Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Anatomy of a League's FAAB: Part II

Last week - before my weekend Vermont idyll - I looked at my "home" American League's FAAB bids among the league's contending teams. Tonight, I'll look at the non-contender bids.

Once again, winning bids are in bold.

Sixth place: Ramiro Pena $5.
This team dumped at the last second and had to buy a third baseman in order to make all of its trades go through...which is the only context in which this bid makes sense. Still, given all the FAAB this team had left - and the fact that our league uses the contiguous trading rule - some more aggressive bids for the top N.L. imports were probably in order.

Seventh place: Matt Capps OVERBID, Edwin Jackson OVERBID, Josh Tomlin $2. Shawn Camp claimed.
Despite a 29-point gap between this team and the next contender, this team didn't dump and is still shooting for the money. It didn't figure out the cap correctly, though, and bid all of its FAAB on Capps (with Jackson as a contingency bid). Always remember to keep your league rules in mind when bidding on players.

Eighth place: Matt Capps $14, Lance Berkman $14, Mitch Moreland $10, Ryan Kalish $4, Jorge Cantu $1, Edwin Jackson $1, Chad Qualls $1, Boof Bonser $1.
This team had a mere $18 to spend but put in a number of thoughtful bids with a great deal of contingencies. There's never any harm in trying even when there is a lot of money flying around and chances are poor you're not going to get anyone.

Ninth place: Matt Capps $28, Lance Berkman $20, Edwin Jackson $16, Jorge Cantu $12, Mitch Moreland $6, Ryan Kalish $4, Chad Qualls $1.
I didn't think much of the Jackson bid at the time - and it turns out it was $13 too high - but he's been solid thus far for Chicago and they have a decent track record of turning weaker players around than Jackson. The rest of these bids look like they were "keeper" or "keeper plus" bids: designed to get players at keeper prices without mucking up the pennant race.

Tenth place: Jorge Cantu $49, Matt Capps $20.
A silly bid for a non-contender on Cantu, and a bid that chewed a significant amount of FAAB up that maybe could be used later on September call-ups that aren't in farm systems at the moment. This is not the play I would have made to ostensibly improve a draft pick by a slot or two.

Eleventh place: Lance Berkman $19, Mitch Moreland $10.
This team blew through most of its FAAB the week before to get Dan Haren. It couldn't trade Haren because that would have capped out every contender. Moreland at $10 probably isn't a keep and Haren is going to go back in to the pool next spring.

Twelfth place: Lance Berkman $32, Ryan Kalish $10, Chad Qualls $1.
This team claims that Berkman is a probable keep at $32. I doubt it. Kalish at $10 would have been an interesting future play, but a contender bid $22. Qualls at $1 is interesting if he winds up in the A.L. somewhere as a closer. It's a long shot, but at $1 why not?
 

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