Week 5's main characters were two young pitchers, Payton Tolle of the Red Sox and JR Ritchie of the Braves. Both had sterling season debuts on Thursday, and Ritchie's was his Major League debut. While I have some exposure to both, my most common addition was Nathaniel Lowe from the Reds, which in a way illustrates how difficult it's been to find hitting help on the waiver wire.
AL Tout Wars
Payton Tolle was long gone in this league, taken in the draft by Andy Andres. The bidding results were pretty tough for me this week - I got outbid on Jack Perkins, who picked up his second save of the season on Sunday, 39 to 37 by Rick Wolf/Glenn Colton. I also got outbid on Connor Prielipp for the Twins, and Peter Lambert of the Astros. I ended up settling for Daniel Lynch on the Royals, with the notion that it's still going to be awhile for Carlos Estevez, and Lucas Erceg has been shaky.
The good bit of news for me in this league is that the Yankees called up Jasson Dominguez, who has been sitting on my bench all season.
My Drop: None. Brendan Donovan went on the IL last week after our free agent deadline, so I had an open spot to fill.
NFBC Main Event
Gabriel Moreno (oblique) is returning from the IL on Tuesday, perhaps a bit earlier than expected than his previous owner expected. He was our priority target,
Week 5's main characters were two young pitchers, Payton Tolle of the Red Sox and JR Ritchie of the Braves. Both had sterling season debuts on Thursday, and Ritchie's was his Major League debut. While I have some exposure to both, my most common addition was Nathaniel Lowe from the Reds, which in a way illustrates how difficult it's been to find hitting help on the waiver wire.
AL Tout Wars
Payton Tolle was long gone in this league, taken in the draft by Andy Andres. The bidding results were pretty tough for me this week - I got outbid on Jack Perkins, who picked up his second save of the season on Sunday, 39 to 37 by Rick Wolf/Glenn Colton. I also got outbid on Connor Prielipp for the Twins, and Peter Lambert of the Astros. I ended up settling for Daniel Lynch on the Royals, with the notion that it's still going to be awhile for Carlos Estevez, and Lucas Erceg has been shaky.
The good bit of news for me in this league is that the Yankees called up Jasson Dominguez, who has been sitting on my bench all season.
My Drop: None. Brendan Donovan went on the IL last week after our free agent deadline, so I had an open spot to fill.
NFBC Main Event
Gabriel Moreno (oblique) is returning from the IL on Tuesday, perhaps a bit earlier than expected than his previous owner expected. He was our priority target, as we continued our quest to replace "Toe Tap" Bo Naylor. Alas, our $53 bid fell well short, and we settled on Miguel Amaya as our Naylor replacement.
Since losing Christian Yelich, Tim and I have struggled to find an adequate replacement at UT, and honestly have struggled to find good hitters on the waiver wire period. We're giving it another shot with Nathaniel Lowe, who hit three homers over the weekend against the Tigers while replacing the injured Eugenio Suarez. The Reds play 13 games over the next two weeks, 11 of which will be against right-handed starters.
Luckily, we drafted and stashed Payton Tolle in this league.
Our Drops: Davis Schneider, Jonathan India, Bo Naylor.
NFBC Auction Championship
What do you do with Ryan Walker? He picked up saves for the Giants to begin the week on Tuesday and Wednesday against the Dodgers, but those were just his second and third saves of the season, following a long stretch where he was getting used in non-save situations. He also pitched the ninth inning Saturday with a 6-1 lead, but the Giants scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth when they started the inning ahead with a 4-1 lead, so presumably Walker was warming up in antcipation of a save chance. Then Erik Miller got a four-out save on Sunday, to further muddy the picture. I might be more worried about Walker's viability than usage. He's inducing less swing-and-miss (7.1%) while walking far more (11.8%).
I ended up bidding $41 on Walker - a lukewarm amount that reflected my confusion about him, and that wasn't close to winning him. John Pausma won a tightly contested bid on him, $117 to $115. I remain stuck with just one closer, though I added a cheap Corbin Martin from the Cubs as a short-term speculation play while Daniel Palencia is out. My $41 bid on Jack Perkins was also topped.
