This article is part of our Rounding Third series.
This is the week where James Wood was available in a number of leagues, but I had a pretty good feeling that I'd be shut out on acquiring him going into the bidding process. So it was written, so it came to pass - I didn't get Wood anywhere. I thought I'd have a good chance of getting a second or third choice, however, but then Parker Meadows injured his hamstring Sunday against the Reds, taking one option off the table. All things considered, I guess I should be pleased to land Brooks Lee twice in bidding.
AL Tout Wars:
Good news! I picked up Brooks Lee a week ago, speculating that he was close to getting the call, and thus got a potenial impact pickup inexpensively.
Bad news! At the auction in March, I used my last marginal dollars on a $7 Matt Wallner, only to see him slump badly, get demoted, and continue to slump at Triple-A for a couple of weeks. Tout Wars only provides four IL slots, to allow for some tough decisions by their managers, thus creating some talent on the waiver wire. Early in the season, I actually had six players on IL, both Wallner and Jackson Holliday sent down to the minors, and a couple of other live-body reserves, creating a tension on who to cut. I cut Wallner, which I didn't regret until this week when he got called back up, and Doug Dennis comfortably outbid me to pick him
This is the week where James Wood was available in a number of leagues, but I had a pretty good feeling that I'd be shut out on acquiring him going into the bidding process. So it was written, so it came to pass - I didn't get Wood anywhere. I thought I'd have a good chance of getting a second or third choice, however, but then Parker Meadows injured his hamstring Sunday against the Reds, taking one option off the table. All things considered, I guess I should be pleased to land Brooks Lee twice in bidding.
AL Tout Wars:
Good news! I picked up Brooks Lee a week ago, speculating that he was close to getting the call, and thus got a potenial impact pickup inexpensively.
Bad news! At the auction in March, I used my last marginal dollars on a $7 Matt Wallner, only to see him slump badly, get demoted, and continue to slump at Triple-A for a couple of weeks. Tout Wars only provides four IL slots, to allow for some tough decisions by their managers, thus creating some talent on the waiver wire. Early in the season, I actually had six players on IL, both Wallner and Jackson Holliday sent down to the minors, and a couple of other live-body reserves, creating a tension on who to cut. I cut Wallner, which I didn't regret until this week when he got called back up, and Doug Dennis comfortably outbid me to pick him back up.
My consolation prizes this week were Davis Daniel (replacing Carlos Carrasco, who I used for his two home starts last week) and Jonathan Ornelas from the Rangers. Originally I didn't get Ornelas, but Eric Samulski's roster wouldn't be valid with him, so his bid was overturned and I got Ornelas for $5.
I also unfortunately won't be able to use Parker Meadows this week after his swing change and recall, with him getting hurt on Sunday.
NFBC Main Event:
We only put in one good size bid this week, $57 on Brooks Lee, and didn't get him, coming back a distant second to Richard Zito. Dave Clum, who already had rostered James Wood all season, had the other big bid in our league this week, spending $123 on Edward Cabrera, who is back from the IL, gets two starts this week, and could get traded by the end of the month to a better team.
Our two pickups were Andre Pallante from the Cardinals and Tyrone Taylor from the Mets. Pallante has two starts this week and has pitched reasonably well. We grabbed Taylor in case one our middling outfielders (Adam Duvall, Colton Cowser) sits out more, or in case Taylor Ward is rested more by the Angels.
Beat Jeff Erickson1:
Wood was available here, but went for more than I had in my budget, let alone any sort of aggressive bid I could make. It was more of a bummer to lose out on Brooks Lee, 57-53. Instead I got Brendan Rodgers, who at least gets to play four games in Great American Ballpark against the Reds. I also picked up Chris Paddack for two of the best road starts possible - at the White Sox and at the Giants.
Beat Jeff Erickson2:
Once again, I got outbid on James Wood by a good amount, but at least I won Brooks Lee while bidding less than I did in the other 12-team league, albeit still inefficiently (37-2). 12-team league FAAB-bidding is always weird. Spencer Schwellenbach beat the Phillies over the weekend and I think he's established himself in the Braves rotation.
Yogurt:
I only bid on Brooks Lee here, and used my "when in Yogurt (TGFBI), bid less" method. It did not work this week.
SCARF:
Another league, another Brooks Lee bid, this time successful. The eye-opening move was the big bid on Yoshinobu Yamamoto by RotoWire's Paul Martinez, winning the bid 113-71. This is a risky stash, given that Yamamoto is only going to start playing catch in the next week, and has a good amount of time still to return from his rotator cuff strain. But the upside is also clearly evident - even if it's only for September, it'll be worth it for Paul if he gets an ace for the last month.
RotoWire Staff Keeper League:
It was a busy night in the Staff Keeper League, and unfortunately the biggest bid went to Parker Meadows, who went on the IL on Monday after the bidding was complete. This is another league with no IL slots, so Meadows was dropped by his impatient owner (me) when he was sent down to Triple-A.
I added three players this week - Matt Wallner, Andre Pallante and Randy Vasquez - the latter has a home start that was originally projected to be against Seattle and their 28.0% K%, but there's some risk it might now come against Atlanta instead. Unfortunately, my pivot from Vasquez is Chris Stratton, who I added previously as James McArthur insurance, with Graham Ashcraft getting sent back down by the Reds again.
XFL:
The XFL is a 15-team mixed league that is a hybrid between a dynasty and keeper league. We have a November auction and then a March supplemental draft to fill our 40-man rosters. We can keep up to 15 players total - whether they are major league players or prospects (or, if you so desire, players in foreign leagues, collegians or even high school players - if you want to draft and hold them, you can). So if you're rebuilding with prospects, you don't get the advantage of keeping more players. Players acquired as major leaguers see their salary advance +5 every year, players that are kept as prospects advance +3. We have a monthly supplemental draft as our free agent acquisition process, the first Sunday of every month. The above is the result from the July supplemental.
I added Heston Kjerstad yet again here, debating whether to take him or one of the two catcher later added in the first round - Ben Rice and David Fry. Both potentially could be keepable at $6, though Rice is unlikely to retain his catcher eligibility next season. A.J. Puk is a pure speculation play that he could close again if Tanner Scott gets dealt by the Marlins - Puk has pitched much better in the last month after returning to the bullpen.
