Welcome to this week’s LABR FAAB report.
The American League only and National League only formats are 12-team contests using standard 5×5 scoring rules. There’s an old-school flavor as players purchased in the auction cannot be freely bounced from the active to reserve roster. A player purchased in the auction can be placed on the disabled list if he’s on the MLB DL. However, he can’t be reserved then replaced by a player won with FAAB; he must be released. A auction-purchased player may also moved to reserves if subsequently sent down to the minors.
The 15-team Mixed LABR league allows free movement between active and six-man reserve.
In all three leagues, a player acquired via FAAB must be immediately inserted into the team’s active lineup. Each LABR squad starts with 100 FAAB units, with a minimum bid of $1. Owners can ask for a FAAB rebate upon releasing a player on the DL.
Each week’s report will display the winning bids along with listing all contingency and failed bids so you get a feel for the level of interest in each player. After the tables showing the successful and unsuccessful bids, Lawr Michaels, Brian Walton and yours truly will offer commentary for our respective leagues. I’ll share additional thoughts for each league. The heading for each league doubles as a publicly accessible link so you can check the standings, roster and complete list of transactions.
SUCCESSFUL BIDS
| PLAYER | WINNING BID | |||
| Ronny Rodriguez, DET | Creative Sports 6 | |||
| Dylan Covey, CWS | Roto Lady 6 | |||
| Jose Briceno, LAA | Roto Lady 3 | |||
| Michael Hermosillo, LAA | Fangraphs 2 | Creative Sports 1 | ||
| Jonny Venters, TB | Roto Lady 1 | Fangraphs 1 | ||
| Austin Pruitt, TB | ESPN.com 1 | Colton & The Wolfman 1 | ||
| Tim Hill, KC | Colton & The Wolfman 1 | |||
| Scott Barlow, KC | Fangraphs 1 |
UNAWARDED BIDS
| PLAYER | ||||
| Sam Travis, BOS | Baseball Prospectus 2 | |||
| David Hess, BAL | ESPN.com 1 | Baseball Prospectus 1 | ||
| Ryan LaMarre, MIN | Fangraphs 1 | Creative Sports 1 | ||
| Trayce Thompson, CWS | Fangraphs 1 | |||
| Victor Reyes, DET | Fangraphs 1 | |||
| Brad Keller, KC | ESPN.com 1 | |||
| Heath Hembree, BOS | ESPN.com 1 | |||
| James Pazos, SEA | ESPN.com 1 | |||
| Jim Johnson, LAA | ESPN.com 1 | |||
| Kevin McCarthy, KC | ESPN.com 1 | |||
| Lou Trivino, OAK | ESPN.com 1 | |||
| Louis Coleman, DET | ESPN.com 1 | |||
| Ryan Goins, KC | Creative Sports 1 | |||
| Burch Smith, KC | Colton & The Wolfman 1 | |||
| Kaleb Cowart, LAA | Baseball Prospectus 1 |
Lawr Michaels’ Commentary
All-in-all it was a quiet week on the AL LABR Front, with just seven new acquisitions among just five of the 12 league owners.
Clearly, as we move towards the break, and trade deadline, teams are largely laying back, either protecting the FAAB moolah still in the bank–seven teams still have more than $50–with me being the big spender this week dropping $6 on the maybe Tigers second baseman, Ronny Rodriguez, hoping for some hits and more important speed to help keep me not just out of last place, but moving up as far as I can. And, well, again the DL bites me with Dustin Pedroia moving back to the injury list along with Tyler Saladino, whom I grabbed and froze prior to his swap to the Brewers. So, middle infield help is what is needed irrespective.
Rotolady Andrea Lamont made a couple of more buys, grabbing Jose Briceno ($3) and Johnny Venters ($1). Fangraphs Eno Sarris also made a pair of pick-ups, nabbing Angels outfielder Michael Hermosillo ($2) who should get some playing time with Kole Calhoun injured, along with Scott Barlow for a buck.
Tristan Cockcroft dropped a buck on Austin Pruitt, while Aussie Tim Hill became the chattel of Rick Wolf and Glenn Colton.
Like I noted: the week was largely comprised of teams trying to keep holes plugged and marking time in anticipation of healthy bodies for already rostered players, or new blood from the minors or National League.
