Whitestone’s Waiver Watch: NFBC Main Event (9/2)

September Scramble

MLB Counter = 84.7% of the season complete

There are now four weeks left in the season (and we’ve played about 85% based on games played), so as we wind down 2024, let’s take a lightning view of some of the 57 Main Event leagues and see which ones are in play for the title(s).

Let’s be clear. This is an update on the first 14 Main Event leagues (about a quarter of the total) listed on the NFBC site, focusing on fantasy managers who have a chance to win the league as of Friday, August 30. In each league, there are likely unlisted teams that have a chance to finish second or third, but these charts are only focused on first place. Therefore, I’ve just listed teams within the top three places or within 10 points of the leader, so that we can see which fantasy managers have a shot to win the league title and achieve Main Event glory!

There are five designations listed below:
GROUP ONE – IT’S OVER (20 POINT OR MORE LEAD) – 2 leagues
GROUP TWO – IT’S PROBABLY OVER (LEAD OF 12.0-19.5) – 7 leagues
GROUP THREE – A GOOD CUSHION (LEAD OF 8.0-11.5) – 1 league
GROUP FOUR – WORK TO DO (LEAD OF 4.0-7.5) – 1 league
GROUP FIVE – DOGFIGHT (LEAD OF 3.5 OR LESS) – 3 leagues

Group One – Designation: It’s Over

KNUTE ROCKNE AFICIONADO – 24.5-POINT LEAD

Nicholi Knutson has a huge lead, even though he’s in a tough league. It seems he is able to handle coordinating the Notre Dame offense (they beat Texas A&M 23-13) and his Main Event league! By the way, Nicholi is 30th overall as of Monday morning – excellent job!

On the Brink – 20.5 Point Lead

Well, apparently Kyle didn’t like being second in that league very much, because he’s responded by winning a different Main Event league by 20.5 points. I still think he’s walking too close to the cliff’s edge, but apparently that’s my problem and not his! And since Kyle is currently 14th overall, I’d say whatever he’s doing is working!

Group Two – Designation: It’s Probably Over

MURPHY’S LAW – 17.0-POINT LEAD

Ray Murphy has been leading this league all season, and he doesn’t seem ready to come back to the pack. With a 17.0-point lead, I think there’s nothing that could go wrong, right? And that’s good, because we know whatever can go wrong… 

HI YO DASILVA – 17.0-POINT LEAD

Daniel DaSilva also is cruising to the finish line, providing him with an opportunity to ride his white horse and yell out catch phrases. But I’m not going to humor him by calling him the Lone Main Event Ranger – that’s a bridge too far for me. Instead, let’s refer to him as a fellow who is 25th overall and a true dog of war!

CHRIS, U R A MONSTER – 17.0-POINT LEAD

Okay, Chris Uram did not get the best nickname here. But make no mistake, Chris is an excellent fantasy player and has taken control of this league for sure. You might not like the nickname, but for League 1438, Chris is a monster indeed. And for the overall, this team is 23rd overall, so that’s pretty darn impressive.

AMAZIN’ JASON – 16.0-POINT LEAD

Ah, Jason Santeiu. He’s just the Shohei Ohtani of 2024 Main Event fantasy leagues this year. This team is his top team (and that’s saying something) and is currently #2 overall. Who is he trailing in the overall, you ask? Why, it’s Clark Olson! Who is he leading in League #1443, you ask? Why, just look above! It’s Clark Olson who has the #17 overall ranked team in this league (I’m getting a little tired of these guys, to be honest). Anyway, in this particular league, Jason has seemingly broken away from Clark to have a commanding lead. Stay tuned for an update on the Overall Championship…

BRODY THE COYOTE – 14.5-POINT LEAD

The coyote can be a loner, and Brody may just feel like a loner with his 14.5-point lead over excellent players Bill Gaffney and Michael Brophy. Brody is also ranked 13th overall, which adds to his mystique. I’m not liking Bill or Michael’s chances of tracking down the coyote, though, as there’s not enough time to gather the proper posse (Do you need a posse to catch a coyote?).

THE TAIL WAGS THE DOG – 13.0-POINT LEAD

Scott Waggener is a consistently good NFBC player. He is up at least near the top in his leagues every season, knows how to manage the draft and his FAAB budget and is a nice guy to boot. Not a combination I enjoy drafting against. In League #1380, Scott is even ahead of the great Phil Dussault, although Phil messaged me to tell me that his computer malfunctioned during the draft and this therefore shouldn’t work against his legacy.

