This week was filled with transactions, featuring 17 FAAB pickups and six trades during the week. First, we'll start with the FAAB proceedings for the week.

Owners were much more willing to spend money this week, as there were four bids of $7 or more after just one such bid was made last week. Similarly to last week, the highest bid went to a prospect pitcher making his big-league debut. Eric Skoglund shined in his inaugural appearance, allowing just two hits while striking out five over 6.1 innings en route to the victory. This was enough to warrant the two highest bids of the week, with Chris Benzine ultimately outbidding Peter Tongas.

Tongas didn't leave empty-handed, however. After missing out on Skoglund, he proceeded to be the biggest spender of the week, bolstering his pitching staff with left-handers J.A. Happ and CC Sabathia while banking on Eric Young Jr.'s recent hot streak to last a little longer. It's an interesting mixture of veteran players who weren't spectacular early in the season, but they all may be hitting their stride at just the right time to help Tongas climb in the standings.

Although pitchers were in high demand this week, hitters stole the show with 10 of the 17 bids (and many more that were secondary conditional bids for owners). Joe Bartel led the way with a pair of contrasting pickups. Eric Sogard has been one of the hottest hitters for the first-place Brewers, batting .410 with 10 runs and eight RBI since coming to Milwaukee. His ability to take walks is squandered a bit in our league since we only measure batting average, but the fact that he's been able to pick up counting stats while putting the ball in play makes him a solid pickup while he's streaking. On the other hand, Ryan Schimpf is the poster boy for three-true-outcome hitters, bashing 14 home runs on the season while holding a 26:62 BB:K in 186 plate appearances on the season. It's a strange pairing, but they cover each other's shortcomings, which could pay off in the end.

Don't leave Steve Broihahn out of it, as he made a huge push for the top this week. In addition to plucking Chris Iannetta, Enrique Hernandez and Chris Young off the waiver wire without a fight, he also conducted a trade in which he received Kelvin Herrera, Kyle Hendricks and Carlos Correa from James Anderson. In just one week, he managed to upgrade nearly every aspect of his team, putting his fifth-place team in a position to contend for the top.

The award for most pickups of the week goes to Mario Puig, who flooded the league with one-dollar bids. He's currently in the midst of a full rebuild, so he went out and got a series of young players who managed to crack the big leagues already. The most intriguing pickup of the bunch is Paul DeJong, who is a 23-year-old infielder with a strong hit tool. He's hit for power at every level in his brief career, and his batting average typically lies in the upper .200s, which is more than enough to make up for his high propensity to strike out. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny also seems intent on keeping him in the starting lineup while Kolten Wong (elbow) is on the disabled list, so he'll get a good chunk of time in the big leagues to further his development.

Finally, the owner who made a big move in the standings this week was Todd Zola. Zola's biggest move was trading for Brian Dozier, C.J. Cron and Max Scherzer from Erik Siegrist, but he also reaped the benefits of a free agent pickup he made a couple weeks back. Wilmer Flores, who he nabbed for $7, hit .395 with six runs and six RBI over the past two weeks, boosting Zola's squad to third place overall.

For your reference, here are the trades that were conducted over the past week:

Let me know your thoughts on all of this by tweeting at me (@IsaacButtke). Good luck to everyone in the upcoming week!