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. :-)