Welcome to my 2023 Fantasy Baseball FAAB (waiver wire) column series! This site has been focused on various strategy guides and position primers, however, we will be shifting gears towards mostly FAAB, since that is what separates the winners from losers in non-Draft & Hold formats!
There are tons of great resources out there for FAAB scoops, including FTN’s own Vlad Sedler’s must-read FAAB article. A majority of the NFBC market checks Vlad’s article every week, so if you are missing it you could be falling behind severely.
With lots of FAAB resources out there, you might ask, why do I need this article with many others out there? Great question! And I will say that if you are willing to put in the time, getting multiple different perspectives on a topic that changes as quickly as FAAB does is never a bad thing! The price on a player can and will change with a manager quote or the famous Sunday save which drives up FAAB prices.
Another key aspect of this article is to outline some potential drops. Drops are always tricky because every league is a litter different, but I would like to add some color to that area of focus. I will also be adding in some players to focus on in dynasty leagues since dynasty league FAAB is a whole other topic as well!
Vlad also did a great job breaking down the basics of FAAB, so please check his article out below if you are needing a refresher or a crash course if you are new to FAAB.
A few other must-have resources in my mind are Jeff Zimmerman’s weekly FAAB article.
And lastly, a few great podcasts that I won’t be missing in reference to FAAB.
- https://twitter.com/OnTheWirePod
- https://twitter.com/almelchiorBB/status/1639606509649772544?s=20
- https://twitter.com/WhatTheFAAB
As well as the podcast I am part of with my co-host Lou Landers.
Now that the FAAB plugs are over, let’s dive into this week!
Before we start listing out names, a few quick pointers that have helped me with FAAB, determine your drops and needs before you start scanning for names. If you are trying to add a SS and have no room for him, it’s all for naught. Same thing with an extra SP, if you are stuffed to the gills with starters, perhaps reviewing the SP options isn’t the best use of your time. Additionally, be sure to use the rostership percentages to see the best choices available. I don’t know who is floating around in the 12-team formats or in the even more shallow leagues, and seeing the top-rostered guys can show us outlier players that are available in just our league but not commonly available. Also, be sure to sort by recently added to see if you missed anyone who the market deems valuable. These two sorts can help chip away at the FAAB process. Some of the best adds have been from a player dropping a proven veteran who is slumping but will return to form.
One last point I want to make is don’t fall in love with guys too easily. I have fallen prisoner of this trap, thinking I have found a potential gold-mine player only to have that guy become just ordinary or fizzle in some way. By having a very long claim-list, (at least 10 adds for each drop) you can spend less money and just take whoever comes at a cheap rate. By having a ton of guys in your FAAB queue at cheap prices, someone will make it to you for just a buck or two if you are agnostic since often times a lot of streaming players are more similar than the FAAB dollars would indicate.
Disclaimer: This article is geared towards 15-team leagues mostly, but we will try to accommodate the 12-team guys as well! For the bid amounts, feel free to lower the recommended amounts in 12-teamers since the player supply is greater than the 15-teamers.
Hot Commodities 🔥
| Jurickson Profar | COL | OF | $110-$140 | Going to Coors will increase his home AVG substantially and he could leadoff. A useful year could be coming along the lines of a .280 AVG with 15 HR with the potential for 90+ runs considering Coors boost. Benchable on road will fluff up AVG. |
| James Outman | LAD | OF | $20-$40 | Worth a shot to see what he does out of the gate. |
| Brandon Marsh | PHI | OF | $50-$60 | Closer to Bellinger profile than you think. |
| Jose Siri | TB | OF | $35-$50 | Power/speed jolt with poor AVG, lots of PT. |
| Oswaldo Cabrera | NYY | OF | $35-$50 | Upside potential and immediate ABs with Bader injury. |
| Darik Hall | PHI | UT | $25-$35 | Power potential but will be platooned and unproven. |
| David Hensley | HOU | UT | $10-15 | Sneaky MI option that has good skills. |
| Clarke Schmidt | NYY | P | $150-$200 | Big SP add if he went undrafted, Main Event drafters showing their hand that he has big upside. |
| David Peterson | NYM | P | $65-85 | Interesting upside flyer given his K rates. |
| Nick Martinez | SD | P | $40-$50 | Skilled enough to be must-roster in 15 teamers initially. |
| Mitch Keller | PIT | P | $40-$50 | Skilled enough to be must-roster in 15 teamers initially. |
| Cole Irvin | BAL | P | $15-$25 | Could be a streamer. |
| Graham Ashcraft | CIN | P | $40-$50 | Skilled enough to be must-roster in 15 teamers initially. |
| JT Brubaker | PIT | P | $40-$50 | Skilled enough to be must-roster in 15 teamers initially. |
| Kenta Maeda | MIN | P | $60-75 | Skilled enough to be must-roster in 15 teamers initially. |
| David Robertson | NYM | P | $180-$275 | The Edwin Diaz manager will likely be very aggressive here, we don’t have any quotes from the manager securing the role, but Buck loves having a ‘closer’ and Robertson is the most proven. Be cautious here, but it could be a good saves source for awhile. |
| Michael Fulmer | CHC | P | $140-190 | Potential to be THE guy in Chicago, been great in ST and fresh situation out of DET, sweeper appears to be a big piece for him. |
| AJ Minter | ATL | P | $35-40 | Along with Joe Jimenez, he could be a saves source for 3-4 weeks or even more. |
Serviceable Streamers ♻️
For streamers this Thursday-Sunday period (as well as all season-long), it’s just a matter of maxing out ABs and ensuring we have good-quality arms in the pitching slots. Two-start pitchers will always be in vogue for those chasing after those W’s and K’s but the quality is more important early on. The double-starters can totally backfire on you just tread with caution. A good middle reliever can oftentimes be a better call than rolling out a sloppy starter hoping for good results – twice the chance of a blow-up too.
