TOUT WARS!

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

Phil Hertz from BaseballHQ won the second week of the initial period of Tout Daily, taking over the top spot in the quest for the first three Golden Tickets of the season. Hertz was one of only three Touts to anticipate Lance McCullers Jr.’s dominating performance as well as the only player with the prescience to click in Matt Kemp for his 18 point night. Hertz’ high scorer was Patrick Corbin, he of the 44.05 point night, boosted by the bonus points for throwing a complete game shutout. Check out the entire winning lineup below.

Steve Gardner from USA Today matched Hertz’s pitchers, but fell six points short on the hitting ledger, finishing second for the week. Jed Lowrie’s team-leading 17 points wasn’t quite enough.

Bret Sayre from Baseball Prospectus came in third, 10.35 points off the pace. Sayre also benefited from Corbin’s masterpiece, pairing him with Alex Wood. Sayre also scored big with Yoan Moncada’s huge 28 point night, featuring a homer and steal.

Hertz, Fantasy Alarm’s Rick Wolf and Rotowire’s Clay Link are currently the leaders for the Golden Tickets, midway through the first period. A total of 16 Golden Tickets will be awarded to the Tout Daily Survivor Finals.

You can see the Tout Daily Leaderboard HERE.

Be sure to check back next Tuesday for the Tout’s pitchers and hitters picks for the night.

Here’s Phil’s Week 2 lineup.

It’s Week 2 of Tout Daily. Here’s what the Touts are looking at for a pitcher and hitter to build around.

Gene McCaffrey (Wise Guy Baseball, @WiseGuyGene)

Corey Kluber: Taking both Kluber and Ohtani. Too much 30+-point potential from both of them to try and get cute…

Jason Collette (Rotowire, @jasoncollette)

Yonny Chirinos: Chirinos vs a depleted Rangers lineup. The back half of that lineup is terrible

Francisco Lindor: For the homecoming in Puerto Rico. He’ll want to put on a show for the home crowd and Odorizzi will be his Washington General tonight

Michael Rathburn (Rotowire, @FantasyRath)

Yonny Chirinos: Rangers lineup has four legit bats out of nine.

George Springer: 4 dongs off Miranda, been hot. Cheap Rays RHBs. Also, Wilmer Flores vs a Lefty

Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Football Empire, @JeffBoggis)

Corey Kluber: Going on a full 7 days rest and facing Minnesota in the warm weather of Puerto Rico. Kluber is averaging 31.8 fantasy points per game.

Bryce Harper: Harper leads the league in home runs with 8. He’s so strong that even his broken bat hits go for home runs.

Howard Bender (Fantasy Alarm, @RotobuzzGuy)

Corey Kluber: Kluber is the easy must-play in cash games, but I’m loving Patrick Corbin vs SF and Yonni Chirinos against a strikeout-prone Texas lineup

Kris Bryant: Give me Kris Bryant against Adam Wainwright for the chalk and throw me some cheaper love from the TB bats again — Mallex, Ramos, Cron and Gomez

Ray Murphy (BaseballHQ, @RayHQ)

Yonny Chirinos: There are a bunch of worthy options in the ace and near-ace tiers tonight, but I can’t pass up Chirinos when he costs less than a top hitter.

Wilmer Flores: Wilmer Flores – free Wilmer! Should be back in lineup vs. LHP Gonzalez, looking to build on Sunday’s walkoff. Two 2B, Two HR in last 3 starts. Cheap at $3400

Todd Zola (Mastersball, @toddzola)

Patrick Corbin: Blinded by science – and a wicked slider against a weak lineup

CJ Cron: While others pay up at first, I’ll use Cron versus Matt Moore and pay up elsewhere

Phil Hertz (BaseballHQ, @prhz50)

Patrick Corbin: Home against a less than inspiring Giant offense (long live the humidor)

Asdrubal Cabrera: He’s been red-hot from both sides of the plate.

Robert Leibowitz (Rotoheaven, @rob_leibowitz)

Yonny Chirinos: Can’t argue with the matchup/price point.

Mallex Smith: Similar reaction with Smith a regular in the Rays outfield. This combo gives the benefit of a great deal of budget flexibility elsewhere.

Justin Mason (Friends with Fantasy Benefits, Fangraphs, Fantasy Alarm, @JustinMasonFWFB)

Corey Kluber: There are a few cheap pitchers to offset the cost of Kluber. Getting a nice matchup with the Twins in PR.

