NHL Best Bets for Tuesday (11/19)
Kenneth Le
Code Red
Welcome to my weekly NFBC Main Event recap article. Each week, I’ll dig into the top free agents added in this premier fantasy baseball contest, letting you know who was added in the most leagues, how much money was spent and more. In addition, we’ll revisit the top pickups from three weeks ago and even scan the Main Event overall standings to see who’s at the top.
MLB Counter = 96.9% of the season complete
Remaining:
- Weeks: 1
- FAABs: 0
- Lineup Sets: 2
- Days: 7
There is just one week left in the regular season, and for Main Event owners, it’s Truth Time. League Championships and Overall Positions are still up for grabs, and it just comes down to the last few decisions before we get the final answers. Can you handle last week? If you’re not sure, please refer to the following exchange from “A Few Good Men”:
COL. NATHAN JESSUP: You want answers?
LT. DANIEL KAFFEE: I think I’m entitled.
JESSUP: You want answers?!
KAFFEE: I want the truth.
JESSUP: You can’t handle the truth!
Need Help? Just Ask the Baseball Gods…Politely
Just make sure you are polite when you ask the baseball gods for a save or win or stolen base. As Colonel Jessup said:
JESSUP: The corporal will run you by Ordinance on your way out to the airstrip. You
can have all the transfer orders you want.
KAFFEE: (to JO and SAM): Let’s go.
(The lawyers start to leave.)
JESSUP: But you have to ask me nicely.
(Kafee stops. Turns around. Sam and JO stop and turn.)
KAFFEE: I beg your pardon?
JESSUP: You have to ask me nicely. You see, Danny, I can deal with the bullets and the bombs and the blood. I can deal with the heat and the stress and the fear. I don’t want money and I don’t want medals. What I want is for you to stand there in that f***** white uniform, and with your Harvard mouth, extend me some f****n’ courtesy. You gotta ask me nicely.
(Kaffee and Jessep are frozen. Everyone’s staring at Kaffee)
KAFFEE: Colonel Jessep… if it’s not too much trouble, I’d like a copy of the transfer order. Sir.
(Jessup smiles)
JESSUP: No problem.
See? It’s easy if you’re polite!!!!
The top-30 entrants in the Main Event are listed later in the article – but with three weeks to go, here are are the top-five contenders for the 2023 crown and the only Main Event teams within 300 points of the top:
- Brian Slack and Dylan White
- Brandon King
- Bob Catsiroumpas
- John Pausma
- Robert Mirshak & Ian Kahn
- Rey Diaz
- Gregg Martin
Most Common FAAB Pickups in the Main Event: Vientos (The Winds Are High)
The No. 1 pickup this week was the Mets regular third baseman, whose name means “The Winds” in Spanish. Mark Vientos homered twice in Wednesday’s victory, and since September 14, he is hitting .282 with 3 homers, 1 stolen base and has scored 7 runs. He looks like a fine add for the final week of the season. Vientos was added in 28 Main Event leagues on Sunday as owners scrambled for those last few hitting points.
The 10 widest acquisitions are in the chart below, and in addition to Sawyer Gipson-Long, they also feature a five star general – Douglas MacAthur – er, check that, it is James McArthur of the Kansas City Royals. General James has seemingly won the Kansas City closer job, and with saves at a premium with one week left, his services were in relatively heavy demand. Jason Heyward of the Dodgers is visiting Coors Field this week, and 25 Main Event owners are hoping he likes the locale. The rest of the top-10 free-agent pickups are shown below. But in truth, there is a lot of disparity in the free-agent additions as fantasy team owners try to solidify their hold on different rotisserie categories. One noteworthy addition, though, is the seventh-widest pickup, Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays. He’s only 20 years old and only eligible at Utility in our game, but he just might get hot with one week’s playing time.
