Weekly FAAB : Roy Oswalt

WAIVER CLAIMS:
Danks- Troops, Highlanders
Cecil- Relay, Usuals, Mt.Baker, Deal N/D
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BIDS:
Oswalt- Mt.Baker:24, Skwirls:21, BSP:18, Deal:15, Relay:11, Owls:7
Archer- Highlanders:9, Relay:7, Deal N/D:5, BSP:5, Skwirls:3, Usuals:3
Norris- Highlanders:11, Usuals:9, Troops:10, Owls:6
F.Morales- Skwirls:5, Deal N/D:4, BSP:2
Axelrod- Deal N/D:6
Griffin- Relay:7, Owls:5, Usuals:3, Chaos:1
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FAAB remaining: China:81, Liefers:91, Relay:52, Chaos:36, Owls:65, Deal:83, Highlanders:46, Skwirls:34, Troops:75, Mt.Baker:10, Big Sausage:27, Usuals:69

FINALLY we got to bid on Roy Oswalt.  It seemed like he was coming forever but might never actually arrive, like this Monty Python scene.  He finally arrived with a flourish, getting a W and tallying 6 strikeouts.  I badly need both of those stats, but my FAAB account is like my bank accounts in real life, i.e., not exactly flush.  Nevertheless, I made a fairly aggressive bid of $21 and just missed. 

My back-up plans were in place, though.  Chris Archer, yet another live arm from the Rays system, has an impressive K rate and I probably should've bid higher on him, but I liked Franklin Morales a bit more.  Rookie pitchers are terribly unpredictable, and I'm playing for the money this year.

Losing out on Oswalt does leave some FAAB in the bank for later, and Morales is racking up the K's himself at a much cheaper price.  The erstwhile set-up man whiffed 8 for his first victory as a starter since 2009, then followed it up with 9 more K's in only 5 innings.  The Boston Globe reports: "Since 1985, the only other Red Sox pitchers to strike out at least eight batters in their first two starts of a season are Roger Clemens (1988) and Pedro Martinez (1998-2000)." 

My other thought is trading for Oswalt, as the 2nd-to-last team in the league had the winning bid. And as I type this, an e-mail came in from him inquiring about my interest. :-) 

Weekly FAAB: Ryan Kalish

WAIVER CLAIMS:
Walden- Owls
Damon- Mt.baker
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BIDS:
Pearce- Deal:6, Liefers:5
Grimm- Usuals:8, Chaos:2
Stewart- Troops:1
Snyder-Chaos:1
L.Mendoza-BSP:2, Mt.Baker:1
Kalish- Skwirls:10,Liefers:5, Deal:2
Furbush- Chaos:1
L.Martin- China:6
N.Jones- China:1
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FAAB remaining: China:75, Liefers:91, Relay:59, Chaos:36, Owls:65, Deal:89, Highlanders:66, Skwirls:39, Troops:75, Mt.Baker:34, Big Sausage:38, Usuals:69

Very excited this morning to learn I have landed Red Sox OF Ryan Kalish with a bid of $10.  I had targeted him at the auction, but with him on the DL and in the minors, league rules prevented me from dropping the $1 end-of-auction bid.  With his call-up yesterday, I thought long and hard on this FAAB bid -- there's little science or math in it, it's mostly intuition as to what bid "feels right" -- and settled on $10 because it's aggressive enough to land him but low enough to make him a keeper.  Note: He FAAB'd for $22 in 2010 here and Mike Gianella fairly gushed about his potential then.

While he can help my depleted OF now, I think he is keeper material for 2013.  He's actually kind of a stealth stud prospect, with good power (think Trot Nixon) and sneaky speed that he's not afraid to use. He had 10 SB in 2010 with Boston, plus 24 earlier in the minors!  Kalish says he's healthy and he's torn up the minors on his brief rehab assignments.  He made his debut last night with a clutch RBI single that won the game against the Cubs. 

With the return of Ellsbury and Crawford still floating off in the foggy distance, Kalish will get plenty of at-bats.  Even when Cody Ross comes back (perhaps this week?) it will be an ideal platoon situation.  Podsednik (.373 and 5 SB for my $5 so far) has apparently tweaked his groin, so if he goes on the shelf that opens up CF. 

Basically, a potential 20/20 guy for $10.  Not bad!

