FAAB Review: Week 1 | Baseball Prospectus

Welcome back to the FAAB Review, the column that reviews the goings on in multiple analyst leagues in the hopes we can help you with your own FAAB bidding process and habits. This column will mostly focus on The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational (TGFBI), a contest that contains 26 leagues of 15 teams each and crowns an overall champion. We’ll look at the 10 most popular FAAB buys in those leagues every week. We’ll also focus on some highlights in Tout Wars AL and NL, two deeper industry leagues (this feature won’t be included this week, as their first FAAB run isn’t until Wednesday).

TGBFI and Tout Wars use a $1,000 FAAB budget, Tout Wars also allows teams to place $0 bids. Both leagues (typically) run their FAAB weekly on Sundays.

TGFBILuke Jackson. Average Winning Bid: $128 (Maximum Winning Bid: $656, Minimum Winning Bid: $11)In a move that felt like it was out of nowhere, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy announced very late in Spring Training that Jackson would get first crack at being closer over free agent signee Chris Martin and newly acquired Robert Garcia. My perception of Jackson was that he was a journeyman without much success, but he spent years with Atlanta and had some decent, albeit nondescript seasons for them. This doesn’t feel like something that will stick but the options behind Jackson aren’t stellar either and he’s got the job.

Jose Alvarado $67 ($188, $14)Jordan Romano has had one bad outing, and Alvarado has had one great one, so it is way too early to assume roles are switching in Philadelphia. It is far more accurate to say that Phillies manager Rob Thompson has never been particularly rigid with his bullpen and Alvarado looked phenomenal this spring, hitting the upper 90s with his fastball and looking like the dominant reliever he was in 2023 and not the erratic one he was in 2024. Romano doesn’t even have a particularly big contract by dollars or years so there’s no reason Alvarado couldn’t become the closer if Thompson does choose to go in that direction.

Emilio Pagan $40 ($151, $10)The cloudiness in the Reds bullpen may have cleared up a slightly this week, with Pagan and Tony Santillan becoming the early favorites for saves based on usage patterns while Graham Ashcraft, Tyler Rogers, and Scott Barlow look more like set up or middle relief options. Pagan has been a serviceable reliever throughout his career, with home runs being his biggest issue in terms of any manager’s comfort level in the late innings. You probably won’t have time to monitor this one without making a call, so four to five percent of your budget feels fair to see if you win this reliever lottery.

Blake Treinen $33 ($69, $3)I thought there would be more overreaction overbids based on Tanner Scott’s blown save and Blake Treinen picking up a save, but these feel like reasonable bids for the reliever who looks like what Kirby Yates was supposed to be: the primary backup to the Dodgers closer. Treinen has been impressive throughout his Dodgers career, and it isn’t far-fetched to believe he could supplant Scott, but it is way too early to assume this is a fait accompli. I picked up Treinen in Tout Wars as a safety net for Scott and I’m more likely to go after Treinen if I already have Scott and not because I am assuming there has already been a job switch.

Ben Brown $31 ($78, $8)Brown seemed to be on the outside of the Cubs rotation looking in but after the series in Japan and before stateside Opening Day Chicago manager Craig Counsell announced Brown was the team’s fifth starter. He has good stuff; the problem is he might not have enough of it, as he’s still working on refining his change to go along with a mid-90s fastball and a sharp curve. Given his youth it makes sense that the Cubs want to try him in the rotation rather than give up and move Brown to the pen but he’s a questionable option this week in deep mixed, even with two starts (at Sacramento, home against the Padres) on tap.

Kyle Stowers $17 ($47, $1)It’s only a 354 major league plate appearance sample size but the power Stowers showed throughout his minor league career (91 home runs in 1741 PA) hasn’t shown up in the majors (six home runs). The good news for Stowers is he has a clean shot at playing time for the Marlins and will get a decent amount of run to see if he can finally tap into that minor league potential. He’s 27, which isn’t great news if you’re looking to add Stowers in a dynasty league, but his age reinforces the idea that Miami might as well run him out there for a while and see if he can amount to something good before trying someone else.