Matt Joyce: Leading off for the A’s today at $3,100 makes him a cheap outfield option that kills RHP.

Jeff Erickson (Rotowire, @Jeff_Erickson)

Corey Kluber: Also had Chirinos – so much for being unique!

Wilson Ramos: I have too many Rays. Wanted to find a way to get Murphy and Flowers in there too – but only if they face Matt Moore. Ramos homered last night, batting fifth tonight.

This week’s question:

What’s your approach to early-season trading?

Larry Schechter (Winning Fantasy Baseball, @LarrySchechter): If I have a need, I don’t wait trying to trade. In Tout Wars this year, I ended up drafting overkill power and was weak with SB. I knew even before the auction ended that I would try to trade power for speed. I did make one trade before the season started. I even gave up a few dollars in overall value to make the trade, because I know that winning HR’s by 30 or so is going to be more of a waste of value.

Perry Van Hook (Mastersball, @): Early in the season I would just be looking to fill weak position slots or perhaps replace a DL player, so the trade would be aimed at equal value assets on each team – trying to trade a good extra SP for perhaps a MI or mid level OF. The best approach to these is to look at individual rosters and “find” a trading partner who has a need you can fill and a player you can use in roughly the same tiers.

Doug Dennis (BaseballHQ, @dougdennis41): Mostly, I am looking for easy win-win type deals this early. Dynasty/keeper leagues allow for rebuilds to match with win-now teams. Redraft leagues it is very tough–owners love their guys in April. I shop my surplus, though, if I have it, and seek to balance my team from whatever mess I might have bought in auction.

Gene McCaffrey (Wise Guy Baseball, @WiseGuyGene): It might be a flaw in my game, but I am rarely looking to trade early. If I’m having injury trouble that’s another story, but generally I buy players I like and I like them for (I hope) good reasons. I like to give them some time to be themselves. Once we get into May, I start taking my team’s weaknesses seriously.

Tim McCullough (Rotoexperts, @Tim_Rotoexperts): Unless I identify a specific need or screwed up my draft in the first place, I will rarely make a trade in April. I like to give my hitters a good 100 at bats and my starting pitcher 4-5 starts before I start looking for trades. Once May rolls around, though, I will almost always start looking to better my team and make trades to do so rather than looking to the waiver wire.

Patrick Davitt (BaseballHQ, @patrickdavitt): I’ll make a deal, especially in a year like this when I came out of the auction with an imbalance toward pitching. But the value has to be there, too. I’ve received one offer that led to a longer e-mail convo, but we couldn’t agree on relative value.

Robert Leibowitz (Rotoheaven, @rob_leibowitz): In a redraft, AL or NL only league I might look for more statistical balance. On draft day I draft for value, but when the season starts its all about stats. I might also choose to build up stats in the categories my strength lie within for a little but, not too long and trade later. Going into a keeper league draft, you have a sense before you even sit down at the table what your chances of winning are depending on everyone’s keepers and budget available to spend. I usually take a few weeks to see if player development or injuries alter that situation, but whether you are dumping or going for it, it benefits you to be among the first, if no the first to make your move. You’re either targeting top keepers in the case of dumping or players to fit key areas of need before other teams can acquire them to increase your odds of winning. It is important in either case, not to advertise that you’re looking, but to inquire after specifc players and push to make a move while everyone else is still assessing what to do with their team.

Justin Mason (Friends with Fantasy Benefits, Fangraphs, Fantasy Alarm, @JustinMasonFWFB): This early in the season I am mostly looking to address any deficiencies that I may have left my draft/auction with. I am not overreacting to early numbers, but filling holes that I noticed after draft days or ones that have opened due to injury. I also try to avoid the cliche “sell high” situations. 1) It is rare in leagues with competent owners that you can pull these off. It often leads to more hurt feelings from bad trade offers than actual deals. 2) Even if you can swindle someone, then you may have burnt a bridge you may need in the future.

Ray Flowers (Fantasy Guru Elite, @BaseballGuys): Deals early in season are extremely difficult to execute if you’re in a league with folks that know what they are doing. Provided you didn’t pooch the draft, you should have a squad of players you like. Since we have barely two weeks of data to analyze, there are really only two instances where player values should change – if there’s an injury or a playing time change. Otherwise, I personally want to let me team breath a bit, meaning I would only take a trade that was a clear win – and those aren’t usually offered by folks that understand that Nick Ahmed and Preston Tucker aren’t the answer.

