Mixed League FAAB: Kevin Kouzmanoff Ready To Take-Off

The week's FAAB bids in the NFBC 15-team mixed league of Jeff Erickson at Rotowire are up.  The highest bid went for San Diego Padres' 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff at 14.5% of the $1,000 FAAB budget.  The salutorian of the week's FAAB bidding was Los Angeles Angels' 2B Sean Rodriguez. at 4.8%.

Kouzmanoff got off to a horrid start to the 2009 season hitting just four HRs in the first two months and batting a scarier .228.  However, June has been different.  He has hit three HRs already and driven-in 12 runs.  Coincidentally, this surge is happening at the same time teams have stopped pitching to the hitter in front of Luz - Adrian Gonzalez.  He also had off-season shoulder surgery, which could explain the batting improvement.

Sean Rodriguez was crushing AAA pitching.  Combined with Howie Kendrick's ability to make fantasy touts look foolish for the player crush, SRod got the call when the Angels decided to send Kendrick back to AAA.  As occurred with infielder Brandon Wood. Rodriguez's apparent opportunity has been filled by Mike Scioscia fav, Macier Izturis.

In other notes about the list, there looked to be two speculative Saves pick-ups in Manny Corpas of the Colorado Rockies and Tony Pena of the Arizona Diamonbacks.  With the trading deadline six and a half weeks away, the .4% bid could look very good if Huston Street finds himslef dealt to a team in need of solid late inning help like the NEw York Yankees.

Pena cost a mere .6% and offers some high upside in the event that Chad Qualls forearm discomfort is more than scrolling cramps.  Scrolling cramps?  Yeah, you know when you spend all day on the P.C. scrolling with your middle finger and get sore at the top of your forearm?  A pitcher does the same motion, just much harder.  (ed:  He stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.)

Faux medical diagnoses aside, the onset of moves based on specuative trade rumos and possibilities will begin to pick-up in the coming weeks.  This may be especially so if the other 29 teams learned the lesson the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers taught last season.  Having players for more of the season is better than less.