Rotoman and Alex Patton teamed up in Ron Shandler’s new expert league for people interested in keepers and shallow leagues. Dubbed the XFL (xperts fantasy league) by Steve Moyer, Alex wanted to have nothing to do with it because he didn’t know how to figure values for a 12-team mixed league.
But I screwed up my plane reservations back from Ron’s Arizona Fall League do, which is where the first auction was to be held and Alex gamely sat in. I gave him a few basic concepts:
Get Vlad no matter how much he costs. Get ARod no matter how much he costs. Get Preston Wilson unless someone goes crazy for him. Get Mike Hampton for a buck at the end.
Alex freaked and didn’t get A-Rod. He got Barry Bonds instead. And he didn’t understand my concept on Hampton, which was that if was still in Colorado we could dump him, but if he changed teams he’s be worth way more than a buck. But by the time spring came and Hampton was in Atlanta, the bloom was so far off the rose I let him pass in three or four reserve rounds.
It didn’t matter. For much of the year we had such a big lead there didn’t seem to be much reason to pay attention. Fortunately we did, picking up Brandon Webb, who was an immeasurable help. Alas, Alex said, Go get Dontrelle, and I picked off Shane Reynolds instead. And so we missed the year’s big story. Fortunately, so did everyone else.
By August it was clear that two teams who had made good trades earlier in the year were chipping away at our lead. We had lost Vlad and Mike Lowell for a couple of months each, and we’d been unable to wrangle a SS from Greg Ambrosius for either Hideo Nomo or CC Sabathia. So I dealt Lance Carter for Craig Biggio and we held on while Todd Zola added Brian Giles and Perry Van Hook added Jeff Kent essentially for nothing.
The best comic relief? One day Alex added to my moves by promoting Mike Matheny and sitting Craig Wilson. Suffice it to say that neither of us expected Wilson to win the Player of the Week award that week.
Two days in September we were out of first place, but in the end the amazing pitching staff that Alex put together in the auction for half the money most other team’s spent, and the awesome offense that somehow managed to finish 6th in Runs, held on.
Just in case you were interested.