20 Questions with the Sandlot champ

Chris Thompson, AKA the motherfucking peanutbutter king of Chicago, took his team 'Nellie's Holler' all the way last year and won our precious Sandlot. I met up with Chris in a dirty alley behind a dumpster to shoot heroin, and talk fantasy baseball.

1. How long have you been playing fantasy baseball?
I've only been playing for about 5 years. It brought me back to baseball after a long drought caused by the strike in '94. I sold all my cards and moved on. I'm very glad FBB brought me back.

2. Where does winning the Sandlot rank among your personal fantasy glory?
I'd say right behind winning 1st prize in a money league a few years back. This league is definitely more competitive, but it's hard to beat winning 600 bucks from your friends. Especially when it appeases a FBB hating wife by buying dinner & a trip to the movies for the fam.

3. How many leagues did you play in last year, and how many in 2009?
Last year was only 3 leagues. This year I'm back at 3, but I'm willing to join 1 or 2 more. I'd love to play more, but I hate having to root for/against my own players because of what they'll do for/against me in different leagues. That takes the fun out of it for me.

4. You won our league by a pretty wide margin (23 points), do you remember at what point in the year you knew you had it locked up?
I'd say after the Vlad/Burnett for Volquez trade, I thought I was going to lock it down. I didn't consider myself safe until Price came up though because I remember thinking it wasn't even necessary to put him on my roster. I don't think Nuke or Buckner really went for it in the end though. They started looking towards next year.

5. You started this dynasty with the Rays. You got a lot of production from Longoria, Upton, Pena, Crawford, Iwamura, Garza, Percival, and Shields, although Pena and Crawford had somewhat disappointing seasons. How much of your success do you attribute to the Rays doing well, and how much was Chris Thompson GM savvy?
Of course I attribute some of my success to the Rays, but the Rays hitting wasn't very good (pretty much middle of the pack amongst mlb teams last year). Upton, Crawford, and Pena all took steps backwards so Longoria's success was a huge relief. I think the low costs of all of the Rays players had more to do with my success than their play. That allowed me to draft some high risk expensive players that turned out pretty decent such as Glaus as well as trade for high salary players like Abreu, Rivera and Santana, and then pick up a Brian Giles without having to worry about the cost. I took the team I was given and made the best of it so you can say it was a good mix.

6. You had the 14th (out of 16) pick in the franchise draft, were you hoping to get the Rays? Do you remember wanting someone else?
Hell No, I didn't want the Rays at first. I knew their MiLB system was good, but I honestly couldn't tell you how good since before last year I didn't know much of anything about MiLB players. I remember telling someone to draft the Angels if Pervin picked while I wasn't around. Worked out nice though, Pervin's gone and I won.

7. After the draft was done, where did you see Nellie's Holler finishing in the standings in 2008?
I saw my team doing well, but not winning. I knew I'd be top 3 in most pitching categories, but lacking in some of the batting cats. I thought I had enough speed on my team to be top 2 and while HR's, RBI's, and AVG were going to be on the low end, I thought I would be top 6 in runs with a decent OBP. I've won a H2H league before with SB's, Runs, AVG and good pitching, which is against the usual trend, so why not try that different strategy here since that's where my original team strengths were? I felt I took what everyone else seemingly undervalued, and made it my strength. Another example of taking what your team gives you and making the best out of it. I wouldn't have won in the end if I didn't trade for batting though, so it's not like it was an end all strategy.

8. You bucked the overwhelming trend of this league by trading several younger, cheaper players like BJ Upton, Scott Kazmir, Edinson Volquez, Matt Garza, and Adam Jones for more veteran and expensive players like Albert Pujols, Johan Santana, Derek Jeter, AJ Burnett, and Vlad Guerrero last year. Was this by design to ensure more immediate results, or deals that were just too good to pass up, or both?
Upton for Pujols. Kaz for J. Santana. Volquez for Vlad, Burnett, and Buchholz (who I coveted anyways). These are all trades I didn't feel I could pass on. The Garza/Jones/MiLB pick for Jeter/Bedard was the trade I felt I needed to make for immediate results. Furcal wasn't getting healthy so SS was a big black hole for me. I was trying to make a run at winning, and it was a trade I felt I needed to make to win. Jeter hit .345/.342 in Aug/Sept so it worked out for me. I don't think I "won" that trade, but it certainly did help my team out.