Mike Podhorzer (Fangraphs, @MikePodhorzer): I generally stick with my pre-season team projections to determine what my strengths and weaknesses are, but I’m not too concerned with trading early on to balance out the categories based on those forecasts. With injuries, breakouts, and busts, often your team ends up performing significantly better or worse than expected, so it’s extremely difficult to be sure of what you need after just a couple of weeks. Instead, I want to trade from depth to upgrade somewhere else. If I have a capable guy sitting on my bench not helping me, I want to either trade him and a starter for a better starter, or trade my starter for an upgrade somewhere else to allow me to now start that capable bench guy. In addition, while I would love to buy “low” and sell “high”, it’s far harder to execute than it used to be. I’ll make attempts after several weeks, but am rarely successful.

Andy Behrens (Yahoo! Fantasy Sports, @andybehrens): If you entered the season with apparent weaknesses (as most of us did), the early numbers offer confirmation, then you should explore all possible options for improving your roster. I’m not going to wait until some far-off date to address known roster shortcomings. The earlier you act, the greater the benefit. It’s also worth noting that in most hometown leagues, there are a couple of dead-money owners who overreact to April events. You want to take advantage of those owners today, right now. Do it before football mags hit the shelves and they become less attentive to their baseball rosters.

Clay Link (Rotowire, @claywlink): I’m not aggressively pursuing trades at this point in the season, mainly out of courtesy to my league mates. It also seems like a waste of time generally, as few are going to want to sell on someone they invested a lofty pick or significant auction dollars in, even if they are getting 90 cents on the dollar. And you’re not going to pry away found money. If I see a swap as logical for both sides, I may touch base, and I’m always willing to listen, but I’m focused more on adding talent through FAAB than trying to makes trades at this stage. If you are looking to wheel and deal, don’t lowball people — it’s rude and you run the risk of shutting yourself out of future talks if you disrespect an owner bad enough.

Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Football Empire, @JeffBoggis): I love a good trade, especially if it benefits both teams. The question that always comes into play is the perception of player value. For example, if a player is drafted in the first 4 rounds of your draft, yet their stats are terrible after the first month. Let’s examine Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Chris Archer. He had a pre-ranking of 61, but he now owns an ERA of 7.84, a WHIP of 2.50, and only 1 win on the season. His current ranking is 829. What value can you get for him if you own him? What would the current owner be willing to take in exchange for Archer? In expert leagues, owners tend to be more patient and don’t hit the panic button versus a newer league manager, so it’s more difficult to make early trades in Tout Wars.

Peter Kreutzer (Ask Rotoman, Fantasy Baseball Guide, @kroyte): I’m always open to a deal, if it makes sense, but in the early season we mostly still believe our guys off to slow starts will get better, and hope our guys off to good starts are en route to career years, so it’s hard to reconcile values with someone else who isn’t similarly invested. In an AL only league in which I need pitching, (and 4×4, so no K category) an owner offered me Andrew Triggs (three good starts!) for Adelberto Mondesi (on the DL!). I like Triggs, to an extent, but that’s not a trade I can consider at this point in the season. There was a reason Mondesi went for $7 in the auction, and Triggs lasted to the reserve rounds.

Michael Rathburn (Rotowire, @FantasyRath): If its a minor deal involving players that I did not invest a lot in, then I have no problem trading early. Esp if it was because of injuries. But for the most part I am willing to ride things for 6 weeks then assess.

Steve Gardner (USAToday Fantasy Sports, @SteveAGardner): I’m unlikely to initiate trade talk this early in the season because I prefer to give my roster at least a month or so to reveal its strengths and weaknesses. The differences in stats categories can change so quickly in the early going. That said, I won’t turn down an opportunity to discuss a trade if someone else expresses interest. There can be times when both teams match up well and I never want to discourage another owner from coming to me with a trade idea. Those lines should always be open, no matter what point it is in the season.

Scott Swanay (FantasyBaseballSherpa, @fantasy_sherpa): It’s never too early to make a good trade, but in my experience most of the trade offers that get sent out this time of year involve someone offering to trade a B-level player (or three) who’s off to a good start in exchange for an A-level player (or two) who are off to slow starts. Or someone hoping to take advantage of an owner whose team has suffered a key early-season injury (or three). In most of the leagues I play in, meaningful, mutually-beneficial trades don’t get made until June at the earliest.

