Whitestone's Waiver Watch: NFBC Main Event (6/17)

A Short Article (But A Tip is Included!)

MLB Counter = 44.2% of the season complete

We’ve almost completed half of the baseball season, and I’m traveling this week (saw the Mariners’ 7-5 victory over the Rangers in Seattle on Saturday). So no category analysis this week, but I thought I’d share a tip that might be of use to some players (okay, not the really organized ones).

Tip Included

Some of us have more than one or two FAAB teams (okay, most of us), and it’s tough to always keep front and center in our brains which are the categories of need on Sunday nights at 9:56 p.m. ET. Then you might make a bid list with a .220 power hitter at the top and realize too late that you need stolen bases and batting average. No one else does this? Maybe I’m in the minority, but it does happen (doesn’t it?).

One thing you might try is earlier in the week (perhaps before 9:30 p.m. ET on Sunday), make a chart like the one you see below. Sure, your category points are ever-changing. But if you look at your standings, you can see fairly quickly that there are some areas where you’re doing really well, some in which you are competitive but could improve, and some that are, um, in need of attention. This grid can remind you of that whole story at a glance.

These are four of my nine FAAB teams below – OC-1 is not doing well, but I shouldn’t need to focus on stolen bases at least. I’d say the hitting needs are decidedly more on the power side. In terms of pitching, it seems this team is at least reasonably competitive in starting pitcher stats – Wins and K’s are mid–pack. But if I could add a good reliever, it would help in terms of saves and perhaps ERA as well. OC-2 is doing better, but you can see the needs are mostly centered around pitching. ME-1 might need to focus on saves and steals, while power bats could really help ME-2.

Take a look at this and see if it could help you. It doesn’t take long and cuts through the clutter of your brain thinking, “I’ve got 7 points in RBI and 6 points in WHIP. What does that mean?” At least it gives you a direction, right? And sometimes, you just need to aim at something or you might miss the mark.

Category Grid

TEAM	GOOD	MID	POOR
OC – 1	SB	R	HR RBI AVG
		K W WHP	SV ERA
OC-2	R HR RBI SB AVG
	WHP	K W SV ERA
ME-1	AVG	R HR	RBI SB
	K	ERA WHP	W SV
ME-2	AVG	RBI SB	R HR
	W SV ERA	K WHP

NFBC Main Event FAAB #13

In Lucky FAAB #13 Sunday, the majority of bidders were still bargain hunters. The top-10 widest acquisitions this week are in the chart below, and the man with all the rental cars, D.J. Herz (WAS), was the widest pickup (added in 51 of 57 leagues). Slugger Tyler Soderstrom (OAK), who has homered four times in the last seven days, was next, picked up in 50 leagues. Starting pitcher Yariel Rodriguez (TOR), who is finishing up his rehab assignment, was next with 49 adds. Among the widest 10 pickups, Rodriguez held the highest average winning bid at about $43. Ryne Stanek (SEA) and Herz were in the $30-39 range, Drew Thorpe (CHW), Ty France (SEA), Soderstrom and Chad Green (TOR) were in the $20-29 range, and everyone else was below $20. Only four additional players (outside the widest adds) were picked up in more than five leagues and attracted relatively high $30+ average winning bids. They were Cade Povich (average of $52 from 11 bids), Cedric Mullins (average of $42 from 5 bids), Spencer Torkelson (average $41 from 6 bids) and Spencer Schwellenbach (average $31 from 6).

NFBC Main Event – Most Added this Week: Better Than Avis

Player	Leagues Added	Highest Winning Bid	Average Winning Bid	Reason
D.J. Herz	51	$131	$32.35	Car Rental Expert
Tyler Soderstrom	50	$126	$23.78	Hitting Dingers
Yariel Rodriguez	49	$95	$43.06	Upside Play
Carson Spiers	47	$43	$16.74	Looked Good in long relief
Jacob Stallings	47	$29	$7.87	Everyday ABs in Coors
Drew Thorpe	44	$116	$25.68	Rookie for CHW
Chad Green	43	$60	$22.19	Could be next for TOR saves
Ryne Stanek	37	$261	$38.08	Getting 9th inning in SEA
Michael Toglia	36	$37	$12.69	7 days in Coors
Ty France	31	$44	$24.77	Back quickly from injury

Winning Bids over $100 and $200

Bidding Stock Market GIF by Pudgy Penguins

I’m also keeping tabs on players attracting the highest individual FAAB bids. In the 13th run on June 16 (see below), there was just one $200-plus successful bid, and only seven winning bids between $100-199, way down from last week’s total of 37. Three winning bids over $100 were for D.J. Herz, with one each for Baltimore rookie Cade Povich, Drew Thorpe, Tyler Soderstrom and David Hamilton.

