This week we felt the need, the need for speed! Rookie outfielders A.J. Ewing for the Mets and Henry Bolte for the Athletics got the call from their respective teams and fetched big bids where they were available.
AL Tout Wars
Here's where we see the benefits of a speculative minor league add - alas, not by me. Ian Kahn picked up Henry Bolte before his callup last week, for only $18. He would have clearly been a triple-digits player had he been available this week.
As it stands, only Austin Hays went for triple-digits this week. Hays is due to start a minor league rehab assignment this week, but I'm not sure if he's returning to a full-time job with the surging White Sox. There was only one other bid on Hays.
I had two small additions this week, adding Ryan Kreidler with the Twins and Elmer Rodriguez with the Yankees. Kreidler has started three of four games since getting promoted in tandem with Matt Wallner's demotion. I'm not sure if that pace keeps up if Byron Buxton is healthy enough to play, but my exposure is pretty limited here otherwise. I expected Rodriguez to make one more start before Gerrit Cole returns, but instead the Yankees optioned Rodriguez back down to Scranton Wilkes-Barre on Monday, so I'll be down one spot this week. I'm a little envious of Mike Podhorzer's $3 purchase of Troy Melton - he'll deal with a zero for this week too, but that's
This week we felt the need, the need for speed! Rookie outfielders A.J. Ewing for the Mets and Henry Bolte for the Athletics got the call from their respective teams and fetched big bids where they were available.
AL Tout Wars
Here's where we see the benefits of a speculative minor league add - alas, not by me. Ian Kahn picked up Henry Bolte before his callup last week, for only $18. He would have clearly been a triple-digits player had he been available this week.
As it stands, only Austin Hays went for triple-digits this week. Hays is due to start a minor league rehab assignment this week, but I'm not sure if he's returning to a full-time job with the surging White Sox. There was only one other bid on Hays.
I had two small additions this week, adding Ryan Kreidler with the Twins and Elmer Rodriguez with the Yankees. Kreidler has started three of four games since getting promoted in tandem with Matt Wallner's demotion. I'm not sure if that pace keeps up if Byron Buxton is healthy enough to play, but my exposure is pretty limited here otherwise. I expected Rodriguez to make one more start before Gerrit Cole returns, but instead the Yankees optioned Rodriguez back down to Scranton Wilkes-Barre on Monday, so I'll be down one spot this week. I'm a little envious of Mike Podhorzer's $3 purchase of Troy Melton - he'll deal with a zero for this week too, but that's a good price for future upside.
My Drop: Cade Povich. We do have IL spots in Tout Wars, but only four spots, and with Brendan Donovan added to my IL rolls, I needed to free up one spot.
NFBC Main Event
Our hitting stats are pathetic across the board in the Main Event, but we had a chance to address stolen bases here with Ewing. He had 73 stolen bases across three levels last year and followed that up with 17 more between Double-A and Triple-A this year. I like his strike zone judgment along with his speed, though some of my optimism is tempered by a low hard-hit rate in the minors. We prioritized Ewing over Bolte due to the pure stolen base ceiling and perceived safer playing time, with Luis Robert slow to return from his back injury. Ironically, our $113 secondary bid on Bolte would have blown away the winning $55 bid. But, we had a second list where our top bid was Bolte for $53, which came excruciatingly close. Instead, we settled on Tyler O'Neill for our second hitter, and moved the homer-less wonder Fernando Tatis Jr. from OF to MI to fit both free agents in the lineup.
Our Drops: Matt Wallner, Bryce Eldridge, Noah Cameron. Eldridge went from exciting prospect to off our roster in one week. He played in only three games for the Giants in a seven-game week, not even pinch-hitting late in games. What exactly are the Giants doing here? Infuriatingly Eldridge had two hits while starting Monday night against the Diamondbacks. With Christian Yelich back for us, we weren't going to be able to use Eldridge in our active lineup at UT.
NFBC Auction Championship
Last week I spent a good sum on Ryan Waldschmidt, so I had to temper my bids accordingly on Ewing and Bolte, and yet still finished second on the bidding to friend of the podcast KC Bubba, host of the "Benched with Bubba" and "Bubba and the Bloom" podcasts, 67 to 57. As it turns out, it's better off that I didn't win them, at least without another pickup, as I lost both Jose Caballero and Corey Seager to the IL - the latter going on the IL on Monday. To that end I got two middle infielders in Anthony Volpe and Vaughn Grissom, and Volpe had the courtesy to steal two bases on Monday night in honor of Caballero's absence.
