Tout FAAB Report, September 1, 2014

Mastersball.com does its usual bang up job on this week’s claims. You can read them here.

I do think there’s a bit of a story about Dilson Herrera. I track minor leaguers, but I’m not obsessive. A 20 year old in the Mets organization, Herrera wasn’t on my short term radar. And obviously he wasn’t on anyone’s, because Tout NL has been sucking up minor league talent weeks before they get called up all season long.

When Herrera was called up I looked at his stats and was sure he was worth a claim. As I went over the options, I moved him to the top of my list, past Tabata and Grichuk. As I looked at it closer I upped his bid from minimal to the teens. I thought he had some chance of being something, and we don’t get that many chances for that. Especially in September.

I made some trades, which negated my bid for Herrera, but the bidding on him is instructive. This is a young hitter without much experience. The odds yesterday were that he would not be a big contributor. But the odds yesterday were that there weren’t many major players coming. Herrera ended up being the object of much affection.

DiHerrera, NYM 26 Seth Trachtman 37 Lenny Melnick 25 Derek Carty 21 Tristan H. Cockcroft 15

Herrera homered today, which has to make Seth Trachtman happy. He’s clearly a major prospect, but he wasn’t coveted. What was his market value? At this time of year, golden, at least for a team that needs help and has nothing to lose.