Expert League FAAB Report - Week of 5/19
Aside from one extravagant hitter purchase, this FAAB week was dominated by starting pitchers.
Every Monday throughout the season, I’ll be reviewing some of the top purchases along with my own buys in the Tout Wars Mixed Draft alternate category league and the LABR Mixed league. Note that the Tout Wars season budget is $1000 with $0 bids allowed while the LABR season budget is $100 with a minimum bid of $1.
TOUT WARS MIXED DRAFT WITH IP & SAVES+HOLDS
TOP BUYS
Trent Grisham ($300) - Grisham has slugged five homers over his last 17 games and his 12 home runs this season place him in a tie for 7th in the majors, so I have no idea why he was dropped in this league last week. Considering his big-league track record as merely a modest power source, he won’t continue to leave the yard at anywhere close to this rate. But his impressive performance this year should at least net his fantasy managers a decent trade return for those looking to “sell high.” There’s no way he belongs on the waiver wire in a deep mixed league. I have my doubts about Grisham’s future fantasy value but still placed a $28 bid for him even though I knew it wouldn’t be enough. I didn’t know that $200 wouldn’t be enough. Or even $299. The bidding for the veteran outfielder was strange as the runner-up offering was a hefty $275 but there were only two other bids, my $28 try and a $27 bid. Opinions regarding Grisham’s 2025 outlook seem to be either overly positive or very negative.
Mick Abel ($271) - Abel thrived in his major-league debut yesterday, blanking the Pirates across six innings while racking up nine strikeouts. The 23-year-old struggled in the minors last season but was pitching extremely well at Triple-A this year prior to his call-up, going 5-2 with a 2.53 ERA in eight starts. Whether or not Abel makes another start for the Phillies this week remains to be seen as Taijuan Walker is expected to fill the rotation spot of the injured Aaron Nola. But the club could decide to go with a six-man rotation for now and even if they stick to a five-man rotation, the inconsistent Walker could soon lose his spot to Abel. The risk with Abel is that he could get sent back down when Nola comes off the IL, though Nola’s return date is unknown. The bad news for the Abel winner is that he could have won him for $0. Shockingly, no other manager placed a bid on him. I thought about it but had limited room on my roster to add a starting pitcher and didn’t want to shell out triple-digit FAAB dollars for a player who might not even give me a start in the short-term.
MY BUY
Eli White ($22) - Searching for outfield help, White was my fallback option in the event I missed out on Grisham. The 30-year-old is quietly putting together a productive season, especially in the runs department, while getting regular playing time in the Atlanta outfield. White’s stay in my active lineup will likely come to an end once Roman Anthony gets called up but I’ve been waiting for the Red Sox to promote Anthony for weeks now and I’m beginning to lose my patience.
LABR MIXED
TOP BUYS
Mick Abel ($7) - Abel was a more popular FAAB target in LABR compared to Tout Wars but not by much, the only losing bid being $3. Unfortunately, that $3 bid was my bid, so I missed out on a chance to improve an injury-depleted starting pitching staff by picking up a high-upside option. I was close to raising my Abel bid to $5 but would not have gone to $7. No second-guessing here.
Jose Soriano ($7) - Quality starting pitching has always been tough to find on the waiver wire in this league and Soriano boasts a 1.50 ERA over his last three starts. His strikeout rate is mediocre and he issues a few too many walks. Still, the Angels’ righty is well worth adding for this week as he’s a two-start pitcher with a pair of favorable matchups, a road outing against the A’s followed by a home start versus the Marlins. The full seven FAAB bucks were needed to win Soriano as he also received bids of $6, $3 and $1.
Noah Cameron ($7) - The third and final member of the $7 starting pitcher group, Cameron has kicked off his big-league career in fine fashion, allowing a combined one run through two starts spanning 12 2/3 innings. Cameron was sent back down to the minors following his first start in late-April but fresh off Saturday’s successful second start, he figures to remain in the majors for awhile with both Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo now on the IL. Interest in Cameron wasn’t limited to one manager with bids of $5, $3 and $2 falling short.
MY BUY
Pierce Johnson ($1) - Rather than acquiring one of the $7 starting pitchers, I’ll take a chance on Johnson for a small fraction of that cost. Following the relief pitcher route could turn out to be a mistake as it might hurt my strikeouts and wins more than it helps my ERA and WHIP but this is only a temporary plan. I’m hoping that either my injured starters will return soon or that other appealing starting pitchers will surface on the waiver wire in the coming weeks.
Thanks for reading Steinhorn’s Universe. Post your comments and/or questions in the comments section and become a free subscriber to the newsletter by clicking the button below.