FAAB Date	Winning Bids (< $200)	Winning Bids ($100-$199)
3/24	1	9
3/31	58	43
4/7	1	23
4/14	13	80
4/21	14	80
4/28	8	75
5/5	48	95
5/12	10	58
5/19	11	24
5/26	3	6
6/2	4	37
6/9	3	6
6/16	1	7
YTD	175	543

The Wow Bid of the Week: Panic for Stanek

SNL gif. Chris Farley in the Schmitts Gay Beer sketch lifts the sunglass portion of his double lenses in stunned surprise.

The highest overall bid in FAAB Week 13 was for Ryne Stanek of the Mariners. Although he was added in 37 leagues, this bid was much higher than all the others. One owner added him for a tidy $261 (the 10th-highest Wow bid out of the 13 registered so far in 2024), which easily beat out the unsuccessful runner-up bid of $26. You can see the winning owner at FAAB lock time below.

Celebrity gif. Willem DaFoe sitting in a car, with confused eyes and a huge, unnerving grin.

The Wow Bids of 2024

3/24: Nolan Schanuel $200 (#13)
3/31: Jason Foley $479 (#3)

4/7: James McArthur $225 (#12)
4/14 Brandon Nimmo $578 (#2)
4/21 Wilyer Abreu $350 (#9)
4/28 Pete Crow-Armstrong $355 (#8)
5/5 Christian Scott $677 (Highest)
5/12 Taj Bradley $444 (#4)
519 Reed Garrett $420 (#5)
5/26 Wyatt Langford $248 (#11)
6/2 Ben Brown $366 (#6)
6/9 Blake Snell $360 (#7)
6/16 Ryne Stanek $261 (#10)

FAAB Summary: Saving Money in the Main

In the 13th FAAB week, Main Event owners successfully made 1,668 winning bids (about 5% more than last week) and have now spent only about $593 of their $1,000 allocation. This remains significantly lower than the last three years at the 13-week mark – as all three previous years (see below) showed well over $650 spent. However, this year’s Week 13 showed spending of about $31 per team, in the same area as the previous three years (all three previous years were within $28-$33 spent in Week 13). So essentially, we just missed the surge in spending that we usually get between Weeks 3 and 8. And even so, Main Event owners have not increased their per week spending (at least thus far) in the weeks that followed. With an average of $407 of FAAB left per team for the last 14 weeks, Main Event owners are still able to aggressively bid (about $29 left to spend per week). As you can see in the second chart below, we are beyond the normal high spending weeks (usually Week 2 to Week 8), and with all this FAAB still in circulation, I’d anticipate a couple of spike weeks later in the season.

Total Spent: Main Event Through 13 FAAB Periods

2024: $593
2023: $778
2022: $678
2021: $677

FAAB Spending Summary 2024

2024 FAAB Week	Total # of Winning Bids	Total FAAB $ Spent	Average Winning Bid	Average Amount Spent (per team)	Cumulative FAAB Spent (per team)
1	310	$4,929	$15.90	$5.76
2	1460	$46,330	$31.73	$54.19	$59.95
3	1728	$34,480	$19.95	$40.33	$100.28
4	1825	$52,908	$28.99	$61.88	$162.16
5	2029	$57,486	$28.33	$67.24	$229.40
6	1929	$51,835	$26.87	$60.63	$290.02
7	1925	$64,251	$33.38	$75.15	$365.17
8	1875	$45,824	$24.44	$53.60	$418.76
9	1718	$35,076	$20.42	$41.02	$459.79
10	1728	$28,757	$16.64	$33.63	$493.42
11	1774	$35,327	$19.91	$41.32	$534.74
12	1594	$23,880	$14.98	$27.93	$562.67
13	1668	$26,333	$15.79	$30.80	$593.47
TOTAL	21563	$507,416	$23.53	$593.47

