The number of transactions continues to slow down as owners start waiting to see some of their moves pay off, but there was still a good amount of activity on the waiver wire this week. Here's a look at the FAAB bidding from the past week:
Player | Owner | Winning Bid ($) | Other Bids ($) |
Nick Pivetta | Todd Zola | 13 | 2 |
Andrew Moore | Isaac Buttke | 9 | 3 |
Jose Pirela | Josh Fathollahi | 5 | 4, 4, 1 |
Josh Phegley | Josh Rudd | 4 | |
Sean Doolittle | Steve Broihahn | 3 | 2 |
Patrick Corbin | Doug Thorburn | 2 | |
Elias Diaz | Juan Carlos Blanco | 2 | |
Matt Garza | Doug Thorburn | 2 | |
Jeremy Hellickson | Doug Thorburn | 2 | |
Ian Kennedy | Chris Benzine | 1 | 1, 1 |
Taylor Motter | D.J. Trainor | 1 |
In terms of money spent, Nick Pivetta turned out to be the most sought-out player, as Todd Zola bought his services for $13. Hindsight shows that he overpaid for the young pitcher, although the premium may be worth it for Zola. Although Pivetta's ERA sits at a lofty 4.46 for the season, he's striking out over a batter per inning, and he's allowed just three earned runs over his past two starts. He's also just 24, so he could prove to be a nice long-term asset for Zola.
As far as the number of bids goes, Jose Pirela commanded a lot of attention this week. He led the league with four bids, and for good reason. Pirela is hitting .351 with three home runs and three steals in 14 games played this season, which should help Josh Fathollahi improve across all batting categories. The 27-year-old is also in line for consistent playing time thanks to his ability to play the corner outfield spots and the infield proficiently, which has him in line for plenty of positional eligibility to help most teams.
Per usual, pitchers dominated the bidding, with seven of the 11 players claimed being hurlers. Starters were definitely the most sought out, although Steve Broihahn saw the gap in the market and took the chance to nab left-hander Sean Doolittle. Doolittle has an impressive 2.31 ERA on the season and seems to be taking some save opportunities away from incumbent closer Santiago Casilla.
With only one owner picking up more than one player, this week's award for most pickups goes to Doug Thorburn, who bolstered his pitching staff with three new starting pitchers. Although his hitters have been excellent, his pitching has been holding him back, so he picked up Patrick Corbin, Matt Garza and Jeremy Hellickson to try to right the ship and put him back in contention for one of the coveted top four spots.
Finally, after weeks of playing second fiddle in the standings to Juan Carlos Blanco, Tim Heaney broke out this past week and came within a half a point of the leader by the end of the period. Heaney acquired pitcher Jacob Faria via free agency and outfielder Cameron Maybin via trade in the past week to propel his team toward the top, and although he was silent this past week, he's very much in the running to take Blanco down from the pedestal of the league.
For reference, here is the lone trade that was completed in the past period:
Owner | Player(s) Acquired | Owner | Player(s) Acquired |
Steve Broihahn | Fernando Rodney Ian Kennedy | Joe Bartel | Ian Anderson Kenta Maeda |
All these moves are making things very interesting. If you have any comments or questions on these moves or your own league's transactions, feel free to reach to me on Twitter (@IsaacButtke). Good luck to everyone in the coming weeks!