My Drops: Tyler Mahle, Calvin Faucher. Faucher isn't part of the Marlins' closing picture, but he gave me two wins the week he was active at least.
Beat Jeff Erickson1
This is another league where I spent big on Waldschmidt last week, plus won Jordan Walker with a decent-sized bid earlier in the season, so by definition I had to keep my bids in the small-to-medium range. Moreover, I had lots of work to do with my pitching. Thus, I added three pitchers and tried to upgrade at catcher.
First, I won J.T. Ginn as my priority pickup given his two good starts this week away from Sacramento, and was promptly rewarded with a no-hitter, a shutout, a nine-inning complete game, a win, ok 10 strikeouts. Seriously, it's still a great outing even with the tragic ending. Next up is Lucas Giolito, who was cruising for five innings in his debut for the Padres before tiring in the sixth against the Mariners. I like his home ballpark and his supporting bullpen. Finally I added Merrill Kelly, who did throw a complete game in Coors Field no-less in his last outing. He was the most contested bid of the three, despite being my third choice. At catcher I pivoted from Christian Vazquez to J.T. Realmuto.
My Drops: Clay Holmes, Matthew Boyd, Agustin Ramirez, Christian Vazquez. The first three of these drops were so painful - Holmes had been great before his fluke injury Friday night, Boyd got hurt in a fluke home accident, and Ramirez came at a great opportunity cost.
Beat Jeff Erickson2
"12's are weird," Scott Jenstad and I have frequently said on our Sunday night podcasts. One manifestation of that weirdness is trying to sneak a bid in on the cheap, as I did here, and coming away empty-handed. The dumb part about this is that I have over $800 in FAAB remaining - I should have walked away with Ewing or Bolte here.
One note about this league - once again I used Shohei Ohtani as my UT and not as a pitcher, but I'm really debating this move, given that my first two starting pitchers in this league were Hunter Brown and Cole Ragans.
TGFBI
Even while cutting Matt Wallner and waiting for Roman Anthony to return from the IL, I have the good problem of too many outfielders on this team, so I focused my efforts elsewhere. To replace Francisco Alvarez, who is out with his annual debilitating injury, I picked up Tyler Stephenson. I upgraded over Nathaniel Lowe (hopefully!) by picking up Zack Gelof, who has 2B/3B/OF eligibility and some power/speed upside. And finally I picked up Trevor McDonald, who in the short term might be out of a starting pitching role, because the Giants are the Giants, but I like what I've seen so far.
My Drops: Matt Wallner, Francisco Alvarez, Enyel De Los Santos.
SCARF
There were three big bids in this league, with Trevor Megill joining Ewing and Bolte in triple digits after he was dropped just last week. Megill picked up a save over the weekend, his first in a month, while Abner Uribe pitched the eighth inning. We're back to being fully confused about the identity of the Brewers' closer.
I missed out on all three big bids, by a lot, topping out with a $77 bid on Ewing. My consolation bids were deep and cheap, and I ended up with three $5 players instead - Dean Kremer, Elmer Rodriguez, and Luis Torrens. The latter is a fill-in while Cal Raleigh is out, and former was intended to be a short-term stash until he returns from the IL, and Rodriguez was already a waste.
My Drops: Nick Pivetta, Stephen Kolek (we'll always have Sunday's win!), Tatsuya Imai.
LABR
On one hand, I'm sitting at nine points in stolen bases (out of 15), with 47 stolen bases. I could realistically gain up to five points eventually, if I added a speed demon like Ewing and he pans out. On the other hand, I have spent more than most of my competition heading into the bidding period, and I figured it would take more than $15 in FAAB to add him. Sure enough, Tim McLeod spent $19 to land Ewing this week. I kept my bids on Ewing and Bolte pretty small at $6 and $4 respectively, knowing it was unlikely I'd get him. Instead, getting Kody Clemens for $1 and Jesse Scholtens for $1. Clemens does a little bit of everything and can do it at 1B, 2B, MI, CR, and OF. Scholtens has been a sneaky win compiler with the Rays frequently using an opener in front of him.
My Drop: Jacob Lopez.
RotoWire Staff Keeper League
I'm in fourth place in this 18-team league, albeit 20 points behind the first place team, so it's in quasi-contention. I have no misconceptions that Cedric Mullins will be a game-changer, let alone a future keeper, but I think he can be Mr. Right Now - after an atrocious start he's been much better over the last two weeks and has four stolen bases in that span.
My Drop: Matt Wallner.