| ADDED IN MOST MAIN EVENT LEAGUES | Leagues Added | Reason | Highest Winning Bid | Lowest Winning Bid |
| Mark Vientos | 28 | Every day PT for NYM | 9 | 1 |
| James McArthur | 25 | KC finally has a closer! | 6 | 1 |
| Jason Heyward | 25 | Great schedule for LAD | 5 | 1 |
| José Alvarado | 23 | Primary PHI closer? | 27 | 1 |
| Kyle Farmer | 23 | Utility man for MIN | 16 | 1 |
| Shane Bieber | 21 | Final start at DET | 29 | 1 |
| Junior Caminero | 20 | Rookie Phenom for TB | 8 | 1 |
| Jo Adell | 19 | PT for LAA | 20 | 1 |
| Cavan Biggio | 18 | Hitting well for TOR | 5 | 1 |
| Matt Waldron | 16 | Knuckeballer for SD | 4 | 1 |
The Wow Bid of the Week
So, who attracted the (final) highest single bid of the week? This great honor went to Cincinnati starting pitcher Andrew Abbott, who was available in one Main Event league. He was won by a frugal owner who had $76 to spend on him, but in truth he didn’t need that much. The runner-up bid was $1.
- 3/26: Darick Hall $221
- 4/2: Dany Jiménez $363
- 4/9 Oscar Colás $372
- 4/16 Taj Bradley $557
- 4/23 José Alvarado $399
- 4/30 Tanner Bibee $504
- 5/7 Bryce Miller $468
- 5/14 Eury Pérez $415
- 5/21 Bobby Miller $329
- 5/28 Bobby Miller $412
- 6/4 Royce Lewis $429
- 6/11 Elly De La Cruz $650
- 6/18 Emmet Sheehan $178
- 6/25 Gavin Williams $228 (2)
- 7/2 Jordan Westburg $177
- 7/9 Colton Cowser $225
- 7/16 Aroldis Chapman $316
- 7/23 Christian Encarnacion-Strand $283
- 7/30 Giovanny Gallegos $155
- 8/6 Adrian Houser and Endy Rodríguez $150 each
- 8/13 Trevor Story $164
- 8/20 Hyun Jin Ryu $119
- 8/27 Jordan Wicks $356
- 9/3 DJ Stewart $77
- 9/10 Jordan Lawlar $311
- 9/17 Wilyer Abreu $86
- 9/24 Andrew Abbott $76
FAAB Summary
The summary of the full 27 weeks of 2023 FAAB is below. Main Event owners made 37,506 winning bids (so each Main Event team won 47.2 bids on average – 1.75 per week). Unsurprisingly, Main Event activity tailed off markedly at the end of the season, with just 770 winning bids in the final period. Therefore, for the full 2023 campaign, Main Event owners spent, on average, $955 of their $1,000 allocation. Comparing that to the last two years, that’s more than the $942 spent in 2022 and the $943 spent two years ago.
Spending This Week: Roughly $3.07 per Team
Of course, there is always a significant amount left unspent, and the last two years this totaled $57-58, but this year it looks like it will only be about $45, which I attribute to the heavy early spending in 2023 spurred by the regular rookie call-ups.
| MAIN EVENT: 2023 FAAB PERIOD | TOTAL NUMBER OF MAIN EVENT WINNING BIDS | TOTAL FAAB DOLLARS SPENT MAIN EVENT | AVERAGE WINNING BID MAIN EVENT | AVERAGE AMOUNT SPENT PER TEAM | CUMULATIVE FAAB SPENT PER TEAM |
| 1 | 341 | $6,722 | $19.71 | $8.46 | |
| 2 | 1410 | $50,519 | $35.83 | $63.55 | $72.00 |
| 3 | 1793 | $55,661 | $31.04 | $70.01 | $142.02 |
| 4 | 1822 | $68,776 | $37.75 | $86.51 | $228.53 |
| 5 | 1725 | $53,876 | $31.23 | $67.77 | $296.29 |
| 6 | 1748 | $61,632 | $35.26 | $77.52 | $373.82 |
| 7 | 1902 | $74,183 | $39.00 | $93.31 | $467.13 |
| 8 | 1775 | $59,903 | $33.75 | $75.35 | $542.48 |
| 9 | 1659 | $40,999 | $24.71 | $51.57 | $594.05 |
| 10 | 1501 | $37,183 | $24.77 | $46.77 | $640.82 |
| 11 | 1524 | $34,488 | $22.63 | $43.38 | $684.20 |
