Week 14 FAAB Results - Big Spending Week

Heading into this weekend, overall FAAB spending has been down, especially in the NFBC, as there haven't been as many highly-touted rookies getting the call, or closers going down with clear replacements. That should change this week and next week. 

Noelvi Marte's 80-game suspension ended Thursday, and he jumped right into the Reds' starting lineup, stealing two bases right away against the Cardinals. Also, the Nationals announced that they would call up James Wood, beginning on Monday - in many leagues, that means we'll be able to pick him up next weekend instead of last weekend, unless he was originally drafted in our leagues. Marte ultimately ended up going for more than $300 in 21 of the 57 Main Event leagues, with a top bid of $509. Two of the top four bidders were former overall Main Event champions, Lindy Hinkleman and Rob Silver.

AL Tout Wars:

I got lucky that the Heston Kjerstad pickup worked out well last week, else he would have gone for even more than Jhonesky Noel did this week ($276 - Jason Collette), I suspect. It looks as if Kjerstad is legitimately up this time, on the good side of a platoon, starting five of seven games last week. He's also up to seven games played in the outfield.

But enough about last week, there are big bids to be discussed here. Jason Collette was the big spender, landing both Noel and David Festa of the Minnesota Twins. Festa only struck out two Diamondbacks over five innings in his debut, but he had 91 K's in 63.2 innings at Triple-A before his promotion, and he has consistently missed bats in the minors. I had a bid in on him, but didn't have the budget to compete with Jason's bid.

I had two cheap pickups, Carlos Carrasco with two home starts against the White Sox and Giants, and Daz Cameron, who is playing a decent amount for the A's.

NFBC Main Event:

Good news! Noelvi Marte was available here. Bad news! He went for more than I had in my FAAB budget - $408 to Scott Slezak, who I'm battling for fifth place in the league. In a way, it was comforting it didn't matter how much I bid on him. But it's also frustrating that I won't be able to roster either Marte or James Wood, who was drafted in the 30th round by Dave Klum, who held on to Wood the whole time.

Knowing that I wouldn't be able to get Marte or Wood, I put in an intermediate-sized bid on Jhonkensy Noel, even though I have some reservations. Noel is a right-handed hitter, so he could end up on the wrong side of a platoon. He might also strike out a bunch at the big league level, like he did on Sunday (3 K's). It's possible that Noel could slump and get sent down in two weeks. But I still decided to risk it because of his raw power and upside, and because we're hurting for hitters. Will Brennan got hurt, Adam Duvall is slumping badly and Mitch Haniger has been losing copious playing time. 

We also added Charlie Blackmon for his seven-game homestand at Coors Field, Albert Suarez for his start against the strikeout-happy Mariners, and Alejandro Kirk because we needed a carbon-based form of life behind the plate after cutting Bo Naylor two weeks ago.

Beat Jeff Erickson1:

Often the top free agents in the 12-team leagues will have been available the previous week in 15-team leagues or "only" leagues, as was the case with Heston Kjerstad. I was able to get Kjertstad in both 12-team leagues this week. Max Scherzer was also available in both of my 12-team leagues, and I had the second-place bid in both leagues. He was available because he wasn't originally drafted, with his injury news coming out relatively early. I also added Spencer Horowitz here for the Blue Jays' seven-game week.

Beat Jeff Erickson2:

Marte was a lot more affordable here, but I've already spent a ton of my budget. Still, I have some FOMO for not getting him nor Scherzer. Instead, I settled for Kjerstad and Suarez again. Go O's.

Yogurt:

Marte was not available here - TGFBI is an industry overall contest that begins drafting in February, so he was drafted well before his suspension was announced. I ended up with Noel again, and Landon Knack, who was a primary target for me this week. I like what I've seen from him so far, and there's a possibility that he could remain in the rotation longer than originally expected.

SCARF:

Here's another league where neeither Noelvi Marte nor Heston Kjerstad were available. Instead, I settled for Noel.

LABR Mixed League:

I'm the one that actually held Noelvi Marte on my bench all season prior to this week, so at least there's one league where I saved some of my budget. LABR allows for unlimited IL slots, which unfortunately I've needed at times, as at one point my IL list swelled to 10 players. But that also makes it easier to stash a prospect or a suspended player, as opposed to the NFBC, where there are no IL slots.