Michael Beller (Sports Illustrated, @MBeller): I like being aggressive early in the trade market early in the season. In competitive leagues, even the best among us are going to enter the season with obvious weaknesses. Why wait until June or July to address those? Plus, by being aggressive early, you can take advantage of the natural tendency many people have, as evidenced in this ToutTable, to wait and see how things shake out. As much as we all want numbers to back up what we’re seeing, in real life sometimes guys break out without any advance warning. Sometimes, established veterans fall, if not entirely off a cliff, then at least to a lower level of performance, despite playing like a star the previous season. Aggressiveness gives you the opportunity to exploit that proclivity in leagues with experienced, savvy owners.

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

Seth Trachtmans’s’ Commentary

New Rangers first baseman Ronald Guzman was clearly the big prize in the AL this week, garnering bids from seven out of 12 teams. Jeff Erickson won him with impressive efficiency at $77, beating out Jason Collette’s $75 bid, as well as Lawr Michaels’ $73 attempt. The Rangers have been put in panic mode this week after losing both of their middle infielders, and it’s conceivable that Guzman will play the rest of the season on a team that has started the year 5-11, with two of the hottest teams in the AL in their division. That potential playing time volume is balanced out by limited upside, as Guzman has a career .334 on-base percentage in the minors and has never hit more than 16 home runs in a season.

With middle infielders Rougned Odor, Xander Bogaerts, Brad Miller, Elvis Andrus, and Jonathan Schoop all going on the DL in the last seven days, we also saw significant action in the middle infield market with names ranging from Rob Refsnyder ($16) to Ryan Goins ($1). I can’t speak for the rest of the league, but I claimed two new middle infielders this week (Goins and Tyler Saladino) and am hardly in the mood to brag about my purchases.

There wasn’t much pitching purchased this week, though Brian Johnson and Sergio Romo did fetch multiple bids. Romo has been effective early on as Tampa Bay’s setup man, while Rays closer Alex Colome has allowed at least a run in four of his six appearances. Johnson, meanwhile, made an excellent spot start on April 2 at Miami and has another spot start tomorrow vs. Baltimore.

Todd’s Take

In order to get this report posted Sunday evening, we moved the bid deadline to 1 PM ET/10 AM PT. Previously, it was Sunday at midnight ET. One of the concerns was not having Sunday’s action to help frame bids. While we knew it could occasionally hurt an owner, we obviously opted to run with the earlier deadline. Well, fellow Tout Wars board member Jeff Erickson was victimized by the change as Brian Johnson lost his only scheduled start next week due to the early postponement of the Patriot’s Day affair in Fenway Park. By rule, Jeff must keep Johnson active and with Drew Pomeranz expected to be back Thursday, Johnson will either head to Pawtucket or the bullpen.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Brian Walton’s Commentary

A former National League Tout champion, Mike Gianella, was in the center of the bidding action this week – both in his successful offers as well as by sparking a bidding war won by another. The Baseball Prospectus writer was the most aggressive player in the Week 3 bidding, nabbing Colorado setup man Adam Ottavino and Milwaukee starter Junior Guerra for a total of $216.

Though former closer Ottavino is not a threat to current closer Wade Davis, the right-handed pitcher donning the uniform number “0” has been lights out in his defined set up role. Ottavino has a whopping 18 strikeouts against just one hit and one walk in 8.1 scoreless innings in 2018.

Guerra, who hit harder times after having been named Milwaukee’s Opening Day starter in 2017, did not initially make the Brewers rotation out of camp this spring. In fact, he was banished to Triple-A. However, given another shot after injuries and ineffectiveness has made a mess of Milwaukee’s staff, the 33-year old threw 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball at the hot-hitting Cardinals on Wednesday. In his two-start week ahead, Guerra draws two cupcakes at home – the Reds and Marlins.

How did Gianella impact others’ bids, too, you ask?

Interestingly, Gianella had cashed in Miami’s Martin Prado for a FAAB reclaim of just $10 this past week. (Owners of injured players can receive a rebate of 10 times the initial price paid, on in this case, $1 x 10 = $10.)