| 12 | 1619 | $51,953 | $32.09 | $65.35 | $749.55 |
| 13 | 1546 | $22,441 | $14.52 | $28.23 | $777.78 |
| 14 | 1531 | $22,510 | $14.70 | $28.31 | $806.10 |
| 15 | 1386 | $13,517 | $9.75 | $17.00 | $823.10 |
| 16 | 1313 | $16,018 | $12.20 | $20.15 | $843.25 |
| 17 | 1023 | $9,338 | $9.13 | $11.75 | $854.99 |
| 18 | 1266 | $17,466 | $13.80 | $21.97 | $876.96 |
| 19 | 1340 | $9,731 | $7.26 | $12.24 | $889.20 |
| 20 | 1554 | $10,957 | $7.05 | $13.78 | $902.98 |
| 21 | 1361 | $11,193 | $8.22 | $14.08 | $917.06 |
| 22 | 1324 | $7,885 | $5.96 | $9.92 | $926.98 |
| 23 | 1285 | $7,343 | $5.71 | $9.24 | $936.22 |
| 24 | 1083 | $5,970 | $5.51 | $7.51 | $943.73 |
| 25 | 986 | $3,776 | $3.83 | $4.75 | $948.48 |
| 26 | 919 | $3,453 | $3.76 | $4.34 | $952.82 |
| 27 | 770 | $2,364 | $3.07 | $2.97 | $955.79 |
| TOTAL | 37506 | $759,857 | $20.26 | $955.79 |
Overall Leaderboard: I Like You Guys Just Fine
Brian Slack wants to correct what I have written about him and says that he does respect all the competitors who are chasing him in the final weeks of the season. He pointed me toward this exchange in the movie “A Few Good Men,” when Lieutenant Kendrick explains that he also does like Navy personnel…
LT. DANIEL KAFFEE: Lt. Kendrick — can I call you Jon?
LT. JONATHAN KENDRICK: No, you may not.
KAFFEE: (pause) Have I done something to offend you?
KENDRICK: No, I like all you Navy boys. Every time we’ve gotta go someplace and fight, you fellas always give us a ride.
| Overall Leader | Standings Through This Date | Fantasy Owner | Overall Points | Margin Over Second Place |
| 1 | 4/2 | Robert Henke | 7065 | 82.5 |
| 2 | 4/9 | John Pausma | 6694 | 7 |
| 3 | 4/16 | Michael Mager | 7254.5 | 545 |
| 4 | 4/23 | Michael Mager | 6820 | 168.5 |
| 5 | 4/30 | Michael Mager | 7056 | 338.5 |
| 6 | 5/7 | Michael Mager | 7038 | 230 |
| 7 | 5/14 | Jeff Tudor | 6791 | 158 |
| 8 | 5/21 | Steve Maier | 6786 | 158 |
| 9 | 5/28 | Steve Maier | 6945 | 233.5 |
| 10 | 6/4 | Steve Maier | 6902.5 | 172.5 |
| 11 | 6/11 | Michael Kurland | 6745 | 68 |
| 12 | 6/18 | Steve Maier | 6934 | 304.5 |
| 13 | 6/25 | Eric Christenson | 7057.5 | 231 |
| 14 | 7/2 | Eric Christenson | 6881.5 | 39 |
| 15 | 7/9 | Eric Christenson | 7026.5 | 196 |
| 16 | 7/16 | Eric Christenson | 6845 | 21.5 |
| 17 | 7/23 | Eric Christenson | 6880 | 120 |
| 18 | 7/30 | John Pausma | 6947 | 143.5 |
| 19 | 8/6 | John Pausma | 6986.5 | 184 |
| 20 | 8/13 | John Pausma | 7105.5 | 282.5 |
| 21 | 8/20 | John Pausma | 7062.5 | 119 |
| 22 | 8/27 | John Pausma | 6962.5 | 79.5 |
| 23 | 9/3 | Brian Slack & Dylan White | 7111 | 263.5 |
| 24 | 9/10 | Brian Slack & Dylan White | 7120 | 265.5 |
| 25 | 9/17 | Brian Slack & Dylan White | 7084 | 195 |
| 26 | 9/24 | Brian Slack & Dylan White | 7036 | 106.5 |
| 27 | 10/1 | ??????? | 0 | 0 |
However, now in second place is Brandon King. He was fourth a week ago and says he’s, “not worried at all” about John Pausma, he’s only looking up at Slack and White. If he wins, he plans to petition the NFBC to make the championship not just a big check but a throne where a person can sit down and address the NFBC denizens next March. It would be even better, says Brandon, if there can be a set of stairs up to the throne so he is about 15 feet higher than everyone else.