DAVID BECKHAM – ER – ROBERT BECKMAN – 12.0-POINT LEAD

Okay, Robert Beckman has a totally different name than David Beckham. And his net worth is a little bit less than David. But Robert has to be a fan of soccer, right? In any case, Robert is looking good in this league, with a 12-point lead over both Dave Rhydderch and Matt Modica – who are fine players as well. This team is also currently 22nd overall. I think Robert can hold on, but it’ll be a little bit more difficult with two chasers instead of one.

Group Three – Designation: A Good Cushion

KOP A PLEA – 9.5-POINT LEAD

Now we’re getting into some competitive situations. League #1233 is showing only a 9.5-point lead for Andrew (Kopicz that is). There’s an Anthony and another Andrew not too far back, so this one is not over. Andrew, for his part, says he is pleading the fifth on whether he had help during his draft. Personally, I don’t believe it – Andrew totally developed his own cheat sheet, right? Right? No matter what the plan was, Andrew K is 29th overall, so that’s pretty darn good.

Group Four – Designation: Work to Do 

REAL NEIL – 5.5-POINT LEAD

Real Neil is leading this contest, but his edge is pretty small. As of Friday, he had a 5.5-point cushion over Stephen Prepas and a 6.0-point lead over Christopher Torres. They’re not planning to let up down the stretch, so Neil will have to earn this title. Neil did, however, reach out to me to say that he was “Gonna keep it real” over the final four weeks. Not sure how that affects the standings, but I’m certainly glad to have that information.

Group Five – Designation: Dogfight

THOMPSON TWIN – 2.5-POINT LEAD

Three dogfights remain out of the 14 leagues we’re reviewing this week. For League #1460, I’m showing four fantasy managers because they are all within 10 points of first place as of Friday. Michael Thompson is leading, but Triple-D (Dalton Del Don) is hot on his heels. Then, there’s that man again, Kyle Brinkmann is in third place and is just itching to pull out the victory. Kristopher Reed is also 7.5 points out, which is definitely close enough for a run. Four teams within 7.5 points – stay tuned!

CLUM IS NO BUM – 1.5-POINT LEAD

Here’s another four-team race, and we have four excellent fantasy managers battling it out. David Clum knows what he is doing (he told me so in March, anyway), but he’s only one solitary point ahead of Jackson (The Price is Right) Price as of Friday. Four points back, we find the silent assassin Steven Weimer, who explained to me once he tries to “volume” his way to success in fantasy. Whatever he’s doing, it seems to be working. And in fourth place, but only 9 points out, is Hall-of-Famer John Pausma. Yikes. This will likely go down to the wire!

JAMES TRIES FOR FAME – 1.5-POINT LEAD

The last league we’re looking at this week is League #1427, where my partner James Anderson (21st overall) is showing that he doesn’t need my help. He’s leading this group with a solo Main Event entry, but he isn’t getting too comfortable, because that lead is only 1.5 points. Not only that, he’s got 2022 overall Main Event Champ Robert Cramutola in second place. Fortunately for James, John Pausma looks too far back in this league, but it’ll take everything he can muster to hold off Robert. Luckily for James, I refuse to give him any advice on pickups for the rest of the season.

NFBC Main Event FAAB #24: FAAB – The Times They Are A-Changin’

In FAAB #24 on September 1, spending continued to weaken as Main Event owners have mostly emptied their FAAB accounts. The top-10 widest acquisitions this week are in the chart below, and Main Event owners (see below) were not divided on where to throw the remaining hefty bids. Dylan Crews was the top addition, with a commanding average winning bid of over $65. Wow, that’s a lot with FAAB accounts almost empty! Second was Jordan (I’m back) Walker, who got an average winning bid of $11. The number three and four widest additions were Patrick Corbin (there was something I didn’t plan on writing this year) and Kyle Manzardo. Corbin has been pitching well lately and has a nice two start week, while Manzardo has been called up and perhaps has figured some things out. None of the top 10, however, had average winning bids of $10 or more other than Crews and (just barely) Walker. Outside of the top 10, if I lower the threshold to winning average bids of $10 or more and at least five leagues added, there were nine players who fit the bill: Victor Robles with an average winning bid of $23 in seven leagues; Maikel Garcia $23 in five leagues; Aroldis Chapman $20 in 22 leagues; Yu Darvish $18 in nine; Jacob Wilson $13 in six; Luis Gil $13 in five; Lane Thomas $12 in eight; Alex Cobb $11 in 17; and Porter Hodge $11 in eight.