This period we will be looking for bats with 4 games Thurs-Sun, so look for players on these teams: Mariners, Padres, Mets, Marlins, Dodgers, Rockies, Guardians, White Sox, Diamondbacks, and Astros. Additionally, try to ensure that those bats on those teams will actually start the 3-weekend games, or at least make an appearance in each game, or otherwise, you are better off starting one of the guys with just 2 games over the weekend period.
Pitching-wise, my friend Will Garofalo creates a great SP grid before the year starts every year, and I advise you to use it to see which potential SPs are available in your league.
Onto the player recommendations!
| Blake Sabol | PIT | C | $25-$30 | Stab at catcher upside, but he could be nothing. Rule 5 means he could be gone as fast as he arrived but could play some OF with C eligibility for those 2 catcher formats. |
| Mike Moustakas | COL | 1B/3B | $20-$40 | Worth a look to see if anything is left. |
| Jesus Aguilar | OAK | 1B | Contingency Bid | Potential for FT PT. |
| Carlos Santana | PIT | 1B | $15-$25 | Potential for FT PT and good lineup spot. |
| Jeimer Candelario | WAS | 3B | $30-$45 | Potential for FT PT with power, park upgrade in WAS. |
| Gio Urshela | LAA | 3B | $12-$15 | AVG booster with chance for multi-position eligibility. |
| Jonathan Schoop | DET | 2B | $12-$15 | Potential for FT PT. |
| Orlando Arcia | ATL | 2B | Contingency Bid | Potential for FT PT. |
| Tony Kemp | OAK | 2B/OF | Contingency Bid | Potential for FT PT. |
| Eddie Rosario | ATL | OF | Contingency Bid | Useable and could bounce back for ATL. |
| Corey Dickerson | WAS | OF | Contingency Bid | Potential for FT PT. |
| Jack Suwinski | PIT | OF | Contingency Bid | Potential for FT PT. |
| Will Benson | CIN | OF | $25-$40 | Lotto ticket power/speed play in Cincy. |
Spec Plays👓
| Ji-Man Choi | PIT | 1B | Contingency Bid | Potential for FT PT. |
| Miguel Rojas | LAD | SS | Contingency Bid | Desperation MI option. |
| Michael King | NYY | P | $10-$15 | Highly skilled RP behind Holmes who had health concerns. |
| Will Smith | TEX | P | $10-$15 | RP save spec. History closing under Bochy. |
| Scott McGough | ARI | P | $5-$10 | RP save spec. Feel free to put a dart on someone in the Arizona pen. |
| Adam Ottavino | NYM | P | $3-5 | RP save spec. |
Dynasty Darlings 💎
This section will fill up more as the year progresses, but here are some guys I am looking at in my dynasty leagues.
| Mason Miller | OAK | P | $30-$40 | Big stuff arm who has close proximity to MLB. |
| Jared Schuster | ATL | P | $60-$90 | All formats viable, good LHP with big changeup in great org. |
| Dylan Dodd | ATL | P | $5-$10 | Worth a spec if you have a free space. |
| Wuilfredo Antunez | CLE | OF | $5-$10 | High upside J2 spec. |
| Angel Genoa | CLE | INF | $5-$10 | High upside J2 spec. |
Drop Department ✂️
Following our drafts, we have picked a lot of our players for good reason, so I will try to avoid cutting some of my players immediately unless they were optioned (and not going to cut all those guys, but most of the players optioned I won’t be stashing in the NFBC) or if they suffered a big injury, then we can cut those guys.