This was a relatively quiet week, heading into the All-Star break. Unless Nate Lowe was available in your league, there wasn't a premium prospect that called up, though Dylan Cease might be better than I'm giving him credit here, and there weren't any major closer changes. That doesn't mean that we're done with big FAAB periods. The trade deadline will bring plenty of chaos, and I keep forecasting / wishcasting that many of these trades will occur earlier because of the singular deadline. I'm starting to see where I might be wrong about that, at least among NL teams, as the Wild Card races are so tight that even teams 4-5 games under .500 are still realistically close enough to be alive still. Only the Marlins, Mets and Giants are truly out of it - so we may have an inventory problem.
NFBC Main Event
When you dumpster dive, you can't turn your nose at the results. And that's what I'm left doing right now. I don't think that Rodney is going to take over from Sean Doolittle, but he does appear to be the guy whenever Doolittle needs a day, plus Doolittle looks gassed. We'll see what happens after the break. But hopefully I can squeeze five saves out of Rodney the rest of the way, including maybe one next week with so many starters not going due to having only three games.
I finally cured myself of Austin Barnes - that was a big whiff on my part to think that he'd fully bounce back from last year's down season. Castro is playing more than Barnes right now and doing a lot more with his at-bats.
Garrett Hampson is a stash - we'll see how long that I can hold him, but he still has the capability of being a big difference maker in the stolen bases category, so I have to take a few chances in the hopes that he'll somehow get more playing time.
NFBC OC 1
I failed twice in this league - I missed bidding on Cease for some reason (as did the rest of the league), and I picked up a pitcher that I won't be able to use in his first start back from the All-Star break. With both Luis Castillo and Sonny Gray going to the All-Star Game, Tanner Roark is a virtual lock to pitch in the Reds' first series back at Coors Field. I'll use him later on, so it's not a tragedy here, but that's just one less slot that I can use for those first three days back.
This league has gotten really tight, even though I had a 20-point lead just two weeks ago. This is your weekly reminder that these leagues are a total grind, and that you need to respect the long haul.
RotoWire OC2
Pitching, pitching and more pitching in this league. My only lament was not getting Dinelson Lamet - I really like his strikeout upside, though his position in the Padres' rotation is vulnerable. My old law school classmate Miles Zvi snuck in a $3 pick up of A.J. Pollock - even though I'm concerned about Pollock's playing time when he returns, that's a steal.
TGFBI
I lost out on the tiebreaker on Lamet and had to settle for Drew Pomeranz thanks to my wildly successful fourth place squad. Ugh. Also, apparently a theme of this week was to replace my underperforming catchers with other catchers that will likely do the same.
FSTA
Not much to see here - another Fernando Rodney share. Yikes.
LABR
It's not good when you have more weeks remaining than FAAB dollars. It hurts to see Nate Lowe go for $1 and Cease for $3. I have to remember next year the value of playing small ball on the waiver wire on anything but the biggest impact FA's.