ESPN

One of the realities of deep leagues -- 12-team AL or 13-team NL leagues -- is that just about any starting pitcher with a pulse is going to be rostered by someone. Certainly, not all of these arms are going to be active. The reserve lists will be populated with hope and prayer. The free-agent pool? Mostly empty in any given week.

When some fresh blood is called up, the vultures are already circling. In these types of leagues, nobody waits to see if a new pitcher is for real. Many call-ups have admirable debuts for no other reason than the opposition has never seen them before. It typically takes at least a few starts before the scouting reports make their rounds, the league catches up and the novelty wears off. But deep league fantasy owners don't have the luxury of three starts for thoughtful analysis. If a rookie's debut shows even marginal skill, you can count on at least a few token FAAB bids that week.

The smart owner has to be in on that action. The Tim Lincecum and Phil Hughes FAAB frenzies are obvious, but even relative unknown Jesse Litsch drew a bunch of bids in Tout Wars-AL last week, including the $16 winner. If you want to see a real experts' feeding frenzy, tune in to this Friday's bidding on Tyler Clippard.

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