My Drops: Jesse Scholtens, Kirby Yates, Joe Boyle. I was able to squeeze a win out of Scholtens for his two-appearance week yesterday, but now we thank him and move on. Is it a mistake to cut Kirby Yates now that the Angels just DFA'd Justin Romano? Maybe! But Yates doesn't appear to be close after getting knocked around during his rehab assignment this weekend.
Beat Jeff Erickson1
I got outbid on both Tolle and Ritchie again, but I did win a piece of the Dodgers' bullpen committee in Alex Vesia. The Dodgers have only had two save chances in their last 12 games, and Tanner Scott got the most recent one, with Vesia recording one on April 14. On Friday night, all three of Scott, Vesia and Blake Treinen pitched against the Cubs and gave up runs, turning a lead into a deficit. I'd rather have Scott than Vesia, but Scott wasn't available here.
My Drop: Andrew Painter. It was a tough call, but I ended up Andrew Painter instead of Enyel De Los Santos, as I would rather have another closer spec than another marginal starting pitcher. I wouldn't be willing to cut Painter in a 15-team league.
Beat Jeff Erickson2
Once again, I fell short on Tolle and Ritchie, though at least this time my $57 bid was good for second place. Talk about a hollow consolation.
I did end up getting Ronny Mauricio on the cheap, and that was handy after losing Eugenio Suarez this week. Mauricio is only 3B-eligible right now, but should pick up shortstop eligibility soon as the primary replacement for the injured Francisco Lindor. Right now I'm riding with those two Mets and sitting another in Carson Benge.
My Drop: Dominic Canzone. It was a tough call between Canzone and Benge, but the Mariners face three left-handers this week and he sits against them.
TGFBI
I really didn't have it dialed in this week with my bids on Tolle, losing out on him here 139 to 137. This team is doing well, but missing out on a key player is frustrating.
I did win Ritchie, 57 to 34, and I'm excited that for at least the short term, the Braves are making moves to keep him in the rotation, something they did not do for Didier Fuentes. Reynaldo Lopez is going to the bullpen to iron out some mechanical issues, and while he's there Ritchie will start, even after Spencer Strider returns this weekend. But I am a little worried that the Braves won't want to remain in a six-man rotation.
I also added the lesser of the two Varlands, Gus Varland of the Nats, who should be the primary guy for whatever saves arrive while Clayton Beeter is out.
My Drops: Bryan King, Kodai Senga, Spencer Horwitz.
SCARF
We spent some time on the Sunday night podcast talking about the extra tax one needs to pay on SCARF, because it's two hours after the rest of the NFBC-platform FAAB runs, and yet I had to settle for my fourth choice in the Giants' Erik Miller. I had bids in on Ritchie, Perkins and Prielipp before Miller.
My Drop: Joe Boyle.
LABR
I have a good problem of having too many starters that I like, and it's already led to me leaving wins on my bench, such as Steven Matz's win over the Guardians on Monday night. So I didn't go after Connor Prielipp, which is too bad because he went for an affordable price ($2 to Fred Zinkie). Neither Tolle nor Ritchie were available here. I ended up with another share of Erik Miller, hoping to get a second closer to pair with Aroldis Chapman.
My Drop: Kyle Finnegan.
RotoWire Staff Keeper League
There are no IL spots in the Staff Keeper League, which makes it even the slightest bit possible to pick up free agents in this league. It's an 18-team league, with seven reserve slots and 10 minor league spots. Identifying useful players is difficult enough without setting aside more spots for injured players.
I settled for Kyle Isbel in this league, as my good friend Tim Schuler took advantage of our partnership in the NFBC Main Event and significantly outbid me for Nathaniel Lowe. Ok, I'll concede that he has his own reasons for bidding on Lowe, too.
My Drop: Spencer Horwitz.
