*ownership percentages courtesy of Yahoo
** FAAB bids based on $100 budget
10-Team Leagues
Jose Martinez, STL 1B, OF (53% ownership), FAAB Bid - $16 - It took one game for everyone to realize Martinez is here to stay. Realistically he’s been hitting since he was called up back in 2016 but now he’s finally getting the chance as an everyday player. Just last year in 106 games, Martinez hit .309 and posted an .897 OPS. He went deep and had three hits in his first game and is now the talk of the town, the town being the waiver wire. Martinez is probably the best pickup on your waiver wire right now and you’ll be kicking yourself later on in the year if you don’t at least put a claim in on him and hope nobody else in your league does.
Hunter Strickland, SFG RP (54% ownership), FAAB Bid - $15 - “Temporarily” the Giants closer? I don’t buy it. Strickland has been lights out in his first two appearances against the Dodgers this year allowing one base runner and striking out three while picking up two saves right off the bat. What will back Strickland into a corner is his control as he posted an ugly 4.26 BB/9 last season. A Giants beat writer already came out and said he doesn’t foresee Strickland losing this job even when Mark Melancon comes back, which is a strong take just two games in. In a fantasy world where closers come at a premium, Strickland is well worth the risk.
Matt Davidson, CWS 1B, 3B (59% ownership), FAAB Bid - $8 - Three home runs on Opening Day, any day really, it’s very impressive. Davidson has shown copious amounts of power since coming to the majors but the issue has always been the strikeouts. He struck out in 37.2-percent of his at-bats last year. Only Keon Broxton (37.8) struck out more of players who saw at least 400 at-bats. The 26 home runs last season is a nice number and he’s already off to a blistering start, he just needs to cut that number down a bit and we could be talking about someone who hits 30-plus bombs for us and can be deployed at both corner infield spots.
12-Team Leagues
Keone Kela, TEX RP (55% ownership), FAAB Bid - $8 - The reason I’m so much higher on Strickland than Kela is that Kela is the “primary closer” but Kevin Jepsen may still steal some saves away from Kela if manager Jeff Banister feels like Jepsen is better suited in a certain situation. Kela has electric stuff which is evident from his 51 punch outs in 38.2 2017 innings but he, like Strickland, walks too many people as his career mark in the majors is 3.56.
Brandon Drury, NYY 2B (8% ownership), FAAB Bid - $5-6 - It’s only a matter of time the Yankees starting third baseman gains eligibility in that spot along with 2B as well. He had an excellent second game with the Yankees as he was the team’s primary run producer with two RBI on his two hits. Drury has flashed decent power the last two seasons hitting 16 and 13 home runs respectively. He spent a lot of his offseason working on his swing path as he is looking to improve on those marks. He now plays his home games and Yankee Stadium and gets to play at the rest of the AL East banboxes, which gives him a very good shot at posting 20 home runs for the first time in his career. He’s going to get a lot of chances with runners on base seeing how many times the Yankees heart of the order will be pitched around.
Tyler Skaggs, LAA SP (5% ownership), FAAB Bid - $6 - It was quite an impressive performance from Skaggs as he blanked Oakland over 6.1 innings while striking out five. The talent has never lacked, but the health has. He hasn’t started more than 18 games in a season and he’s been in the league since 2012. For his career he’s limited left-handed hitters to a .309 wOBA and righties to a .324 mark. He’s a solid option going forward and if he falters or gets injured you didn’t spend too much of your FAAB on him.
14-Team Leagues
Lucas Duda, KC 1B (19% ownership), FAAB Bid - $5 - Duda went yard in his first at-bat with the Royals on Opening Day. He is a cheap source of power barring he stays healthy. He tied his career-high with 30 home runs last year. He only hit .217 so we’re really only banking on the homers, but in leagues with so many owners and so many players already gone, we’ll take the power numbers and run with them.
Eduardo Escobar, MIN 2B, 3B, SS (9% ownership), FAAB Bid - $2 - Escobar is the Twins replacement for Jorge Polanco at shortstop until Polanco returns from suspension. He’s eligible at three positions which is extremely valuable. His value doesn’t only lie in his multi-position eligibility, however. He hit a career best 21 homers in 2017 in just 129 games. He has pop at a positions (middle infield) that don’t have many guys hitting north of 20 bombs a year. He’ll get ample opportunity to prove ‘17 wasn’t a fluke and he’s worth the early season addition early on this year. If he doesn’t work out, it’s not like you wasted a lot of your FAAB on him.
Brian Anderson, MIA 3B (2% ownership), FAAB Bid - $1 - Anderson’s opened up his rookie campaign with back-to-back multi-hit games. He’s hitting fifth in the Marlins lineup and will have all the opportunity in the world seeing how bad this team really is. Anderson had a near 80-percent contact rate in the minors so he has a chance to really put up some solid numbers in the hits department this season. He showed some pop at Triple-A last year as well posting a .602 SLG and an OPS of 1.018. He’d be a nice fit in leagues that have CI spots or simply NL-only formats.