Welcome back to the FAAB Review, the column that reviews the goings on in multiple analyst leagues in the hopes we can help you with your own FAAB bidding process and habits. This column will mostly focus on The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational (TGFBI), a contest that contains 31 leagues of 15 teams each and crowns an overall champion at the end of the regular season. We’ll look at the 10 most popular FAAB buys in those leagues every week. We’ll also focus on some highlights in Tout Wars AL and LABR NL, two deeper industry leagues.
TGBFI and Tout Wars use a $1,000 FAAB budget, while LABR uses $100. Tout Wars also allows teams to place $0 bids. All three leagues run their FAAB weekly on Sundays.
TGFBI
Endy Rodriguez $38 (Maximum Bid: $89. Minimum Bid: $7)
Hope and excitement about the possibility that Rodriguez might make the Pirates Opening Day roster was dashed when he was demoted to the minors in March but also the reason he was available in a few TGFBI leagues last night. It might seem like service time shenanigans are what led to Rodriguez’s late promotion but the real culprit was a forearm strain that cost him a couple of weeks. His overall numbers in AAA don’t look good, but E-Rod has picked it up in the last month, slashing .312/.400/.473 since June 14. The power hasn’t shown up this season, but even if he is only a good AVG hitter that plays in two-catcher formats.
Tyler Soderstrom $24 ($93, $1)
Soderstrom is a prodigious power prospect for the Athletics who got the call last week. His more optimistic projections have him as a 25-30 home run hitter with mediocre or worse batting averages. One challenge with valuing Soderstrom in redraft formats is that he is first base eligible only in leagues that only use games played from last season for minor leaguers. He has started in all three games since his promotion but only once at catcher. In mixed leagues, you won’t have the luxury of sticking Soderstrom at first or wasting a reserve spot on him waiting for him to gain eligibility.
Zack Gelof $22 ($54, $3)
There are some medium to long term concerns in Gelof’s scouting profile, but he has a clear opportunity for playing time at second base for the sad sack A’s. He has solid power and very good speed and it is his stolen base potential that makes Gelof worth adding in mixed if you’re hurting in the category. The risk is that his inability to connect in the strike zone (something Tim Jackson pointed out in the fantasy portion of Gelof’s Call Up piece) could lead to a very low batting average and a demotion in short order.
Cristopher Sanchez $13 ($26, $3)
I wrote about Sanchez two weeks ago in this space. Since then, he has continued to perform, with solid outings against the Rays and Padres. The home runs have ticked up in his last few starts, which I suppose is a moderate concern, but Sanchez is worth using while he is riding this solid streak. He is home against the Brewers this week.
Travis Jankowski $12 ($45, $1)
Jankowski isn’t a full timer but is extremely fast and the Rangers are maximizing his stolen base potential, as The Jank (as I and no one else like to call him) has 13 steals in 161 PA. He’s also hitting .328 but the steals are the reason to pick him up if you’re hurting in the category and more importantly can afford to use a roster spot on a player who won’t offer much else.
Nick Pivetta $11 ($34, $2)
I wrote about Pivetta last week, noting that the Red Sox have essentially moved him back into a starting role, albeit as a “follower” after a relief opener. Pivetta reprised that role in his last start, garnering eight strikeouts in five innings in a win against Oakland. He tentatively has a rematch on tap with them this week and is a worthy streamer at the very least.
Johan Rojas $11 ($41, $1)
A mild elbow injury landed Cristian Pache on the IL and Rojas in the majors for the Phillies. Rojas has started three of the last four games for Philadelphia, although two of those contests were against lefties. The expectation is that this is just a short-term promotion while Pache recovers from a minor injury, but Pache certainly isn’t a mainstay and Rojas could push his way into regular playing time. The steals are the most enticing thing about Rojas, as he stole 30 at AAA and already has one in the majors.
Alec Marsh $10 ($18, $2)
Marsh throws hard but because his fastball doesn’t have a lot of movement he tends to rely more on his secondaries than a hard thrower typically does. He is getting the strikeouts so far in the majors, but the overall results have been subpar and Marsh has been extremely susceptible to long balls. He gets a soft matchup this week against the Tigers, but I have a tough time recommending him.
Graham Ashcraft $7 ($27, $1)
Thanks to high velocity and a biting slider he’s a pitcher the projection models love who hasn’t come close to delivering with results. Ashcraft has been somewhat unlucky with strand rate but realistically needs a third pitch to be more than a fifth starter. He has a very tough matchup at home against the Giants and you should only use him if your rate stats aren’t a concern.
Kyle Finnegan $7 ($14, $2)
Hunter Harvey is scheduled to undergo an MRI later today and it is likely he will need to go on the injured list, according to Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports. This makes it possible that Finnegan could once again be the primary closer for the Nationals. Finnegan has almost entirely abandoned his slider as his second offering in favor of a splitter and while the results have been OK the expected stats have been poor. Perhaps Mason Thompson is a somewhat better option, but it’s probable Dave Martinez goes with the name he knows.
Tout AL
Oswald Peraza $72 (Other Bids: $57, $11)
Kyle Isbel $69 ($59, $28, $11, $5, $3)
Alec Marsh $54 ($23)
Yu Chang $28 ($11, $7)
Touki Toussaint $23
Nick Maton $17 ($11, $3)
Hitting is typically difficult to come by in mono leagues, but Tout this week featured a pair of intriguing hitters at the top. With Josh Donaldson back on the IL, Peraza returns from Triple-A. He has some power and decent speed, but it is unclear how extended his opportunity will be or if he will crack the Yankees starting infield. There is a case to be made that New York should sell and give their youngsters a legitimate opportunity in the last two months but that’s not going to happen.
Isbel is starting for the Royals in center field. His numbers are awful, and even with the relative hot steak he is on in July he has gone from being a terrible hitter to a slightly below league average one. His speed is what makes him intriguing, but he only has three steals in 141 PA. He is a mono league playing time special, but the poor team context and low batting average mean he could still hurt you, even here.
LABR NL
Dane Myers $9 (Other Bids: $4, $3, $2, $2, $1)
Jose Quintana $6 ($4)
Johan Rojas $2 ($1)
Patrick Wisdom $2
Michael Tonkin $1
Dominic Canzone $1
Raimel Tapia $1
I wrote about Myers last week in the mixed section of this piece. It’s somewhat surprising he is available, although the short week combined with LABR’s stricter free agent rules sometimes leads to wonky situations where a player is acquired in mixed before he is picked up in LABR. He is hitting an empty .500 (assuming it is even possible to hit an empty .500) and starting in center field every day at the bottom of the Marlins’ lineup.
I bid $4 on Quintana. I wanted another starter but his diminished velocity on his rehab assignment combined with the (gestures vaguely in the direction of Queens) made me wary. I also would rather wait and see if someone better pops up either from the AL or from the minors from one of the NL teams who will be selling later this month. I’m in fourth place but 7.5 points out of first and still in the race.
Thank you for reading
This is a free article. If you enjoyed it, consider subscribing to Baseball Prospectus. Subscriptions support ongoing public baseball research and analysis in an increasingly proprietary environment.
Subscribe now