Month: April 2018

This week, the Touts were asked

Who are your biggest draft regrets? Why didn’t you draft them and why have they changed your mind?

Patrick Davitt (BaseballHQ, @patrickdavitt): I ran myself out of fundage before I could get Tesocar Hernandez as a late-gamer. I haven’t changed my mind about Hernandez. I still wish I’d got him.

Larry Schechter (Winning Fantasy Baseball, @LarrySchechter): I got too much power, at the expense of OBP and SB. I wish I’d bid $22 on Whit Merrifield for more SB, and I could have done without Chris Davis or Albert Pujols. I got them at good prices, but didn’t need the power; and Pujols has a poor OBP projection.

Doug Dennis (BaseballHQ, @dougdennis41): Why did I draft Marcus Stroman? Could have done a lot better for that $12.  I really thought I’d sneak Yonny Chirinos onto my reserve roster, so I sure wish I had grabbed him for $1 instead of, say, Trevor Hildenberger. Finally, Blake Parker and Alex Claudio didn’t work at all as prop bets. I wish I’d have gone 50% on those bets, or combined that money for a surer thing, but c’est la vie.

Mike Gianella (Baseball Prospectus, @MikeGianella): My approach is valuation rather than player-centric, so I seldom if ever regret missing out on a specific player. However, in one of my drafts I passed on Dee Gordon and Charlie Morton and have been kicking myself for the past month. I passed on Gordon in the 2nd round of this 15-team draft because it seemed “too early” to draft speed, even though my valuations had his high speed/batting average combination as the correct pick in that slot. My offense in this league is fine but my batting average could be better, and Gordon would have helped. I had a mid-round decision between Sonny Gray and Charlie Morton in this same draft. While I had Gray ranked slightly higher my instincts said to go with Morton, a pitcher I liked better and whose higher ceiling would have been a better fit for my team at that point in the draft. My biggest weakness in drafts is often being too doctrinaire about rankings in the mid-to-late rounds and while I have improved in that area the last couple of years, I didn’t adjust with the Gray/Morton decision and it has cost me dearly.

Al Melchior (FNTSY Radio, @almelchiorbb): Not nominating Jose Martinez as a $1 player. If I had done it early enough, I could have gone a few extra dollars on him if necessary, and it still would have been a great value. Then I wouldn’t have needed to trade Scott Kingery to get Yuli Gurriel.

Glenn Colton (Fantasy Alarm, @glenncolton1): Staying with the idea Chris Archer is an ace. Yes, the K’s are nice but two straight years of an ERA over 4 should have caused us to value him as an RP2 – even in an AL only. Yes, the 6.61 ERA will go down but will it go below the 4.49 FIP? I sure hope so. After all, it was not supposed to be Porcello and Gausman carrying Archer on our LABR team.

Todd Zola (Mastersball, @toddzola): I was on Gerrit Cole all off-season. There was a latent park upgrade with a loud team upgrade. I had faith the Astros brass would recognize throwing more curves would be a good thing. Yet, too many times, I passed on Cole, confident I could get…wait for it… Luis Castillo a few rounds later. Oy vey. I’m still confident Castillo will right the ship, but what’s done is done. Don’t get me started on Sonny Gray…

Scott Pianowski (Yahoo! Fantasy Sports, @Scott_Pianowski): One of my leagues auctions shortly after the season starts, and I told a non-competing friend that I would get Gerrit Cole “no matter what” (very much against my owner profile; I’m a value guy). Ha ha, I didn’t get him. Joke’s on me: he’s got a different repertoire, a better team around him, the park helps. All those double-digit strikeout games carry signature significance to me. I have one Cole share, but that’s a very light bag given how many leagues I play in. I also regret buying a reduced-price Matt Carpenter, as I generally tread carefully around guys with his physical concerns. I figured last year was his floor. Now I’m concerned maybe it gets worse, maybe his body simply isn’t right.

Scott Swanay (FantasyBaseballSherpa, @fantasy_sherpa): Johnny Cueto, J.A. Happ, and Charlie Morton all went for less in the Tout Mixed Auction than I had them valued for. However, because I insisted on spending over $40 for Clayton Kershaw, I was too busy filling out my pitching staff with the likes of Garrett Richards, Matt Shoemaker, and Drew Pomeranz to pay up for some of these better (at least to-date) options.

Michael Beller (Sports Illustrated, @MBeller): Gerrit Cole immediately came to mind after I read this question. I was on him all winter. I’ve got the receipts over at SI.com. But he has already been mentioned a few times, so I’ll go with Kyle Schwarber, another guy who I loved all winter and then couldn’t find a way to get onto any of my teams. I get a pass in my home league, which is a 14-team keeper where he was already on a roster, but I had three drafts/auctions from scratch, and Schwarber is on nary a one of those teams. Yes, I am a born-and-bred Cubs fan, so I’ll admit that had a little something to do with my love for him, but his draft-day cost was silly. It was almost as though people forgot that he had played all of 1.5 seasons in the majors before this year, and that he spent the entire offseason rehabbing a gruesome knee injury before his lone full campaign. It’s generally a bad idea to write off high draft picks who become elite prospects and key members of World Series teams less than 1,000 plate appearances into their careers. There isnt a specific reason why I missed out on him. Just one of those things. At least I am a Cubs fan, though. I can still enjoy what he is doing instead of kicking myself every time he leaves the yard.

