Paul’s Fantasy Baseball FAAB Recommendations – Week 20

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  • By Paul Williamson

    Last Updated on August 16, 2026 1:45 pm by Paul Williamson | Published: August 16, 2026

    Note on the FAAB recommendations – We are at a point where some of you might be real low on FAAB. So if you really want some of the players I recommend, I would saw a good rule of them is to make sure you have roughly $20-40 left over the rest of the year and bid accordingly. That way you have some leftover for potential injury replacements to finish off the year. But now is also not the time to hoard your FAAB (exception being H2H managers who are locked into a playoff spot).

    In order of roster% – 

    12-TEAM LEAGUES (ROSTER%)

    OF Joshua Baez – STL (57% Yahoo) – You’ve probably heard of him by now. He has legit, league winning upside with a floor that may cause him to kill your batting average. But managers who are middle of the pack right now should spend the vast majority of their FAAB to get him on their team. He can turn a decent playoff team to a contender and help stack stats for roto managers. BID – Almost all of your FAAB, I’d say for him, we can leave just $10-15 for ROS FAAB. 

    OF Zac Veen – COL (15%) – He has begun his second stint the majors with a couple of bombs in his first three games as he coming up from Triple-A where he really flashed his power and speed potential. His bat speed so far is a solid 72.7 MPH with a 26.3% FastSw%. If you can’t afford Baez, Veen is worthy as a Plan B – BID – 5-10%

    1B Abimelec Oritz – WSN (13%) – He has began his MLB career nicely with a .306/.324/.667 slash with four homers, .419 wOBA anda  167 wRC+. His K% of 21.5% shows he has carried his elite hit tool over to the majors as his fast bat (76.6 MPH) has unlocked a 92.7 MPH avgEV, 17.9% barrel rate and 50.0% hard-hit rate. He was someone who I had listed as a deep league option but now he has worked his way onto standard league radars. BID – 4-8%

    P Tyler Mahle – ATL (28%) – He had been performing farily well as a Giant before the deal to the Braves but maybe Mahle’s new team has unlocked a new level for him. The Braves have him throwing more splitters and considering it is his highest whiff offering pitch that is inducing the softest contact, it makes sense. The Braves have had a knack for getting the most out of their arms and Mahle may just reap the benefit, even if he went to a worse park. BID – 3-5%

    P Ben Joyce – LAA (10%) – Joyce is likely to keep getting save chances as he is now hitting 104+ on the radar gun, actually throwing fastball faster than Jacob Misiorowski in a game. The Angels are not going to provide many saves so don’t spend much here as only managers of teams that need to close save gaps should consider this. BID – 2-4%

    P Kodai Senga – NYM (17%) – I wrote about extensively in a recent Working the Waiver Wire and I’ll give you the TLDR version here. His velocity is way up as a reliever and he profiles much better as a bullpen arm with his devastating forkball being his signature strikeout pitch to go with his fastball and sweeper. Senga is going to be closer as long as Devin Williams is on the shelf. There is no timeline for his return however so who knows how long he will be the closer. BID – 2-5%

    P Sean Manaea – NYM (37%) – Manaea coughed up a three-run homer to Brady House in the sixth inning, ruining what had been another great outing where he earned 17 whiffs with seven Ks in 6.1 innings. He has a 2.87 ERA with a 25.0% K% and 1.21 WHIP over his last five starts, averaging over six innings per. BID – 2-5%.

    P Jacob Lopez – ATH (23%) – Any time I see Lopez starting outside of Sacramento, I’m going to recommend him. Yeah, it is Houston, but that park is still a far cry from the banger box that is the A’s temporary home. Even with starts in Sac included, he has a 2.22 ERA (2.26 xERA)with a rock solid 28.7% K% and 1.02 WHIP. Lopez would be rostered everywhere if he pitched for almost any other team. BID – 2-4%

    OF Jacob Young – WSN (4%) – He has quietly turned in a solid year and has really turned it on lately. Over his last 88 plate appearances, he has two homers, five steals and a .353 batting average. He has improved his barrel rate from its usual sub-2% up to 6.1% giving him 10 homers on the year as he had five in his entire career leading into the season. His elite hit tool and speed as always given him a solid average and steals floor for deeper formats and now he has a full time run with James Wood hurt and he is a sneaky 12-team option, especially for managers without much FAAB to spend. 2-3%

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    August 16, 2026, 1:45 pm