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.

All contingency bids for awarded players are included. Sometimes, this is a bid tied to a player that the owner received, so at times the bid amount is larger than the winning bid. We are including it to provide as much information and context as possible with each report.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

PLAYERS AWARDED

UNAWARDED CONTINGENCY BIDS

Rob Leibowitz Commentary

Hideki Matsui received 6 bids and a $10 claim price from Erickson. Everyone here was fishing for a potential bargain/is not overly inspired by the former Yankee. Right now Matusi is actually healthy enough to be utilized as more than a DH and has smacked a pair of homeruns. While Matsui may see fairly steady playing time for the coming week, things could be well up in the air once Desmond Jennings comes off the disabled list a week from tomorrow, limiting him to pinch-hitting and part-time duty given the presence of lefties Matt Joyce and Luke Scott on the roster. Matsui will turn 38 next week and has not topped the 20+ HR plateau since 2010, but at least remains a disciplined hitter, so there may be something left in the tank if he can get the opportunity at consistent playing time.

As for my moves this week, I promoted Garrett Richards now that he is temporarily in the rotation and rather than chase Matsui, opted to add a cheap reliever who misses bats like Mark Lowe.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

PLAYERS AWARDED

UNAWARDED CONTINGENCY BIDS

Brian Walton's Commentary

What might have been?

A player I took in the reserve rounds but gave up on after a poor start in Double-A elicited the highest bidding of the week. Atlanta’s new shortstop Andrelton Simmons was an earlier victim of our very limited four-man reserve rosters but is now the property of Tristan H. Cockcroft for $21 ($26 Vickrey). Simmons can pick it, but the open question is whether he can hit enough to stick. Tyler Pastornicky knows all about that.

Last week, I made a pre-emptive $4 bid on the Dodgers’ Nathan Eovaldi before he was called up. It would have been a winner, but was overridden by my successful offer for Matt Hague. After a taste of success with the Dodgers, Eovaldi, a callup from Double-A with 2011 MLB experience, drew five bids this time around, with the winner paying $10 ($13 Vickrey).

Speaking of $10, I claim a mulligan on my $10 offer for Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal. On Friday, when I placed my bids, the top prospect was in the majors with the expectation that he would step in for struggling Nick Hundley. By Sunday night, he was sent back to Triple-A. Working the Sunday night game at Citi Field and doing a draft during the game, I didn’t check player news before the midnight deadline and ended up paying $6 too much for a player who may or may not be back in the majors anytime soon. I never want to root for another player to do badly, but pox on you, Nick Hundley!

MIXED LEAGUE

PLAYERS AWARDED

UNAWARDED CONTINGENCY BIDS

Zach Steinhorn's Commentary

This week was a rare week in Mixed Tout FAAB bidding, as saves were nowhere near the main focus. Instead, Lonnie Chisenhall garnered the highest bid, $16 by Tim Heaney. Vickrey reduced his price tag to $10, however, as the next highest bid was a mere two bucks. Chisenhall, fresh off the minor league DL, was called up by the Indians last week and has enjoyed a productive start to his big league season, going 6-for-18 (.333 AVG) with two homers, three RBIs and two steals through five games. Chisenhall lost out to Jack Hannahan in the competition for the Indians’ starting third base job this spring, but with Hannahan now on the DL, the 23-year-old former top prospect has a golden opportunity to wrestle the job back should he perform well.

Eric Mack opted to shell out seven bucks for Manny Ramirez, who could join the A’s later this month. I honestly thought about bidding on Manny, but after getting burned by his former teammate, Johnny Damon, I’m officially staying away from aging DH types who missed all of spring training.

It was another one of Mack’s purchases that caught my eye, however. Ubaldo Jimenez has had a terrible season so far, and he’s been pretty awful since joining the Indians last summer, but is he worth a $4 bid based on past performance? Probably. It really is amazing how far Ubaldo’s stock has fallen in less than a year.

I was just about to enter a bid for Padres’ top prospect Yasmani Grandal when I noticed that he was optioned back to the minors after just one big league at-bat. Wow, that was fast. So instead, I became one of the five owners who did not bid on anyone.