Yes a departure from normal logs but this was far from a normal week for those of us in FAAB leagues.
And really what better example is there than a weekend with Dee Gordon, Mike Moustakas, and Anthony Rizzo all available in most mixed league that leagues should not still be using a waiver wire regardless of whether that is FCFS, Inverse Standings, or Priority ranking based on lack of use. Give everyone in the league a fair shot to use whatever dollars they have left to try and grab one of these guys.
I am going to look at seven (maybe more) mixed leagues where two or three of this week’s youngsters were available and give you the winning bids.
The first two leagues many readers will be familiar with – fifteen team, mixed leagues for NFBC draft prep that draft in December and January that Todd, Jason M, and I and several members of the Mastersball community play in.
Jerry Beckham League: All three were available; here are the winning bids from Saturday night bidding (sadly I lost all three)
$438 Moustakas
$172 Rizzo
$150 Gordon
Patrick B. Young League: Here Moustakas was drafted in January, so only two available
$202 Rizzo
$136 Gordon (yeah, my lowball bid actually worked)
WCOFB Online Championship: All three available and there were three teams who had more money than we did, but this team has continued to fall after leading early and I wanted to go “ALL IN to try and get one. As fate would have it, C.J. Wilson was dropped in this league last week (likely an error but …) and we need the pitching help as much as hitting; and veteran versus rookie put Wilson at the top of our queue for $385 so we definitely get one. We will be on dollar days for the rest of the season but needed to get an impact player more than in other leagues.
$405 Wilson (to the guy who dropped him……sorry John)
$385 Moustakas (glad to roster him here this team needs more prayers)
$225 Rizzo
$33 Gordon (sorry I fail to understand why people are bidding more on Jemile Weeks who has even less job security)
WCOFB League 1 – where I drafted Moustakas in March thinking that he would be the first top prospect called up…okay wrong on that but I didn’t have to pony up on Sunday night either AND because there are two lineup periods per week I actually had Moose in for Fri-Sun and got his first major league home run.
$311 Rizzo
$116 Gordon (we needed the speed but again Weeks for $100?)
WCOFB League 4 – again all three available
$317 Moustakas (guilty)
$108 Rizzo (ratzo wish we had the money for both)
$ 54 Gordon
WCOFB League 5 – here only Gordon and Rizzo available as somebody else rostered Moustakas at the draft
$433 Rizzo (underbid of $227 was more than the winner in some leagues)
$226 Gordon
WCOFB League 9 – again, I drafted Moustakas, so only Rizzo and Gordon available
$321 Rizzo
$100 Gordon (again ??? Weeks for $103)
TOUT Mixed: Because of the ability to add minor leaguers via FAAB each week in addition to someone who might have drafted them in either the auction or reserve rounds in March, only Dee Gordon was available for bidding on Sunday night and he went for $28 (TOUT uses Vickery, so bid was $35 but next highest bid was $27)
NFBC Leagues: One incongruity here is that if a player is not drafted in March and is in the minor leagues, they can’t be bid on until they are activated by their major league club and posted, unless they were drafted in a particular league and then dropped in which case they remain on the free agent list for that league only. So while this was the first week that Gordon, Moustakas, or Rizzo could have been added via FAAB, only two of them were. Thus Mike Moustakas must have been rostered in all leagues in March.
Here are the bids for Dee Gordon – added in twenty two main event leagues at an average winning bid of $156. Highest winning bid was $293 while lowest was $62.
Anthony Rizzo was added in twenty six main event leagues with an average winning bid of $377. The highest winning bid was $539 while the lowest was $277.
So while none of the three were available in AL/NL only formats that I play in, mixed league players were definitely salivating over their arrival and willing to part with a good portion of their remaining FAAB dollars to roster all of them.
Now we all hope they are worth our investment.