Also not out of it yet is Bob Catsiroumpas, who was second last week and is well within striking distance (less than 200 points behind). Similarly, John Pausma is fourth and is also within 200 points of the top. This is really close! Finally, there are three more competitors who are between 200 and 300 points behind. The opera twins, Robert Mirshak and Ian Kahn, Say Hey Rey Diaz and My Favorite Martin, Gregg Martin. They sit in fifth through seventh place, and Vegas has them at very reasonable odds to win the championship!
In eighth is Bill (I don’t make any gaffes) Gaffney, and the ever-dangerous Clark Olson (who amazingly is also 14th overall) is ninth. These two are within 400 points, which might be a little too much for one week, but don’t tell them that! Then in 10th place we have that plucky unknown, Philippe Dussault (seriously, great work, Phil). In 11th is my arch-enemy in the auction, Steve Weimer, and in 12th we find Jason Anthony, while Eric Albright has had a really solid campaign and is situated in 13th.
Other notables include Mr. Bronx Yankee, Michael Mager, in 15th, David Miller in 16th, Danny Bronski in 17th (what a year he is having!), Kyle (on the Brink) Brinkmann in 25th and the Main Event artiste, Richard Briskin, in 27th (handling himself beautifully I must say). And of course, the unassuming Scott Gilbert in 28th. Finally, I must mention my Main Event partner and Rotowire prospect guru James Anderson, who is 24th overall despite getting weekly doses of poor FAAB ideas from someone who shall go nameless in this space.
| Overall Rank | Overall Prize Money | Fantasy Owner | Overall Points | Points Behind First Place |
| 1 | $200,000 | Brian Slack & Dylan White | 7038.5 | 0 |
| 2 | $50,000 | Brandon King | 6932 | 106.5 |
| 3 | $30,000 | Bob Catsiroumpas | 6905 | 133.5 |
| 4 | $25,000 | John Pausma | 6848 | 190.5 |
| 5 | $20,000 | Robert Mirshak & Ian Kahn | 6821.5 | 217 |
| 6 | $15,000 | Rey Diaz | 6814.5 | 224 |
| 7 | $12,500 | Gregg Martin | 6801 | 237.5 |
| 8 | $10,000 | Bill Gaffney | 6684 | 354.5 |
| 9 | $9,000 | Clark Olson | 6683.5 | 355 |
| 10 | $8,000 | Philippe Dussault | 6517 | 521.5 |
| 11 | $7,500 | Steven Weimer | 6471.5 | 567 |
| 12 | $7,000 | Jason Anthony | 6468.5 | 570 |
| 13 | $6,000 | Eric Albright | 6376.5 | 662 |
| 14 | $5,500 | Clark Olson | 6370 | 668.5 |
| 15 | $5,000 | Michael Mager | 6359.5 | 679 |
| 16 | $4,000 | David Miller | 6328 | 710.5 |
| 17 | $3,500 | Danny Bronski | 6319 | 719.5 |
| 18 | $3,000 | Michael O’Brien | 6267.5 | 771 |
| 19 | $2,500 | Stephen Marshall | 6261 | 777.5 |
| 20 | $2,400 | Steve Maier | 6229.5 | 809 |
| 21 | $2,300 | John Riccio | 6214 | 824.5 |
| 22 | $2,200 | Joe Bavaro | 6202.5 | 836 |
| 23 | $2,100 | Bryan Fitzgerald | 6180 | 858.5 |
| 24 | $2,000 | James Anderson | 6171.5 | 867 |
| 25 | $1,950 | Kyle Brinkmann | 6167 | 871.5 |
| 26 | $1,900 | Johnathon Olive | 6153 | 885.5 |
| 27 | $1,850 | Richard Briskin | 6149 | 889.5 |
| 28 | $1,800 | Scott Gilbert | 6141 | 897.5 |
| 29 | $1,750 | Jody Ryan | 6134.5 | 904 |
| 30 | $1,700 | Austin Sodders | 6105.5 | 933 |
| Average Top 30 Overall Score | Average Top 30 Overall Score | 6437.1 |
Champions Update
I like to keep tabs on our recent Overall Champions, because they have proven their mettle over long, difficult campaigns and therefore must be threats to do so again.
