A.L. FAAB Log: April 7, 2008

Unlike the N.L. I profiled yesterday, the A.L. I use puts in their injury claims in a separate process the same day as the auction. Moves made today were light as a result, since most owners already picked up the players they wanted at the auction. There were one or two cases of buyers remorse, but these are injury claims for players who weren't replaced over the weekend.

Matt Guerrier $2.
Guerrier is a solid middle relief play in 4x4 and nothing more. He's a little bit of a weaker option this year due to the fact that the Twins aren't as good, and those vulture wins should be harder to come by.

Keith Foulke $1.
Foulke thus far has put up some nice numbers in his comeback with the Oakland A's. There is speculation that he'll be the closer if Huston Street gets traded. I like Santiago Casilla better, but there's no certainly regarding who would get the job if Street were to be traded. Nobody saw Alan Embree coming last year.

Andy Marte $1.
The only reason Marte's up with the Indians is because he's out of options. He's only 23 years old, so he still could develop and wind up with a starting job somewhere in the majors. He's been terrible the last two years in the minors, though, and would need a Casey Blake injury to get a shot right now. Even for teams playing for next year, Marte's a long shot to provide value.

Paul Byrd $1.
I bought Byrd in my auction last year at $4 and he was a serviceable, unspectacular pitcher. This year, all 12 teams avoided him, though I figured he'd be picked up as an injury replacement. APV wrote a great piece at the fan blog Let's Go Tribe about why Byrd might very well fall off the cliff soon, and why soon might be this year. The short of it is that Byrd continues to lose velocity off his already slow fastball, and the difference between that pitch and his secondary pitches is marginal now. You could see this happening in September last year, when Byrd kept getting pounded in outing after outing. A good defense behind him will mask the decline, but this is a very dangerous pitcher to own, even in 4x4 leagues.

Gavin Floyd $1.
There's more advice from the fan blogs at SBNation, this time from South Side Sox. The cheat speculates that Floyd seems what he's always seemed like: a below average starter who doesn't have enough stuff to succeed in the majors. I've always agreed with that assessment, so having a second opinion from someone who watches the team regularly backs up my hunch that you should avoid Floyd.