Several Tout Wars leagues are coming down to the wire so while the bidding has slowed, the picks are as important as the first week of the season. Below is a summary of the top free agent bids in each of the five Tout Wars leagues, with links to the detailed bidding action following our 8 p.m. ET deadline each Sunday evening. All prices are on a $1000 base.
After you scan the detail below, please join our live chat, starting at 9 p.m. ET Sunday evening, to discuss these results with Todd Zola of Mastersball and other Touts.
American League
There were only eight acquisitions this week, five arms and three bats. Leading the bidding was Larry Schechter, spending 32 units on Jesus Luzardo. Luzardo was finally calle dup Sunday, with the expectation of debuting mid-week against the daunting Houston Astros.
Colton and the Wolfman invested 6 FAAB units in Mariners starter Justus Sheffield who lines up for an intriguing home two-step against the Reds and White Sox.
Jason Collette hopes the Baltimore Orioles can provide him with a boost, grabbing Mark Trumbo and Austin Hays. Trumbo spent most of the season on the IL before debuting last week while Hays was called up over the weekend. Hays is reportedly heading to the Arizona Fall League but will see a little action at the MLB level first.
National League
The NL Touts opened their FAAB wallets this week. After tonight there’s only two weeks and hey, you can’t take it with you. Eleven players were picked up seven different combatants.
The top bid came courtesy of Lenny Melnick, looking to replace the unfortunate loss of Javier Baez with a $75 Cole Tucker.
Phil Hertz was busy, adding Ross Stripling for 51, Cory Spangenberg for 25 and Michael Lorenzen for 0. Stripling has entered the Dodgers rotation while Spangenberg is filling the voids left by Keston Hiura and Mike Moustakas.
Brian Walton was equally diligent, snagging a trio of his own. Julio Urias was the high bid at $30 while also adding Fernandez Abad for a buck and Nick Martini for a couple bones.
Mixed Auction
Eight of the 15 Warriors were active this week, giving a dozen players new homes. Jeff Zimmerman must have a thing for Baskin Robbins, scooping three pitchers for $31 each. Tyler Mahle, Spencer Turnbull and Asher
Wojciechowski look to sweeten Zimmerman’s staff.
Brent Hershey is bullish on Alexander Toro, offering a $26 try on the Astros third baseman. Several other batters drew double digit bids with league leader Scott Swanay bidding 16 on Matt Joyce and Al Melchior spending 14 on Seattle’s Dylan Moore and Cincinnati’s Phil Ervin.
Review all 9/8 Mixed Auction bids here.
Mixed Draft
Tout Draft was the busiest league with 14 winnings bids shared by seven Touts. Rudy Gamble was the big spender, dropping a league high 38 units on Patrick Sandoval along with 3 on Asher Wojciechowski.
Adam Ronis spent the most on a batter, investing $34 on Alberto Mondesi. Despite being advised not to dive, Mondesi is running wild, stealing six in the week he’s been back.
Tim McLeod bought a pair of hitters, hoping a $27 try on Garrett Cooper and $7 on Sean Murphy reinforces his batting ledger.
Review all 9/8 Mixed Draft bids here.
Head to Head
It’s playoff time with Ian Kahn defeating Ryan Bloomfield and Alex Chamberlain besting Dan Strafford. In the semis, Kahn squares off with Jake Ciely while Chamberlain draws regular-season leader Clay Link.
There were seven bids this week with Kahn’s $37 on Carlos Martinez the only non-zero offering.
Ciely was busiest, supplementing his squad with Joc Pederson, Kolten Wong and Nathan Eovaldi.