Philippe Dussault: As mentioned above, Philippe is amazingly in 10th overall after having been as far back as 275th place (out of 795 total). You might be inclined to come to the conclusion that Phil knows a thing or two about fantasy baseball after this excellent performance, but I’ll leave it up to you to decide…
Robert Cramutola: Bob was up to 110th overall, but unfortunately he has drifted back and is now 206th. Bob has proven to be a great champion, and as far as I’m concerned, he is going to bounce back in a big way in this event in 2024.
League of Legends
The Main Event league races are also coming down to the wire. I have listed below the top three positions in each league and also highlighted in blue those fantasy managers who are within 5.0 points of first place in their league. By that measure, there are 15 leagues (out of 53) completely up for grabs in the final week, and it is possible someone further back than five points could make a heroic comeback as well. I’d like to point out League #1446, where not only is there a three-way flat-footed tie for first place, but two others, Toby Guevin and Dave Clum, are also within five points! So five teams are coming into the last week with a good chance to win! In addition, League #1448 has three players involved instead of the usual two. This is going to be close!
| NFBC League No. | LEADER $7,500 prize | 2nd PLACE $3,500 prize | 3rd PLACE $1,750 prize |
| 1220 | Michael Mager | Steven Weimer | Scott Fleming |
| 1221 | Brian Edwards | Brian Ambos | Dominic Rello |
| 1228 | Tom O’Bryan | John Pausma | Kyle Pantalone |
| 1229 | Danny Bronski | Clark Olson | Chris Uram |
| 1230 | Adam Mayer | Todd Whitestone | Chas Nelson |
| 1244 | Philippe Dussault | Jason Anthony | Griffin Benger |
| 1276 | Gregg Martin | Andrew Geller | Jeff Mitseff |
| 1282 | Danny Bronski | Chris Liss | Jenny Butler |
| 1412 | Mark Srebro | Dalton Del Don | Jason Santeiu |
| 1417 | Danny Bronski | Russell Withers | Tony Saccucci |
| 1418 | Graham Dawick | David Hubbard | Abdulaziz Madani |
| 1419 | Kyle Brinkmann | Thomas Warner | Erik Sviggum |
| 1420 | Johnathon Olive | Jeffrey Biddle | Aaron Jones |
| 1426 | Clark Olson | Steve Maier | Jody Ryan |
| 1427 | John Pausma | Bill Gaffney | Robert DiPietro |
| 1428 | James Anderson | Joe Bavaro | Scott Waggener |
| 1429 | Jeff Mitseff | Jeff Campbell | Dave Anderson |
| 1443 | Jeff Tudor | Brian Slack | Eric Albright |
| 1444 | Michael O’Brien | Michael Mager | Clark Olson |
| 1445 | Robert DiPietro | John Pausma | Vic Tafur |
| 1446 | TIE (1st-3rd) Jason Anthony | TIE (1st-3rd) Don Scott | TIE (1st-3rd) Justin Salinger |
| 1447 | James Anderson & Todd Whitestone | Jason Gill | Scott Ross |
| 1448 | Glenn Schroter | David Ehansipoor | Zachary Waxman |
| 1449 | Steve Maier | David Potts | Bryan Fitzgerald |
| 1450 | Philippe Dussault | Douglas Gruber | Steven Puntenney |
| 1469 | Daniel Prepas | Griffin Benger | Eric Heberlig |
| 1488 | Michael Kurland | Greg Jewett | Dale Morgan |
| 1489 | Brandon King | Uttam Rath | Mike Ballschmiede |
| 1513 | Dave Rhydderch | Brent Grooms | Benjamin Graff |
| 1520 | Bob Catsiroumpas | Jeff Zimmerman | Mark DiMondo |
| 1521 | Elliott Pell | Scott Jenstad | Mike Cameron |
| 1555 | David Miller | Philip Brubaker | Rob Silver |
| 1567 | Al Williams | Richard Temkin | John Pausma |
| 1569 | Eric Christenson | Ryan Welborn | Robert Osgood Jr. |
| 1571 | Eric Albright | Scott Feschuk | Jacob Sebastiao |
| 1572 | Robert Mirshak & Ian Kahn | Gary Durbin | Stephen Fiore |
| 1573 | Charles Sommer | William McAleer | Mark Kieffer |
| 1574 | Rey Diaz | Hunter Dorbandt | Mark Srebro |
| 1575 | Bryan Fitzgerald | Douglas Gruber | Mark Northan |
| 1576 | Stephen Marshall | Scott Waggener | Erik Konyk |
