Tout Wars FAAB Report: Week of April 30

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