This was a big bidding week, with two White Sox prospects in Noah Schultz and Sam Antonacci leading the way, but also featuring significant bids on Spencer Arrighetti and a number of closer candidates.
AL Tout Wars
Tout Wars allows speculative pickups of minor league players before they get the call. Often this is the best way to find significant hitting contributions from the waiver wire, as the major league rosters are picked incredibly thin. Clark hasn't gotten the call yet from the Tigers, but he's off to a fun start at Triple-A Toledo, hitting .351/.416/.519 with a homer and six stolen bases so far. He also has 10 walks against 10 strikeouts so far. Meanwhile, the Tigers have lost Parker Meadows for a big chunk of time and just put Zach McKinstry on the IL as well. At some point the Tigers will tire of the offensive contributions from Wenceel Perez or Matt Vierling, or merely decide it's just time for Clark to get the call. By Tout Wars rules I have to keep Clark active in my lineup this week even if the doesn't get the call, so I might just take the zero this week. But I think the upside is worth the short-term cost. Four other teams bid on Clark this week, though only one of those teams bid double-digits (41) to come close to my bid.
I also won Joel Kuhnel, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Kuhnel is no
This was a big bidding week, with two White Sox prospects in Noah Schultz and Sam Antonacci leading the way, but also featuring significant bids on Spencer Arrighetti and a number of closer candidates.
AL Tout Wars
Tout Wars allows speculative pickups of minor league players before they get the call. Often this is the best way to find significant hitting contributions from the waiver wire, as the major league rosters are picked incredibly thin. Clark hasn't gotten the call yet from the Tigers, but he's off to a fun start at Triple-A Toledo, hitting .351/.416/.519 with a homer and six stolen bases so far. He also has 10 walks against 10 strikeouts so far. Meanwhile, the Tigers have lost Parker Meadows for a big chunk of time and just put Zach McKinstry on the IL as well. At some point the Tigers will tire of the offensive contributions from Wenceel Perez or Matt Vierling, or merely decide it's just time for Clark to get the call. By Tout Wars rules I have to keep Clark active in my lineup this week even if the doesn't get the call, so I might just take the zero this week. But I think the upside is worth the short-term cost. Four other teams bid on Clark this week, though only one of those teams bid double-digits (41) to come close to my bid.
I also won Joel Kuhnel, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Kuhnel is no up-and-comer at age 32, and doesn't strike many batters out, but he's also been the best reliever for the Athletics so far, and at least has converted his three save opportunities. He's a clear "Mr. Right Now," not a "Mr. Right."
My Drops: Ian Seymour, Rob Refsnyder
NFBC Main Event
As always, bidding in Main Event leagues remains hyper-competitive. We had lists to make three pickups and only ended up winning one player, Rays starter Jesse Scholtens, who is projected for home starts against the Reds and Twins this week. The Reds start wasn't great, made worse by a Junior Caminero mental error that added two more earned runs to the ledger.
The hitters that we bid on included Marcell Ozuna, who we could have used while Christian Yelich is out, Jeremiah Jackson, Nolan Arenado, Javier Baez and Daniel Schneeman.
Our Drop: JoJo Romero
NFBC Auction Championship
Once again we see big bidding on Noah Schultz, and I chimed in with a bigger bid here than in my other leagues, but still falling well short at $113. It's hard to find difference makers at this level, so I understand why the bids were so high. I do have some concerns about Schultz, however, that kept my bids a little lower. One is the walk-rate, which will probably decline at least a little bit as he progresses. But the other is the organizational context with the White Sox. They've protected his workload quite a bit as he's climbed the organizational ladder, lasting five-plus innings just 10 times in 50 starts. That he went six innings on Sunday ameliorates that concern some, I'll admit. But I also worry some about his run support and the possibility of a shutdown late in the season.
I again settled for Jesse Scholtens here, after having three lists.
My Drop: Jacob Lopez. I had a good amount of exposure to Lopez this season, but I'm starting to peel off on him in some of my leagues. The premise for drafting him in the first place was that his strikeouts would make up for his volatility and ballpark. He hasn't lived up to that benefit of the bargain, and his walks are actually worse.
Beat Jeff Erickson 1
This was my first and cheapest share of Enyel De Los Santos, a quasi-closer for the Astros. I'm going in eyes-wide-open here; De Los Santos is a journeyman who will likely regress. Both his .200 BABIP and a 108.7 LOB% (how is that even possible?) are completely unsustainable. Moreover, he pitched the 8th on Sunday with Bryan King pitching the 9th, and then getting the loss in the 10th. I still think De Los Santos will get his share of chances, and Josh Hader will be out for at least another month.
My Drop: Janson Junk.
Beat Jeff Erickson 2
My Drops: Jacob Lopez, Colton Cowser. What is with so many of the Orioles' hitting prospects stagnating so much? Cowser was one of my favorite OF5 targets, with the thought being that he'd be a good bounceback candidate, with the ability to provide both cheap power and speed. Zero homers and zero stolen bases with a .174 batting average later, it's time to say good-bye in 12-team leagues.
TGFBI
My Drop: Ian Seymour. I hated having to drop Seymour, one of my low-key whiffs of the season so far. He got off to a terrible start to the season and is out of a significant role - my hopes of him winning a starting pitching job feel farflung at this point.
SCARF
Injuries to Zach McKinstry and Jorge Polanco forced my hand to add two hitters, landing Brayan Rocchio and Javier Baez, plus I got yet another share of De Los Santos.
My Drops: Chris Martin, Zach McKinstry and Ryne Stanek. Amazingly enough, I still have more drop-worthy players. We'll work on that next week.
LABR
Having spent big on Jakob Junis last week, my bids were a little more modest this week. My goal was to get Luis Rengifo out of my starting lineup - apparently there's a limit to how much Milwaukee's magic dust can improve a player. To do that I had to get either a 3B or MI eligible player, with Jose Caballero available to move the other spot. My first choice was the red-hot Jeremiah Jackson, but Ray Flowers outbid a phalanx of us at $6. I got my second choice, Brayan Rocchio for $3. Rocchio has cut his K% from 20.1% to 11.4%, and altogether looks more like the hitter that had a .701 OPS over the second half of the season in 2025. That's not going to win any leagues, but in a 15-team mixed league, at least it's above the serviceable bar that Rengifo failed to clear.
The big bid this week was for Dominic Smith, who went for $13 to old friend Scott Pianowski. The bid size seems high, but consider how good Smith has been this season (.353/4/10/16) and how likely it is that he'll continue to get regular playing time for the Braves. I'm more shocked that we left him on the waiver wire until now. I get that he's over his skis, but playing time in a good lineup is hard to find.
My Drop: River Ryan.
RotoWire Staff Keeper League
My Drop: Matt Strahm. Less than 24 hours later, that feels like mistake.
