Tim Heaney, of KFFL.com, shares the frantic, lamenting thoughts over his mixed Tout Wars squad…
In my last Tout Wars mixed drop-in, I complained about being in third place. Today, I’m thanking it … well, as much as I possibly could with only a few days left in the season.
I had some familiar company yesterday in the $0 FAAB club. First-place Nicholas Minnix and second-place Fred Zinkie were also broke. Thus, per Tout Constitution rules, I held the tiebreaker in my waiver priority acquisitions in the final Sunday processing.
My eight pickups for this trio of anxious days are ringers targeted for growth in saves and stolen bases. With this short of a contribution window, it’s a gamble defined by my three-point deficit behind my fellow KFFLer Minnix. Since Zinkie took a commanding lead over me in wins, I shifted gears this week to focus on closures.
Saves
Joining Craig Kimbrel, Brandon League and Jim Johnson:
- Greg Holland
- Manny Acosta
- Steve Cishek
Steals
- Matt Angle
- Jordan Schafer (who was on my team previously)
- Lorenzo Cain
- Robert Andino (Aramis Ramirez looking like a safe bet to sit the rest of the season, or at max pinch-hitting)
It was oddly liberating to let go of such names as Ramirez, Justin Verlander and Cole Hamels. In the final three-day week, you can cancel all bets and loyalties in favor of schedules.
My final addition, the promising Tom Milone, joins Madison Bumgarner and Ryan Dempster as my final three starters to pair with my six stoppers. Hopefully in his effort against the lowly Marlins, Milone will at least add more buffer in two important categories:
- I’m hoping my 29-strikeout lead atop the K category will hold over the 14-point Paul Petera squad, who has six SPs going.
- Nando Di Fino (four scheduled SP) and David Gonos (none) are also on my tail in wins, but I’m hoping the three-day window will hold that advantage.
Either way, I need some help. Minnix must drop in saves, but his Santiago Casilla addition could prevent that. Andy Behrens’ handful of scheduled SPs could help bump Nick down in K’s, though. The Minnix-Zinkie ERA tango … well, I guess I have to root for Zinkie in that one, hoping his subtraction from Minnix combined with my passing of him in saves keeps him in place.
I need Minnix to have some Dice-K-sized meltdowns for me to take the top spot in WHIP, but I think I should hold on to 14th there. Dave Feldman can also at least tie Zinkie’s saves standing if things break right … but that’s counting on a few Mark Melancon fireman appearances. Oh boy.
Batting Average
Fortunately, I shouldn’t lose ground in runs, homers and RBIs, and barring any blow-ups, my placement in ERA and WHIP should be stable.
With a the half-point I should to take from Zinkie in saves (John Axford, Jordan Walden and maybe Sean Marshall), a potential one-point gain in BA (gaining two seems to be a stretch), plus my hopeful one-point addition in stolen bases (maybe two or three, depending on how that shakes out), the pieces are there for me to gain … and, maybe, just maybe, do that “W” word.
Whew. Get all that? There’ll be a quiz.
But will there be Yoo Hoo in my fridge and my belly? Short-term pushes, especially those of just three days, rarely work out as planned. At least I set myself up for a bump in each place I needed. If the stars, and scrubs, align, it’ll be one sweet shower to cap what has already been my favorite fantasy baseball foray.