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. Continue reading “Tout Wars mixed: Third place the charm?”
| When you’re sitting in front of the computer on A Sunday night trying to figure out if Brent Morel will get more hits over a three-game stretch than Chris Johnson, you know it’s time to call it a year and start your 2012 rankings!
As I said seven days ago, the Mixed League Championship is still Nick Minnix’s to lose. While Team Zinkie was in first on Sunday morning, Nick has moved back into top spot at the moment and carries a two-point lead over my squad and a three-point lead over Tim Heaney.  If Nick seals the deal this week he may need to take Tim out for dinner by the weekend! Tim’s smart strategy and my poor planning resulted in me missing out on a few players I had hoped to add for the final stretch.  Going into the final full week, Tim didn’t have any FAAB units remaining while I still owned $6. I mistakenly thought that someone else would want Randall Delgado and Kevin Millwood and I wasted $3 on each of them. In hindsight I should have bid $1 on both starters while saving $4 for the final FAAB period. That would have allowed me to block Tim from adding Greg Holland and Manny Acosta last night. Since we are tied in saves, grabbing those two pitchers would have likely netted me an extra point in the final standings. Now, Tim owns both temporary closers along with Brandon League and Craig Kimbrel and I’ll need some good fortune to hang with him by using John Axford and Jordan Walden. Walden dealt me a big blow on Sunday when he misfired on his throw to second, costing me a valuable save and adding a couple earned runs to my season total.  Tim was also able to block my claims on Lorenzo Cain and Robert Andino, two players who I expect to get something done over the final three games. Needing runs scored and batting average help, I was hopeful to end up with at least one of them.  So, my Tout Wars hopes are now pinned on the likes of Ruben Tejada, Willie Harris, Brent Morel, Sean Marshall, Henderson Alvarez and Alfredo Aceves. I added all seven in the final FAAB run but it’s hard to imagine any of them having blazing finishes to the season.  My dilemma to solve by 7pm today – to start Jayson Werth or Melky Cabrera. Royals manager Ned Yost has already said that Cabrera will play until he gets his 200th hit (he’s at 199) and then won’t start another game this season. That presents a catch-22. If Cabrera plays in two or more games this week then it will mean that he didn’t hit well on Monday. If he walks up to bat tonight and singles in his first plate appearance, will Mitch Maier be in center field to start the second inning? Werth situation is the exact opposite. Washington’s biggest disappointment is going to play but would anyone want to use him? He owns a sub-.150 lieftime batting average against all three opposing starters this week. In a tight batting average race, I can’t afford a 2-for-12 week from Werth or anyone else. Do you see why I said it’s time to put 2011 behind us and look forward to 2012??!! |
MLB.com’s Fred Zinkie reflects on his frustration in a certain category as he struggles to stay in the Mixed League race….
The Baltimore Orioles are killing me!
That phrase has rarely been uttered in recent years by anyone other than long-suffering Orioles fans but at the moment the Orioles and their late season hot streak are ruining my chances of picking up a Mixed League Championship.
Entering the final full week of action I had 13 points in saves. I led Dave Feldman by a pair of saves and Tim Heaney by three. I sent John Axford and Jordan Walden out to keep my lead. Tim countered with Craig Kimbrel, Brandon League and newly-acquired Jim Johnson while Dave threw out Mark Melancon and former closers Fernando Salas and Kevin Gregg. I felt pretty safe that I would stay in front of Dave, who really only owns one closer at the moment but I knew that the race with Tim would be close.
Heading into the weekend, I have no saves this week. The Angels managed to fritter away some late-inning leads and extra-inning games (and their playoff hopes for that matter), giving Walden no chances. The Brewers also didn’t get a chance to put their fireman on the mound.
But the Orioles produced saves and plenty of them! In fact, a Baltimore reliever has earned a save all four days so far this week. First, Johnson secured three wins over Boston, pushing Tim past me and then just for good measure, Buck Showalter decided to rest Johnson and put in Gregg on Thursday, moving Feldman ahead of me. Dave has also got a pair of saves from Melancon this week.
