FAAB and Waiver Wire Strategy in Fantasy Baseball
How free-agent acquisition budgets work in fantasy baseball, how to pace a season-long bankroll, how to size a bid with worked examples, and the common mistakes that waste a budget.
Every fantasy baseball season contains a handful of waiver pickups that decide a league. A reliever is handed the closer's role. A prospect is called up and hits. A starter with a new pitch goes from mop-up man to rotation. Whoever gets that player may gain several points in the standings, and the question that FAAB answers is who. In a league with a free-agent acquisition budget, the answer is the manager who bids the most, and a good manager is the one who spends a limited budget where it buys the most.
FAAB, short for free agent acquisition budget, is the most popular alternative to the older systems in which waiver priority rotated or the first manager to click got the player. Each team receives a fixed amount of pretend money for the season, submits secret bids for the players it wants, and pays only if it wins. The game has two difficulties. The first is price: what is a closer worth, and how does it compare with a prospect? The second is time: money spent in April is not available in August, and money unspent on the last day is worth nothing.
This article explains the mechanics, then builds a method for pacing a budget, sizing a bid and avoiding the standard mistakes. It assumes a standard 12-team mixed league with weekly processing, but the principles carry over to other formats. The details of your own league, including budget size, minimum bid and tiebreaker, live in its settings, and they matter more than any general advice.
How a FAAB system works
A FAAB league sets a season budget, commonly 100 dollars on many hosting sites, and sometimes larger numbers, such as 1,000 in some high-stakes leagues. The money has no value outside the league. Each week, usually overnight on one or two days, the site runs the waiver period. Managers who want a free agent submit a bid, and if the player needs a roster spot the bid names the player to drop. When the period ends, the highest bid for each player wins, and the winner's budget is reduced.
Several settings change the strategy:
- Minimum bid. Some leagues allow a bid of zero, which lets you claim an uncontested player for free. Others require one dollar. If zero bids are allowed, bidding zero on a marginal player is the cheapest way to try.
- Tiebreaker. When two managers bid the same amount, the system needs a rule, often the team with the worse record, the earlier submission or a waiver priority order. Know which one your league uses before you rely on it.
- What the winner pays. In most leagues, the winner pays his own bid. A few use a second-price rule in which the winner pays one dollar more than the next-highest bid. The second rule makes it safe to bid exactly what a player is worth to you, and the first rule makes it costly to overbid.
- Processing order. If you submit several claims, check whether your league processes them in the order you ranked them or from the highest bid down, and whether a failed claim frees the player you named to drop for the next one.
- Budget carryover and trading. Some leagues let teams trade FAAB dollars. If yours does, money is a currency that can be used to buy players in trades as well as waivers; see fantasy baseball trade strategy.
- Free pickups. Many leagues also have a free-agent period in which players not on waivers are first come, first served. Unlike claims, free pickups do not use the budget.
Think of the budget as a depreciating asset
The central idea of FAAB strategy is that a dollar loses value as the season goes on. A dollar in April can buy a share of a season's worth of production. A dollar in September buys three weeks. A dollar left unspent when the season ends buys nothing. So the budget is best understood as an asset that you want to turn into standings points, and the exchange rate gets worse with every passing week.
This is why hoarding is a mistake. A manager who sits on 90 percent of his budget at midseason has, in effect, gone without the early pickups that would have helped him for months. But the opposite is also a mistake. The managers who spend half their money in the first two weeks, on hot starts that cool off, have nothing left for the injuries that arrive in June. The goal is to spend steadily, with a reserve, and to lean toward spending earlier when the targets are good.
A rough pacing plan helps. Take a 26-week season and a 100-dollar budget. An even rate of spending would be about 4 dollars a week. In practice the spending comes in bursts, so think in phases:
| Phase | Weeks | Share of budget | What to buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening | 1 to 4 | 25 to 35 percent | Role changes, early call-ups, breakouts that are real |
| Middle | 5 to 16 | 30 to 40 percent | Injury replacements, closers, rest-of-season starters |
| Late | 17 to 22 | 20 to 25 percent | Call-ups, playoff positioning, streaming |
| Final | 23 to end | Whatever remains | Anything that helps, because unspent money is wasted |
The shares are a starting point, not a rule. If your league has a lot of injuries or your roster is thin, spend more earlier. If you are running away with the standings, keep a larger reserve to defend your lead.
How to size a bid
The best method for a bid is to estimate the player's contribution to your standings for the rest of the season, compare it with the player you would drop, and then convert the difference into a share of your remaining budget.
Start with what the player is likely to do from now to October. Take a projection for the rest of the season from a projection system, and discount it for the chance that his role vanishes. A closer on a bad team with a shaky hold on the job might have a 60 percent chance of keeping the role for the year, so his expected saves are 60 percent of the saves a full-time closer would get. Compare that with the player you would drop and with what you could find on the wire for free, and the gap is the player's true value over replacement. How to use ADP and projection systems explains how to treat the projections themselves.
Then convert the value into dollars. A simple way is to ask what share of your remaining budget the best available pickup should cost. A worked example: in a 100-dollar league, you have 70 dollars left in week 10 with 16 weeks to go, and you want to keep about 20 dollars back for injuries. That leaves 50 dollars to invest. If a new closer is available whose expected saves would lift you a full point or more in the saves category, a bid of 15 to 20 dollars, about a third of the flexible money, is reasonable. If the only available player is a middling reliever who will help you slightly, a bid of 1 to 3 dollars is enough.
