TFI: Stanford St. Jude Championship  PGATOUR.com Contributor The email stunned The Fantasy Insider when it arrived in his in box at 10:24 a.m. Monday: A trade offered in league The Expert League has been accepted. To view this trade offer, click here to go to your league and then you can choose to protest the trade. You have 36 hours to submit a protest. PGA TOUR League Championship. Be still TFI's beating heart! A trade!  TFI says Camilo Villegas could be a good addition to the roster. (Erhmann/WireImage)
Leave it to the two guys with backgrounds at Fanball.com, the company handling the logistics on League Championship and its companion fantasy games for the PGA TOUR, to initiate the rotisserie Expert League's first trade. Congratulations, Christian Peterson and Brett Angel. Way to set an example for the six slackers in the league! Angel initiated the trade after coming to the hard truth: His squad wasn't likely to improve in the overall standings. Mired in the middle of the pack, his "I'd Rather Be Working" squad was last in 300-yard-plus drives but first in fairways hit. Peterson's "The Price is Wrong," a spot ahead of him in fourth overall, was last in fairways hit and first in 300+ drives. "Certain stats count for so much and we'd each hit a wall," Angel told TFI in a breathless world exclusive interview. So Angel sent out the trade proposal: Scott Verplank for Robert Allenby. [The beauty of the Internet is that Angel's anguished initial maneuvers are on display for everyone else in the league to see, if only they dig deeply enough. Angel initially offered Verplank to Mike Vitti of PGATOUR.com in a swap for Sean O'Hair but the deal was canceled. The next day he put Bart Bryant out as bait for Allenby but canceled it within two minutes and floated Verplank.] Peterson received an email alert on Verplank and did ... nothing. For three weeks. Why? "That's a good question," Peterson mused in an equally earth-shattering world exclusive to TFI. In short, he hadn't really thought about the offer. He was trying to nudge his accuracy up on a week-by-week basis by adding and dropping players like Jose Coceres and Kirk Triplett. "But clearly what I was doing wasn't working. Verplank is a guy who can stay in the lineup, he's about as steady a guy as you can get." So that's Rule One Of Trades: If at first you don't success with an offer, give it time. Angel and Peterson believe they have an advantage over the rest of the league's players in that they feel they know each other better than any other duo in the league. They chat a few times a week either on the phone or via instant message. It's not as if they went 'round and 'round on the trade the way pro team general managers might, but they were familiar with the other's sensitivities and sensibilities. So that's Rule Two Of Trades: Know your other managers. That might be tough in a public league filled with strangers but the message board can prove invaluable for scoping out others. Angel and Peterson also have plenty of experience in other fantasy sport leagues: Peterson alone has five baseball squads percolating and in the most recent seasons had six football squads and "a couple" of hockey lineups. Golf is more of a marathon season, Peterson noted, kind of like baseball. "You might be thinking that there are 20 weeks left in the season and you're not ready to make a panic move. Football is different because you have one game a week and 16 games in the season. If you fall down in the standings you have to patch holes, do whatever you can to work it out." So that's Rule Three Of Trades: Combine that long-range, make-the-playoffs approach of baseball with the results-now look of football. Since the deal was proposed: --Verplank tied for seventh in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial and went into this week's Stanford St. Jude Championship ranked 17th in FedExCup points and 33rd in the Official World Ranking. He's 10th in driving accuracy (70.83 percent) and, as a bonus, 20th in scoring average (70.20). --Allenby missed the cut at the Memorial Tournament presented by Morgan Stanley, his second idle weekend in a row, and now stands 21st in FedExCup points and 27th in the world. He's 11th in driving distance (297.6 yards) and, as a bonus, sixth in both birdies (3.93 per round) and scoring (69.76). Both are in the St. Jude field so they'll make immediate contributions. And for his part Peterson said he's got a little more homework, promising to scour TFI's roster for trade candidates. Here's a hint: sixth in fairways hit, tied for seventh in greens in regulation. And that's Rule Four Of Trades: Remind others in the league where you're looking for improvement, because other team owners may be thinking the same thing but are hesitating to open the dialogue. PS: Don't look now, but this is the last week of Segment 2 in Salary Cap Cup. Three players TFI might pick up/trade for to get onto his roster this week: --Adam Scott. TFI initially had Padraig Harrington penciled into this slot but at the last minute switched to a player with back-to-back top 10s (tied fifth at the Memorial, tied sixth at THE PLAYERS Championship) and a Shell Houston Open title. Top rankings in birdies (4.41 per round) and par breakers (24.65 percent) are strong trump cards for TPC Southwind.
