF THE WEEK
The Add of the Week goes to Jordan Rosenblum from League #1614. Jordan was able to acquire Tylor Megill over his competition, optimizing his FAAB bid by outbidding the runner-up in his league by a mere dollar! What a great bid!
For transparency purposes, Jordan also bid the same $178 on Tanner Houck in this league, whom he also won. The back up to the Houck bid was $33, so the $1 bid optimization on Megill was somewhat lost as Jordan spent $145 more than needed in Houck.
DROP SUMMARY
The ten most dropped players this week are listed above. Injuries jettisoned Bart, Urias, Pepiot and Brubaker off most rosters. I am assuming Main Event managers opted to speculate on saves elsewhere than sticking with Miguel Castro and Joe Jimenez on their rosters. Christopher Morel not making the Opening Day roster likely led to him getting dropped in 26 leagues. Lastly, a lack of MLB playing time for Rodolfo Castro and Mike Moustakas made them expendable to nearly half of Main Event managers this week.
UNOPPOSED BIDDING
I really enjoy looking at the players who are unopposed in leagues. I almost think of this list as a “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” type of thing. There are some certainly flawed profiles on this list, but I personally can certainly see a path to fantasy value for almost everyone on this list. I am sure there are some players listed here that we are going to look back in a few weeks and kick ourselves for letting these players go unopposed!
We are now two weeks down in Main Event FAAB as we enter the first full week of the 2023 MLB Regular Season. I will be traveling next week but will do my best to get an article out before I head out of town. Good luck and enjoy the first full week of the season!