Todd’s Take
I really don’t know what to make of Dylan Covey. His career numbers are unimpressive. However, he’s added a couple of ticks to his fastball, resulting in more punchies. He’s an extreme ground ball pitcher, which isn’t always a good thing, but in Guaranteed Rate Park, it plays. The issue is walks. It’s tough to keep an open mind on a guy with a career 6.90 ERA. However, wearing myopic glasses often blinds one to break outs. Stranger things have happened – I wouldn’t take chance with a decently performing staff, but if you need to find a diamond in the rough, Covey profiles as one-skill away, that being improved control.
SUCCESSFUL BIDS
| PLAYER | WINNING BID | |||
| Mike Montgomery, CHC | Rotowire 11 | NFBC 3 | Baseball HQ 1 | USA TODAY Sports 1 |
| Dylan Cozens, PHI | Rotowire 6 | CreativeSports 1 | ||
| Jason Vargas, NYM | Rotowire 4 | Baseball HQ 1 | ||
| Dereck Rodriguez, SF | CreativeSports 3 | Colton & The Wolfman 1 | ||
| Dennis Santana, LAD | Colton & The Wolfman 2 | |||
| Sam Dyson, SF | NFBC 1 | Baseball HQ 1 | ||
| Elieser Hernandez, MIA | Baseball HQ 1 |
UNAWARDED BIDS
| PLAYER | ||||
| Kyle Crick, PIT | Rotowire 3 | CreativeSports 1 | ||
| Charlie Culberson, ATL | Rotowire 3 | |||
| Derek Holland, SF | Rotowire 2 | |||
| Michael Lorenzen, CIN | Rotowire 1 | |||
| Yimi Garcia, LAD | NFBC 1 | |||
| Matt Szczur, SD | Rotowire 1 | |||
| Dan Winkler, ATL | Baseball HQ 1 |
Brian Walton’s Commentary
It was a fairly quiet week in NL LABR – for 11 of the 12 owners, at least. Then, there was Jeff Erickson of RotoWire. Jeff dropped a total of $21 of his remaining $76 on three players. The trio were the week’s highest priced free agent acquisitions across the league.
Mike Montgomery, $11, returned to the Cubs’ rotation to cover for Yu Darvish. While the latter is not expected to be out long, perhaps the aggressive bid represents a view that the left-hander could remain among the starting five even after Darvish’s return.
A player I also wanted, Philadelphia’s Dylan Cozens, went to Erickson for $6. The prospect outfielder only has a short time to impress until Rhys Hoskins comes off the disabled list and there is already a wealth of candidates competing for at-bats, leaving a cloudy long-term outlook.
Jason Vargas is back where he career began 11 years ago – with the New York Mets. Well, that isn’t totally accurate, since his former home Shea Stadium has since been torn down. Through six starts in 2018, Vargas’ 8.58 ERA induced a winning $4 offer. In fairness, the lefty threw five scoreless innings in two of his last three starts – but in the other was bombed for five runs in just three frames. It is worth remembering that LABR rules do not allow pitcher streaming, so this appears to be a bold move by Jeff.
Todd’s Take
Whenever I see someone dominate the bidding like Jeff this week, I like to take a look at the team to see why the moves were made. Clicking on the league heading below the photo takes you there. Sure enough, Jeff’s top three pitchers — Robbie Ray, Rich Hill and Kenta Maeda — are all on the DL, costing Jeff points in wins and whiffs. Sometimes you need to take a chance then see what happens.
