Rounding Third: Week 2 FAAB Results

Each week feels as if it's "FAAB-ageddon" - the massive week of free agent bids featuring the call-up of six big-name prospects last season. The bidding in my leagues was spirited, both in terms of the bid sizes and in the volume of players added (and dropped!). The general feeling of urgency brought on by a short season of course fuels this bidding each week, but it felt particularly acute this week. That was because of all the games canceled by the Marlins and Cardinals COVID-19 outbreaks, the slew of pitcher injuries, and the chaos in the closer roles. I jumped in feet first into the chaos in some of my leagues. Let's take a look at the results.

AL ToutWars:

Each week the ToutWars deadline comes first, and in this case I was a little grateful for the limited free agent pool to choose from, if for no other reason for the amount of time that I could allocate to all my other mixed leagues where the bidding would be hot and heavy. Not that it was dead here, but the impact you can make in an "only" league with IL spots is obviously going to be lower than in other formats. The big buy in this league was Ryan O'Hearn - Doug Dennis from BaseballHQ.com landed him for $271/$1,000, and it's pretty obvious why, as it's hard to find a hitter with regular playing time in this league. With Jose Leclerc out, two Rangers relievers (Nick Goody, Edison Volquez) drew bids, but Jonathan Hernandez was already gone in the first FAAB round on the Sunday before the start of the season.

I ended up with two Mariners, Dylan Moore and Dan Altavilla. Moore has a limited ceiling, but he's started the last three games and five of the last six, frequently moving Mallex Smith to the bench. He also qualifies at second, shortstop and outfield from last year, and could add third base to the list this year. In a league where playing time is scarce, these multi-position players can be really handy, especially if, as is the case with Moore, they can add a few stolen bases. Altavilla was reaffirmed to be part of the Mariners' late-inning bullpen crew and has a nice strikeout upside - I'm hoping to steal a save or two from him, even if he is the second option behind Taylor Williams.

NFBC Main Event I

I won the bidding on three players, including two of the five most expensive free agents in this round, and yet was still disappointed, as I had five sets of bids and got shut out of all of the hitters.

Cristian Javier was the big prize in this and most leagues this week, and while I was in on him too (in fact, I had the second place bid), I'm almost as high on my consolation prize, Randy Dobnak, who has the added benefit of pitching against an easier schedule, starting with the Pirates this week. Ironically I had to spend $171 on Cole Sulser of the Orioles in this league, whereas Tim Schuler and I got him for $1 in our other Main Event entry last week. My closer situation is desperate already - I have Hansel Robles, and you can see my drop of Ian Kennedy. I do have Trevor Gott and Seth Lugo also on my roster, but Gott has four games at Coors Field and three at Dodger Stadium this week, so he'll sit on my bench. I haven't yet decided whether to have Lugo active for the week.

NFBC Main Event II

Having a partner this team has made me be a little more conservative with our bids so far, with mixed results. Last week we only won two $1 players, but one of them was Sulser. We were more aggressive this week, but not as much as the league above. The league was extremely active, however, with 54 players being added.

Another league, another roster with Randy Dobnak on it. And Dominic Smith was our first hitter choice, narrowly over Ben Gamel. Both should play a lot with teammates (Yoenis Cespedes and Lorenzo Cain respectively) opting out. Gamel could be locked in to even more time with Ryan Braun hitting the IL.

RotoWire Online Championship I

Here we start seeing the difference between the 12 and 15-team leagues, and just how many useful options are out there, and how some of the drops might be useful later.

Here I finally won Cristian Javier, and added in David Fletcher, who will slide in for the injured Tim Anderson.

RotoWire Online Championship II

This team needed help and got it, though I did a poor job of optimizing my bids.

Spending so much on Donovan Solano, as much as I like him for this week's four games in Coors Field, was a big mistake. He's not a long-term option. Getting Ryan Pressly for $101 against an $88 second place bid was a lot better, though not without risk - Pressly has already dealt with blisters and a cut on his pitching hand, and Roberto Osuna isn't necessarily done for the season with his arm problems.

FSGA-SXM Experts League

I wasn't much of an expert this one. I assumed that I wouldn't get my top price on three of my top four bids, but you know what they say about assuming. Thus, I've got a minuscule $5 left in FAAB for the season. Trading hat, engaged! That said, I had real vacancies to replace, especially with Roberto Osuna going out. First, here's how I structured my bids:

And here are the full results from the league:

One lesson I neglected is that when there are so many free agents to acquire, you can lower your prices a little bit with the likelihood that if you don't get your top choices, at least some of your contingent bids will come in. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to get Dan Hudson and Anthony Bass, both of whom look like full-term closers, and getting Dobnak again, but I way overshot.

LABR Mixed Draft League

I spent a decent chunk of change in this league too, but I feel (mostly) better about it.

First, my bid structure:

And then the full results:

I'm pleasantly surprised that that Kwang-Hyun Kim went for a lot less than other closers - Anthony Bass, Cole Sulser, Rowan Wick and Jairo Diaz - though more than Trevor Rosenthal, who went for only $10. But I get that Kim is a little riskier both from a job security perspective as well as from a COVID-19 basis. It already looks as if the Cardinals entire four-game series against the Tigers this week will be postponed, and I'll have to have Kim active this week.

The other three bids were pretty optimal - getting Ben Gamel, who is in line for everyday playing time on a 'keep 'em honest' bid made me especially happy.

RotoWire Staff Keeper League

I'm actually the commissioner in this league, so processing the bids in this 18-team league made it especially exhausting. That, and I got beat on almost every claim, losing on a couple on the tiebreaker because I was higher in the standings.

Closers went like wildfire this week, as did putative closers. Check out the combined dollars spent on the Rangers three primary relievers - Jonathan Hernandez, Nick Goody and Edinson Volquez. It's worth noting that Jason & Darin Brown were the Volquez winners, and they're dialed in with the Rangers. I would have ranked him lower on my priority list, but maybe I'm wrong?