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.

All Schechter for All Shandler: No news is bad news, and other FAAB news

Mastersball chronicles a slow FAAB week. In the NL a total of $2 was spent. But the inside commentaries of Todd and company are never slow.

In other news, Schechter and Shandler didn’t make a trade.

All Shandler for All Schechter Trade Update!

Friday’s big news became a big snooze over the weekend, as Larry went up by four and a half points on Saturday and withdrew, then fell back into a dead heat on Sunday. Larry said it was like the Universe speaking that the time is right, but at that point Shandler wasn’t so sure.

By the time the two reconnected on it the midnight trading deadline had passed, and the two will have until next Sunday to come to an agreement.

Today, before Tuesday’s games, Schechter leads Shandler by two games. Here are their rosters:

Screenshot 2014-08-19 12.31.23

Screenshot 2014-08-19 12.31.52

Mastersball.com FAAB Roundup August 18, 2014

A relatively quiet week in FAAB, but lots to talk about, as three leagues (not Tout AL) have active pennant races going on.

The boys from Mastersball.com give you the scoop.

Breaking News! All Shandler for All Schechter Trade?

The wires started rumbling earlier today. With Glenn Colton and Rick Wolf’s Tout Wars AL team lapping the field more times than, um, Mario Andretti, Larry Schechter proposed to Ron Shandler—one point and place behind him in the standings—a swap of their entire teams. Ron says he rejected the proposal as ridiculous, but then found the possibilities gnawed at him.

He’ll explain why he liked the deal, whether or not he does it, later, I’m sure. One of his reasons, however, was surely the possibility of turning things upside down, and having something novel to write about.

Support for a deal from members of the LLC and some tout owners has been immediate. Larry tweated:

Fred Zinkie, not a shy one when it comes to trading tweated back:

Ron is thinking about it. Tweet your views @ronshandler @LarrySchechter @toutwars @kroyte!

Rotoman’s FAAB Story: Cue Tiny Violins

On Saturday Brian Walton published his tale of FAAB Woe in Tout NL the week of August 4. I didn’t read it until after I posted the following, but the two stories are of a piece.  

Sometime around the beginning of July my Tout Wars NL team was in second place, about five points behind Seth Trachtman’s team. At least for a few moments. But since then things have gone terribly wrong.

My Stars and Scrubs squad was built on seven $20+ dollar players. Since the beginning of July Hanley Ramirez, Troy Tulowitzki, and Ryan Zimmerman have gone on the DL, and Andrew McCutchen has been sidelined for more than a week with injury, though he may avoid the DL.

Earlier I lost Joey Votto to injury, in June, but was able to swap him for Jay Bruce. Otherwise things would be worse, though Bruce continues to be a shadow of his former self.

As does Martin Prado, the last of my $20 hitters, who along with Madison Bumgarner (who has been exactly fine) rounds out my tale of woe and fifth place team of injured stars.

With all these injuries, one would think there would be replacements available. And this week in the NL there were.

Jake Lamb is Arizona’s third basemen until he proves otherwise. Hardly a star but maybe a viable regular, he will get at bats for a while, at least.

Rhymer Liriano is being called up to the Padres tomorrow. He’s been a fine minor league hitter who has some pedigree.

Michael Fiers had a great ML season in 2012, bombed last year and has been excellent in Triple A this year. I rostered him early this year, but he was passed by a phenom. Now, with Matt Garza tanked, he has a shot at a few starts. His first one was wonderful. Alas, I let him go in June, so I bid on him.

I also bid on Brad Penny, he’s been pitching well in New Orleans, and Alfredo Marte, who is getting (weak) at bats in Arizona’s outfield.

I had a total of $36 FAAB to spend. The outcome this week?

In Tout Wars we use the Vickery bidding system, which gives the bid to the highest bidder, at $1 more than the second highest bidder. This week’s results are personally painful:

Jake Lamb: Trachtman $36. Next: Rotoman $18. Result: Trachtman $19.

Rhymer Liriano: Walton $50. Next: Trachtman $26, Rotoman $13. Result: Walton $27.

Michael Fiers: Hertz $50. Next: Rotoman $14. Result: Hertz $15.

Alfredo Marte: Trachtman $7. Next: Rotoman $5. Result: Trachtman $6

Brad Penny: Wilderman $8. Next: Rotoman $3. Result: Wilderman $4.

At least I’m enforcing.