| 1577 | Andrew Sullivan | Michael Noakes | Chris Carmody |
| 1578 | Brian Slack & Dylan White | Douglas Gruber | Bryan Shorstein |
| 1579 | Danny Bronski | Michael Richards | Robert Henke |
| 1589 | Richard Briskin | Seth Trachtman | Steve Gregovich |
| 1604 | Scott Gilbert | John Lymberis | Tyler Jung |
| 1613 | John Riccio | Jarrett Greco | Jack Kitchen |
| 1614 | Kyle Pantalone | Jordan Rosenblum | Christopher Torres |
| 1646 | Charles Holleman | Matt Dozier | Dave Rhydderch |
| 1663 | Gregg Martin | Bruce Pucci | Brian Slack |
| 1673 | Jody Ryan | Chris Oliver | Nicklaus Gaut |
| 1677 | Andrew McQuiston | Brian Magnani | TIE: Greg Miller & James Gabal |
| 1717 | Zach Bettencourt | Douglas Roth | Scott Fleming |
| 1737 | Austin Sodders | TIE: John Fish | TIE: Glenn Schroter |
Shout-Outs
DANNY BRONSKI! Wow! He is first in four Main Event leagues with one week to go! Can he hold on? John Pausma is no slouch either and is still cashing in four Main Event leagues, with one first place. John is in five Main Event leagues and is only out of the money in one right now. Amazing.
With three cashing spots, we have our Main Event leader, Brian Slack, with one first, one second and one third, and the irrepressible Clark Olson (one first, one second, one third), plus Douglas Gruber, who is in second place in three separate Main Event leagues! Those five fantasy players have seven first-place positions, seven second-place and three third-place positions. Excellent job gentlemen!
Nineteen other players are in two cashing spots, with Philippe Dussault (there’s that man again), Gregg Martin and James Anderson each winning two leagues. In fact, these 24 Main Event fantasy owners below have a combined 26 first-place positions (49%) and 55 cashing spots (35% of the 159 total available). With two weeks to go, the story of the season in the Main Event is Bronski, Pausma, Slack, Olson and Gruber. It’s definitely Code Red!!!
| SHOUT OUTS | FIRST PLACE | SECOND PLACE | THIRD PLACE | TOTAL CASH POSITIONS |
| Danny Bronski | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| John Pausma | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Clark Olson | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Brian Slack | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Douglas Gruber | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Gregg Martin | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| James Anderson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Philippe Dussault | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Jason Anthony | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Steve Maier | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Todd Whitestone | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Michael Mager | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Jeff Mitseff | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Eric Albright | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Mark Srebro | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Glenn Schroter | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Robert DiPietro | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Kyle Pantalone | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Jody Ryan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Bryan Fitzgerald | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Dave Rhydderch | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Griffin Benger | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Scott Waggener | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Scott Fleming | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 26 | 13 | 16 | 55 |
Good luck to all the participants in the Main Event over the final week!
