Trust the Gut: Fantasy Baseball FAAB Guide (Week 6)

Welcome to Trust the Gut, my weekly FAAB strategy column.

This article will help guide fantasy baseball managers in confidently identifying hitters and pitchers to acquire via free agent bidding or waivers. Our weekly focus is on players available in 15-team and 12-team standard 5×5 roto leagues. 

Weekend Content Timeline

• FAAB tables are compiled on Fridays: 15-Team FAAB, 12-Team FAAB
• Trust the Gut comes out on Saturdays between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. ET
• My Sunday Update comes out on Sundays by 8 p.m. ET
• Mike Mager’s Drops tables: Hitter Drops, Pitcher Drops
• Mike Mager’s Disaster Pitcher Starts to Avoid 
• Lucas Biery’s The Week Ahead (with platoon splits & stash grid), released Monday mornings
• Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire – for shallower/more mainstream formats

• Joe Orrico on Mondays, Adam Young on Fridays; Yahoo’s Roster% listed

Rankings & Projections Tool – Powered by the FTN data model; Customizable

• Playing time projections by me, Jenny Butler and Dan Thompson 

• Over 10,000 simulations: skill level, advanced data, and ballpark factors 

• Rankings and projections can be sorted by Daily, Weekly, Mon- Thurs, Fri- Sun 

• Rest of Season projections are also available

Please reference the Preseason FAAB Primer for general strategies and tactics.

Trust the Gut FAAB Legend

Bid range recommendations and per-position priority orders are NFBC-centric but can be referenced for 12-team & 15-team formats on all host sites.

A $1,000 starting FAAB budget is referenced. Divide by 10 if your league starts the season with a $100 budget. A $60 bid in the former is equivalent to a $6 bid in the latter.

Roster% = percentage of hitters and pitchers rostered in specific NFBC national contests

• 15-team Roster% is from the Main Event 
• 12-team Roster% is from the Online Championship
• Bid range recommendations for hitters and pitchers rostered in 90% of leagues 
• AWB = average winning bid

The by-position list below is segmented into 15 and 12-team leagues, grouped by:

Starting Pitchers, Relief Pitchers, Corner Infielders (1B + 3B), Middle Infielders (2B + SS), Outfielders, Catchers, and Utility-only (when applicable). Positions are from NFBC.

Types of FAAB Targets:

• Staying Power – potential to stick on your roster all season
• Streamer (Rental) – immediate impact based on schedule or matchups