Tout Wars Mixed: What’s that they say about third place?

Tim Heaney, of KFFL.com, shares the frantic, lamenting thoughts over his mixed Tout Wars squad…

9/19/11, 5:30 p.m. PT: My name is Tim Heaney. With 10 days to go, I sit in third place, behind my colleague Nicholas Minnix and MLB.com/FantasyBaseball.com’s Fred Zinkie, in 2011 Tout Wars mixed, a league in which I held the lead for a few long stretches.

I have $0 left in my Free Agency Acquisition Budget.

And I’m resting much of my title hopes on two of my newest acquisitions: Craig Gentry and Tony Campana.

Yup, Charlie Sheen would roast me over this.

In scrambling for every possible rotisserie point, going big – maybe going stupid – is the direction to head in. Neither is an everyday player. Both, however, have blazing speed, enough to give me some hope that I can gain around three roto points in stolen bases, the category that has crippled me the most throughout the season.

Trading Raul Ibanez and Mike Moustakas for Erick Aybar back in mid-July helped a little. Unfortunately, lingering injuries to Jose Tabata and the earth-crashing returns to reality of Jordan Schafer and Will Venable left me with the urgency to grab as much speed as possible, playing time be damned. Outfield is the best position at which to rotate hot bats, but since I’ve waited a while for swipes to come, I might be too late.

My pitching has carried my team all season, with Justin Verlander, Cole Hamels, Madison Bumgarner, Ryan Dempster, Craig Kimbrel and Brandon League comprising my core, including stints by since-dropped Jeff Karstens and Jose Contreras (valuable five saves), along with my current depth of Edwin Jackson, Gavin Floyd and Derek Holland rounding things out. I stuck with my starters this week, hoping they can grind out a few victories.

More importantly, my offense needs to come through; I hate relying on saves and wins, considering the mitigating factors surrounding each.

I can realistically gain points in:

• SB
• W
• SV, especially thanks to my pickup this week of Jim Johnson and one of my competitors aiming to pad his lead in wins
• Possibly WHIP

Of course, I can lose points with drops in

• SB
• RBI
• ERA
• K
• HR
• BA

Yeah. Exactly.

Thus, I’m hoping to steal back what I’ve held for much of the season from two stacked competitors. It’s looking like my category upside isn’t as high as Minnix’s and Zinkie’s. I might have to wear a Phillies jersey for an embarrassing few minutes while thinking about what could’ve been.

More to come over the next nine nervous nights. Signing off, but hopefully signing out of the race.