Ray Flowers (Fantasy Guru Elite, @BaseballGuys): Hard to change to dramatically after just a month. I guess it would be mot owning more shares of Patrick Corbin and Sean Manaea. I wrote glowing Player Profile reports on both, so my followers certainly have them both. Should have taken more of my own advice I guess.

Peter Kreutzer (Ask Rotoman, Fantasy Baseball Guide, @kroyte): My Tout Wars team has been horrible. Part of that have been injuries to Elvis Andrus and Josh Donaldson, and another part has been the slow start of Paul Goldschmidt. I’m partly kidding about this, but Goldschmidt is a guy I’ve never been as high on as other people. His modest minor league record made me a little doubtful, and how can you trust sluggers to keep running as they get older? Etc etc etc. But as sometimes happens, I found myself in position to get an admittedly great OBP guy, as Goldschmidt is, at a fair price. So I bit, and then I fretted, because players like this almost always jinx me. I doubt them, they’re great for other fantasy owners, and when I finally go for them, they have their only down season. For example, if you look at Justin Verlander’s career, the one year I bought him was 2008. So, I have regrets, and Goldschmidt is one. The other? I thought Didi Gregorious was generally underappreciated by the fantasy intelligentsia in the preseason. He went for only $4 in this league! I already had Dozier, Andrus and Whitfield at that point in the auction, but I’m sure UT was open. Yuck.

Welcome to the weekly Tout Wars FAAB report, on its new home right here on the Tout Wars site. Each week, we’ll review the free agent acquisitions from all five leagues, with commentary from a league member, as well as yours truly. We changed the timing of the weekly run to 1 PM ET every Sunday, with the report posted later that afternoon so you’ll have time to digest and apply to your own leagues. In addition, I’ll be joining Lawr Michaels and Justin Mason on the Tout Wars Hour on the FNTSY Network every Sunday at 3:20 PM ET to discuss the results.

You can find the complete list of Tout Warriors here. Everyone starts with 1000 FAAB units, less any penalty incurred by finishing below a designated point in the standings. This is a means of keeping everyone motivated to keep playing all season long. The minimum bid is $0. FAAB units can be traded as well as rebated for players released off the DL.

The report will list all winning bids along with unsuccessful tries and contingencies. This provides the maximum level of information to help gauge interest on the players.

The American and National League only formats are 12-team leagues, as is the new points-based head to head league, The Mixed Auction and Draft each have 15 clubs. All the leagues have four reserves with an unlimited DL, expect the head to head league, which allows six reserves.

The headings above each league are links to publicly accessible sites where you can see standings, roster and a complete review of transactions. The initial auctions and drafts can be found here.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Ron Leibowitz’s Commentary

Caleb Joseph – The Orioles catching situation continues to shuffle between Chance Sisco and Caleb Joseph. Neither player has been able, so far, to run away with the job. The pendulum has swung back to Joseph at least temporarily with Sisco striking out 40% of the time. Joseph, 31, continues to be a high-strikeout, aggressive, right-handed hitter with occasional power. From my team’s perspective, he is still an upgrade for me with Bruce Maxwell rarely playing.

Chris Tillman – Larry Schechter purchased the longtime Orioles for $33 and like me had no one else bidding against them. Tillman’s been awful, striking out less than 5 batters per nine innings while walking just as many and home runs galore with a non-inflated BABIP. It should also be noted his velocity is down 2 mph from last year to under 89 mph. Larry must see something in him or have a plan here, but I wouldn’t recommend him unless you’re trying to actively torch your team’s pitching staff.

Daniel Palka – Journeyman outfielder who came over from the Twins on waivers earlier in the season. Platoon left-handed hitter with 20+ homerun power who is filling in alongside Trayce Thompson while Avisail Garica is on the DL. Perhaps the most attractive temporary outfield fill in on the free agent market at the moment, but is probably up in the Majors only temporarily.

Todd’s Take

I’m with Rob with respect to Tillman.  Maybe Larry needs a challenge with so many titles and bet someone he could win Tout Wars with Tillman on his roster. Even this week’s matchup isn’t ideal as he takes on an Angels club among the league leaders in homers versus righties.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Phil Hertz’s Commentary

After missing on all of his claims for the last two weeks, OnRoto’s Scott Wilderman was not to be denied this week, making the three most expensive purchases. With almost no starting pitching available at the moment in NL Tout,  it was not surprising that Wei-Yin Chen was the most expensive, going for 115, especially after his solid return from the DL on Saturday evening. Note every single available free agent starter was claimed this week.

Scott’s other two purchases were Giant infielders, also not very surprising with Joe Panik headed for surgery. One was Alen Hanson who was just called up from the minors. The former Pirate and White Sox, who has been on fire in the minors with an 1.140 OPS along with six steals, went for 103. Scott also acquired Pablo Sandoval, as an infielder not as a closer possibility :-),  for 69. In all three cases, Scott paid considerably more than the runner-up bid, but if you want someone, it’s better to pay a little more than lose out (as I did with the next highest bid on Hanson).