Average Weekly Spending Per Team (21-24):

FAAB Period	2024	2023	2022	2021
1	*$5.76*	*$8.46*	*$11.29*	*$9.89*
2	*$54.19*	*$63.55*	*$51.24*	*$86.71*
3	*$40.33*	*$70.01*	*$65.29*	*$85.95*
4	*$61.88*	*$86.51*	*$62.57*	*$67.98*
5	*$67.24*	*$67.77*	*$53.82*	*$67.41*
6	*$60.63*	*$77.52*	*$71.32*	*$66.39*
7	*$75.15*	*$93.31*	*$83.64*	*$47.16*
8	*$53.60*	*$75.35*	*$65.81*	*$42.71*
9	*$41.02*	*$51.57*	*$51.68*	*$46.22*
10	*$33.63*	*$46.77*	*$46.93*	*$59.57*
11	*$41.32*	*$43.38*	*$42.24*	*$40.12*
12	*$27.93*	*$65.35*	*$39.90*	*$28.44*
13	*$30.80*	*$28.23*	*$32.51*	*$28.44*

The Colosseum

Four Widest ME Pickups from 3 weeks ago	LGS Added	First three weeks stats after wide pickup
Adam Duvall	52	.121 BA 2 HR 0 SB (5/6 R:RBI)
David Hamilton	47	.317 BA 2 HR 7 SB (10/5 R:RBI)
Mark Vientos	41	.255 BA 2 HR 0 SB (6/10 R:RBI)
Jeremiah Estrada	39	7.0 IP (13/5 K:BB) 0 W 0 SV 7.71 ERA 2.29 WHIP

Each week during the season, I’ll take a look at the four widest Main Event pickups from three weeks ago and evaluate whether it was a good addition based on the early stats (thumbs up), a bad idea (thumbs down) or simply a push. We’re focusing on the first three weeks after the pickup, when players can earn their new owners some good stats (as they are generally in the active lineup) or underperform badly, leading to an angry drop soon after they are added to the roster.

Three weeks ago, we had our 10th FAAB run, and we had two fairly good pickups. David Hamilton (see above) has hit for a strong average and provided the steals that fantasy owners were seeking – seven in three weeks. Mark Vientos is closer to the line of a push, but his batting average is good enough, and the counting stats are fine. Plus, he looks locked in to everyday at bats. He gets a thumbs up as well. However, Adam Duvall has been ice cold since his pickup with a .121 batting average. In addition, Jeremiah Estrada was doing well as a middle-relief option, but he was a little shaky lately and then Sunday’s outing (four earned runs on five hits over just a third of an inning) killed his ratios (and that of his fantasy managers). Both of these guys get a thumbs down from the emperor.

The two thumbs up week keeps the Main Event pickup record for 2024 at a good level, with 16 thumbs up (40%), 17 thumbs down and seven pushes, and the thumbs up percentage is about equal to 2023 (44%). This is about the same neighborhood as the 2022 good pickups mark of 39% but better than 2021, which was 24%.

Colosseum Thumbs Up Record

2024 thus far: 40%
2023: 44%
2022: 39%
2021: 24%

2024 Colosseum Thumbs Up Players

Running Total	Date Added	THUMBS UP
1	3/26	Spencer Turnbull
2	3/26	Ronel Blanco
3	3/26	Yimi Garcia
4	3/26	Daniel Hudson
5	3/31	Jason Foley
6	4/7	Blaze Alexander
7	4/14	Blake Perkins
8	4/14	Jose Soriano
9	4/21	Andy Pages
10	4/21	Albert Suarez
11	4/28	Simeon Woods Richardson
12	4/28	Jo Adell
13	5/12	Robert Gasser
14	5/12	Abraham Toro
15	5/26	David Hamilton
16	5/26	Mark Vientos

Overall Leaderboard: Glenn Again

Bill Murray Well Its Groundhog Day Again GIF

Ladies and gentlemen, our national nightmare is not yet over. The Main Event leader this week is, yet again, Glenn Schroter! After it seemed that we finally had him in the rearview mirror, the 2015 overall Main Event champ has come back with a vengeance. Glenn has now led the overall championship standings for six out of the last eight weeks! This is clearly not good news for the rest of the pack.

