Expert League FAAB Report - Week of 6/16

His last name is hard to spell right now but the better he pitches, the more practice writers will get spelling it.

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

Jacob Misiorowski ($204) - Misiorowski, one of Milwaukee’s top pitching prospects, made his big-league debut last week and was quite impressive, blanking the Cardinals across five innings while recording five strikeouts. He exited the outing early due to calf and quad cramping but the Brewers say he will be ready to make his next start this week in a road matchup versus the Cubs. Although his ability to rack up strikeouts at a high rate is unquestioned, maintaining consistent command of his pitches has been the 23-year-old’s biggest challenge throughout his minor-league career. But he’s made some progress in that area, lowering his BB/9 rate in the minors from 5.6 last year to 4.4 this season. Walking 4.4 batters per nine innings isn’t exactly a recipe for success in the majors but at least the walk rate is trending in the right direction. Considering his exceptional performance at Triple-A this year (2.13 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 80 strikeouts in 63 1/3 IP), there’s little reason to think that his first major-league stint will be an abbreviated one, so a hefty bid was certainly warranted. Still, 204 bucks seems like an overpay. Or maybe not. Misiorowski also received bids of $154, $151, $142 and $111.

Trevor Story ($154) - Story’s .277 OBP is tough to look at but from a counting stats perspective, the veteran shortstop is quietly putting together a solid season, collecting nine homers, 36 RBI, 31 runs and 11 steals in 69 games. Why he was dropped in this league last week is a mystery to me and I wasn’t at all surprised that he attracted a $154 bid. I was very surprised that he garnered only two other bids in the amounts of $54 and $5.

Jorge Soler ($153) - Soler was once a mainstay in fantasy lineups but his stock has taken a hit thanks to a slow start to this season. A lingering groin injury might have something to do with his struggles, however, and it’s possible that his production level will increase as he gets healthier. Although his 2025 stat line doesn’t inspire much confidence, Soler’s track record as a reliable power source is enough of a reason to add him if available in deeper mixed leagues. Aside from the $153 winning bid, interest in Soler was limited, the runner-up bid being $37.

MY BUYS

Nobody. I probably would have placed a bid on either Story or Soler if shortstop or outfield was a need but I’m covered at those positions and I didn’t want to spend FAAB unnecessarily.

LABR MIXED

TOP BUYS

Jacob Misiorowski ($22) - There’s that Misiorowski guy again. Seven of the 15 managers in this league tried to acquire the young righty with the $22 winning bid beating out a pair of $18 offerings. I didn’t bid on him as I knew it would require $10+ to win him and I was scared off by his control issues.

Christian Moore ($7) - Before getting called up by the Angels on Friday, Moore was in the midst of a productive minor-league season, batting .279 with five homers, 32 RBI, 31 runs and eight steals in 54 games split between Double-A and Triple-A. But the 22-year-old second baseman is 0-for-6 with three strikeouts through his first two big-league contests. While it’s way too early to give up on Moore if you already added him in a deep mixed league, I wouldn’t go out of my way to roster him as an extended cold stretch could result in a trip back to the minors.

MY BUY

Charlie Morton ($3) - Morton has been so inconsistent this year that I really have no idea what to expect from him going forward. That said, in four starts since returning to the rotation full-time, the veteran righty has pitched to a 2.70 ERA while striking out 27 batters in 20 innings. Morton is one of the few remaining active players who is older than me, which isn’t exactly reassuring. Perhaps he can be a useful matchup-based option, at least in the short term. Or perhaps he will no longer be on my roster one week from now. For three bucks, I’ll give him a chance.

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.