Also noteworthy were two owners claiming players who won’t be contributing anything for awhile. Brian Walton of The Cardinal Nation Blog’s Brian Walton claimed Korea’s finally cleared Jung-ho Kang, and Masterball’s Todd Zola claimed Red hot Braves prospect Austin Riley, betting that Atlanta’s dalliance with Jose Bautista will come to nothing. Note that both Riley and Kang will need to be active for the coming week under Tout Wars rules.

As for me, even though I’ve never been to Austin,  I wound up with weekend call-ups Austin Slater and Austin Voth. One of the biggest issues with both is whether they’ll still be in the majors next week, never mind for the rest of the season. One virtue of claiming Voth is that I already own Eric Fedde and there’s a good chance at least one of them will be in the Washington rotation by the summer.

Todd’s Take

Phil alluded to my grabbing Austin Riley. I have an opening at corner with Eric Thames on the shelf. Look at the players bid on this week – there’s next to nothing at corner. Earlier in the week, I was doing a podcast with Derek Van Riper and said for everyone to hear, I’m bidding $17 on Riley, if anyone wants him, they can bid $18. Since I know my NL colleagues listen <cough, cough>, it must be they aren’t interested. I had nothing to lose; I’d be filling the spot with a virtual zero anyway.

Actually, I had a decision to make with Kang reportedly back in the Pirates picture since he also qualifies at corner. This speaks more to my lack of confidence about Kang than it does my expectation Riley is called up, but even if I hadn’t promised to bid $17 on Riley, I prefer Riley. Your team, your call.

MIXED LEAGUE AUCTION 

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Todd’s Take

How desperate are some teams for saves? Brad Ziegler is sick, Kyle Barraclough gets the call and a bidding war ensues. Barraclough may get the job and saves are saves, but my research shows while all teams generate save chances, they correlate with team wins and staff ERA – neither of which bode well for the Fish. Still, saves are saves.

Tim McLeod not only won Barraclough, he snagged Alen Hanson, hoping he picks up more of the keystone run than Kelby Tomlinson.

At least two of the Touts were following the news as Mike Soroka was scratched from his Sunday start in Triple-A, in case he’s needed for the ailing Julio Teheran and/or Anibal Sanchez early in the week.

MIXED LEAGUE DRAFT

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Perry Van Hook’s Commentary

While most Touts bidding Sunday were content to make small or very small bids to fill holes in their lineups, Michael Beller consulted his crystal ball and bet $152 that Atlanta will bring up top pitching prospect Michael Soroka.

Of the pitchers bid on by several teams, Miami’s Jarlin Garcia went for $32, while Oakland’s Andrew Triggs went for $7.

I was one of the many teams who needed to fill a MI or CI slot and settled for the Giants Kelby Tomlinson for $2 while my first choice, Tampa’s Daniel Robertson went for $22 to Rudy Gamble.

Todd’s Take

Interesting, not only were there slim pickings at corner in the NL league, but the available choices here seem less than would be expected this early in the season. On one hand, an argument can be made to deal an excess corner if you happen to have one, assuming someone would be willing to make a very strong offer. However, on the other, it may be prudent to keep the roster flexibility in case you need to replace an injured corner. The assumption here is you’re using a 1B/OF type in the OF, or perhaps a CI at utility.

HEAD-TO-HEAD MIXED AUCTION

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Tim Heaney, aka Heandogg on DraftKings led the scoring in Friday’s special Tout Daily contest. The weekly DFS league usually plays every Tuesday, but in a fitting way for this season, a make-up day on Friday was needed to make up for starting a little late.

Heaney, contributor for Rotowire and ESPN outpaced Sports Illustrated’s Michael Bellar and Rotolady, Andrea LaMont. The top-scoring lineup featured a pair of solid pitching performances from Corey Kluber and Miles Mikolas along with productive nights at the plate from Joey Votto, Matt Davidson and Michael Brantley. Check out Tim’s roster below.

Unfortunately, 168.85 points wasn’t enough to vault Heaney into a Golden Ticket. Friday marked the final week of the first period of the Tout Daily contest. The top three points scorers of each four-week period earn a Golden Ticket into the Survivor tournament finals. The first three entries into the championship belong to Mastersball’s Todd Zola, Fantasy Alarm’s Rick Wolf and Rotowire’s Clay Link, a Tout Daily rookie.

In addition to winning a Golden Ticket, Zola won a free t-shirt from Rotowear, awarded to the top point scorer in each four-week period. According to sources, Zola let his niece pick out a shirt, as she’s a proud manager of two teams played on ESPN Fantasy.

Check how your favorite Tout is faring on the Leaderboard.

Be sure to stop by every Tuesday afternoon as the Touts share their favorite pitcher and hitter for that night’s competition.

Here’s Tim’s lineup:

It’s a special Friday version of Tout Daily as we make up for starting off a little late. This is the final week of the first period. Three Golden Tickets will be awarded to the top three scores of the first four-week phase. In addition, the top scorer will get a t-shirt from our friends at Rotowear.

Here’s some pitchers and hitters to consider for your own lineups.

Follow your favorite Touts on the Leaderboard.

