With four days of games in the books, we already have plenty of churn, especially if you happen to be in a league that didn't allow for a free agent run until after the start of the season. Here are the FAAB results from my various leagues that run free agents on Sundays.
We'll keep this quick each week - the analysis will be short and mostly self-interested, just for the sake of getting all the results out.
NFBC Main Event (15-team Mixed, 3/23 draft date, $1,000 budget, no DL slots)
Sorry about the small font here - there were a lot of bids in this league! All after four games, no less. All the Mariners closer options were bought here. I had token bids on Swarzak and Kennedy, but I'm not heartbroken over missing on both. The Reyes Moronta pick up is a next-level play if Team Bavaro can be patient with the roster slot, as I think that Will Smith is a good bet to be traded later this season and Moronta looks great.
I grabbed Sandy Alcantara just for the sake of having him, and I might not even use him this week - a good problem to have, as I'm also struggling to find spots for Frankie Montas and Brandon Woodruff this week. And no, I don't think that last sentence will come back to haunt me or anything, why do you ask?
I needed Eduardo Nunez to fill in for Joey Wendle this week, and trust him more than Richie Martin, who is batting ninth for the O's. That and the Red Sox are one of five teams to play seven games this week. I might end up releasing and re-catching Martin, though, as I still like his speed upside.
NFBC OC1 ("Beat Jeff Erickson1" - 12tm, $1,000 budget, no FAAB, 2/27 draft date):
Life moves at you fast - Keuchel and Reyes were dropped a week ago in this league and fetched the two highest bids this week. Will Britton and Margot be the two highest bids next week? I actually think that there might be reason to like each of them still - Aroldis Chapman's velocity was down in his one outing so far this year, and Dellin Betances is currently on the DL; Manny Margot is the one Padres outfielder who really is decent at playing center field. Then again, it's not too hard to see a series of events where I regret dropping Tyler O'Neill.
But I had O'Neill active as my UT in this league, while waiting out Nick Senzel's injury and subsequent return. I needed someone that plays nearly every day and Schebler fits that bill. You can see the quality of the players available in the 12-team format versus the 15-team format above - I had a lot more choices.
NFBC OC2 (Draft date 3/26):
With the later draft date, I think that this league might have been more efficient, or maybe just not as active. I stole a win with Zac Rosscup and wanted to find some saves upside. Kennedy ... well, I don't know about upside, but at least he has one save and will continue to pitch in relief.
TGFBI (15-tm mixed, same rules as NFBC, drafted 2/24):
Because I'm an idiot, I didn't have any bids in this league. TGFBI moved to the NFBC platform this year, and when I go through my NFBC leagues to make bids, I automatically go to the Main first, then the OC's - that's what I've always done. It was about 7:02 pm PT when I released that I still needed to make bids for this league. At least I didn't have a five-alarm emergency to repair on that team.
FSTA (14 teams, 5x5, $1,000 budget, drafted 1/22):
I spent big on Chris Paddack in this league last week and thus purposefully sat out the bidding this week, as I didn't really want to drop anyone currently on my roster.
Mixed LABR (15 teams, 5x5, $100 budget, drafted 2/12):
I put in bids on Kennedy, Bradford (with Swarzak still on the IL officially, he was not eligible to be picked up in LABR, so hence the waiver adjustment at the bottom of the list) and Jake Odorizzi. I got my third choice in Bradford, just in case Swarzak doesn't work out, but I have no strong beliefs that he'll hold the job. Maybe I should have just stayed away and kept the extra dollar.
AL Tout Wars (12 teams, OBP instead of BA, 4 OF with an extra UT spot that can also be a P, $1,000 budget, drafted 3/16):
The Tout Wars FAAB deadline this year is at 8:00 pm ET - late enough to incorporate most of the news of the day, but prior to the Sunday night game and the NFBC deadlines. That's noteworthy this week, as the end of the Mariners - Red Sox game came about 20 minutes before the deadline. You'll note that among the Mariners reliever bids, Anthony Swarzak is absent. That's because Howard Bender already owns him. Ah, the joy of mono-leagues! I chased Bradford again - that's sort of sub-optimal as it turns out. I should have kept my FAAB dollars. I went after Peter Bourjos and Brian Goodwin because of Justin Upton's turf toe injury that will keep him out two months. They could provide a stolen bases windfall. Or ... they could just stink. Only time will tell.
RotoWire Staff Keeper League (18-team mixed keeper, $100 budget, no DL, 7-man bench, 10-man minors, drafted 3/6):
The pickings get so slim in this league, most weeks we're left to try to strike gold on speculative players. I went after Christian Walker and Nick Margevicius as my primary alternatives, knowing that I wouldn't get Ian Kennedy. Often the best bids in this league are the closer specs - for instance, I got Blake Treinen when he first joined the A's for $2, and he's one of my better keepers. In that vein, I like the Reyes Moronta grab by Clay Link.