FAAB Bidding Week 1!

[Hells Satans]

Did anyone bid on Morales or Padilla? How many Bard owners are hoping he moves back to the bullpen?

I had bids on Padilla right below Santiago and Rodney

I picked up Morales in the Diamond and Ultimate. Who knows.

[BlindSquirrel]

Rodney has always been great for saves.

It was Leyland putting him out there in non-save situations where he got pummeled.

[Gekko]

The second paragraph is not true. Ventura never said anything about who the closer was going to be. It was all speculation. Santiago has the job. If he doesn't fail too often early in the season, he'll keep it no matter what Reed or Crain do. If he stinks, he'll get replaced.

maybe u missed the manager quotes...

April 6th --> RV now talking matchups for the closer's role (https://twitter.com/#!/MDGonzales/statu ... 7908196352)

March 16th --> White Sox manager Robin Ventura said Thursday that Matt Thornton and Jesse Crain are the "best options" for the closer job. (http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball ... tions.html)

January 5th --> White Sox manager Robin Ventura confirmed Wednesday that he's viewing Matt Thornton as his closer.
"It's open, but right now I would say Matt is probably the guy to do that," Ventura told WSCR-AM 670 in Chicago. (http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012 ... -white-sox)

[Hells Satans]

No, I can read. Especially the part where he specifically refuses to name a closer

"When we get closer to the end [of camp],’’ Ventura said. “I don’t think it’s necessary to name someone now. We have capable guys. You see what you have first and see what your needs are.’’

But after the 12-3 loss Thursday against the Indians, Ventura said that left-hander Matt Thornton and right-hander Jesse Crain are the best options to grab the job with the Addison Reed hype having cooled a bit.

“Not making it just those two, but from a body of work, they’re the best options,’’ Ventura said.

Also, the Twitter link is really a probing piece.

[mlbbug]

I know the NFBC mantra is to spend your FAAB early and often but can't believe that one team spent $852 of their FAAB budget on 4 pitchers in the first week!!(515-Santiago;227-Rodney;58-Delgado;52-Volstad) There's no guarantee that Santiago (or anyone else for that matter) holds the closer job all year in CHW. Rodney may keep it for a month or so at best;a big risk leaving your team with $148 for the balance of the year. If Santiago coughs up the job that team has no chance bidding on another speculative closer unless they get lucky on a long shot.What happens when that hotshot kid that everyone is lusting for comes up to MLB and that team has to stand idly by with no FAAB left to bid on him. I thought this was a marathon,not a sprint!!

[Gekko]

come on guy, u aren't that thick, are you?

"It's open, but right now I would say Matt is probably the guy to do that," manager Robin Ventura told WSCR-AM 670.

to me that means matt is the likely closer when that was said. maybe in bizarro world, that means matt is not the likely closer

[Foo Dog]

Santiago went for 347 in my XII.

[Hells Satans]

come on guy, u aren't that thick, are you?

"It's open, but right now I would say Matt is probably the guy to do that," manager Robin Ventura told WSCR-AM 670.

to me that means matt is the likely closer when that was said. maybe in bizarro world, that means matt is not the likely closer

The quote is from January 5th, which makes it about as useful as a second asshole.

My point is that it was a mess from the beginning precisely because he refused to officially name a closer. That's a big deal in Manager World. Drafting Reed or Thornton was just guessing.

[Gekko]

come on guy, u aren't that thick, are you?

"It's open, but right now I would say Matt is probably the guy to do that," manager Robin Ventura told WSCR-AM 670.

to me that means matt is the likely closer when that was said. maybe in bizarro world, that means matt is not the likely closer

The quote is from January 5th, which makes it about as useful as a second asshole.

My point is that it was a mess from the beginning precisely because he refused to officially name a closer. That's a big deal in Manager World. Drafting Reed or Thornton was just guessing.

if u didn't give Ventura's comments any weight, why didn't you draft santiago? lol

no need for a response. u have a vested interest in santiago being the guy, so we all understand why u are viewing with rose-colored glasses

[Hells Satans]

come on guy, u aren't that thick, are you?

"It's open, but right now I would say Matt is probably the guy to do that," manager Robin Ventura told WSCR-AM 670.

to me that means matt is the likely closer when that was said. maybe in bizarro world, that means matt is not the likely closer

The quote is from January 5th, which makes it about as useful as a second asshole.

My point is that it was a mess from the beginning precisely because he refused to officially name a closer. That's a big deal in Manager World. Drafting Reed or Thornton was just guessing.

if u didn't give Ventura's comments any weight, why didn't you draft santiago? lol

no need for a response. u have a vested interest in santiago being the guy, so we all understand why u are viewing with rose-colored glasses

I didnt draft any of them except for 1 league (Thornton) because of Ventura's non-comments. Santiago probably will suck. Or maybe he won't. I've wasted $400 in real money on dumber things.

[Gekko]

it appears he got the gig right now and that's all that counts.

[Money Men]

RECENT PLAYER NEWS
3/25/2012
News:  Santiago threw a scoreless ninth inning and earned the save in a 5-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Sunday.
Analysis: Santiago is the newest candidate as ChiSox closer. He is competing with Matt Thornton and Addison Reed. ``He's a possibility just because he throws strikes,'' manager Robin Ventura said about Santiago. ``He has all the stuff you like.''

How's this for a manager quote on closers?

Went for over $500 in my Online champ.

[ChiScottieBaseball]

I also picked up new STL OF Shane Robinson in a few leagues today for about $13, should have just bid $1. Anyone have any thoughts on him?

