LABR FAAB Report: Week of July 9, 2018

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

Lawr Michaels Commentary

Back around the first transaction cycle in June, I acquired the Tigers  Ronny Rodriguez for a buck, and when the infielder was sent down towards the end of the month, Rodriguez lost the numbers game on my roster as well.

Well, this past week Detroit recalled their prospect and this time Greg Ambrosius and Shawn Childs jumped on the rights to Rodriguez, albeit for a lot more.

My team was actually short a pitcher once I worked through this week’s bundle of injuries, demotions, and ineffective performances, so I bid a buck on the Athletics Edwin Jackson but it was RotoLady Andrea Lamont who bagged this week’s most desirable Oakland hurler in the free agent pool.

I actually was able to at least fill the open roster spot I had with Tampa’s Ryne Stanek who both boasts a pretty good line (1-2, 1.84) and plays that odd role of starter/reliever. And, with 37 whiffs over 26.2 innings thus far, Stanek doesn’t look like one to hurt my team.

Among the remaining bids of interest, Larry Schechter nabbed Toronto’s Ryan Borucki, and the RotoLady–as with all of us, eternally searching for a backstop–grabbed Kyle Higashioka for a dollar while Larry Schechter also looked for a few meaningful numbers from Jesus Sucre at the same spot and the same price.

Finally, the aging, but ever steady it seems Jim Adduci found his way onto team Ambrosius/Childs, making those three teams the active FAABers for the week.

Todd’s Take

The main difference between this call-up for Ronny Rodriguez and the last is Dixon Machado was recently received,paving the way for Rodriguez to get a longer look. That said, it would sure help if the Tigers don’t waste time with the likes of Jim Adduci.

It’s getting close to deadline deal time. There’s some speculation the AL may not be very active since the playoff squads appear set. I don’t agree. The Red Sox and Yankees DO NOT want to face James Paxton in a play-in game so they’ll both look to fortify their chance to win the AL East. Cleveland needs to fortify their bullpen, which may not help a fantasy squad, but they also could upgrade their outfield. Seattle may not be satisfied just making the playoffs and try to improve. The Astros appear set, but could be in play for a closer.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Brian Walton’s Commentary

In the quietest week of the season to date, just four players were acquired from free agency in National League LABR.

Though I had picked him up earlier in the day on NL Tout Wars, I had no roster room for Phillies reliever Victor Arano here. Four other owners did put in offers, with the winner, Doug Dennis of BaseballHQ paying $6. I would not have gone that high, anyway, which I bet Doug already knew. It is not always a good thing for the leagues’ waiver times being off-set by 11 hours.

Arano collected two saves this past week, but in the Wild, Wild West, also known as Gabe Kapler’s bullpen, no prospective closer should feel secure. Seranthony Dominguez may still be The Man, or maybe not. I imagine even Gabe himself has no idea.

Dennis also added Jeremy Jeffress of Milwaukee for $1. Jeffress, who is having a standout season, still seems to be third in line for saves after Corey Knebel and very deserving All-Star Josh Hader.

The other two acquired players are reserve second basemen, also both for a dollar. I added Jesmuel Valentin of the Phillies on a tie breaker and Derek Carty chose Max Moroff of the Pirates. Valentin has additional flexibility at third and outfield, but neither is likely to get enough at-bats and contribute much when they do.

Todd’s Take

The Senior Circuit’s divisional races are all tight with the Phillies a game ahead of the Braves along with two ties at the top as the Cubs and Brewers plus the Dodgers and D-backs are deadlocked. It’s going to be interesting to see which teams add, especially since the Braves, Phillies and Brewers may not want to give up too much of their future after undergoing a rebuild since they’re perhaps competing a year earlier than expected.

MIXED

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Todd’s Commentary

Mixed leagues don’t gave crossover players so many take an aggressive approach with early spending. The only downfall is occasionally there’s a prospect sneaking through the cracks, not stashed on reserve. Kyle Tucker is this season’s example as Fred Zinkie’s prudent spending to this point availed ample FAAB to acquire Tucker, a potential five-category player ticketed for regular in one of the league’s most potent lineups.

The only other pickup costing more than the minimum bid is Jorge Polanco, fresh off his 80-game suspension. With Miguel Sano elsewhere, there’s room for both Ploanco and Eduardo Escobar. It’ll be interesting to see how the Twins set their lineup when Sano is deemed ready to return.

Todd’s Take

Team Mastersball is in tumble mode. After bouncing between 4th and 6th for much of the first half, I’m currently mid-pack. The good thing is when a team loses a lot of points quickly, that usually means there’s some tightly contested categories. I’ll do some standings studying this week in hopes of using the All Star break to possible talk some trade.

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