LABR FAAB Report: Week of August 20

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.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Todd’s Take

Lawr is away this week so I’ll pull double duty. Three potential impact players highlight the AL bidding as rules prohibited the LABR brethren from bidding on Tommy Pham until he was off the disabled list. Knowing this, Mike Gianella held onto enough of his budget to secure the Rays new fly-chaser.

Taylor Ward is catcher eligible in some leagues, third base only in others.  In leagues where he was catcher-only to start, Ward has picked up third base in formats needing five games in season. Ward offers the power-speed combo coveted by fantasy managers.

Sean Reid-Foley has been promoted by the Blue Jays to get a feel for the big leagues to get a feel for starting in the rough AL East. While he’s not a top prospect, he’s certainly being counted on to pitch every five days for Toronto. He’s not especially dominant, but there’s still time to learn to miss more bats. After all, the 22-year old is 6-foot-2, 230 pounds.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Brian Walton’s Commentary

With the FAAB hammer this week and the rules on my side, I was the beneficiary of Philadelphia catcher Wilson Ramos coming off the disabled list, and therefore becoming eligible in National League LABR. Unfortunately, I do not receive the benefit of Ramos’ .462 average, three runs scored and four RBI in his first three games. I had to bid $18 of my remaining $22 to ensure I won the tiebreaker over USA TODAY’s Steve Gardner. As it turned out, while there were six other bids for Ramos, the next-highest was just $5. Ouch!

Gardner targeted Reds utilityman Brandon Dixon, making an uncontested bid of $4. Dixon carries the additional benefit of qualifying at first base and second base (and therefore at corner and middle infield) along with the outfield. His .189 average over his first 50 at-bats is less inspiring, however.

Outfielder Rafael Ortega is well-traveled with his most recent landing spot as a starter in Miami. Glenn Colton and Rick Wolf bested three bidders with their $3 offer. Ortega is off to a nice start, with a .317 average over his first 10 contests.

Craig Stammen has been an effective reliever for San Diego this season, leading to trade speculation that has yet to come to fruition. The right-hander’s strong ratios were good enough to elicit a $2 winning offer from Zach Steinhorn of Baseball Prospectus.

Quietly, left-hander Austin Gomber has increased his hold on a rotation spot for the Cardinals. His most recent outing was six scoreless innings against the Nationals. The rookie moved from relief when Carlos Martinez went down and may stay when Martinez returns to a bullpen role. In 37 1/3 innings, the 23-year old has 32 strikeouts and a 2.89 ERA. I bid a dollar and won on the tiebreaker.

Todd’s Take

I’m with Brian, tracking Gomber the past few weeks. Keep in mind both Adam Wainwright and Michael Wacha are expected back, not to mention the Cardinals are right back in the playoff hunt. Gomber has two starts on tap this week, the second in Coors Field.

MIXED

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Todd Zola’s Commentary

Ward was the top prize in the Mixed League, rewarding Mike Podhorzer for prudent FAAB spending. I’m seeing and hearing a lot or comments to the effect of he’s more valuable at catcher. Once the season commences, scarcity is moot, a non-factor. Scarcity only matters when constructing your roster at the draft or auction. Once the season starts, stats are stats. That said, there’s a better chance Ward replaces a weak catcher than a weak third baseman, so I understand the sentiment. However, the blanket contention Ward is worth more as a catcher isn’t necessarily accurate.

David Bote is an interesting pickup as he’s been the primary beneficiary of Kris Bryant’s extended absence. Some goofball dropped Bote in NL Tout, helping to explain why he’s looking at a second to last place finish for the second straight season, but I digress. Bote has been especially effective in OBP leagues, like Tout. Though, his .303 average is just fine for LABR.

With $3 of FAAB remaining, I need to be judicious. We’re at the time of the season where we could be looking at the last two-start week for those with a pair on the docket this week. Still, it’s best to spend the remaining FAAB on someone likely to pitch through the end of the season. So, of course, I used it on Brett Anderson, who historically displays flashes of mediocrity in between DL stints. That said, the veteran southpaw is looking at two starts, the first at home versus Texas followed by a visit to Target Field and the Twins.

Please follow me on Twitter @ToddZola and visit me at Mastersball