NL FAAB Log: September 20, 2010

Randy Wells $19.  Other bids: $2.

Wells went to a team currently tied for second and in the middle of an interesting battle for strikeouts.  Frankly, Wells is pretty serviceable, and probably should be owned in most deep NL-only formats.  Unfortunately for Wells, he is a victim of his own success last year.  He is 7-13 this year, and all of his numbers are up (some good, some bad): K/9, BB/9, HR rate, BABIP, ERA, FIP, LD%, etc.  What does it mean?  It is hard to say, because the contact rates and swinging strikes are also up…maybe we can chalk it up to bad luck.  Wells gets Jonathan Sanchez and the Giants on Wednesday…if you are trying to protect your rate stats, look elsewhere.

Alex Sanabia $10.  Other bids: $5, $2.

I wrote about Sanabia here.  A fly-ball pitcher with a K/9 under six is not usually my primary target.  Of course, Sanabia then proceeded to put up a 3.88 ERA in 60 innings so far, just to remind us that metrics do not play baseball.  He gets the Mets in Florida this week, so this is not a bad play.

John Bowker $7.

Bowker went 7-17 in five consecutive starts for the Pirates last week.  That raised his average to .210.  While Bowker’s family may be excited, color me scared, particularly if I have a batting average point (or points) to protect.  To the extent you desperately need counting stats, however, Bowker looks like he may get most of the starts the rest of the way.

Adalberto Mendez $4.

Mendez gets the Mets in Florida on Tuesday.  The 28-year-old rookie showed some mettle, making his first two major league starts against the Phillies and pitching quite well.  Given that his opponent on Tuesday is Mike Pelfrey, perhaps Mendez is not a bad play if you need a win (Mike Pelfrey is 1-6 lifetime against the Fish with a 5.79 ERA).

Chris Iannetta $3.  Other bids: $0.

Is it possible that Iannetta has peaked already?  His strike zone judgment, BABIP and LD% continue to drop.  He sure does have some power, though, hitting 17% of his fly-balls out of the park.  He was a next year play by a non-contender in our league, and is probably worth a flier to see what inflation looks like and see whether he secures a starting job somewhere.

Jeff Samardzija $1.  Other bids: $0.

This is an admittedly puzzling pick-up in our league.  One of the two teams tied for second place picked him up.  I am all about protecting rate stats, and while I like Samardzija long term, he is not a protector of rate stats; he is a decapitator of them.  “Just a bit outside” does not really describe Samardzija’s wildness, and I cannot recommend him in any format at this point.

Mark Rogers $1.

Rogers came into the season as the 19^th rated prospect in the Brewers system by John Sickels.  He had a nice 96 inning performance at Huntsville, striking out 92 and only giving up 66 hits.  The 62 walks are a red flag, however, and contenders (even first place teams with a 10-point lead) should be careful about picking him up.