Todd Zola (Mastersball, @toddzola)

Jacob deGrom: Lots of aces, he has the best matchup

Joey Votto: Guessing ownership will be a billionty percent, but I’m in protect mode

Howard Bender (Fantasy Alarm, @RotobuzzGuy)

Blake Snell: Red Sox have been horrible against LHP this season & Snell appears to have his command intact and always has strong K-upside

CJ Cron: Ride the wave until it breaks. 4 HR in last 4 games and a lefty on the bump in Pomeranz? Why the heck not? He’s destroying lefties right now.

Lawr Michaels (CreativeSports2, @lawrmichaels)

Sean Manaea: Coming off his no-no, Manaea has pretty impressive totals, winning his past two starts (16 innings, 0.53 ERA, 0.375 WHIP, 14 whiffs) and the Astros are hitting .255 versus Southpaws, but with 75 whiffs against them, sixth worst in the Majors.

Eduardo Escobar: The switch-hitting Escobar is batting .364-2-4 this week, raising his season line to .303-3-11 with a .351 OBP, and facing the struggling Luis Castillo (1-3, 6.51, 1.446 WHIP) the Twins shortstop makes a nice value pick.

Ray Murphy (BaseballHQ, @RayHQ)

Luis Castillo: His stock is way down this year as he’s off to a rough start, and the Reds are awful. But he’s not as bad as he looked, and the price is tasty at $6300.

Joey Votto: Votto red-hot, facing Phil Hughes, and only $4100. I’m all-in.

Brian Walton (CreativeSports2, @B_Walton)

Danny Duffy: Bombed last time out on short rest, Duffy averaged 23 points in his prior two starts. Bargain bounceback candidate.

Giancarlo Stanton: Yes, he had a slow start, but seven hits in last three games and three RBI shows the trend is up.

Vlad Sedler (Fantasy Guru Elite, @Rotogut)

Mike Minor: A 14-game slate isn’t the best place to mess around with cheap pitching with lots of solid pricey ones on the menu. But a $5,900 Minor on DraftKings against a strikeout-prone Blue Jays squad is worth the risk in GPPs.

Joey Votto: Finally heating up after a slow start and gets to pick on Phil Hughes in a hitters’ park (Target Field)

Michael Rathburn (Rotowire, @FantasyRath)

Tyler Anderson: Needed salary relief with DeGrom. Favored on the road in a good enviroment. Decent 3 game stretch.

Joey Votto: Also in on Votto vs Hughes.

Patrick Davitt (BaseballHQ, @patrickdavitt)

Pitcher Name: Drew Pomeranz faces a TAM squad that has a wOBA of .305 vs LHP since the start of last season.

Hitter Name: Add another Vote-o for Votto.

Mike Gianella (Baseball Prospectus, @MikeGianella)

Luis Castillo: He’s struggled this year but Castillo gets a tasty matchup against the Twins away from GABP. I’m taking the discount.

Rhys Hoskins: Hoskins is off to a great start and while this is a little pricey I like him against Julio Teheran tonight.

Phil Hertz (BaseballHQ, @prhz50)

Jacob deGrom: He’s been pitching great and tonight he’s pitching in a great venue.

Yoenis Cespedes : He’s swinging better and he’s facing QB wannabe Clayton Richard.

Jeff Erickson (Rotowire, @Jeff_Erickson)

Stephen Strasburg: I like the relative price of Strasburg (and Luis Severino), and while Arizona is legit, I like facing them in DC better.

Miguel Cabrera: This is a case of automatically starting hitters that face Chris Tillman.

Pardon me while I channel Rickey Henderson, writing in third person as the winner of Tuesday’s Tout Daily.

This was the third week of the initial four week period. There will be five periods, with the top three point-scorers in each awarded a Golden Ticket into the Survivor-style finals.

Zola, known for his rugged good looks and suave demeanor also vaulted into the lead for the wild-card Golden ticket, awarded to the highest scorer over the course of the contest, a feat he’s accomplished the past two seasons.

Zola brilliantly rode a pair of Brewer homers from Lorenzo Cain and Travis Shaw to his dominating 36.05 point victory. The Tout considered one of the humblest in the industry also got a dinger from Sal Perez as well as solid outings from Rick Porcello and Kenta Maeda. Check out my, I mean Zola’s field-crushing lineup below.

Failing to not quite match Zola’s 139.65 points genius were Justin Mason and Jason Collette, finishing with 102.05 and 95.05 points, respectively.

With one week remaining in the Period, Zola is trailed by Rick Wolf and Phil Hertz in the quest for the first three Golden Tickets. Here’s the Leaderboard.

Be sure to check out the Tout hitter and pitcher picks this Friday, April 27 for the final week of the period. New this season, Rotowear is providing a t-shirt to the period champion. Zola hopes they come big enough to fit him and his ego.

Please excuse me, I need to have my tongue surgically removed from my cheek.

Every Tuesday, and the occasional Friday, the Touts will be playing Tout Daily, a DFS league consisting of five four-week periods. The top-three finishers, along with the overall point leader after 20 weeks are awarded a Golden Ticket into the Tout Daily Survivor Finals.

Follow the weekly Leaderboard.

Here are the Touts recommendations for Tuesday, April 24.

Charlie Wiegert (CDM Sports, @GFFantasySports)

Maeda, Porcello: Looking for wins for both, 5+ innings and k’s. Porcello has pitched great and Blue Jays scuffling, a good combo!

