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

It is now early to mid September and the AL FAAB leader has a whopping $14 remaining to him. Kansas City outfielder David Lough and Toronto starter Brett Cecil each garnered the highest bids this week at $10 each. Lough has long been considered something of a tweener with doubles power, slightly above average speed, mediocre overall plate discipline, but good contact making skills. He was playing semi-regularly until injuring his hamstring back on the 5th.  Brett Cecil’s gopheritis got him booted from the rotation earlier this year. He has actually shown pretty good skills otherwise at stops in Double-A and Triple-A, but for now will be utilized out of the bullpen in middle and long relief. In the past the righty has been known for his ability to keep the ball on the ground, so there is still a chance he could be a productive member of the Jays' rotation in the future.

PLAYERS AWARDED

UNAWARDED CONTINGENCY BIDS

Brian Walton's Commentary

It has to be a comforting position to be in first place and have a considerable FAAB balance in National League Tout Wars, as well. Such is the perch in which ESPN's Tristan Cockcroft sits.

Cockcroft bid $20 on good-hitting outfield prospect Adam Eaton, called up by Arizona this week. However, he lost Eaton on a tie-breaker based on the standings to Dean Peterson, still fighting for points from his 12th-place spot. The rest of the league thanks Dean!

NL Tout also had two $10 players this week, the amount required by Vickrey rules when a higher bid is made but uncontested for $10 or more. The bidders for Washington's returned-from-the-minors starter John Lannan were two familiar names - Cockcroft ($20, reduced to $10) and Peterson ($1). This time, Cockcroft carried the day.

The other $10 player is Philadelphia's Phillippe Aumont, the recipient of a $12 offer from Phil Hertz. The BaseballHQ staffer was the lone bidder.

Scratching for hitting points, I lost out on Eaton due to lack of cash (why didn't I nab him for $1 last week?). I added disappointing Jason Bay off the scrap heap for $2 and Bucs infielder Brock Holt ($3) from the bargain rack.

MIXED LEAGUE

PLAYERS AWARDED

UNAWARDED CONTINGENCY BIDS

Zach Steinhorn's Commentary

There was no shortage of starting pitchers on this week’s FAAB list, with the Padres’ Eric Stults and Athletics’ Dan Straily leading the way. Stults has allowed just one run combined over his last three starts and is in line for a two-start week while Straily, who has been impressive through his first three big league starts, will now take the place of the sidelined Brandon McCarthy in Oakland’s rotation.

I joined the starting pitching frenzy, and am actually very surprised that a $0 bid was enough to win James McDonald. Yeah, McDonald has been extremely erratic of late, but with a matchup against a sub-par Cubs’ lineup on tap, I like his chances of racking up a bunch of strikeouts and possibly even netting a win. Matt Dominguez of the Astros was my other pickup this week. He’s been on fire since getting called up to the Majors a couple weeks ago, and while he’s not really known for his bat, I’m hoping he stays hot for a bit longer. With Mark Teixeira out indefinitely, I was desperate for a corner infielder, so this was more a move out of necessity. I’m keeping my expectations in check.