[Gekko]

RECENT PLAYER NEWS
3/25/2012
News:  Santiago threw a scoreless ninth inning and earned the save in a 5-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Sunday.
Analysis: Santiago is the newest candidate as ChiSox closer. He is competing with Matt Thornton and Addison Reed. ``He's a possibility just because he throws strikes,'' manager Robin Ventura said about Santiago. ``He has all the stuff you like.''

How's this for a manager quote on closers?

Went for over $500 in my Online champ.

yes, this is the merry-go-round i referenced in my initial post.

[Glenneration X]

I got Rodney for $103 and Bard for $56 in 12 team Derek Van Riper Satellite league. Won Rodney by $5 and Bard by $10. Have Farnsworth on DL so I needed to fill in for him while he's out. Maddon has show his preference for Rodney by using him in three consecutive high leverage spots.Don't care for Rodney's skills but saves are saves! Just need him to hold the role for a month or so 'til Farnsworth gets back.May wind up with a closer in Bard down the road;if so, he's biggest FA closer bargain in NFBC this year.

Don't be surprised if Rodney's the closer for well longer than a month. The conservative estimate on Farnsworth's injury is 4 to 6 weeks. When pitchers are involved, the layoff is almost always longer than the estimate, oftentimes much longer.

[Money Men]

Money Men wrote:
RECENT PLAYER NEWS
3/25/2012
News:  Santiago threw a scoreless ninth inning and earned the save in a 5-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Sunday.
Analysis: Santiago is the newest candidate as ChiSox closer. He is competing with Matt Thornton and Addison Reed. ``He's a possibility just because he throws strikes,'' manager Robin Ventura said about Santiago. ``He has all the stuff you like.''


How's this for a manager quote on closers?

Went for over $500 in my Online champ.


yes, this is the merry-go-round i referenced in my initial post.


Splitting hairs here, but none of those quotes ever "named" a closer. He kept a bunch of guys in the running when asked about them, then let his moves speak. When Reed and Thornton pitched the 7th and 8th on opening day, that was the first sign that they were out. Pain in the ass for fantasy, but not a bad managerial move by the rookie.

[BK METS]

This happens every year. A guy gets some save chances and supposedly has the job and he gets swarmed with huge bids in free agency. I was guilty of it last year in several leagues with Sean Burnett on the Nationals. I wasn't getting caught in that same position this year ( at least not in week 1 ). I lost Farnsworth in several leagues and only got Santiago in 1 league, for $141 in my OC

[kamakazi]

Some idiot bid the following:

$485 on Santiago
$246 on Rodney
$246 on Aceves

$977 total. What an idiot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh shit, that was me. Guess I should have saved a little more. Oh well, too late now.

kamakazi

[NorCalAtlFan]

i'm going to guess that the faab the first week in the PreMature League is amongst the most insane out of all the leagues. most teams(me) have 5-6 holes to fill for teams that were drafted in October!

[mbendar16]

I have been killed in prior years for not being aggressive enough early in the year with FAAB. With Farnsworth on my ME and Auction teams, put in bids of about 180 for Rodney, knowing I was overbidding by at least 50 but couldn't afford to not get him. He seems like the guy Maddon is going to in the 9th until Farnsworth comes back and happy to get him on both teams. The 2nd bid was less than 100 from my winning bid both times, so can't complain.

[DOUGHBOYS]

i'm going to guess that the faab the first week in the PreMature League is amongst the most insane out of all the leagues. most teams(me) have 5-6 holes to fill for teams that were drafted in October!

We probably led all leagues in number of players dropped.
And probably money spent

[mlbbug]

Although I realize that a manager's preference is very strong in getting saves chances,sooner or later superior skills will win out. According to the data that I could find on Santiago and Addison Reed's minor league numbers there is no question who owns the better skills here. Santiago(over 3 years) has a 210/88 K/BB ratio in 182.1 IP with 4.05 ERA and 1.44 WHIP. Now Santiago has a great K/9 rate(10.38) but lacks control with a less than stellar BB/9(4.35) and hasn't pitched in AA or AAA ball yet.On the other hand, Reed has been filthy in the minors with a 155/20 K/BB rate in 107 IP and ERA of 1.40 with WHIP of 0.75! Plus,Reed breezed through 3 levels of minor league ball last year maintaining his dominance at every successive level that he went up to( K/BB rates of 50/5 in 36 IP in A ball; 33/6 in 20 IP in AA and 28/3 in 21 IP in AAA). Reed has never had a WHIP higher than 0.8929 at any level of his minor league career.If you add in his 12/1 K/BB in a 7.1 IP cup of coffee in MLB last year plus the fact that Reed is a RHP(pretty sure Santiago is LHP)it seems to me that these skills won't stay in a setup role too long.MLB season is a marathon,not a sprint. I,for one, am glad that Reed is on my roster!!

[Catch]

Congrats to former leaguemate Eric Sudigala aka Mr October for owning Hector Santiago via the draft, cost him $0 in faab!

[normkent]

The Santiago bids are just out of control.
Some of you guys must work for the government.

[rkulaski]

i'm going to guess that the faab the first week in the PreMature League is amongst the most insane out of all the leagues. most teams(me) have 5-6 holes to fill for teams that were drafted in October!

We probably led all leagues in number of players dropped.
And probably money spent

Crazy thing is, I actually liked most of my bats in the Premature... I drafted 3 closers but was down to 2 after Farnsworth got hurt. I decided to go 300 on Santiago (320? something around 300) and was happy to get him... Hopefully Farnsworth returns in 1-2 months but I'm worried about him long term so hence the bid on Santiago.

Biggest bid in the Premature league was Y Cespedes for 771 !! Talk about small sample sizes... if he starts the year with a couple of doubles and goes 3 for 15 to start the year, maybe he can be had for $150-$250... Start the year with 3 HR and whammo!