Max Muncy $15 ($57, $1)Muncy could use another half season or so in the minors, but a Zack Gelof injury opened the door for Muncy to start at second base for the Athletics. He profiles as a future backup middle infielder more than a starter, mostly due to below average contract rates. My larger concern about him in one-and-done leagues is Gelof should be back at some point next month and it’s likely Muncy will go back to AAA at that point. This is an acceptable FAAB price for a one month fill in.

Chris Paddack $14 ($35, $4)Paddack went for the exact same (average) price last week in TGFBI with the same maximum bid as well. Spooky! He hasn’t pitched yet and gets a sweet matchup later today at the White Sox and a not-so-sweet matchup later this week against the Astros. I lean toward using him in deep mixed but wouldn’t be surprised if I was unhappy with the results.

Will Wagner $11 ($22, $4)Wagner is a good hitter, but I’m not convinced he is a good fantasy hitter outside of his batting average/on base percentage. The Blue Jays faced four righties last week which means we don’t know yet if Wagner is in a platoon with Davis Schneider although this is my assumption. If that’s the case, then Wagner will only get four starts this week and isn’t an ideal pickup in weekly formats, at least not this week.

Andrew Benintendi $10 ($23, $2)Benintendi went from being a no power hitter with some speed and average in 2022-2023 to a hitter who sold out for moderate power at the expense of his batting average who also stopped running in 2024. I’m not sure which version shows up in 2025 but as much as the White Sox are a national punchline Benintendi is sandwiched between Luis Robert and Andrew Vaughn, the one place in Chicago’s lineup that could lead to runs and RBI. He’s an acceptable fifth outfielder in 15-team mixed.

Tout Wars NLVinny Capra $61 (Other Bids: $8, $7, $3)Jon Berti $46Miles Mikolas $44 ($12)Mickey Moniak $37 ($23, $22, $12)Taijuan Walker $16 ($7)Jake Bauers $12Thomas Harrington $3Alex Vesia $3 ($1)Phil Maton $2Jose Ferrer $2Jason Heyward $2Rafael Marchan $1Erik Miller $0Pierce Johnson $0

While “guy who is on the short side of a third base platoon” isn’t acceptable in mixed Capra is perfectly fine in mono. He was old for a prospect back in 2023 when he on the back end of the Blue Jays long list of prospects when he was 26 and now, he’s … never mind, you can do the math. There isn’t much power and there probably isn’t enough volume.

Mikolas gets a good matchup (for NL-only) against the Angels and then gets a terrible one at Boston. I’m not inclined to use pitchers like this even in only, but I know others don’t agree so it is up to you as far as what your risk tolerance is for that second matchup.

Tout Wars ALGregory Soto $101Nathan Lukes $51 (Other Bids: $2)Taylor Walls $51 ($10, $2, $0)Kameron Misner $51 ($23, $17)Nick Maton $51 ($0)Shane Smith $43Matt Thaiss $30 ($2)Emerson Hancock $26Jack Kochanowicz $13DaShawn Keirsey Jr. $9Tommy Kahnle $8 ($1)Ben Lively $4Sean Newcomb $2Kyren Paris $2Tim Herrin $1Justin Topa $1Jake Mangum $1Hunter Harvey $1Mark Leiter $0Donovan Solano $0

Misner was an afterthought in most leagues – even AL-only ones – but Josh Lowe’s latest injury puts Misner on the good side of an outfield platoon with Mangum. A decade ago, there would have been super aggressive bids based on his minor league numbers, but the scouting reports show he doesn’t hit the ball that hard and has a long swing that will limit him in the majors. If nothing else, I dig the stolen base potential.

Walls is a career .188/288/.292 hitter in 1,254 career major league plate appearances. You might ask “what are we doing here?” as you place your bids on him in your many fantasy leagues and the answer is “hoping for some cheap stolen bases without too much of a batting average hit.” I’d rather take a back-end speedster bench guy, take the slight runs/RBI penalty, and hope for most of the same steals without the AVG hit.