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

Todd Zola's Commentary

It's not always a bad thing to hold the hammer when it comes to post-trade deadline FAAB, although I'm sure Jason Collette would prefer to pay a little more if he could get Manny Machado's stats from this past weekend to count on his ledger. The O's surprised many by promoting their shortstop of the future to play the hot corner as they battle for one of the wild cards down the stretch.

I'm surprised it took Kansas City this long to promote Tomy Abreu who was having a fine season for Triple-A Omaha. At this point,m it is unclear how much he will play, other than to take the place of Yuniesky Betancourt. It would not shock me if Abreu parlays his .322/.347/.492 slash line into some at bats at second base, at minimum in a platoon with Chris Getz.

If you think you had a rough injury week, don't look for any sympathy from Rotowire and Sirius XM's Jeff Erickson who lost Mike Napoli, Will Middlebrooks and Brett Lawrie.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

PLAYERS AWARDED

UNAWARDED CONTINGENCY BIDS

Brian Walton's Commentary

Both in the real and fantasy baseball worlds, shortstop Tyler Greene is getting a second chance. Never able to hold down a starting job in St. Louis, the Cardinals finally gave up on the former first-rounder, sending him to Houston on a waiver claim. The Astros inserted him at the top of their lineup and NL Tout Warriors took notice. Despite trying to deal away stolen bases, Derek Carty bid $20 (reduced to $13 Vickrey). Six others took a shot at Greene.

Other rebounders receiving new life in NL Tout this week are former Mets outfield prospect Fernando Martinez ($6), up again with Houston, and Cub Justin Germano ($1). The right-hander is now wearing his sixth major league uniform after Chicago purchased his contract from Boston and installed him into the rotation at the end of last month.

One of Florida’s takes from the Anibal Sanchez-Omar Infante trade to Detroit was catching prospect Rob Brantly, called up for the first time on Sunday. As much as I wanted him, knowing my John Buck is likely heading for the pines, others had more cash. Controlling the table, Phil Hertz denied me, bidding $12 (reduced to $10 Vickrey).

MIXED LEAGUE

PLAYERS AWARDED

UNAWARDED CONTINGENCY BIDS

Zach Steinhorn's Commentary

Orioles’ uber-prospect Manny Machado was the big prize in this week’s FAAB bidding, and deservedly so, as the 20-year-old has kicked off his big league career batting .375 with three homers and seven RBIs through four games. Eric Mack, who entered the week with a hefty (compared to most other owners) $36 left in his budget, was able to snag Machado for the very reasonable price of $13. Machado could be a true difference maker, and it’s unlikely that many more difference makers will surface on the waiver wire during the season’s final month and a half.

With Huston Street now on the DL, Dale Thayer is seen as the leading candidate to fill the Padres’ closer role, and considering his solid 3.60 ERA and exceptional 1.15 WHIP, I’m actually very surprised that my $3 bid turned out to be the second highest bid. Thayer went to Nando DiFino for $10, and I’m sure Nando’s hoping that Street’s calf injury will keep him sidelined for even longer than the expected three weeks.

My frustrating Tout season sunk to a new low this week with Will Middlebrooks’ season-ending injury, so my main mission in FAAB was to pick up a replacement for my corner infield slot. Five bucks is a bit more than I was hoping to spend on a guy who is batting .269 with six homers and 41 RBIs through 110 games, but Yonder Alonso has really picked up his production since the All-Star break, hitting .287 with three home runs, 18 RBIs and a .809 OPS. Maybe the 25-year-old former top prospect is finally starting to figure out how to be more consistent at the big league level. I need all the help I can get.