NFBC Main Event – Dylan is not Angry

Winning Bids over $100 and $200

I’m also keeping tabs on players attracting the highest individual FAAB bids. In the 24th run on September 1, there were two winning bids over $200, and 11 from $100-199. Both winning bids over $200 were for Dylan Crews, and 10 of the 11 $100-199 bids were for Crews as well (the other went to Aroldis Chapman). That gives us 311 winning bids this season over $200, and now 798 winning bids between $100 and $199.

The Wow Bid of the Week: Gotta Have a Crew

The highest overall bid in FAAB Week 24 was for Dylan Crews of the Washington Nationals, who was added in 54 of 57 Main Event leagues (he was already owned in the other three leagues). The top Crews $271 bid was the 16th-highest Wow bid out of the 24 registered so far and easily beat out the unsuccessful runner-up bid of $109. Why this owner had $271 of FAAB to spend is an unsolved mystery, however… 

The Wow Bids of 2024

• 3/24: Nolan Schanuel $200 (21)
• 3/31: Jason Foley $479 (5)
• 4/7: James McArthur $225 (19)
• 4/14 Brandon Nimmo $578 (3)
• 4/21 Wilyer Abreu $350 (13)
• 4/28 Pete Crow-Armstrong $355 (12)
• 5/5 Christian Scott $677 (Highest)
• 5/12 Taj Bradley $444 (7)
• 519 Reed Garrett $420 (8)
• 5/26 Wyatt Langford $248 (18)
• 6/2 Ben Brown $366 (10)
• 6/9 Blake Snell $360 (11)
• 6/16 Ryne Stanek $261 (17)
• 6/23 Michael Harris $281 (15)
• 6/30 Noelvi Marte $509 (4)
• 7/7 James Wood $462 (6)
• 7/14 Rece Hinds $609 (2)
• 7/21 Jordan Montgomery $189 (23)
• 7/28 Robbie Ray $400 (9)
• 8/4 Devin Williams $320 (14)
• 8/11 Ryan Walker $185 (24)
• 8/18 Zebby Matthews $217 (20)
• 8/25 Matt Waldron $199 (22)
• 9/1 Dylan Crews $271 (16)

FAAB Summary: Account Depletion

In the 24th FAAB week, Main Event owners successfully made 1,400 winning bids (about 13% less than last week), and the spending was certainly propped up by the bids on Crews. After this week, Main Event owners have now spent approximately $909 of their $1,000 allocation, and although this total amount spent remains lower than each of the last three years at the 24-week mark, it is now pretty close to the level spent at this point in the three previous years. This year’s Week 24 had spending of about $14 per team, compared to 2023 ($8), 2022 ($8) and 2021 ($10) levels. Still, considering there are just three FAAB runs left, owners still have more money to spend compared to the past. If you consider the total amount remaining, the average Main Event owner can still theoretically spend about $30 per week over the final final weeks. But remember, each year about $40-50 per team goes unspent due to owners throwing in the towel at the end of the year, so if you assume $50 is unspent, there would be $41 remaining on the average active teams, and that figures out to about $14 per week – that’s a more realistic estimate.

Total Spent: Main Event Through 22 FAAB Periods

• 2024: $909
• 2023: $944
• 2022: $931
• 2021: $926

FAAB Spending Summary 2024

Overall Leaderboard: The Shark Bites Back 

Clark (the Shark) Olson led for six straight weeks from mid-July to mid-August, but last week Jason Santeiu zoomed past him. However, we know what sharks do when they’re hungry, and this one bit back, as Clark has moved from 52.0 points behind to 80.5 in front. This race is certainly not over yet, though, as it could be nip-and-tuck right down to the finish. Clark has four Main Event entries currently ranked first, 17th, 49th and 240th. Jason also has four Main Event entries and they are second, fourth, 40th and 473rd. Pretty impressive stuff.

Main Event Leaders in 2024

But lest anyone think (always wanted to use the word lest in a sentence) that this is a two-person race, I present to you My Favorite Martin – Gregg Martin – who is not only organizing the next NASA mission to Mars, but is in third place overall, just 169.5 points out of first. And rounding out the top five is our Tony Award Winner Tony DiVincenzo, who two weeks ago was 15th, last week eighth and now fifth! What a dramatic move (if you haven’t heard, Tony has also been nominated for a Drama Desk Award). 

