More on FAAB and Salaries

Apparently, this issue of what to do with FAAB isn't merely limited to a few leagues. Tom writes:

We're talking about this in my league, still looking for input. so is it "common" to have FAABed players salaries adjusted after they are picked up? For example, will a player FAABed for $1 go to $10 for next year? What about sept. callups--any difference? Right now we are using their FAAB bid as their salary for next year.

Right now I'm in one carryover and one non-carryover league, so I'm not sure how "common" or "uncommon" the rules are in my carryover league.

Generally, it is a good idea to either have the salary go up at the conclusion of the season or set a higher FAAB budget than the standard $100 and set the minimum bid at a higher number, for some of the reasons I outlined in my last post. Most carryover leagues I know about that use FAAB do select one of these methods to curb an excessive use of FAAB at the end of the year.

My league doesn't make any adjustment for September bids. Some leagues do use this sort of wrinkle: either setting a higher salary past the league's trade deadline ($15 instead of $10, for example) or making these players option year players who automatically get thrown back into the free agent pool. Some leagues sometimes only use this option-year rule for players traded into their league.

One thing I've found is that dumping teams typically don't set these kind of September guidelines for a few reasons.

First, teams that have been dumping all year typically wind up with a number of players that they do wind up holding on to anyway. A savvy team that is not in contention typically has been scouring the free agent pool and waiver wire all year for talent and more often than not has filled most of their roster with players they like (even if it turns out many of these players won't be freezes next year).

Second, since these teams have been active most of the season, they wind up depleting a lot of their FAAB. This is done either because they were trying to pick off players with next year value by outbidding their competition, or because they started out the year in contention and were initially bidding aggressively on players in their futile attempts to stay in the race.

Finally, September call-ups often aren't that good. It's important to remember that many of the players who get called up to fill out 40 man rosters aren't top prospects but fungible players who won't have any value now, in the future, or ever. The premier prospects who get called up for a cup of coffee are often on reserve lists/farm systems in the first place. Yes, a small handful of these guys slip through. But teams in contention bid aggressively on these players too. You're not going to see Jay Bruce go for $1 in your league in September on the off chance he's available and somehow gets called up that late.