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 | |||
| Jorge Lopez, KC | Fangraphs 9 | USA TODAY Sports 6 | SiriusXM 1 | |
| Felix Pena, LAA | SiriusXM 6 | |||
| Christin Stewart, DET | Fangraphs 5 | |||
| Diego Castillo, TB | SiriusXM 3 | |||
| Rowdy Tellez, TOR | ESPN.com 2 | |||
| Joey Rickard, BAL | Winning Fantasy Baseball 1 | SiriusXM 1 | ESPN.com 1 | |
| Ty Buttrey, LAA | Winning Fantasy Baseball 1 |
UNAWARDED BIDS
| PLAYER | ||||
| Felix Hernandez, SEA | SiriusXM 4 | |||
| Ryne Stanek, TB | SiriusXM 3 | |||
| Tyler Clippard, TOR | Winning Fantasy Baseball 1 | SiriusXM 1 | ||
| Adam Kolarek, TB | SiriusXM 1 | |||
| Jeanmar Gomez, CWS | SiriusXM 1 | |||
| Nick Vincent, SEA | SiriusXM 1 | |||
| Noe Ramirez, LAA | SiriusXM 1 |
Lawr Michaels’ Commentary
With the NFL season kicking off Sunday, running transactions anywhere became a task rather than part of the final month’s play and strategy,
The contending teams were those who still have FAAB to spend: RotoWire, Fangraphs, SiriusXM, and Winning Fantasy Baseball. They grabbed the bulk of prospects, looking for some numbers the final weeks of the season.
Royals hurler Jorge Lopez culled the bulk of attention fetching $9, besting three bids,
Of note, the much anticipated Rowdy Tellez joins a fun cluster of 2019 Jays prospects.
Most of the moves made will change some machinations in mid-standings with Rick Wolf and Glenn Colton, holding first with 93 points, while Clay Link has second with 88. The bulk of players purchased are all playing leap frog between third and seventh, largely,
As for me, with just $5 left in FAAB, and my best drafted pitcher Sonny Gray, all these moves were way out of my league for the week and the season,
Todd’s Take
It took the Tigers longer than expected but they’re finally handing the keys to left field to Christin Stewart, at least for th final three weeks of the season. To be honest, designated hitter is his best defensive position, but with Victor Martinez this season, and Miguel Cabrera likely there down the line, Stewart needs to show some competency with the glove. His power is real, though like many young sluggers, he fans too much between leaving the yard. Most of Detroit’s prospects acquired in their rebuild are young so Stewart has a couple years to figure things out before the club must decide if he’s part of their future.
SUCCESSFUL BIDS
| PLAYER | WINNING BID | |||
| Francisco Mejia, SD | Yahoo – DDD 12 | ESPN – Karabell 2 | CreativeSports 1 |
Brian Walton’s Commentary
Francisco Mejia has long been one of the top prospects in baseball, let alone at the catching position. However, the 22-year old was traded by Cleveland to San Diego this summer and after his call up this week, Mejia is now slated to job share with Austin Hedges for the remainder of the season.
Three bidders tried to acquire the backstop in National League LABR. With my only remaining dollar, I came in third. The winner of Mejia’s services for $12 was Dalton Del Don of Yahoo, who is currently in 11th place in the standings, but continuing to fight.
No other free agents were acquired this week
Todd’s Take
There’s a two-way battle for the top spot with Howard Bender from Fantasy Alarm currently ahead of Zach Steinhorn from Baseball Prospectus. Bender is out of FAAB while Steinhorn has five units, the third most left. It will be interesting to see how Zach opts to deploy his remaining budget with two bidding periods remaining.
SUCCESSFUL BIDS
| PLAYER | WINNING BID | |||
| Luke Voit, NYY | Razzball (Rudy Gamble) 4 | Yahoo Sports 3 | @TheFantasyFix 3 | |
| Francisco Mejia, SD | @TheFantasyFix 2 | Fred Zinkie 1 | ||
| Brandon Lowe, TB | Baseball Prospectus 3 | |||
| Ryan Yarbrough, TB | Prospect 361 1 | |||
| Tyler Flowers, ATL | Fred Zinkie 1 | |||
| Alex Gordon, KC | Yahoo Sports 1 |
UNAWARDED BIDS
| PLAYER | ||||
| David Fletcher, LAA | Razzball (Rudy Gamble) 2 | |||
| Rafael Ortega, MIA | Razzball (Rudy Gamble) 1 | |||
| Wade Miley, MIL | Prospect 361 1 |
Todd Zola’s Commentary
If I were to have said Luke Voit will be the Yankees regular first baseman heading into the playoffs, you would have asked me to pee in a cup. But alas, that’s where we’re at with Greg Bird in a season-long funk. Rudy Gamble grabbed Voit to help further his hold on third place.
Some string second half grinding from Derek VanRiper has his squad in a neck-and-neck battle with Tim McLeod. McLeod took a chance on Rays follower Ryan Yarbrough, he of the 14-5, 3.78 ERA, 1.26 WHIP line in his pseudo-relief role. VanRiper sat this one out, opting to conserve his remaining four units. Seven clubs have still have more than four units with McLeod down to zero.
I’m also without any more FAAB, relying on just reserves for moves. I’m currently exactly mid-pack in 8th, with the goal of moving up to 5th.
Please follow me on Twitter @ToddZola and visit me at Mastersball