Saves are a fickle stat week-to-week but they usually even out over the course of a full season. Well, I don’t have time for them to even out! I need the Orioles and Astros to get back to playing like last place teams and I need the Brewers and Angels to win some close games this weekend.
My plan to catch Nick Minnix heading into the final full week was…..
1. Catch him in BA
2. Catch him in ERA
3. Hold my lead over Tim and Dave in saves
So far, I’m 0-for-3. But, all of these things could happen over the final six days of the season.
Tout Wars NL leader and USA Today columnist Steve Gardner describes his situation going into the season’s final seven days:
“There’s exactly one week left in the regular season. And without a doubt it’s going to be the longest week of the year.
That’s the feeling you have when your fantasy team is in first place — like mine is in the NL Tout Wars experts league. On Sunday, I had a 10.5-point lead on Mastersball.com’s Brian Walton … but in just a couple days he whittled the margin down to 6.5. I can tell these last few days are going to be absolutely brutal.
It was nerve-wracking last year when I was in a tight three-way battle in the Tout Wars mixed league. But that was different because I was always the third wheel trying to stick my nose in there — and I never really got a sniff of the lead. This time, I’m the one trying to hold on for dear life.
What am I going to be watching most intently? Pitching, pitching and more pitching. Brian is breathing down my neck in three of the five pitching categories.
I lead ERA 3.31 to 3.37.
I lead WHIP 1.21 to 1.23
I lead strikeouts 1070 to 1041
I’m not just wearing one target on my back, I’m wearing three. Because I can still gain ground in wins, I can’t afford to run a bunch of relievers out there to protect my ratios. If any of my starting pitchers have a major meltdown, I could see those leads in ERA and WHIP evaporate in an instant. With Brian there waiting to pounce — and with RotoWire’s Chris Liss between us with a 1.22 WHIP — there’s potential six-point swing in those ratio categories.
With all that said, I really do like the guys I have out there. Madison Bumgarner has been awesome since the All-Star break (8-3, 2.43). Zack Greinke has rewarded my patience with almost-identical (8-3, 2.29) stats over that span. They’ll go next for me on Thursday and Saturday.
The problem with being in first place is that there’s nowhere to go but down. Outside of possibly a point in wins, there’s almost no chance for me to move up in any other category. So in effect, I have to do what never seems to work in pro football — play not to lose.
But since it’s fantasy baseball we’re playing, maybe the results will turn out better.
We asked Tout AL second placer and RotoWire founder Jeff Erickson how he saw his chances of catching Larry Schechter for the AL crown:
Jeff says: “I need a time machine, so that I can tell a young, impressionable Jeff that investing in Jacob McGee and Fernando Rodney is a fool’s errand. Spend that money on Kyle Farnsworth and Jordan Walden, or on starting pitching, so that I don’t have to tear apart that beautiful offense that I assembled. I spent too much of my surplus chasing saves, all for a 2.5-to-3.0 point boost. I think I lost at least that much in trading away the bats in the process.
Oh yeah, and not owning Vin Mazzaro would have been a good play, too.
I don’t see where I can gain enough and Larry can lose enough in points to catch him at this point. Second place in a money league is nice, but here it’s just a case of being the first loser. Hopefully I can hold off Jason for second.”
Sandlot Shrink vet Larry Schechter’s perspective is just a bit different: “I’ve got such a big lead, I can’t possibly blow it now! Oh wait, isn’t that what the Red Sox said a few weeks ago?”
Good luck, gents!
Nicholas Minnix of KFFL.com reports on the Tout Wars Mixed pennant race:
I hate Marco Scutaro.
I was ahead of Fred Zinkie in batting average by 0.004 points heading into the baseball regular season’s final full week of games. Marco Freakin’ Scutaro made my stomach turn at the very beginning of it when he collected six hits in eight at-bats in Monday’s twin bill between the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles. Continue reading “Tout Mixed: The abnormal, exceptional average”
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. Continue reading “Tout Wars Mixed: What’s that they say about third place?”
Read the story at Mastersball.com.