Matt Carpenter: He’s been seeing the ball better and getting more aggressive at the plate. I’m looking for him to take a wheeler deep tonight!

Lawr Michaels (CreativeSports2, @lawrmichaels)

Ty Blach: A total value pick, but the Nationals are hitting just .196 against Southpaws this year, making Blach, hurling at home, a fun gamble.

Brandon Crawford: Sticking with the Giants, and value picks, Crawford is under-performing, but Tanner Roark poses the perfect tonic for such a hitter to get well.

Phil Hertz (BaseballHQ, @prhz50)

Tanner Roark: Pitching well and pitching at AT@T

Mookie Betts : He’s been red hot. No reason to expect it to stop tonight.

Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Football Empire, @JeffBoggis)

Charlie Morton: There are 4 games tonight that have greater than a 60% chance of rain. Morton has been incredible so far, sporting a 0.72 ERA, a 0.88 WHIP, and a 16.4% swinging strike rate. Those who bought into the right-handers breakout last season are being handsomely rewarded early in the year.

Teoscar Hernandez (TOR – OF): Why he is only priced at $3,200 boggles the Boggis. Over the past 2 weeks, Hernandez is hitting .343 with 7 runs scored, 3 home runs, 10 RBI, and 1 stolen base.

Ray Murphy (BaseballHQ, @RayHQ)

Kenta Maeda: Home for MIA, priced under 10k. I expect he’ll be widely-owned, but I’ll still jump aboard rather than fade him.

Manny Margot: He’s been ice cold, but that keeps his price reasonable. Should be batting leadoff in Coors with the platoon advantage. 4300 very reasonable for that.

Brian Walton (CreativeSports2, @B_Walton)

Luke Weaver: Quality young arm should put prior subpar outing behind him with home start.

Yadier Molina: Ageless catcher has been red-hot while swatting six home runs already this season. Has been batting higher in the order, second, recently.

Derek Carty (RotoGrinders, @DerekCarty)

Kenta Maeda: There’s always the risk of being pulled early by Dave Roberts, but Maeda is too cheap for such a great matchup against Miami

Shin-Soo Choo: Coors is the obvious spot, but the Rangers are nearly as good as Rockies tonight. Andrew Triggs is a side-armer who throws a sinker and slider a combined 65% of the time. That implies he’ll have a wide platoon split going forward, plus he struggles to prevent steals. As a lefty with some speed, Choo is capable of taking advantage of both, plus it’s 80 degrees in Arlington today.

Todd Zola (Mastersball, @toddzola)

Rick Porcello: Maeda’s chalkier than a kindergarten class at recess, want to avoid the weather and a blow-up for my SP2, Porcello fits the bill.

Lorenzo Cain: Again, want to avoid the rain games, Cain’s been running and everyone is in scoring position with Kennedy on the hill

Clay Link (Rotowire, @claywlink)

Luke Weaver: Weaver’s strikeout rate is down as many predicted, and he’s coming off a poor start, but he’s not walking guys nor is he giving up homers. The Mets have been scuffling a bit lately and may be without Todd Frazier. Perhaps it’s a sucker play, but Weaver’s price seems too good to pass up.

J.D. Martinez: Martinez against a lefty is pretty much automatic for me, regardless of price.

Michael Rathburn (Rotowire, @FantasyRath)

Kenta Maeda: Monster favorite at home vs weak lineup. Should be in for 6 IP, W, and 8-10K.

Khris Davis: vs LHP in Texas, high total, good BVP

Jeff Erickson (Rotowire, @Jeff_Erickson)

Luke Weaver: Not very unique, which worries me, but he’s the best “affordable” option to allow for the Red Sox stack.

Hanley Ramirez: Rolling with a Red Sox stack – J.A. Happ has already allowed five homers in his first four starts.

Each week, the Tout Warriors will be asked to contribute to a round table.

This week’s Tout Table question is

Let’s talk free agent bidding. What’s your early season philosophy? How do you decide how much to bid?

Ray Flowers (Fantasy Guru Elite, @BaseballGuys): It’s tough. You have to try and gauge the hype surrounding a player, though frequently the players you really have an interest in adding have astutely been scooped up by others in previous FAAB runs. Really, it’s about managing your team’s needs as much as anything else. If you have a need, you attack it understanding the type of player you are looking to add. Is he a “boring” vet? Is he a young player who suddenly has a shot at playing time? Is he a limited player filling a certain category – homers or steals – or is he an across the board contributor? Also, which position does he play? All of that needs to be factored in to the decision of how much to spend. A tip – never bid a “normal” number. Don’t bid $10 or $150. Always push the total a bit.

Scott Engel (RotoExperts, @scotteRotoEx): I try to stay somewhat conservative to fill some immediate glaring needs, such as saves if needed, or to grab a hot player I may really believe in. But with such a long season I try to keep most bids under 100 dollars. In that range I will get aggressive, though. I’ll bid in the high 70s to 90s if I really want a guy. But I am not dropping 300-plus dollars for anyone in April. I did go a bit over 100 for Ohtani as a hitter at 111, and was a bit surprised I won him. I thought that would no be aggressive enough

Phil Hertz (BaseballHQ, @prhz50): Depends from league to league and even from year to year. If injuries hit, I’m probably spending. If not, I’ll try to be judicious . Also in only leagues, if someone good comes into the league, all bets are off.

