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 | |||
| Yefry Ramirez, BAL | NFBC 3 | |||
| Ryan Rua, TEX | NFBC 1 | ESPN.com 1 | ||
| Rosell Herrera, KC | Fangraphs 1 | NFBC 1 | ||
| Tyler Wade, NYY | ESPN.com 1 | |||
| Jonathan Holder, NYY | ESPN.com 1 | |||
| Andrew Romine, SEA | Fangraphs 1 | |||
| Bobby Wilson, MIN | Fangraphs 1 | |||
| Martin Perez, TEX | NFBC 1 |
UNAWARDED BIDS
| PLAYER | ||||
| Jose Leclerc, TEX | ESPN.com 1 | NFBC 1 | ||
| David Freitas, SEA | Fangraphs 1 | |||
| John Axford, TOR | ESPN.com 1 | |||
| Neil Ramirez, CLE | NFBC 1 | |||
| Hunter Wood, TB | NFBC 1 | |||
| A.J. Cole, NYY | NFBC 1 |
Lawr Michaels’ Commentary
It might be the All Star Break, but with $8 making up the entirety of my FAAB budget between now and the end of the season, knowing $0 bids are not allowed in LABR, I am trying to be prudent. And, I do have a full roster, with Dwight Smith and Shane Greene active, I can flesh out my roster with live bodies: Just not necessarily bodies that will help me finish eighth, let alone first.
As it is, the All Star Break LABR FAAB line was pretty benign, with one player going for more than a buck, and just two players involved in a bidding war.
Shawn Childs and Greg Ambrisious were the big spenders, digging into their wallets for the rights to the Orioles Yefry Ramirez, and it was the free agent version of Trader Joe’s “two buck Chuck” wine as represented by the likes of Bobby Wilson, Andrew Romine, and Martin Perez.
Ryan Rua and Rosell Herrera were the pair who generated challenge bids, and both bids went down to teams earning the rights to the respective player by virtue of a worse position in the standings.
So, what can I say? It is the break. Teams still have money. And, the trade deadline now looms as the next big thing in the universe of Fantasy Baseball.
Let’s see what it brings. In the interim, enjoy a few down days. I will certainly try to!
Todd’s Take
Yefry Ramirez is a curious play. He’s not lined up to pitch the weekend coming out of the break, drawing the Red Sox the following week. With Chris Tillman close to returning, Ramirez may not be long for the Orioles rotation. But then, pickings are slim and 24 K in 23.1 IP is worth a shot.
SUCCESSFUL BIDS
| PLAYER | WINNING BID | |||
| Chris Owings, ARI | Derek Carty 6 | Lenny Melnick 2 | CreativeSports 1 | NFBC 1 |
| Jordan Luplow, PIT | NFBC 1 | |||
| Chase d’Arnaud, SF | CreativeSports 1 |
UNAWARDED BIDS
| PLAYER | ||||
| Kyle Crick, PIT | NFBC 1 |
Brian Walton’s Commentary
Unlike Tout Wars, which has a Wednesday FAAB deadline this week, LABR stuck with its Sunday night deadline. In National League LABR this week, only five bidders went after three players, all hitters.
Derek Carty of RotoGrinders was the big spender, dropping $6 on utilityman Chris Owings of Arizona. In March, Owings was drafted for $12 by Doug Dennis of BaseballHQ, but was placed on the waiver wire last weekend, likely due to his uneven playing time and career-worst .198 average.
Needing a warm body to replace injured (again) Eric Thames and not willing to go over $2 for a replacement, I paid a buck for third baseman Chase d’Arnaud of the Giants. As long as Evan Longoria is out, there is a chance for at-bats in competition with Kung-Fu Panda. My expectations are low, however.
The other $1 acquisition is Jordan Luplow of Pittsburgh, who went to the NFBC pair of Greg Ambrosius and Shawn Childs. After posting a .205 average as a rookie last season, the outfielder is batting .200 to date in 2018.
Todd’s Take
Speaking of Longoria, he’s targeting the first week of August to return to the Giants lineup. This is one of my favorite things to do over the break – review the current disabled list and refresh my aging memory when some players are due back.
SUCCESSFUL BIDS
| PLAYER | WINNING BID | |||
| Adalberto Mondesi, KC | Prospect 361 3 | @TheFantasyFix 1 | ||
| Victor Arano, PHI | Fangraphs 2 | @TheFantasyFix 1 | Scout Fantasy 1 | |
| Steve Duggar, SF | Prospect 361 2 | Scout Fantasy 1 | ||
| Nick Kingham, PIT | Scout Fantasy 1 | @TheFantasyFix 1 | Fred Zinkie 1 | |
| Dexter Fowler, STL | Razzball (Rudy Gamble) 1 | Prospect 361 1 | ||
| Cameron Maybin, MIA | @TheFantasyFix 1 | |||
| Chad Pinder, OAK | @TheFantasyFix 1 | |||
| Lou Trivino, OAK | Baseball HQ 1 | |||
| Anibal Sanchez, ATL | Fred Zinkie 1 |
UNAWARDED BIDS
| PLAYER | ||||
| Austin Meadows, PIT | Scout Fantasy 1 | Prospect 361 1 | ||
| Andrew Toles, LAD | Scout Fantasy 1 | |||
| Felix Pena, LAA | Scout Fantasy 1 | |||
| Joey Wendle, TB | Scout Fantasy 1 | |||
| Justin Anderson, LAA | Scout Fantasy 1 | |||
| Ronald Guzman, TEX | Scout Fantasy 1 | |||
| Ryan Yarbrough, TB | Scout Fantasy 1 | |||
| Ryan Borucki, TOR | Razzball (Rudy Gamble) 1 | |||
| David Fletcher, LAA | Prospect 361 1 | |||
| Kolten Wong, STL | Prospect 361 1 | |||
| Tony Kemp, HOU | Prospect 361 1 |
Todd’s Commentary
Need steals? Check out Mondesi. He’s playing nearly every day and should do so the rest of the way, especially since the Royals have finally stopped the silliness with extending the consecutive game streak of Alcides Escobar. Mondesi has five bags and should add to that total. He also has a little pop though his run production will be tempered hitting at the bottom of a weak lineup.
Raise your hand if you have a feel for what Gabe Kapler is doing with his bullpen. Yeah, me neither. Nine different relievers have recorded saves for the Phillies. Seranthony Dominguez is still likely the primary guy but Kapler has turned to Arano on a few occasions.
A pair of games with a duo of two-baggers over the weekend for Steven Duggar drew some attention. Yeah, not my best sentence construction but you get the point. Duggar isn’t playing every day, but his speed potential is mixed league worthy.
Todd’s Take
No bidding for Team Mastersball this week, I’m covered for the short week. I thought about looking for Cubs and Cards since they have five games (flying solo on Thursday with a twin bill on Saturday) but with limited FAAB, there wasn’t a place to take advantage. Maybe you can take a peek on your clubs — at the very least, if you don’t have ample starters to fill an active roster, look to start Cubs and Cardinals relievers, especially Jordan Hicks, Pedro Strop and Carl Edwards Jr.
Please follow me on Twitter @ToddZola and visit me at Mastersball.
