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

Jim Thome came back to the AL on Sunday and was targeted by 9 teams with a winning bid of $28. The whole fact that he was in the NL in retrospect is now rather strange. The nearly 41-year old achieved just 75 plate appearances and failed to even qualify at 1B even though Ryan Howard has been on the disabled list all season long, so that pretty much assesses his defensive value. All that aside, Thome will serve as a platoon-DH and is still quite capable of putting a few out of the yard for those who can afford or do not mind a possible sub .250 (or much worse) batting average.

The A’s Chris Carter has had a good Triple-A campaign with improved contact making skill and has, for the time being, claimed the starting first base gig. Given Mike Carp’s non-existent season, I took a chance at acquiring him. Like Thome, Carter is not a batting average threat. He has long shown himself to be a right-handed platoon player with well sub-par defensive skills and I suspect that the merry-go-round at first base will not stop with him.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

PLAYERS AWARDED

UNAWARDED CONTINGENCY BIDS

Brian Walton's Commentary

In an indication of how clean the bones of the NL Tout free agent pool had already been picked, there was just one available position player who received more than 10 at-bats last week. I now own new Pirate and former Ray Drew Sutton for my $1 bid.

A current streak of seven consecutive multi-hit games is bound to draw attention, even if it is in Indianapolis. With the Buccos playing better these days, even future Pirates are seeing speculative action. Outfielder Starling Marte, who may not remain in Triple-A much longer, drew the high offer of the week, $3, from BaseballHQ's Phil Hertz.

The pitching side was even quieter, with not a single available free agent having thrown more than five innings during the previous seven days. The only other non-zero bid made in the league was a $1 winner for San Diego reliever Dale Thayer issued by ESPN's Nate Ravitz.

MIXED LEAGUE

PLAYERS AWARDED

UNAWARDED CONTINGENCY BIDS

Zach Steinhorn's Commentary

Andrew Cashner’s dominant start vs. the Astros last week has had many fantasy owners scurrying to the waiver wire to add the talented righty. Our Tout Wars league was no different, as Cashner drew this week’s highest bid, $17 from Paul Singman. Thanks to our Vickrey system, Paul saved a few bucks, as he landed up paying $14 for Cashner’s services. The risk with Cashner is that he has pitched almost exclusively out of the bullpen (89 appearances, three starts) during his big league career, but if he continues to turn in these kinds of performances, the Padres will have a tough time removing him from a starting rotation that lacks depth. For $14, Cashner offers a great deal of upside.

Chris Carter, who was called up by the A’s late last week and is expected to platoon at first base with the slumping Brandon Moss, fetched a winning bid of $10 from Seth Trachtman. After homering twice through his first two games with the big club, it could be just a matter of time before Carter receives regular at-bats. The former top prospect carries plenty of potential, something the A’s lineup desperately needs.

With Nick Hundley demoted to Triple-A, Yasmani Grandal figures to get a longer look than one at-bat this time around. Oh yeah, he also hit two homers in his first career major league start. The switch-hitting backstop has now found a home on Ray Flowers’ roster for the very reasonable price of $9. My $7 bid on Grandal came in second, and I’m kind of wishing I went a little higher. He certainly would have been an upgrade over Ryan Hanigan.

I thought that this year would mark the end of my relationship with Ricky Nolasco, who has let me down on numerous occasions over the past few seasons. I was wrong. Nolasco is having a fairly mediocre season but hey, his last two starts were great! When I noticed that Nolasco was available, I couldn’t help but bid a couple bucks on him. Hopefully, he won’t turn in one of those 3 IP, 9 ER outings the first time I start him.