Al Melchior (FNTSY Radio, @almelchiorbb): I have had a tendency to spend too recklessly early on, so I’ve been more cautious so far. If you spent your budget in equal amounts each week, it would come out to just under 4% per week, so I have tried to keep my bids under $40. I also target some players for the $0-$10 range who I really like but don’t expect there to be much interest in. So far, my most expensive FAAB acquisition was Sal Romano for $42. I also have one $1 player and two $0 players.

Patrick Davitt (BaseballHQ, @patrickdavitt): In the -only format, there’s not much in the FA pool (especiallly hitters) to get worked up about. I’ve made a bunch of $0 bids to get some LIMA relievers for streaming purposes, but I wouldn’t mind of the Reds traded Joey Votto into the AL while I have the FAAB hammer.

Anthony Perri (Fantistics, @Anthony_Perri): I tend to be somewhat conservative with my bidding. I rarely spend over 100 (out of $1000 budget). If a player gets off to a hot start, he’s going to have to be a top 20 prospect for me to break over $100. I am however willing to spend 60-65% of my money in the early months (before July), to get a better (longer) return on investment. I find that newly appointed closers go for much more than I’m willing to spend in these expert leagues, so I tend to gravitate more towards the “closer in waiting” at a cheaper price.

Doug Dennis (BaseballHQ, @dougdennis41): If I need to plug a hole and there is that one clear-cut guy who can help me, I tend to overbid.  If I see a player that I think is going to be useful all season, I tend to overbid.  Otherwise, I tend to be conservative or not bid at all.

Andy Behrens (Yahoo! Fantasy Sports, @andybehrens): I’ve always felt that it makes sense to be aggressive on early-season FAAB bids, because players are obviously most valuable to you when there are five months remaining in the season. Bid amounts should reflect the potential impact of an add on roto points. You clearly want to be most aggressive when you see an opportunity to address a position or category of need from the free agent pool. However, in only-leagues, it should go without saying that you want to be a player in July, when MLB trades are happening and useful fantasy assets are switching leagues.

Peter Kreutzer (Ask Rotoman, Fantasy Baseball Guide, @kroyte): Andy is right about early season pickups having more potential value than later ones. Some early season roster problems are caused by injuries and are short term, you need a fill in for a few weeks or so. If the available fill ins are not inspiring, I tend to be a cheapskate when bidding. Bidding more isn’t going to make a meh player better. But if there is a potential regular out there, I might bid aggressively even if I don’t have a long term hole, because quality will find a way to play. Other early season roster problems come because you missed on a player you thought would have a regular job, or who isn’t performing. You have to be aggressive finding replacements for these guys. That doesn’t mean going crazy with the bidding, but it means bidding on all acceptable substitutes. League size matters, too. In a shallow mixed league, like H2H, players will fall through the cracks. In AL or NL only, you know that just about every free agent will be bid on. If there is someone you want or need, you have to step up and try to get him, though obviously you can only do that so many times per season.

Scott Swanay (FantasyBaseballSherpa, @fantasy_sherpa): It depends whether my bid is being done out of necessity (e.g. – player for whom I have no Bench replacement goes on the DL) vs the desire to make incremental improvements to my roster. If it’s the former, and the league members have been relatively stable over time, I might take a look at what historical bidding has looked like for comparable players, especially if I’m looking to bid on a Closer. If it’s an “incremental improvement” player, I won’t bid more than I’d feel comfortable “losing” if the player were to contribute nothing to my team’s stats. The number of alternatives available and the perceived needs of the other teams in the league will also influence my bidding. On a related note, I generally think owners are too conservative with their cash, thinking “if there’s n% of the season left, then I should have roughly n% of my FAAB left”. The arrival/availability of players who could have a meaningful impact on your season is not uniformly distributed – more such players are typically available earlier in the season as preseason playing time concerns get sorted out. Also, especially in roto leagues, you can rough out a FAAB spending budget based on the relative amount of the season left (e.g. – at the end of Week 2 there are 24 weeks left in the season, and at the end of Week 14 there are 12 weeks left in the season, so I should be willing to spend twice as much for a player at the end of Week 2 than I would for a comparable player at the end of Week 14).

Mike Podhorzer (Fangraphs, @MikePodhorzer): In a deep mono league, it’s not often that a hitter becomes available on free agency who is expected to take over a full-time job and hold it for at least a month. If a hitter figures to solely be a short-term solution for a team, then I shy away from bidding since I’ll just need to replace that player again in a couple of weeks. I try to be aggressive if I feel a player is going to have a long-term impact, but that just doesn’t happen very frequently. Instead, I want to be proactive, picking up a player a week too early in the hopes that I could avoid a bidding war and nab a guy who could help me the rest of the year. For pitchers, I have learned not to chase wins and strikeouts by acquiring a collection of weak fifth starters, instead opting to search for breakout middle relievers who won’t kill my ratios.