Main Event Leaders in 2024

*Week*	*Date*	*Fantasy Owner*	*Overall Points*	*Margin Over Second*	*Current Overall Place*
1	*3/31*	*Jenny Butler*	*7501.5*	*48.5*	*514th*
2	*4/7*	*Nelson Sousa*	*7468.5*	*22.0*	*9th*
3	*4/14*	*Nelson Sousa*	*7646.0*	*13.0*	*9th*
4	*4/21*	*Greg Diehl*	*7501.5*	*134.5*	*36th*
5	*4/28*	*Glenn Schroter*	*7481.0*	*63.0*	*1st*
6	*5/5*	*Glenn Schroter*	*7673.0*	*255.5*	*1st*
7	*5/12*	*Robert Cramutola*	*7731.0*	*105.5*	*11th*
8	*5/19*	*Glenn Schroter*	*7538.0*	*35.0*	*1st*
9	*5/26*	*Glenn Schroter*	*7585.5*	*182.5*	*1st*
10	*6/3*	*Glenn Schroter*	*7523.0*	*129.0*	*1st*
11	*6/10*	*Clark Olson*	*7294.0*	*55.5*	*6th*
12	*6/17*	*Glenn Schroter*	*7391.0*	*152.5*	*1st*

So Glenn leads by a healthy 152.5 points over his nearest rival, who is the impressive Knute Rockne aficionado Nicholi Knutson. Nicholi jumped up from 11th to fourth place last week and has continued his climb up to second place. He’s got his eyes on the top spot for sure! However, the fresher Eric Drescher is also surging and has edged up from fifth to third this week. The Liberator, Bradley Libros, dropped back from second to fourth and claims he will still liberate the masses of downtrodden Main Event owners (and he also has a Main Event team ranked #47). Then there’s the impressive Jason Santeiu, who not only jumped up from 10th to fifth place this week, but he also has, get this, the 16th and 17th ranked overall teams. Zowie.

Last week’s hero, Clark Olson, dropped from first overall to sixth but is still one of the elite six players currently over 7,000 points. Real Neil Petersen roared up from 13th to seventh; Chris Uram came from outside the top 31 (34th) to eighth overall (outstanding); former overall leader Nelson Sousa is still in the hunt in ninth and the very tough guy to get rid of, Dave Rhydderch, rounds out the top 10.

Robert Cramutola, our 2022 Overall Champ, is 11th; another former overall champ Abdulaziz Madani is 12th; unpaved road traveler Dustin Wagner is 13th; Beck’s Beer drinker Robert Beckman is 14th and the magnanimous Brian Magnani is 15th.

A few other notables in the top 31 (the top 31 are paid an overall prize at the end of the season – see below table) – rose farmer Jordan Rosenblum (18th); Drummer Griffin Benger (19th) and Rich Mitch Alan Mitchell (20th).

I also recommend keeping an eye on winery king Chris Boudreaux (21st), the one true King Brandon King (22nd); the man at the edge of a cliff, Kyle Brinkmann (23rd); Pull Hitter Robert DiPietro (24th), my favorite Martin Gregg Martin (26th); Matthew Do or Do Not Dugan (27th) and advertising executive responsible for writing TV jingles, Leonard Ringle (29th).

But all 31 of these fantasy managers are in the hunt for sure, and in a big 855-team contest like the Main Event, that’s all you can ask after a couple of months. We’re closing in on the halfway mark of the season (44.2%), but there’s still plenty of games to be played before October.

