Mastersball

Each week, your friends at Mastersball will post the results of the weekly Tout Wars FAAB run, featuring the winning bid as well as the runner-up bids. There are three LABR leagues, a 12-team AL only, 13-team NL only and 15-team Mixed League. You can see the complete standings for each league by clicking on the appropriate heading, located just under each player photo.

Tout Wars uses a modified Vickrey system to award bids. For a complete description of the Vickrey system, click HERE for the Tout Wars constitution.

Included with each league report will be commentary from a Mastersball staff member participating in that league. We invite you to ask questions and post comments at the bottom of the report

AMERICAN LEAGUE

PLAYERS AWARDED

UNAWARDED CONTINGENCY BIDS

Rob Leibowitz Commentary

Injuries to two of the Angels relievers including closer de jour Scott Downs pushed recently Ernesto Frieri into the limelight as a potential closer. The 26-year old was acquired from the Padres last week and throws fairly hard and has a fairly long minor league history of striking out more than a batter per inning. While Frieri was the target of 8 bids in AL Tout and landed on the Colton/Wolf roster at a Vickery $16, there are some caution points here. First, Frieri has a rather long history of inconsistent control, regularly posting 4+ and even 5+ BB/9. Secondly, like many power pitchers, he is an extreme fly-ball pitcher. So the combination of command and fly-ball issues does have some potential for ugliness. Still, he may get the ball in the ninth, so even a mid-teens victory is a worthwhile bid from a risk/reward standpoint.

As for myself, my main goal was to simply cut Lars Anderson and add as valuable a spare-part as I could find, first focusing on Ben Francisco as a potential swing-man and then looking at relievers with save potential.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

PLAYERS AWARDED

UNAWARDED CONTINGENCY BIDS

Brian Walton's Commentary

Four weeks ago, our Lord Zola won Rafael Dolis with a speculative $7 bid. Unfortunately, he dropped the Cubs reliever last week, just before Carlos Marmol lost his job. This set off a chain-reaction of big-money spending this week. I was among the nine of 13 NL Tout warriors chasing Chicago’s saves, bidding $26. That was only the third-best offer and not nearly enough cash as Dolis’ new owner Scott Pianowski was prepared to spend $41 and paid $28. I did pick up the lefty side of the potential closer equation, with a winning $5 offer for James Russell. Though Russell received five bids, they were obviously placed with less financial conviction.

By the way, don’t feel sorry for Todd in the least. In dropping Dolis last week, he added a new closer in Andrew Cashner (San Diego) and kept Steve Cishek (Miami) over the Cub.

The untimely injuries to corner infielders Pablo Sandoval and Mat Gamel meant spirited bidding for their potential replacements. Conor Gillaspie fetched $13 ($23 Vickrey) from Lenny Melnick while Travis Ishikawa’s big week and the allure of more where that came from attracted $24 of Zola’s cash ($27 Vickery).

In my ongoing attempt to recreate the 2005 MLB All-Star teams, I doubled down, taking a $6 flyer on Derrick Lee after last week’s $3 gamble on Bobby Abreu paid off. Assuming Ishikawa isn’t the answer to cover first base for Milwaukee in Gamel’s absence, Lee would seem a natural fit. Then again, he could be the 2012 position player version of Roy Oswalt (waiting and hoping).

MIXED LEAGUE

PLAYERS AWARDED

UNAWARDED CONTINGENCY BIDS

Zach Steinhorn's Commentary

Not surprisingly, saves were the main focus in this week’s Mixed Tout FAAB bidding. The injuries to Mariano Rivera, Scott Downs and Huston Street along with the demotion of Carlos Marmol determined the four highest priced players: Rafael Soriano, Ernesto Frieri, Andrew Cashner and Rafael Dolis. Soriano went to Nick Minnix for the Vickrey adjusted price of $28, a high price considering that David Robertson remains the favorite to take over as the Yankees’ closer. That said, Soriano does have plenty of closing experience, and the fact that Minnix is currently without any closers on his roster certainly factored into his thinking. Cashner for $10 could turn out to be a nice buy for Eric Mack considering Huston Street’s well-documented injury history. Although Street insists that his lat strain won’t keep him out for long, we should take this with a grain of salt until we hear a more definitive timetable.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that I had won Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks for $7, topping Tim Heaney by just one dollar. Being a Kevin Youkilis owner, I’ll just slide Middlebrooks into my starting 3B slot, and I’m excited to see what he can do in the coming weeks. After raking in the Minors this year (.333 AVG  9 HR  27 RBI in 24 games), Middlebrooks has kicked off his big league career by going 5-for-16 with a grand slam. I was also pleased to re-acquire Drew Pomeranz at the cost of $2, as he’s slated to start twice this week, vs. the Padres and Dodgers, both on the road.