Up until this year, only Dagan had won more than one championship (three) and with his recent crown, Jason became only the second two-time winner in the history of H&T.
“(That was) easily my gutsiest deal of the year,” he said. “I had no idea that deal would work out that well, but at the time, I thought it was good value and my plan was to swing that 8th rounder into a pitcher of similar quality, which ultimately proved to very difficult to do.
“For me, it’s always about value. If I feel like I am getting the best overall value in a deal I will pull the trigger. I think some people say that, but don't have the balls to pull the trigger on a deal sending a great pitcher like CJ Wilson to arguably my stiffest competition for picks”
Ironically, Jason started the season whining about how much he hated the draft (even though he should’ve been thanking the fantasy gods for Braun’s successful avoidance of a suspension). He had dealt a lot of picks the year prior and sacrificed draft position in 2012, which left him with large gaps in between picks – time to think about every player going off the board that he could’ve had. When he went to draft, he often discovered the player he wanted went right before he was queued up.
He wasn’t the only one who hated his draft, debuting at #11 in the weekly power rankings initially. And for good reason. He kept Utley and drafted Howard, neither of which appeared in a lineup until very far into the season. He picked a mediocre catcher (Yadier – ended up being an MVP candidate) and was starting Mike Carp and Gordon Beckham, while his rotation looked weak beyond the top three (Shields, Weaver, MMoore).
That said, the rankings noted never to count out “the Dealer” though and Jason quickly climbed the ladder, sprung by some good early trades and draft surprises.
Afterthoughts such as Molina, Kyle Lohse, and Melky Cabrera suddenly became high-performing mainstays. Meanwhile first rounder Adam Jones started to show off his massive potential, and Matt Moore, though he struggled at times, was a key ace down the stretch. And Chris Perez shook off initial rust to be one of a handful of closers to last the entire season.
That said, his keepers initially looked awful. Hanley and Shields struggled with consistency, while Alex Gordon never showed the power he did in 2011 and Utley was shelved. Weaver was his true ace self and Braun continued his reign as fantasy’s top player, but there were a lot of holes, make no mistake about it. He methodically spackled the holes with guys like Omar Infante (later dealt for Beckett) Brandon Phillips (acquired for the surprising Vogelsong) Samardzjia, Middlebrooks, Janssen, Marmol, and Clippard, then later trading a couple picks for the surprising AJ Burnett.
While there were some regretful drops along the way (Rios, Frieri, among them), Jason made the case for the active owner. If you ever tried to offer him a trade, you realized you never could because he had already maxed out his six offers. Jason said he feels compeled to always have 5-6 offers out there or he feels like he’s being lazy (though he admits this may be quelled a bit now that Troy is no longer with us).
“I actually tried to improve my offers this year as opposed to the pure volume approach of these past,” he said. “Most of you will probably find that hard to believe, but I did try to put myself in the shoes of the person I was proposing the deals to in order to make better use of everyone's team.”
Given the deals he’s been able to pull off, it’s hard to blame him for the sometimes lopsided offers. That said, the deal perhaps most responsible for his championship was one that looked questionale at the time, when he dealt Phillips and Konerko-- two long-time keepers -- and a 18th (last) rounder for Headley, Willingham, and a 9th rounder. At the time, Headley was having a good season but wasn’t quit projecting to play up to clear-cut keeper. He is now. Headley ripped through the competition throughout the playoffs, while Willingham continued his surprisingly consistent production and may even be a keeper himself.
“That was probably my second most important move of the season,” he said. “Headley is apparently a monster and Willingham is also keeper worthy. I gave away to fringe keepers for two better keepers and got a pick upgrade. Thanks Gib!”
Meanwhile, dealing Moore and Melky for Yovani and Choo was also key down the stretch, even though he had to give up perhaps the most promising young arm outside of DC. Jason did an excellent job picking up hot guys at the right time in exchange for guys who had gone cold injured, as Melky, Middlebrooks, and Konerko were not going to be much help. Meanwhile, he was rewarded for his faith in Utley and Rollins, who were solid throughout the playoffs.
Jason entered the matchup with Russ confidently after dispatching Casten quite handedly, 7-2-1. He had a nice set up with 2-3 more double starts for his best pitchers like Weaver, while some of Russ’ most important pieces were hurting, namely Hamilton and CarGo, and Trout had slowed his torrid pace.
“Its obviously helpful when your team is healthy, but it’s even better when most of your guys are still in the playoff hunt as they generally play every day,” he said. “I (thought I had it won) Friday night when he had 5 starters going and only one of them ended up with a quality start and he fell behind big time in WHIP and a little in ERA. It allowed for me to sit my starters on Sunday without risk.”
Jason said he and Russ have a long history, which might’ve been the reason there was no trash talking or dialogue at all between the teams during the week.
“We have come a long way from our days of mindless bickering. I think there is a definite feeling of mutual respect. I know there is on my end anyway. He always has a competitive team and he absolutely was a team I feared throughout the regular season.”
Another reason for the lack of trash talk was simply to appease the fantasy gods. Obviously, they were pleased with him. Perhaps that was because he refrained from simply giving up next year’s draft in exchange for this championship. In fact, he’s in better shape than some teams that weren’t even in contention, with only one hole in the middle of the draft (7th) and two picks in round 9-11.
With that, Jason is in excellent shape to repeat. He’s got excess keepers to deal if he can find a buyer with Braun, Weaver, Hanley, Headley, AJones, Willingham, Gallardo standing out and Choo, AGordon, Utley and Howard as possibilities.
Still, it’s too early to look to next season. That’s for the rest of us. He should feel comfortable reveling in the glory.
“(It feels) like all of the time and energy I put into fantasy baseball was worth it. It’s almost a feeling of relief,” he said. “I don't know what to do with myself without constantly having to check my scores or the latest fantasy news.
“I think I might have a problem.”
A problem we’d all love to have right now.
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