Tout Wars FAAB Report: Week of July 19

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

Todd’s Take

Let’s look at everyone’s place in the standings along with remaining FAAB.

Colton and the Wolfman are mid-pack in terms of FAAB. Mike Podhorzer has the 4th most but it’s unlikely a significant player will fall to him. It looks like this isn’t the year to be hoarding FAAB in AL only with the likelihood of scant crossover help.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Todd’s Take

I’ll go out on a limb and predict Tristan Cockcroft will bid $972 on Manny Machado on Sunday night.

The top is interesting as the front two teams are 4th and 3rd with respect to remaining FAAB units. The league may come down to the acquisition by each after the deadline deals flesh out.

For what it’s worth, when looking at the AL FAAB totals, I didn’t suggest it was a mistake for the lowest teams to still have a ton of FAAB left, knowing all too well where the bottom clubs are with the rest of their budget.

MIXED LEAGUE AUCTION

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Fred Zinkie’s Commentary

In what was likely my biggest overpay since I joined Tout Wars in 2011, I grabbed Yu Darvish at $174 with a runner-up bid of $12. Perhaps some of my leaguemates didn’t realize that Darvish has been returned to waivers, and others likely doubt that he will amount to anything in the second half. Still, his upside is probably greater than that of anyone else who will be on waivers from this point forward, and I had more FAAB than I knew what to do with. And grabbing injured players during the abbreviated week is generally a solid plan, as I can move Darvish to my DL in just a few days. I made a similar move with Ryan Braun, who cost me $2 and will effectively cost me three days of Denard Span before I can stash him on my DL. Finally, I made a low-cost acquisition of Elias Diaz, who has been respectable at the dish this year and should play regularly until Francisco Cervelli recovers from (another) concussion.

Amed Rosario garnered a bid of $46 by Ray Flowers. The 22-year-old is going to be a liability in the OBP category (lifetime .283 mark), but he was a coveted prospect at this time last year and has some speed. Dan Straily also garnered a significant bid, fetching $33 from Zach Steinhorn, who is likely looking to fill out his rotation and pick up extra whiffs and wins in this short week. Straily faces the Rays on Friday. My favorite bid by a leaguemate was Ron Shandler’s $8 acquisition of Jeff McNeil, who is thriving in the Minors this year (1.043 OPS) and should get a shot with the Mets by the beginning of August. Other players who were targeted as stash additions during this short week were Jung Ho Kang (Bret Sayre, $6), Peter Alonso (Sayre, $6) and Julio Urias (Tim Heaney, $1).

Todd’s Take

Obviously, mixed league formats don’t deal with crossover players which is why the totals are much lower.

MIXED LEAGUE DRAFT

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Rudy Gamble’s Commentary

Todd’s Take

Look like we’re in for a fun finish with the top couple of teams also having a lot of FAAB to take advantage of the impending players yet to emerge.

HEAD-TO-HEAD MIXED AUCTION

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Todd’s Take

Keep in mind even though this is a head to head league, there’s no playoffs, best record wins.