Stephania Bell (ESPN Fantasy Sports, @Stephania_ESPN): My rationale for FAAB bidding continues to evolve based on where I have had successes and failures in the process. There is no real means of picking a satisfactory number in my estimation because if you win by a large margin it often feels like overbidding; if you lose by even $1, it’s regret at underbidding. In the past, I have largely underbid because of the fear of running out of $$ when you need it later in the season (injuries/late season call-ups, etc). Agree now with the folks who talk about being aggressive early, especially when there is a clear deficit and you can see a potential to help narrow the gap by adding a player who will see regular playing time. Since you never know whether you are competing with one other bidder or an entire league, the bid has to be lofty enough to leave no room for doubt about what was offered. Where I am willing to take a loss to another bidder (just dipping my toe in the bidding pool to see if I come up lucky) I don’t mind being much more conservative and taking my chances on the player going elsewhere. As a result, my bids probably range from very high to pretty low without a lot that are middle of the road.

Clay Link (Rotowire, @claywlink): I want to be aggressive going after potential difference makers. Otherwise, I’m probably working in the 2-7 percent range for the short-term injury replacements. In an 18-team league I’m in, Walker Buehler was dropped during one of the first FAAB periods, and I jumped in the next week with a $21 bid (out of $100). It was a big investment, but his repertoire is exciting and you can dream on 110 innings at the big-league level. In a league that deep, he could be extremely valuable. In another league (13 teams), Aaron Hicks was dropped. I was aggressive going after him, and elsewhere took a similar approach with a few high-ceiling youngsters who got the call sooner than expected in Teoscar Hernandez and Franchy Cordero. I’m not going to go to double digits typically for known commodities like Howie Kendrick and Wilmer Flores, and I’m going to limit myself to modest bids on fringe talents like Daniel Robertson and Tyler Austin, but I’ll open up the wallet a bit if I can see plausible upside.

Todd Zola (Mastersball, @toddzola): Lots of good points already, I’ll embellish a little. In AL or NL only, everyone thinks about the July 31 deadline when the big fish come over. Truth is, there’s two other lesser, but important time frames to fortify via FAAB. Right after the Super-two deadline passes, a bunch of prospects are called up. In most leagues, the marquee names are already on a fantasy roster, but with playing time being currency, adding a non-elite but serviceable prospect can pay dividends. Being aggressive early still permits being a player in May/June for these promotions. The other deadline is August 31 when more and more waiver deals are consummated. yeah, you only get the player for a month or so, but if they affect a closely-bunched category, a month could be plenty.

Tout Wars has a rule where you are docked FAAB units in accordance with your finish the previous season. Each league has a threshold point total, penalizing 10 FAAB units for each points you finish below that total. In the years I’ve started short with FAAB, my philosophy is to be aggressive early since I won’t be a player at the July 31 deadline. Some consider my philosophy overbidding, I call it getting the guy(s)  I want.

A couple of my colleagues discussed trying to quantify how much to spend, relative to the help they’ll provide. I’ve often considered this, it can be done using previous season’s pickups and standings. Just as I get the spreadsheet set up, I remember ECON 101 – supply and demand. What a player is worth and what it costs to acquire their stats are two different things.

Let’s say there are three equal players at the same position available with two fantasy managers with an obvious need. Supply and demand are about equal, you shouldn’t have to bid a lot for one of the three.

Now let’s say only one of those players is available but five managers need him. You better bid aggressively to beat out the other four competitors. Same player, same stats, completely different bid.

Welcome to the weekly Tout Wars FAAB report, on its new home right here on the Tout Wars site. Each week, we’ll review the free agent acquisitions from all five leagues, with commentary from a league member, as well as yours truly. We changed the timing of the weekly run to 1 PM ET every Sunday, with the report posted later that afternoon so you’ll have time to digest and apply to your own leagues. In addition, I’ll be joining Lawr Michaels and Justin Mason on the Tout Wars Hour on the FNTSY Network every Sunday at 3:20 PM ET to discuss the results.

You can find the complete list of Tout Warriors here. Everyone starts with 1000 FAAB units, less any penalty incurred by finishing below a designated point in the standings. This is a means of keeping everyone motivated to keep playing all season long. The minimum bid is $0. FAAB units can be traded as well as rebated for players released off the DL.

The report will list all winning bids along with unsuccessful tries and contingencies. This provides the maximum level of information to help gauge interest on the players.

The American and National League only formats are 12-team leagues, as is the new points-based head to head league, The Mixed Auction and Draft each have 15 clubs. All the leagues have four reserves with an unlimited DL, expect the head to head league, which allows six reserves.

The headings above each league are links to publicly accessible sites where you can see standings, roster and a complete review of transactions. The initial auctions and drafts can be found here.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Glenn Colton’s Commentary

Other hitters who went off the board were a selection of guys who were needed mostly to fill holes.  For example, our team, Colton & the Wolfman, found itself very short on OF, so we went fishing in the shallow end and reeled in Johnny Field and Robbie Grossman for $1 each.  Hopefully they will not be needed for very long.

The ageless wonder, Big Sexy himself, Bartolo Colon, was the big pitching fish going for $11 to pitching guru Doug Dennis.  As for us, team Colton & the Wolfman cut bait on some bad starting pitching choosing instead to roster high K relievers Heath Hembree and Chris Martin – both of whom have pitched pretty well thus far this year.

Bottom line: with 8 of the 12 Tout AL teams having 900+ of their 1,000 FAAB still in the bank, it seems owners are trying to position themselves for a run at the midsummer interleague trade talent.