Some reference points, for an illustrative league with a 100-dollar budget:
| Situation | Typical bid | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Replacement-level addition | 0 to 1 dollars | Many equivalent options exist |
| Streaming starter for one week | 0 to 3 dollars | Short-term value, see streaming pitchers |
| Solid regular called up from the minors | 3 to 10 dollars | Plays every day, uncertain skill |
| Pitcher newly named closer | 10 to 25 dollars | Saves are scarce |
| Top prospect called up | 15 to 40 dollars | High ceiling, often a keeper |
| Injury replacement for a star | 10 to 30 dollars | Fills a hole in a category |
The figures vary widely by league and are only meant to show the shape: most pickups are cheap, and a few are expensive.
Bid with small tweaks, not round numbers
Because bids are secret, the competition is between your guess and every other manager's. Managers tend to bid in round numbers: 5, 10, 15, 20. A bid of 11 beats a bid of 10 at the cost of a dollar, and a bid of 21 beats a bid of 20. When you are going to pay near a round number anyway, add one dollar and break the tie in your favor. The extra dollar rarely matters for your budget, and it often decides a close auction.
The opposite also holds. If you value a player at 12 and you expect others to bid 10 or 15, you do not need to go to 15. Think about what the typical manager in your league would do, which brings us to the next section.
Know your league
FAAB is a game against specific people, and their habits matter. Some managers bid every week and spend everything early. Some save all season and then splurge. In a league with a few aggressive managers, the price of a closer will be higher than in a league of cautious ones. Keep a note of who won what for how much, and note in particular the highest bids. If last season's top bid was 38 dollars on a prospect, then a 20-dollar bid on a similar prospect is unlikely to win.
Look also at who has money. A manager with 5 dollars left cannot outbid you for a 20-dollar player, so the rivals who matter are those with sizable budgets. Most sites show every team's remaining balance. If one manager has most of the money left at midseason, expect him to spend it, and decide whether to compete or to target players he does not want.
Finally, consider positions of need. A manager who has lost his closer will pay more for a replacement than one who has three. Bidding against a manager in desperate need is usually a losing contest unless you also need the player badly.
What to buy: closers, call-ups, injuries and streams
Some categories of target repay the investment better than others.
Role changes. The best pickups are usually players who suddenly have a job: a reliever promoted to closer, a hitter moved to the top of the lineup, a pitcher who is moved into the rotation. A job is worth more than talent in fantasy because opportunity drives counting stats. The risk is that the job disappears, which is why you discount the bid.
Call-ups. When a prospect arrives, the bidding rises, in part because other managers have been watching him. The skill of the player matters less than how long he stays and where he bats. A prospect who is promised an everyday job is a stronger target than one sent in as part of a platoon. For how prospects get to the majors in the first place, see how teams develop hitters in the minors.
Injury replacements. When a star goes on the injured list, the best response is often a modest bid on a player who fills the slot, not a large bid on the most exciting available name. You need a placeholder who produces now, not a player who might develop.
Streamers and two-start pitchers. For short-term pitching help, free pickups and cheap bids make more sense than large ones. A starter who throws twice in a week can be worth a small bid, a subject covered in two-start pitchers and weekly lineups.
Stashes for keeper leagues. In keeper and dynasty leagues, a prospect who will not help this year can be the best purchase of the season, since the budget buys a long-term asset. See keeper and dynasty league strategy for how the calculation changes.
Mistakes that waste a budget
- Chasing last week's results. A player who hit three home runs in four games is not necessarily a better hitter than he was a week ago. Pay for role and talent, not for a hot streak.
- Spending to the cent in the first week. Early in the season, a lot of players look attractive and you do not yet know who will hold a job. Leave a reserve for the real role changes.
- Hoarding past the deadline. Money left over when the season ends is wasted. If your trade or waiver deadline is approaching, spend what helps.
- Ignoring the drop. Winning a claim and then having it fail because the player you named to drop was traded or moved can cost a week. Double-check the pair each time.
- Overbidding for a position of scarcity. A closer is worth a lot, but not an infinite amount. If five managers are bidding, a price that makes the player a break-even addition is a sign to walk away.
- Forgetting the schedule. Look at the claim deadline and the processing day for your league. Missing a claim by an hour is the cheapest way to lose a good player.
Common questions
How much of my budget should I spend in the first week? In most leagues, little. Early in the season you do not know which roles are real. A modest share, on one or two clear role changes, is easier to defend than a large share on a hot start.
Is a zero-dollar bid worth making? If your league allows it, yes, for any player you would want at no cost, such as a streaming pitcher or a bench bat. It costs nothing, and it wins whenever nobody else bids.
Should I trade FAAB? If your league permits it, FAAB is a useful sweetener in a trade because it has no roster spot and a known value. Value it by the standard above, and do not give up more than you can spend usefully.
What if I have the most money late in the season? Spend it on whichever pickup helps the category you can still move, and consider bids on players the other managers need, to keep them from improving.
Does FAAB work the same in every league? No. Budget size, minimum bid, tiebreakers and processing rules all vary, so read your league's rules first.
Where to go next
For the rest of the season-long toolkit, start with fantasy baseball trade strategy and the guide to streaming pitchers. Current advice and news live on the fantasy baseball topic page and the fantasy tools section.