N.L. FAAB Log: September 7, 2009

Brad Penny $7. Other bids $3, $1, $1.
I wrote Penny up on Saturday when I thought I wouldn't be here doing this tonight. He gets two home starts this week against the Padres and Dodgers so as far as the match-ups go he's a good play.

Franklin Morales $1. Other bid $1.
For more on the Rockies bullpen, see my write-up from earlier this week. This league is mostly out of FAAB and the first place team is up by 17 points, which is contributing to the extremely low bids here. Rafael Betancourt was available as a free agent and 12 teams passed. In the short-term, the job looks like it belongs to Morales (until Huston Street is good to go).

Jim Thome $1.
Thome was part of my N.L. trade write-up along with Penny. He's a PH only with very little - if any - this year value.

Jose Contreras $1. Other bid $1.
Contreras was part of the Penny/Thome write-up; please follow the link under Penny to read more. He gets the Reds at home this week.

Cory Sullivan $1. Other bids $1, $1.
Due to the fact that everyone on the Mets is injured from Carlos Beltran to half the batboys, Sullivan should see significant playing time down the stretch. He's got 10-12 SB potential in a full season and won't hurt your BA so he's a good injury fill in if you need an every day hitter.

Josh Thole $1.
Thole's solid campaign at AA is going to push him up the prospect lists this winter, but he's going to have more value in reality than in Roto due to his lack of HR power. Like Sullivan, Thole could see a good amount of time for the injury-riddled Mets, but even if he plays most days Thole probably isn't going to have a lot of value since he doesn't have over-the-fences power.

Daniel McCutchen $1. Other bid $1.
McCutchen was part of the Pirates haul for moving Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte to the Yankees. McCutchen was the kind of pitcher who was never going to make it to the Yankees no matter what his minor league numbers looked like. He doesn't have overpowering stuff, but he has very good command, throws strikes, and it's hard to argue with his minor league numbers. That success may not translate to the majors, but it's not too difficult to envision McCutchen as a solid #4 starter long-term. It does look like he won't be starting this week for Pittsburgh, and there's the possibility he'll be shut down at some point as he's closing in on 150 innings.

Tim Redding $1. Other bid $1.
Redding's been more than solid since his return to the Mets rotation on August 22, but it's impossible to overlook his pedestrian stuff or overall awful 2009 numbers. He's a two-start pitcher this week, but I'd avoid him since he's at Philadelphia in his second start and they just saw him on August 22. The second time around in a short stint for a pitcher like Redding typically isn't pretty.

Brian Moehler $1.
Moehler's another starting pitcher with a hot hand but terrible overall numbers. Like Redding, he's also a two-start pitcher this week, drawing the Phillies and Pirates at home. His weak K/IP over his last three starts tells me more than the strong ERA and I'd still be wary of using Moehler unless I were strictly chasing wins and had ERA/WHIP in the bag.

Oscar Salazar $1.
Salazar has been pretty amazing for the Padres since they picked him up for Cla Meredith. The Padres are trying to find Salazar time all over the diamond, and if he sticks in 2010 he'll make an interesting $1-2 endgame stab. If you're playing for this year, I hope that your roster is deep enough that you don't need Salazar. You can't argue with what he's done, but you want to move the chains each and every day if you want to win.