This article is part of our Rounding Third series.
In a normal season, the first run of FAAB in a given league is of massive importance, more so the earlier your draft occurred. In this crazy year, with a three-month lag between spring training and summer training, players opting out or testing positive for COVID-19, and other players recovering from injuries that otherwise would have forced them to miss half a season, this run was especially vital.
Here are the results from my leagues that had FAAB runs last night, roughly in order of when they were drafted.
FSGA
This is a 14-team mixed league that started at the industry's conference in January and concluded via slow draft over the remainder of the month. I dropped a couple of marginal starters (Jordan Lyles, Zach Eflin), but luckily I mostly avoided trouble over this long stretch, though I have some concern about Roberto Osuna not yet throwing from a mound. Fair warning - this is a long list:
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That's right, there were so many bids that I had to use two screenshots to fit them all in.
I was the second-place finisher on Josh James, and my consolation prize was overpaying on Spencer Howard. It's not that I don't love Howard, but the gap between my winning $333 bid and the second place $100 bid is gross. That's especially true because I'm to sure when he's going to make his first start - but my guess is that he'll displace Eflin or
In a normal season, the first run of FAAB in a given league is of massive importance, more so the earlier your draft occurred. In this crazy year, with a three-month lag between spring training and summer training, players opting out or testing positive for COVID-19, and other players recovering from injuries that otherwise would have forced them to miss half a season, this run was especially vital.
Here are the results from my leagues that had FAAB runs last night, roughly in order of when they were drafted.
FSGA
This is a 14-team mixed league that started at the industry's conference in January and concluded via slow draft over the remainder of the month. I dropped a couple of marginal starters (Jordan Lyles, Zach Eflin), but luckily I mostly avoided trouble over this long stretch, though I have some concern about Roberto Osuna not yet throwing from a mound. Fair warning - this is a long list:
---
---
That's right, there were so many bids that I had to use two screenshots to fit them all in.
I was the second-place finisher on Josh James, and my consolation prize was overpaying on Spencer Howard. It's not that I don't love Howard, but the gap between my winning $333 bid and the second place $100 bid is gross. That's especially true because I'm to sure when he's going to make his first start - but my guess is that he'll displace Eflin or Jake Arrieta sooner rather than later if the Phillies have any designs on winning this season.
My other pick up was Franchy Cordero, who should win a lot of playing time with the Royals. My $8 bid was a "keep 'em honest" bid on a player with upside for playing time.
Mixed LABR
This is another league drafted on RT Sports. I've had some difficulty using their waiver system over the years, but I think I have it down now. We did this 15-team mixed league in early February, and I wasn't so lucky avoiding the whammies there. Luis Severino didn't make it out of spring training, Emilio Pagan got traded to the Padres the day after the draft, Austin Meadows is on the COVID-IL, and Domingo German will miss the shortened season due to the suspension.
I was the big bidder in the Zack Britton Sweepstakes, but curiously missed that Ryan Helsley was available. It wasn't for a lack of listing a ton of players, either. Here were my bids:
Between Britton and Montgomery, I overbid by a combined $24 in a $100 budget. The Britton overbid I'm fine with - I have just one closer, and a shaky one at that in Sean Doolittle. Arguably I should have gotten both Britton and Helsley, though that would have been prohibitively expensive. But I misgauged the market on Montgomery, and that's a leak I have in this particular league. LABR has just the $100 budget, with no $0 bids allowed, nor can you trade FAAB. I always spend too much, too soon in this league. It won't hurt as much this year in a 10-week season, but it's still a problem I have.
TGFBI
This was a 15-team slow draft beginning in February, with an overall contest that RotoWire analysts have done well in the past, apparently.
Once again, Rich Hill and Zack Britton fetched the biggest bids, but also note Aaron Hicks as another player that benefited from the long layoff to recover from his Tommy John elbow surgery. Jarred Kelenic was another interesting big bid - there's some debate whether he's going to play with the big club, but he sure looks good in summer camp.
I ended up only getting Nick Burdi for a nominal price. When it comes to the Pirates' closer situation, I don't know when Keone Kela is going to return, or whether Burdi or Kyle Crick closes in the interim (or even Richard Rodriguez). In fact, I got Crick in another FAAB round later.
RotoWire Staff Keeper League
The staff keeper league is an 18-team mixed league with seven-man reserve rosters, 10-man minor league rosters and no IL spots. We drafted in early March. We have $100 budgets, no $0 bids but you can trade FAAB.
I don't have an easy way to screen shot the results, but here are the players bought and their amounts:
Alex Dickerson $11
Trent Thornton $1
Roman Quinn $17
Rich Hill $51 (that was me, and the second place bid was $41)
Griffin Canning $17
Trevor Richards $7
JaCoby Jones $7
Austin Adams $3
Tony Wolters $5
Jeimer Candelario $8
Adam Morgan $2
Brandon Crawford $1
Hunter Pence $1
Trevor Williams $1
Tyler Heineman $2
Raimel Tapia $14
Adam Duvall $2
Joe Palumbo $2
Nick Burdi $3
Austin Voth $2
Dominic Smith $3
I spent like crazy on Hill, but it was worth it to me for multiple reasons. One, I'm a little light on starting pitching in that league after inflation hit that harder than it did hitters, to my surprise. Two, with a short season, I'm less concerned with maintaining my budget for the stretch run. And finally, Hill isn't going to be a keeper anyhow - I'm not worried about keeping his price down like I might for a younger player.
RotoWire Online Championship - BJE1
This is the first of the two "Beat Jeff Erickson" NFBC 12-team drafts, drafted on July 2, the second overall RotoWire Online Championship draft. Believe it or not, a lot changed in two weeks. A whole slew of players tested positive or opted out, including Aroldis Chapman for me. Alas, I did not get Zack Britton to temporarily replace him here.
I also didn't get Ryan Helsley, unfortunately. Here's where I got Crick as my consolation prize, having been outbid for Burdi. Bye Bye Burdi, I guess.
NFBC Main Event
This was drafted on Friday night, but I already had a player (Tony Gonsolin) sent to the alternate (minor league) camp. Bidding was light, but there were still some misgivings elsewhere too.
Chatwood pitches this weekend, albeit against the Brewers, and then gets a start next week against the Pirates. Guess I could have bid $1 after all, but that's ok - those aren't the overbids that kill you.
I expect next week will be heavy because of each team's roster decisions before Opening Day, and where job battles will be resolved by actual game play.