Roster Review

THE RALLY SKWIRLS
Player	TM	Pos	Sal	Con
Kelly Shoppach	BOS	C	1	Op14
Joe Mauer	MIN	C	29	LT13
Miguel Cabrera	DET	1B	47	Op13
Orlando Hudson	CWS	2B	5	Op14
Asdrubal Cabrera	CLE	SS	23	Op13
Will Middlebrooks	BOS	3B	10	Op14
Chris Parmelee	MIN	1B/3B	5	Op14
Kelly Johnson	TOR	2B/SS	16	Op13
Alejandro De Aza	CWS	OF	1	Op13
Collin Cowgill	OAK	OF	2	Op14
Austin Jackson	DET	OF	22	Op14
Kole Calhoun	ANA	OF	5	Op14
Scott Podsednik	BOS	OF	5	Op14
David Ortiz	BOS	UTIL	14	FA
Jake McGee	TB	RP	2	Op14
Cory Wade	NYY	RP	1	Op14
Jonathan Broxton	KC	RP	8	Op14
Jon Lester	BOS	SP	39	Op14
Clay Buchholz	BOS	SP	13	FA
Scott Diamond	MIN	SP	7	Op14
Matt Thornton	CWS	RP	8	FA
Scott Downs	ANA	RP	1	Op14
Jake Peavy	CWS	SP	12	Op14
Jacoby Ellsbury	BOS	RESER (OF)	20	FA
Cody Ross	BOS	RESER (OF)	12	Op14
Andy Dirks	DET	RESER (OF)	6	Op14
Alexi Ogando	TEX	RESER (RP)	2	Op13
Matt Lindstrom	BAL	RESER (RP)	1	Op14
Dustin McGowan	TOR	RESER (SP)	1	Op14
Brett Cecil	TOR	RESER (SP)	5	Op14
Jose Iglesias	BOS	FARM (SS)	0
Xander Bogaerts	BOS	FARM (SS)	0
Anthony Ranaudo	BOS	FARM (SP)	0
Michael Ynoa	OAK	FARM (SP)	0

Weekly FAAB Report: Dice-K

Dice-K is back! FAAB him or wait for Oswalt?

AL-ONLY BIDS (12 Teams; 5x5 Roto)

Matsuzaka- Highlanders:16, BSP:12, Mt.Baker:12, Skwirls:5

I made a modest bid here, hoping maybe the league would either be napping or be afraid of Dice-K's notorious WHIP-killing skills.  I needed the Ks -- he had 8 in only 5 innings in his debut -- but with this tepid bid, I guess I decided I didn't need them that badly.  Side note: He was also on my target list at the end of the auction, but then when the time came, I saw Dustin McGowan sitting there and went that way instead with my $1. I was thinking McGowan would be back sooner than Dice-K. Whoops.

Danks- Mt.Baker:3

Moss- Mt.Baker:4

Brilliantly touted as a prospect by Theo Epstein when he clearly was not, then used as a chip to get Jay Bay from Pittsburgh, I had forgotten all about this guy.  Meanwhile, it is now apparent that 1B for the A's is like some kind of black hole Bermuda Triangle place that attracts (and destroys) marginal Quad-A type hitters.

Mazzaro-Troops:1

I used to think this guy had real potential. I've since been disavowed of this opinion. 

Doolittle- Usuals:2

Blackley- Usuals:2

Wade-Skwirls:1

OK, the thing about Wade is I've been watching him on the waiver wire all year, and he's been good, very good in fact. He's listed 2nd on the ESPN closer chart behind Soriano, and 3rd on the Fangraphs.  I like to speculate on these guys (it's how I ended up with 6 saves from Scott Downs for $1) and with injuries plaguing the post-Mariano bullpen, there's a slim chance he could snag a save or two. Either way, he's K'ing better than a guy an inning (29 in 27) and his WHIP is 0.96, so he shouldn't hurt me while Ogando is on the DL.*

*Yes, this is another reason we like the DH rule! 

Standings thru Sun. Jun. 10
	Rank	Team	Pts
	1	CHAOS	110.5
	2	HIGHLANDR	96.0
	3	MAJLIEFRS	86.0
	4	SKWIRLS	75.0
	5	USUALS	74.0
	6	DEAL/ND	68.0
	7	BIGSGPIZZ	59.0
	8	OWLS	56.0
	9	RELAY	47.0
	10	TROOPS	38.5
	11	MT BAKER	36.5
	12	CHINA	33.5

Weekly FAAB Report: Matsui

Moves 6/4
WAIVER CLAIMS:
Morel - BSP
---------------------------------------------
BIDS:
Matsui- Mt.Baker:21, Owls:7, Deal N/D:6, BSP:3, Chaos:1
Pryor- Usuals:8, Mt.Baker:4, BSP:2
Villareal- Usuals:3
Richards- Mt.Baker:3, BSP:3 (Mt.Baker lower in standings)
LaPorta- BSP:9, Owls:6, Deal N/D:6
Worth- Mt.Baker:2
Chavez- Chaos:1
Ross- Deal N/D:1
Feldman- BSP:1
Kelly- BSP:1


For the first time I think all season, I didn't make any FAAB bids at all.  I did have one slot to fill with Dirks on the DL, but with Austin Jackson due back Tuesday, and not being interested in Matsui, I elected to pass.  There is still Manny and Oswalt on the FAAB horizon, after all.

I find Pryor a very interesting prospect -- likely a future closer -- but I didn't have an open slot for him.

$9 for LaPorta?  Really?  If ever there was a poster child for the Quad-A guy, he's it. 

RALLY SKWIRLS
Current overall position: 4th
Remaining FAAB $50