Todd’s Take

I’ve been intrigued by Chris Martin since the spring. The Rangers bullpen is still a bit unsettled with Keone Kela currently copping closing duties. He’s getting by, but not without issued. Kela’s first pitch strike, and overall strike rates are well below league average, especially for a closer.

Martin spent the last couple seasons in Japan, refining his stuff. It seems to have worked as the lanky righty has fanned 10 with just two walked in 10.1 innings. Hit and homers have been an issue, but I’d rather have the solid K and BB skills and hope for regression than rely on a guy with a low BABIP and mediocre skills.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Todd’s Commentary and Take

I was the most active bidder, along with submitting the high bid, so I’ll pull double-duty this week. Anchored by Robbie Ray and Luis Castillo, my pitching isn’t off to a great start. Plus, I lost Taijuan Walker, though I get $110 FAAB units back for my $11 auction purchase.

I have faith things will get better, but the bleeding needs to be stopped by jettisoning Kyle Freeland and Brian Mitchell. I still like Mitchell, so he’ll be reserved, but Freeland is off the roster.  The replacements are Jeremy Jeffress and Adam Cimber.

Cimber is getting the job done, pitching a decent number of innings with strikeouts. With Petco Park at his back, I’ll take my chances.

This just in – Craig Counsell doesn’t care about your (or my) fantasy team. I’m at the point I suspect he asks his relievers to pick a number 1 to 100 and whichever is closest gets to close that night. I don’t need saves with three closers (Brad Boxberger, Brandon Morrow and Arodys Vizcaino but maybe another save or two from Jeffress will facilitate a trade down the line. My bigger concern is innings and whiffs, which he’s providing.

Needing someone to replace Walker, I opted for a stick since I was using an arm in the swing spot. I have no idea how much Tyler O’Neil will play, but there’s no reason to be miserly with FAAB since I’m playing with the short stack. As it turns out, I could have just activated David Dahl into swing, but I’m OK with using both Dahl and O’Neill while sending Juan Lagares to the bench.

On draft day, securing Stephen Vogt and Manny Pina on the cheap seemed genius. The best laid plans. Pina is due back, but I wanted a hedge. Nottingham is perfect since he’ll play even when Pina is back plus if Pina doesn’t make it back, Nottingham will play even more. Tout rules allow mid-week activation of players coming off the DL so long as you release the active player he replaces. With Jeff Mathis as my second catcher, I’m not concerned.

Enough about me…

Lenny Melnick is hoping Ty Blach takes advantage of a two-start week at home in AT&T and the Giants entertain a couple of last season’s NL playoff clubs with the Nationals and Dodgers coming to town. Both lineups are dangerous, but sluggish to open the season. Aiding Blach’s cause is Anthony Rendon finally hitting the DL over the weekend.

The Reds have been scuffling for s fill-in at the hot corner while Eugenio Suarez is on the shelf. Too bad they don’t have a can’t-miss third baseman prospect in the wings. Cliff Pennington got first shot, now it’s Alex Blandino’s turn. Brian Walton hopes Blandino can continue his modest three-game hitting streak.

MIXED LEAGUE AUCTION 

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Jeff Zimmerman’s Commentary

Todd’s Take

Could Mac Williamson be the next entry into the Launch Angle Club? I’d ask him, but the first rule of the…you know the rest.

Williamson spent time with Doug Latta in the off-season. Previously, Latta refined Justin Turner’s approach and stroke and so far, it appears Williamson’s time was well spent. He slashed an eye-popping .487/.600/.1.026 top open the season at Triple-A Sacramento, forcing the Giants hand. There’s an opening with Hunter Pence out, but it wouldn’t take much for Williamson to secure playing time when Pence returns.

MIXED LEAGUE DRAFT

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Ray Murphy’s Commentary

A lot of activity today in Mixed-Draft, with 12 of 15 teams working the free agent pool. But it’s mostly speculative plays or tweaking around the roster edges, as we had only one triple-digit bid (Christian Villanueva, won by Scott White with a bid of 103), and only one more over 50 (Josh Fields, won by Anthony Perri for 53). The other 17 players were all acquired for 36 units or less.

My acquisition was Joc Pederson. I was in the market for some OF depth, with Byron Buxton and Carlos Gonzalez banged up, and Wil Myers not yet OF-eligible. Pederson got some more playing time this week and showed some signs of life at the plate. Most noteworthy is that, so far, he is carrying over his late-2017 gains in contact rate. If that trend holds, he could work his way back into regular AB in the still-crowded Dodger OF.

Todd’s Take

If you don’t subscribe to The Athletic, think about it, if only to get Eno Sarris’ work (there’s other great stuff as well). It’s Eno’s story to tell, but this week, he featured six pitchers with a new weapon, one being Brandon McCarthy throwing what he calls a second slider, along with a curve and cutter. The differences in velocity, break and depth are working. With McCarthy’s injury history, get in while the getting’s good.

I’d be willing to bet half what’s left of my FAAB Wiseguy Gene McCaffrey bid on Freddy Galvis for his early week visit to Coors Field. As a challenge game player, Gene is wired to look for these sorts of things. You should too.

HEAD-TO-HEAD MIXED AUCTION

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Peter Kreutzer’s Commentary