By Brett Avery Eighth. Were it a 5-kilometer road race, The Fantasy Insider would be overjoyed with eighth place. Even eighth in his age group would suit him fine. Standing eighth in the express lane at the grocery store? Not so good. But he’s ahead of No. 9. But drafting eighth in his head-to-head league as the opening salvo of League Championship Fantasy? The last slot? And only a few hours after TFI’s top choice in the opening week of Salary Cap Cup, Vijay Singh, lost the Mercedes Championships? Is there no fairness in the world? Ah, well, welcome to 2006. Don’t let the door hit you on the way in. TFI is primed to jump into the season with both feet, both hands and most of his brain. Each week for the next several months he’ll tout hot and cold players, answer your questions, pass along your strategies and recap some of his own play in the competitions offered by CBS SportsLine.com and PGATOUR.com. As in previous years of writing this column, TFI will rely on you, girls and boys, to steer him toward content that best serves your needs. Have a stat you’d like to see? Need a question answered? TFI’s e-mail address appears at the end of each column. Understand that he can’t personally answer each and every e-mail but will do his best. Oh, and to reiterate what he noted a few weeks ago: LCF is an entirely different game. In Salary Cap Cup (the former TOUR Fantasy) it was you against the world. Keeping secrets to success was part of the strategy. In LCF there are only seven other team owners to beat. Share and share alike, girls and boys, and we all enjoy a richer the experience. In order to provide the full experience for his readers, TFI has entered two LCF leagues, one head-to-head and one rotisserie. The last-place draft slot came in the head-to-head, a public group called the Pacific Tour League. [Note: New Jersey-based TFI finds himself in the West Division, which seems an awful lot like some alignment from the early days of the Continental Basketball Association.] The rotisserie league is an all-star cavalcade of golf experts from a variety of websites, the kind of place where fantasy columnists can spend each week trading tales and butting heads. Competitive? Oh, not in the least. The fact that the live draft isn’t until late Wednesday afternoon, less than 24 hours before the start of the Sony Open in Hawaii, shouldn’t be interpreted as our way of trying to squeeze every last shred of information out of our pre-draft pecking orders. OK, perhaps it is. At least TFI writes this week’s column with one draft out of the way. He thought long and hard about his pre-draft ranking for the H2H’s automated draft. He took into account his suggestions in the pre-draft column posted in late December, the play of those in the Mercedes and the early word he’d gotten on how 2006 is looking. And he punted. Literally. Let the computer do its job, straight off the set lineup. So this is how TFI’s roster looked after the draft, in order of selection: • Chris DiMarco (ranked 10th): solid putter, so-so short game • Kenny Perry (11th): solid driver, not much else • Justin Leonard (33rd): so-so short game and scrambling • Mark Hensby (35th): nothing much and not many starts • Chad Campbell (36th): good driver • Steve Elkington (58th): so-so driver and not many starts • Craig Parry (61st): generally solid and most starts in first half of season • Carlos Franco (74th): nothing much • Jesper Parnevik (106th): solid putting • Tim Petrovic (112th): nothing much … unless you count No. 1 in putting average in 2006! Right off the bat TFI had the problem of only fielding five guys this week (Campbell, C. Parry, Franco, Parnevik and Petrovic). Which brings us to This Week’s Brilliant Question, a new regular feature of the column: I’m freakin’ out a little about WAIVERS -- I want to like all 10 of my players and the idea of leaving four of them vulnerable every week makes me cringe. Could you maybe write up something about how this will really work, and what strategies to employ? --Mark, NewBeige Bombers
1. If you’re going to waive, there’s no time like Monday. The computer runs waiver orders Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Each team has a waiver ranking (it begins as the reverse of your league’s first-round draft order). If you’re not first in line you could lose your selection to someone who is higher up or acts earlier. Fair warning: If you leave a waiver until Wednesday and get shut out, it is especially painful if you don’t have the minimum six guys in that week’s event on your roster. 2. Know your weaknesses. This is especially true in H2H. As golfers, most of us go to the practice tee and slash with a driver for 30 minutes instead of putting or chipping, where we need the help. Translation: If you think the other nine players on your lineup are flawless, think again. Even first-place teams can improve. 3. Pick a replacement likely to compete in at least two of the next three tournaments. A guy can look superb on paper but if he’s sitting out most of the next month then he’s dead weight. Check your candidate’s results from recent seasons to ascertain his usual haunts. 4. Do not waive in anger. Sure, Sunday one of your guys blew a four-footer at the last green and cost you big time. Maybe he does deserve to be treated like a bit character in a Dan Jenkins novel. Waive him because he doesn’t fit your needs, though, not because you’re momentarily peeved. [Oh, and don’t post lengthy rants on your league’s message board about the waived player’s sorry performance. That absolutely ensures someone will pick him up and celebrate when he wins the following week.] 5. Don't panic, embrace the opportunities presented by a waiver. This isn't a team sport where you hang onto guys through thick and thin. If you aren’t trading and waiving on a regular basis you’re not maximizing your potential. If that doesn’t convince you, do the math: eight teams x 10 players per team = lots of quality players available. You could probably build a team as good as your present lineup with guys available through waivers alone. Happy shopping! With those rules in mind, TFI hit the waiver wire. In many leagues, especially automatic drafts where few team owners pre-ranked draft choices, there are tons of quality players who haven’t gotten a sniff. Looking for short game help TFI tabbed Pat Perez, who only made 18 of 28 cuts last year but ranked 12th in scrambling and first in sand saves. Hey, who says you have to finish eighth in everything? H2H lineup for Sony Open in Hawaii (Pacific Tour League): Ball-striking, Chad Campbell, Kenny Perry; short game, Carlos Franco, Pat Perez; putting, Jesper Parnevik, Tim Petrovic. Inactive: Chris DiMarco, Steve Elkington, Justin Leonard, Craig Parry. Waivers: Pat Perez for Mark Hensby (pending). Rotisserie lineup (RW Expert League): Pending. TFI would share his pre-draft strategy with you but, alas, those other seven experts read his column and would steal his mojo. Cross your fingers that TFI has a successful draft! Salary Cap Cup: Main lineup at Mercedes Championships earned $1,069,000 and placed 7,988th. Vijay Singh $630,000 (second), Justin Leonard $185,000 (eighth), Ben Crane $76,000 (25th), Carl Pettersson $84,000 (21st), Robert Gamez $94,000 (tied for 17th). Hey, what do you know … TFI had the guy who finished eighth! The “Hey, buddy” lineup earned $907,000 and placed 9,747th. Sergio Garcia $195,000 (seventh), Jim Furyk $420,000 (third), Sean O’Hair $72,000 (27th), Jason Gore $70,000 (28th), Tim Petrovic $150,000 (tied for 11th). Hey, what do you know … TFI had the guy who finished last! This week at Hawaii: Main lineup, Vijay Singh $300,000, Charles Howell III $244,750, Jerry Kelly $231,750, Pat Perez $140,750, Chris Riley $75,000. Total: $992,250. “Hey, buddy” lineup, Jim Furyk $296,750, Justin Rose $186,250, Tim Petrovic $163,500, Robert Gamez $108,250, Paul Azinger $75,000. Total: $829,750. Have a question or comment for TFI? Send it to him at brettavery@aol.com. Please include your team name and whether you’re playing a rotisserie or H2H league. |
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