Yesterday's post touched briefly upon some general advice regarding FAAB, but I feel like I didn't answer rodger's question. He asked about how much money you should save for the major league trading deadline.
I thought I'd take a look back at my A.L. from one year ago and see what was available, what was bid, and how much each player went for. Rather than take a look at some non-contending team's swag, such as the forgettable J.P. Howell at $8, I thought I'd look at what teams still in the running bid, what their thinking was, and whether or not this was the right move or the wrong move.
Carlos Lee $98. Other bids $81, $76, $71, $70, $51, $50, $50.
Actually, it's worth keeping in mind that the free agent deadline in my league is Monday's at noon and the trade deadline happened to be August 1. Monday was July 31, so we had the rare case where two non-contending teams bid $50 on Lee in the hopes of swapping him somewhere else the next day.
Lee is the simplest case of where the team with the most money bought who he felt the best player on the market was. In terms of what he got back, I can't argue with the $13 worth of stats Lee produced in the A.L. However, this team was a quasi-contender. The owner did practically nothing all year, made a late trade for power and speed but needed to do more to stay in the race. He made two other minor moves after the trade deadline and finished 7th. He would have been better off dumping.
Bobby Abreu $81. Other bids $76, $71, $70, $51, $50, $50, $32.
The team with the second highest amount of FAAB bought Abreu and, like Lee, he didn't disappoint. Not surprisingly, all of the other bids match, since just about everyone is either putting in their own max bid or at least putting in a very high bid to get either or if someone's sleeping at the switch. The $32 bid is from a contender who just happens to be close to our league's $375 salary cap.
I liked this bid, though the winner here had to make some trades later on to stay under the cap. He moved Ben Molina and Jason Kendall for two marginal catchers, and Molina went on to sock 10 HR and 29 RBI from August 8 on. Abreu, by comparison hit 7 HR and drove in 42. Obviously, Abreu was the better player due to his 10 SB and .330 BA, but moving Molina hurt this owner quite a bit and he finished 4th.
Cory Lidle $32. Other bids $27, $10, $5, $3, $1.
Only two teams were truly serious about grabbing Lidle, and I was the one that bid $27. It appeared that Lidle would be the only pitcher crossing over into the N.L., which proved to be correct. Lidle wound up doing so badly that the team that bought him wound up cutting him after 37 2/3 disasterous innings where he put up a 5.26 ERA and a 1.593 WHIP. Esteban Loaiza and James Shields were both picked up on the waiver wire (Shields was my consolation prize for Lidle) and both did much better. Still, I think the rationale on Lidle was correct.
Nelson Cruz $13. Other bids $10, $1.
The same team that bought Lidle bought Cruz. This seemed like more of a next year play by me at the time (this owner did wind up keeping Cruz this year at this price). The $10 bid was by a team playing for 2007; everyone else thought Cruz would either rot or not do much. His 6 HR and 22 RBI make me wish I had bought him, though hindsight is a beautiful thing.
Shane Komine $11. Other bids $5, $4, $3, $1, $1.
The owner who bought Lidle and Cruz completed a $56 shopping spree, grabbing Komine and Lidle because he desperately needed to make innings and was pretty far behind. Unfortunately, Komine only threw up three horrible ones before he was banished back to the minors, never to return.
Hector Luna $2. Other bid $1.
I wound up with Luna for $2 after Lee and Abreu were taken. There was a lot of virtual high-fiving and people telling me I got a steal, but Luna did nothing in 45 AB.
As I mentioned up top, the weird thing about last year was that we had a second phase of bidding due to trades that occured after noon on July 31. I'll boil those bids tomorrow.
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