Top 31: Main Event 2024

Overall Rank	Overall Prize Money	Fantasy Manager	Overall Points	Points Behind 1st Place
1	*$200,000*	*Glenn Schroter*	*7391.0*	*0.0*
2	*$50,000*	*Nicholi Knutson*	*7238.5*	*152.5*
3	*$30,000*	*Eric Drescher*	*7180.5*	*210.5*
4	*$25,000*	*Bradley Libros*	*7175.0*	*216.0*
5	*$20,000*	*Jason Santeiu*	*7058.5*	*332.5*
6	*$15,000*	*Clark Olson*	*7039.5*	*351.5*
7	*$12,500*	*Neil Petersen*	*6971.5*	*419.5*
8	*$10,000*	*Chris Uram*	*6952.5*	*438.5*
9	*$9,000*	*Nelson Sousa*	*6940.0*	*451.0*
10	*$8,000*	*Dave Rhydderch*	*6916.5*	*474.5*
11	*$7,500*	*Robert Cramutola*	*6845.0*	*546.0*
12	*$7,000*	*Abdulaziz Madani*	*6831.5*	*559.5*
13	*$6,500*	*Dustin Wagner*	*6799.5*	*591.5*
14	*$6,000*	*Robert Beckman*	*6763.0*	*628.0*
15	*$5,500*	*Brian Magnani*	*6742.5*	*648.5*
16	*$5,000*	*Jason Santeiu*	*6737.0*	*654.0*
17	*$4,000*	*Jason Santeiu*	*6720.5*	*670.5*
18	*$3,500*	*Jordan Rosenblum*	*6662.0*	*729.0*
19	*$3,000*	*Griffin Benger*	*6647.5*	*743.5*
20	*$2,500*	*Alan Mitchell*	*6637.5*	*753.5*
21	*$2,400*	*Chris Boudreaux*	*6607.0*	*784.0*
22	*$2,300*	*Brandon King*	*6596.0*	*795.0*
23	*$2,200*	*Kyle Brinkmann*	*6595.0*	*796.0*
24	*$2,100*	*Robert DiPietro*	*6575.0*	*816.0*
25	*$2,000*	*Brody John*	*6558.5*	*832.5*
26	*$1,950*	*Gregg Martin*	*6557.0*	*834.0*
27	*$1,900*	*Matthew Dugan*	*6500.5*	*890.5*
28	*$1,850*	*David DiDonato*	*6481.5*	*909.5*
29	*$1,800*	*Leonard Ringle*	*6443.5*	*947.5*
30	*$1,750*	*Jackson Price*	*6434.5*	*956.5*
31	*$1,700*	*Peter Marrero*	*6431.0*	*960.0*
	*Average Top 31 Overall Score*	*Average Top 31 Overall Score*	*6775.1*

League of Legends

Sorry, can’t list the top three this week, but here are the 57 Main Event leagues with the current leader in the standings as of the morning of June 17!

2024 Main Event League Leaders

NFBC League #	LEADER – $7,000 prize
1190	Kyle Brinkmann
1194	Nicholi Knutson
1232	Ray Murphy
1233	Andrew Sullivan
1337	Daniel DaSilva
1380	Scott Waggener
1381	Jackson Price
1418	Neil Petersen
1419	Brody John
1427	Robert Cramutola
1438	Chris Uram
1443	Nelson Sousa
1460	Erik Sviggum
1479	Dave Rhydderch
1484	Adam Warner
1485	John Pausma
1487	Brian Magnani
1488	Brandon King
1489	Ben Tidd
1493	Alan Mitchell
1516	Dustin McComas
1517	Dominic Rello
1518	Greg Smith
1519	Steve Maier
1520	Peter Christensen
1521	Griffin Benger
1522	Stephen Jupinka
1523	Clark Olson
1528	David Einhorn
1539	Bradley Libros
1566	Mark Srebro
1585	Leonard Ringle
1586	Rich Barry
1587	James Maples
1598	Eric Drescher
1605	Nelson Sousa
1615	Eric Karlovic
1634	Bradley Libros
1645	Stephen Ciepiela
1646	David DiDonato
1647	Jon Stadtmueller
1648	Dustin Wagner
1649	Jason Anthony
1650	Scott Waggener
1653	Scott Fleming
1658	Chris Uram
1676	Jason Santeiu
1680	Michael DeCalvalcante
1685	Shawn Gidley
1692	Glenn Schroter
1707	Pat Tremaglio
1714	Chris Boudreaux
1778	Tyler Jung
1817	Gregg Martin
1820	James Hyler
1831	Jason Santeiu
1837	Robert Cramutola