Bidding Wars: FAAB Week 1

March 23rd, 2025

Draft season is over, or soon over, so the focus shifts to the in-season management portion of the fantasy year. The draft sets the foundation for what's to come, but unless you just drafted today, you're likely already experiencing an injury or unexpected demotion. For most people, you've already lost a pitcher you were counting on. It started with the injury to George Kirby or Grayson Rodriguez, followed by Gerrit Cole's Tommy John surgery. You may have drafted Bubba Chandler, Zebby Matthews, or Quinn Mathews, expecting that young starter to take the next step, only for them to be reassigned to Minor League camp. Regardless of your situation, it's time to look at what's next and who is available on your waiver wire.

My FAAB article, 'Bidding Wars,' will be published weekly, typically on Saturday mornings, to give you ample time to plan and start your bidding process. The general premise is to identify the best waiver wire options, regardless of position, to help you fill your roster needs. Players will be grouped into three tiers: Priority, Secondary, and Streamer. Priority is obviously the top options on the wire with the highest upside. Secondary is the next tier of available players, most offering higher floors but less upside, while Streamers are plug-and-play guys in the short term, including SPs to target based on matchups. The Streamers section will be lighter during the first few weeks as rotations settle in and schedules have many more off days planned. The availability of players will vary by the league, so I'll be using 12-team NFBC leagues with a <60% ownership rate as a baseline for every article.

For those of you in daily leagues or home leagues, your waivers may run multiple times per week. However, due to the specificity of those leagues, I can only focus on one period per week.