In terms of dollars spent, this was a very quiet week on the waiver wire. However, the wire was active as usual when it came to the number of players nabbed.

Here's a summary of this past week's FAAB action:

Surprisingly, the most money thrown at a player was the $5 I spent to land Kaleb Cowart, the 25-year-old Angels infielder. Cowart spent the last two seasons splitting time between the majors and minors, but he had very little success in the majors, batting below the Mendoza Line in each trip to Anaheim. However, the Angels were determined to let him work out all the kinks in the minors this season, and he responded by producing a .311/.383/.482 slash line (and hitting for the cycle in a game I witnessed!) with Triple-A Salt Lake. He was called back to the majors just this past week, and in four games, the first-round draft pick (2010) is 5-for-13 (.385) with two doubles, two RBI and three runs scored. The "bust" label is frequently used to describe Cowart, although if this fast start is any indication, he could be ready to break out and prove why he was so highly regarded at one point.

Only two players received more than one bid this week, with reliever Kirby Yates of the Padres getting the largest number of owners clamoring for his services. Josh Fathollahi ultimately won the bidding war, giving him a shiny new strikeout machine at his disposal. Yates started the season with the Angels and got shelled for two home runs in his lone MLB appearance with the Halos. Then, the Padres claimed him off waivers and everything changed. In 33.1 innings out of San Diego's bullpen, the 30-year-old holds a 1.89 ERA (with an impressive 2.51 FIP) while posting an absurd 51:9 K:BB in that span. He's still very much a flyball pitcher which doesn't help him out in the home run department, but given that Yates is one of the top options to close for the Friars if Brad Hand gets dealt, this is a sound pickup for Fathollahi.

Although pitchers normally dominate the waiver claims in our league, the hitters were very well represented this week thanks to a trio of $2 outfielders. Howie Kendrick, Mikie Mahtook and Jon Jay, although they are at different points of their respective careers, all have a similar hitting profile. They don't possess a ton of power, but they're all hitting for a very high average as of late. It's typically difficult to move a lot in the batting average standings this late in the season, but these owners are likely speculating that this influx of hits will also translate to more runs scored and more runs driven in.

Multiple owners grabbed two players from free agency this week, but some of the most interesting pickups came from James Anderson once again. He also picked up a couple of intriguing arms in Baltimore reliever Mychal Givens and Yankees righty Chad Green (whom I recently recommended in another article). Both are getting reps in high-leverage innings thanks to sub-2.00 ERA's and excellent strikeout rates. They do have their own intriguing aspects, however, as Givens could get save chances if the Orioles sell off the rest of their bullpen, and Green has the ability to log multiple-inning outings while maintaining his strikeout rate. Nonetheless, they're both young options whose roles are increasing as they perform well against major-league hitters.

To conclude this week's edition of the FAAB Review, we'll take a look at one of the quickest climbers in the league standings. Steve Broihahn has steadily moved up the ranks thanks to some strong free agent pickups and trades that netted him Andrew McCutchen and Fernando Rodney this summer. He also has the potential for even more production, as he just brought up Phillies' outfielder Nick Williams from his minor-league squad to help him push for a higher spot in the standings. He's now tied for third place (with yours truly) and is just six points out of second place, a very attainable spot given how he's managed things to this point.

No trades went through this week, so that's everything for this week's review. If you have any thoughts on these moves or want to discuss moves in your own league, reach out to me on Twitter (@IsaacButtke) so we can discuss things. Good luck to everyone this week!