The best players in the world play on NFBC and the most popular high-stakes contest is the NFBC Main Event, which has a $1,750 buy-in with a $7,000 league prize and a $200,000 overall prize. Thankfully, for everyone, NFBC allows us to see what each team is doing with their FAAB pickups on Sunday night.
Each week, I look at the most popular fantasy baseball waiver wire and FAAB pickups in the NFBC Main Event to see who the best players in the world are picking up and whether we should add them.
The best players in the world play on NFBC and the most popular high-stakes contest is the NFBC Main Event, which has a $1,750 buy-in with a $7,000 league prize and a $200,000 overall prize. Thankfully, for everyone, NFBC allows us to see what each team is doing with their FAAB pickups on Sunday night.
Each week, I look at the most popular fantasy baseball waiver wire and FAAB pickups in the NFBC Main Event to see who the best players in the world are picking up and whether we should add them.
Fantasy Baseball FAAB Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 14
Ben Rice has been called up to take the place of Anthony Rizzo, who is out for a while with an injury, which is why he was picked up in 57 Main Event leagues. Rice is likely to be the regular Yankees first baseman moving forward and that has a lot of value on its own, but add in the fact he is also catcher eligible, then he becomes super interesting as a catcher that can rack up full-time plate appearances.
Aroldis Chapman was picked up in 55 Main Event leagues with a maximum pick-up of $209 and a minimum bid of $8. He is moving into the closer role with David Bednar expected to miss 4-to-6 weeks with an oblique injury. Chapman is a pretty well-known commodity. While the Pirates also have Colin Holderman, Chapman got the first save opportunity for the Pirates since Bednar went down. He also has a history as a closer.
Tyler Black was a prospect who got a lot of sleeper buzz in the preseason after hitting .284 with 18 home runs and 55 stolen bases between AA and AAA in 2023. He got an early call-up earlier this season but failed to get enough playing time to stick around. However, he is back up and was picked up in 42 leagues with a maximum bid of $87 and a minimum bid of $3. He appears to be locked into a strong-side platoon role with the Brewers now and could be a good source of stolen bases.
Dominic Canzone was picked up in 42 leagues with a maximum bid of $43 and a minimum bid of $2. Canzone doesn’t have a ton to offer offensively outside of a bit of pop, but he also platoons and doesn’t hit high up in the lineup often, so his ability to compile stats is a bit limited.
Joey Lopefido was picked up in 37 leagues with a maximum bid of $37 and a minimum bid of $6. He has been up and down a few times this season. He has been great in the minors and while up with the big league club. The problem is we don’t know what his role will be when the Astros get healthy. There is pop and speed in the profile, so there is a lot of upside if he can stick around.
Heston Kjerstad was picked up in 35 leagues with a maximum bid of $64 and a minimum bid of $4. Like Loperfido and Black, Kjerstad was up earlier in the season, but he didn’t hit well in limited playing time and was sent back down. Kjerstad has crushed AAA this season, but the Orioles have shown they will not necessarily give their prospects full playing time before sending them back down. There is a lot of upside here, but the role is a massive question mark.
Spencer Turnbull was picked up in 31 leagues with a maximum bid of $77 and a minimum bid of $11. He has been great all season, throwing 51.1 innings with a 2.63 ERA and 56 strikeouts, but has bounced between the rotation and the bullpen this year. He is back in the rotation for now, but it is unclear how deep he will go into games and how long he may even stay in the rotation.
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