Expert League FAAB Report - Week of 7/7

LABR FAAB was a lot more exciting than Tout Wars FAAB this week but for reasons beyond my control, I was much busier in Tout Wars.

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.

LABR MIXED

TOP BUYS

Trevor Rogers ($7) - Coming off a highly disappointing 2024 campaign, Rogers is faring much better this season. A knee injury delayed his 2025 debut until late-May and even though he was excellent in that outing, the Orioles strangely sent him back down to the minors for a few weeks. But the 27-year-old southpaw returned to the big leagues in mid-June and he’s thrived over his last three starts, allowing a combined two runs across 20 innings. The sample size of excellence is small, so it makes sense to be somewhat skeptical about Rogers long-term, but he looked like a fantasy breakout candidate during his early days with the Marlins. Perhaps he’s simply a late-bloomer. In addition to the $7 winning bid, Rogers received six bids but none of them exceeded $3.

Emmet Sheehan ($7) - Sheehan made his second big-league start of the season yesterday and was excellent, limiting the Astros to one run over five innings. The promising prospect is fully recovered from last year’s Tommy John surgery and the Dodgers appear ready to let him stick around in the majors for good, whether it be as a starter or a bulk reliever. The bulk reliever role is especially appealing for fantasy purposes as he won’t need to pitch five innings to qualify for a win. Seven of the 15 managers in this league tried to add Sheehan with the $7 winning bid edging out the $6 runner-up offering.

MY BUY

Joe Boyle ($4) - Although my $4 bid for Sheehan fell short, I’m fine with Boyle as the consolation prize. The Tampa Bay righty didn’t allow an earned run while striking out seven in his five-inning outing against the Twins yesterday, this after an impressive showing versus the Braves back in April in his only other major-league appearance this season. Boyle pitched as a bulk reliever behind Drew Rasmussen yesterday and the plan for now is for him to remain in that role.

TOUT WARS MIXED DRAFT WITH IP & SAVES+HOLDS

TOP BUY

Nick Martinez ($43) - Martinez wasn’t exactly a popular FAAB target, the only other bid for him aside from the winning bid being $2. That said, the veteran righty has pitched well recently, registering a 3.07 ERA and a 0.82 WHIP over his last two starts. He’s a two-start pitcher this week and has the benefit of a pair of favorable home matchups against the Marlins and Rockies.

MY BUYS

Mickey Moniak ($38), Andre Pallante ($38), Danny Jansen ($18) - In a very quiet FAAB week, Moniak and Pallante were actually the most expensive buys outside of Martinez. Multiple injuries forced me to be active on the waiver wire as I tried to adequately fill starting lineup holes.

Moniak has been swinging a hot bat of late but much of his damage has come at hitter-friendly Coors Field. Unfortunately, all six of Colorado’s games this week are on the road, so this pickup could turn out to be poorly timed.

As for Pallante, he seemed to be the safest starting pitching option as I searched for a replacement for Clarke Schmidt. Pallante has allowed a combined two runs over his last three starts spanning 18 innings. He won’t be a reliable source for strikeouts but at this point in the season, it’s not like there are many available starting pitchers who will help in strikeouts without damaging your ERA and WHIP.

The Gary Sanchez experience was pleasant (one home run, five RBI) but very brief (five games). With the Baltimore backstop on the IL, I’m hoping that Jansen, who has swatted nine homers to go along with 26 RBI in 61 games this season, can continue to produce at a level deserving of #2 catcher status in deep mixed leagues.

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