--Richard S. Johnson. This guy's banged it all over the place this season, missing seven of 17 cuts and withdrawing from another event. But he's played 72 holes the last three starts, including rebounding from a first-round 73 (on the best scoring day in Memorial history) to tie for 21st. He's in the top 100 in only one significant stat (74th in fairways hit) but for TFI to climb the standings it's time to take a few chances. --Camilo Villegas. He's missed five cuts but has punctuated them with a steady diet of decent finishes, not quite as red-hot as last winter and spring but getting there. Tied for 16th here last year on a so-so final round, the same day he's struggled with this season (71.88, ranked 103rd). If he can pack enough birdies into the first 54 holes he can coast in with a decent pile of FedExCup points. And if he turns it on Sunday he could be back in a playoff (as at The Honda Classic) or close at the AT&T Classic (tied for third). One player TFI might waive/drop/trade away to get off his roster this week: --Vijay Singh. TFI's taken a few shots this season at the No. 1 guy on his match-play roster and he's not about to stop. He hasn't played in Memphis since a tie for 13th in 1992, when Jay Haas finished three ahead of Dan Forsman and Robert Gamez. (Those were the days! Candy bars were like, what, a dime?) TFI's going to get plenty of hate mail from team owners who would do anything to get this guy in the lineup but TFI doesn't see it happening this week. Two wins, four top 10s and zero missed cuts this year? For a world-class player, in TFI's book, that's the equivalent of disrespecting the Bing. Rotisserie results for Expert League at the Memorial: 46.0 points (third, 15.5 behind Mike Vitti of PGATOUR.com). First in eagles, second in fairways hit and scrambling. Of course, it would have been a laugher if Tim Clark had actually started and TFI hadn't fallen on his own sword by benching tournament winner K.J. Choi. That screaming you hear is a string of expletives not suitable for children. Or some adults. Overall: 60.5 points (first, 1.5 ahead of Vitti and Greg Vara of rotowire.com). Rotisserie lineup for Expert League at Stanford St. Jude Championship: Padraig Harrington, Geoff Ogilvy, Ryan Palmer, David Toms. Active but not in lineup: Mark Calcavecchia, Ken Duke, Bubba Watson. Not in field: Paul Casey, K.J. Choi, Tim Clark, Anders Hansen, Steve Stricker. Match-play results for Public League 3359 at the Memorial: TFI 9, jcurtis1969 9. Overall: 11-7-2 (first in West Division by two games). Just a brutal week for both owners with thin prospects for the lineup (and just happy to get a tie). TFI's now 1-2-1 in his last four weeks. Match-play lineup for Public League 3359 at Stanford St. Jude Championship: TFI vs. Da4 Skinz (9-9-2 and second in West Division). Vijay Singh, Mark Calcavecchia, Nick Watney, Troy Matteson. Reserves: Daniel Chopra. Not in field: Jonathan Byrd, Jose Coceres, Ernie Els, Davis Love III, Zach Johnson, Frank Lickliter II, Nick O'Hern. Another crucial week if TFI hopes to stay in first place. Lucky for him Tiger Woods is among Da4 Skinz's players sitting out this week. Whew! Salary Cap Cup results for the Memorial: The main lineup of Tiger Woods (388 FedExCup points, tied 15th), Vaughn Taylor (0 points, did not start), Carl Pettersson (152 points, tied 31st), Sean O'Hair (878 points, tied fifth) and Ted Purdy (216 points, tied 23rd) earned 1,734 points and placed 6,723rd. Through Week 21 it totaled 13,417 points and ranked 21,791st. For the season it totaled 55,326 points and ranked 4,181st overall. The "Hey, buddy" backup lineup of Jim Furyk (216 points, tied 23rd), Zach Johnson (0 points, withdrew), Nick O'Hern (216 points, tied 23rd), Ryuji Imada (60 points, tied 51st) and Kenny Perry (1,450 points, tied third) earned 2,042 points and placed 4,998th. Through Week 21 it totaled 32,621 points and ranked 1,143rd. For the season it totaled 50,325 points and ranked 6,686th overall. Segment 2 leader: Horrible Hookers 47,823. Overall: Outrankin' Rankin 91,836. Have a question or comment for TFI? Send it to him at brettavery@aol.com. Please be sure to include your name, where you're from, the name of your team and, if it relates to League Championship, the name of your league and whether you're competing in the rotisserie or match-play format. |
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