That put Prado on the waiver wire, where Lenny Melnick won a bidding war that ended at $105 – despite the fact that the third baseman still has to complete his minor league rehab stint before being able to contribute.

Since Prado could have remained on Gianella’s unlimited-in-size disabled list until activated by the Marlins, it might initially seem surprising for Mike to give up on Prado for a relatively small take. However, while perhaps Gianella could have fetched more for Prado in trade, he ended up burning $105 from one his competitors plus securing $10 for a player in whom he obviously had invested almost nothing and did not need.

If Melnick gets the last laugh, it won’t be for a while, at least.

Todd’s Take

Sometimes a mistake can be serendipitous. I am playing with the short stack of FAAB, incurring a penalty for a low finish last season. As such, I vowed to aggressive in bidding, since I’m not going to be in the mix at the MLB trade deadline so why not make sure I get the guys I want early. I need a placeholder catcher until Steven Vogt returns. I don’t want to break the bank, but every stat matters so I wanted the best available backstop. While doing research, I read Kyle Farmer will be filling it at third while Logan Forsythe is out. The problem is, Farmer was incorrectly listed as catcher-eligible. So, while I should have bid more, I caught a break (pun intended) since I couldn’t use him. I’d have to activate Vogt and keep Farmer in my lineup.

This wasn’t the only mistake (I was scrambling to get bids in while tracking the rain outs and adjusting columns on Sunday and Monday’s slate, but that’s no excuse). I also was too conservative on Devin Mesoraco and completely messed up, bidding on Jeff Mathis instead of John Ryan Murphy. For my lack of effort, I am the not-so-proud owner of Mathis.

Good times.

Todd’s Take, Part 2

Okay, so I’ve been reminded of Tout Wars eligibility rules. Farmer is indeed eligible at catcher. Here’s the relevant clause:

If a player did not appear in 15 games at any position, or did not appear the prior season in the majors at all, he qualifies at the one position he played most frequently the prior season in any league(s) he played in combined. If a player sat out the previous year for any reason, his eligibility will be determined by the last season in which he played professional baseball in the United States.

Last year with the Dodgers, Farmer appeared at third base four times while catching three times. In some leagues, this leads to third base only. However, since Farmer failed to amass 15 games at the MLB level, we head down to the farm (fitting, in this case) to find 51 games behind the plate and 29 at the hot corner. Another way of saying that is Phil Hertz has a catcher and I have egg on my face.

MIXED LEAGUE AUCTION 

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Todd’s Take

Wait, isn’t Greg Holland closing for the Cardinals? While it’s true St. Louis signed Holland, ostensibly to work the ninth, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Right now, Norris is crushing it, fanning 14 with just one walk in 7.2 innings, posting three saves along the way. Don’t drop Holland (unless you really need the roster spot), but for now, the gig belongs to Norris.

MIXED LEAGUE DRAFT

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Perry Van Hook’s Commentary

Despite only 10 of 15 teams bidding Sunday, there was more than 1000 of FAAB used to acquire 16 players in Tout’s Mixed Draft league.

Todd’s Take

Adding to Zobrist’s allure is Tout Wars is an OBP league and the Cubs jack-of-all-trades has a penchant for getting on base. Though, keep in mind Anthony Rizzo is due back, but Joe Maddon will likely find a way to keep Zobrist in the lineup.

Nick Tropeano has always been interesting. He carries a decent strikeout rate without excessive walks. He’s put this on display at the MLB level in between injuries. Healthy, at least for now, Tropeano has cemented a spot in the Angels six-man rotation. He won’t get many, if any two-start weeks, but backed by a stellar defense and supported by a solid offense, Tropeano is certainly mixed-league worthy.

HEAD-TO-HEAD MIXED AUCTION

SUCCESSFUL BIDS

UNAWARDED BIDS

Todd’s Take

Talking with Justin Mason on this week’s Tout Wars Hour on the FNTSY Network, he noted two competitors, Michael Rathburn and Howard Bender have been very aggressive so far. This puts the bidders in a bit of a conundrum. Do they have to be equally as aggressive to secure players they want, or will Howard and Michael play it conservatively for a while? Writing these reports for as many years as I have, my guess would be Justin and his league mates are probably going to have to loosen the purse strings. Having 1000 to bid, with $0 bids allowed usually leads to aggressive bidders remaining as such. We’ll see.