SUCCESSFUL BIDS
| PLAYER | WINNING BID | |||
| John Ryan Murphy, ARI | Scout Fantasy 9 | Fangraphs – Sleeper & Bust 3 | Prospect 361 3 | Baseball Prospectus 1 |
| Dexter Fowler, STL | Rotowire 7 | Fangraphs 4 | ESPN.com 1 | Yahoo Sports 1 |
| Justin Anderson, LAA | Scout Fantasy 6 | |||
| Harrison Bader, STL | Fangraphs – Sleeper & Bust 5 | Yahoo Sports 2 | @TheFantasyFix 2 | Yahoo Sports 1 |
| Scout Fantasy 1 | ||||
| Clay Buchholz, ARI | Yahoo Sports 3 | Baseball Prospectus 2 | USA TODAY Sports 1 | RotoExperts/ FNTSY 1 |
| Kyle Crick, PIT | Mastersball 3 | |||
| Chris Stratton, SF | Baseball Prospectus 2 | Mastersball 3 | USA TODAY Sports 2 | |
| Daniel Palka, CWS | Yahoo Sports 2 | Scout Fantasy 2 | RotoExperts/ FNTSY 1 | |
| Frankie Montas, OAK | Fred Zinkie 2 | USA TODAY Sports 2 | Razzball (Rudy Gamble) 1 | Rotowire 1 |
| @TheFantasyFix 1 | ||||
| Greg Allen, CLE | Scout Fantasy 2 | Yahoo Sports 2 | ||
| Mike Montgomery, CHC | Baseball HQ 2 | @TheFantasyFix 1 | Rotowire 1 | |
| Mark Reynolds, WSH | @TheFantasyFix 2 | Fred Zinkie 1 | ||
| Seth Lugo, NYM | Razzball (Rudy Gamble) 1 | |||
| Jose Urena, MIA | RotoExperts/ FNTSY 1 | Fred Zinkie 2 | @TheFantasyFix 1 | Rotowire 1 |
| James Shields, CWS | RotoExperts/ FNTSY 1 | Fred Zinkie 1 | ||
| Johnny Field, TB | Yahoo Sports 1 | |||
| Nick Hundley, SF | Prospect 361 1 | |||
| Derek Dietrich, MIA | Fred Zinkie 1 | Yahoo Sports 2 | Scout Fantasy 1 |
UNAWARDED BIDS
| PLAYER | ||||
| Joe Jimenez, DET | Scout Fantasy 3 | Baseball Prospectus 1 | ||
| Neil Walker, NYY | @TheFantasyFix 2 | Fred Zinkie 1 | ||
| Drew Steckenrider, MIA | Scout Fantasy 2 | |||
| Yairo Munoz, STL | Rotowire 1 | @TheFantasyFix 1 | ||
| Tony Kemp, HOU | Scout Fantasy 1 | Rotowire 1 | ||
| Danny Valencia, BAL | Yahoo Sports 1 | |||
| Jason Hammel, KC | Yahoo Sports 1 | |||
| Juan Nicasio, SEA | Yahoo Sports 1 | |||
| Justin Miller, WSH | Yahoo Sports 1 | |||
| Tony Cingrani, LAD | Yahoo Sports 1 | |||
| Tyler Glasnow, PIT | Yahoo Sports 1 | |||
| Adam Engel, CWS | Scout Fantasy 1 | |||
| Charlie Tilson, CWS | Scout Fantasy 1 | |||
| Gorkys Hernandez, SF | Rotowire 1 | |||
| Austin Romine, NYY | Prospect 361 1 | |||
| Elias Diaz, PIT | Prospect 361 1 | |||
| Hunter Dozier, KC | Fred Zinkie 1 | |||
| Tyler Chatwood, CHC | Baseball Prospectus 1 |
Todd Zola’s Commentary
Mixed Tout was rather busy, with several teams filling holes. In fact, 12 of the 15 teams added at least one player this week.
JR Murphy has taken over the primary catcher role with the D-backs, though he’s splitting time with two others, Alex Avila and Jeff Mathis so he’s not playing as much as other number one backstops, but it’s enough to be relevant in mixed leagues. Dr. Roto hopes Murphy picks up even more time behind the dish, dropping 9 units on the receiver.
One of the challenges of leagues of this size is knowing when to ride out a slump and when to cut bait. Dexter Fowler was dropped in many league and is now being picked up again. Derek VanRiper and his $7 bid hope Fowler has turned things around.
It’s always fun looking at the starting pitching hierarchy. More trusted Clay Buchholz than Chris Stratton, Frankie Montas or Mike Montgomery. I don’t know, I may have listed Stratton first, but I get it. Robbie Ray and Shelby Miller should be back this month (Miller first) likely pushing Matt Koch and Buccholz out of the rotation. Stratton at least controls his own destiny.
Todd’s Take
Having spent too much on Tyler Clippard, not only an I down some FAAB, I’m also devoid of a second closer, hence the dart throw on Crick. A week ago, Felipe Vazquez reported arm soreness, going so far to say he heard a pop. After all of 48 hours off, he was back at it, throwing three straight games. The first two were fine, registering his normal 98 mph on the gun. Then, Vazquez was lit up last Thursday. No injury is reported, and he received a vote of confidence as closer. I’m hoping smoke equals fire and Crick benefits. No, I’m not wishing injury on anyone – just trying to be proactive in case it happens.
Please follow me on Twitter @ToddZola and visit me at Mastersball.