Drummer Griffin Benger had surged from 17th all the way to seventh three weeks ago and edged up further to sixth place two weeks back, and now has fought back to sixth after dropping to ninth last week. What a roll! The furious charge of Tyler (Welcome to the Jungle) Jung has been the stuff of legends – 31st, 18th, 15th, 12th, seventh and then sixth place – but he fell back two weeks ago to ninth and then 19th, so there were some who counted him out. But Tyler sharpened his machete, worked his way through the dense forest, and is now back to seventh overall. This kid’s got a chance! Anthony Donisch (who likes a good danish) fell back to 12th last week after his strong move from 27th to eighth two weeks ago, but he was invigorated by finding a special apple turnover and is now back in eighth.  The fresher Eric Drescher sits in ninth (from seventh), as he recommits to the task after his second break from the NFBC. And the fantasy manager who loves Easter, Todd Hoppe, is in 10th (up from 13th) after enjoying a too-early celebration of coloring easter eggs this weekend.

Matthew Dugan (who says his friends call him Doogie) charged up to 11th from 24th and claims his next stop is the top five; The Finnish Flash Jordan Rosenblum also moved up to 12th from 16th (after a huge upward move from 27th the previous week), and says that he is cross-country skiing every day in preparation for a shot at Olympic glory at the next Winter Games in Italy in February 2026. Brody (the Coyote) John is now in 13th (from 11th) and notes that coyotes can run up to 40 MPH when chasing prey and his prey is the top 10 (thanks for that information Brody!); the man at the cliff’s edge, Kyle Brinkmann, fell back to 14th this week after making tracks all the way to fifth place last week. Is he getting too close to that 1,000 foot drop? And 2015 overall champ and former 2024 leader Glenn Schroter dropped to 10th from 15th this week but still remains confident he can pull back to the lead.

Department Store owner Bill Macey is in 16th place and is considering a new marketing campaign; Clark Olson (sigh) is also in 17th in addition to his first-place squad; former Overall Main Event Champ Robert Cramutola has surged from 50th two weeks ago to 26th last week and now 18th (wow); Michael O’Brien (19th) says he plans to visit Ireland to get closer to the roots of baseball (???); and Andrew Deninno is now 20th after deciding to work on FAAB solely from his den instead of the living room.

Other notables include Rotowire favorite James Anderson in 21st; David – um – Robert Beckman in 22nd; Chris U-R-A-Monster Uram in 23rd; Scout Dustin McComas in 24th; and the Dog of War Daniel DaSilva in 25th.

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 very impressive, right? Nice job, fellows!

Top 31: Main Event 2024

League of Legends

Here are the 57 Main Event leagues with the current top three in the standings as of Monday morning!

Top Three: 2024 Main Event League Leaders

Shout-outs

There are some notable fantasy managers who have multiple teams placing in the Main Event at this late stage of the season, and they certainly deserve a shout-out! Leading the way is (of course) Robert Cramutola with two firsts and two seconds. Wow. Not to be outdone, Kyle Brinkmann has two firsts, one second and one third. Jason Santeiu has three first places, which is also outstanding; Scott Waggener has two firsts and a third; Clark the Shark Olson has one first and two seconds; and Dalton Del Don has one second and two thirds. Those six fantasy managers alone have 10 first places, six seconds and four thirds. Yikes.

But see below, as there are other fantasy managers with outstanding results. In fact, these 28 stars account for 25 first places (44% of the total) and 64 cashing positions (37%), leaving not much for the rest of the field!

Two firsts; two seconds – Robert Cramutola
One first; one second; one third – Kyle Brinkmann
Three firsts – Jason Santeiu
Two firsts; one third – Scott Waggener
One first; two seconds – Clark Olson
One second; two thirds – Dalton Del Don
Two firsts – Tyler Jung; Bradley Libros
One first; one second – Chris Uram; Jordan Rosenblum; Alan Mitchell; Matt Leahy
One first; one third – Gregg Martin; John Pausma; Danny Bronski; Andrew Sullivan; Mike Ballschmiede; Michael O’Brien; Matthew Dugan
Two Seconds – Bill Gaffney; Anthony Palavis
One second; one third – Joe Green; Abdulaziz Madani; David Miller; Dave Rhydderch; Bob Catsiroumpas; Matthew Shepherd
Two thirds – Nelson Sousa

Good luck to all the competitors in Week 24!