9. Staying with veterans, you got significant contributions from several older players like Bobby Abreu, Troy Glaus, Jason Bartlett, Brian Giles, and the players mentioned in the previous question. Is this a strategy you generally lean towards, or was it just a product of best available with such a deep league?
Best available. Abreu, Giles, and Glaus were products of having a low payroll in a deep league where people weren't willing to spend on the older, more expensive players. Abreu is a rock that can help you build a team with, and I think he's generally undervalued. Bartlett though? Really?

10. What were your expectations for Evan Longoria before last season started?
I tried not to have very high expectations for him. After the year of Gordon/Braun, you just don't know what you're going to get.

11. Were you hoping for more from Rick Ankiel last year? He produced pretty well for the round (7), but after the way he finished '07 were expectations (many experts boldly predicted .300/30/100) too high for him?
I was hoping for power out of him, which is something I sorely needed. I knew his avg/obp was going to be low though. Him & Cust were a virtual wash for me, and I think Cust went right around the same time.

12. Felix Hernandez was your first ever pick in this league, assuming you drafted him to be the anchor of your dynasty, what are your expectations for his career?
I think he'll continue to progress and be a top pitcher for years. You just don't see a groundball inducing pitcher accumulate a lot of strikeouts very often. He's still only 23 and learning a lot. I think the Mariners have not been abusive of him either. Add all this up, and he has a lot of promise.

13. Is it safe to say Pat Neshek in the 5th round in 2008 didn't work out the way you hoped?
Neshek was a bomb. At the time, there was a lot of talk about Nathan getting traded and Neshek taking over if that happened. He had good stats the year before, and I figured at least I was going to get a cheap, top set-up man with a chance to close. I changed my drafting strategy this year partly because of him.

14. How big was drafting Edinson Volquez in the 8th round? He got you 13 wins, 130+ K's and a nice 2.47/1.27 line, then he became Vlad Guerrero, AJ Burnett, and Clay Buchholz at the deadline.
Volquez was amazing. I already thought I had a great pitching staff, and Volquez made it the best in the league along with landing 3 excellent players (2 of which I kept, and the other going in the 1st round this year). I was thinking about him a couple rounds before I took him just salivating over those K/9 he put up in the minors without thinking he would come close to doing what he did. If you can say that one player made a whole team work, it was Volquez for me. Unfortunately, I can't see any of the players I currently have getting me that kind of value.

15. Looking ahead to this year, where does Nellie's Holler finish? Back to back championships?
Ooooh, I hope so. I think I have a solid team, but there's always a lot of ?'s, and I think the teams have gotten tighter. I'd have to say winning in the first year of a league like this is good, but doesn't show greatness. If anything, it's the easiest year to luck out on considering as time goes on, each team's MiLB drafting and ability to consider all the variables will show if the FBB manager really knows how to play in a league like this.

16. Josh's 'Nuke Laloosh Express' was your biggest competition last year, and his team looks very strong again. Is he the team you're most worried about? Do you expect the league to be more competitive this year?
I consider my team top 4 right now. I alread said that the Bones have the best keepers to build around, and I stand by that. Spackler's built quite a team, Nuke's very strong if not stronger than last year, and you never know which team has a different strategy that we just don't see yet. I think it will be more competitive, and it was a lot more competitive than the final standings showed last year. Coming up to the deadline, there were a lot of teams buying/selling to shore up their keepers or place in the standings which really skewed the final score.

17. You have 2 pitchers on your team that were both late picks coming off very disappointing seasons, that could both turn out to be steals. What are you hoping to get from Ian Snell and Rich Hill?
I kind of expect Snell to bounce back to respectability. Hill is a long shot, especially in that division. I really didn't need another SP, but couldn't help take a chance on him. If he turns out, then I have trade bait on my starting staff. I seem to have a lot of those kind of SP's that if you add them together will give well above average production. We'll see if that strategy works out.

18. You have 2 young players on your offense that should see a jump in playing time, what are you hoping to get from Jeff Clement and Carlos Gonzalez?
Pretty sure Gonzalez will go down to AAA to start the season. A natural player like him in Coors though? Should be money down the road. Clement on the other hand, I'm counting on to be more productive. 20 HR's from the C position would be huge in comparison to what I got from that position last year. The man was a monster in the minors, hopefully some of that will translate. Clement is the opposite of Gonzalez though IMO, since his viability at the C position down the road is very slim, and that is what makes him valuable.

19. Assuming both pitchers are still on your team next year, who has the better 2010, Johan Santana or David Price?
Santana. Price needs a 3rd pitch in a bad way. He'll burn his arm up on FB's & sliders and become predictable if he doesn't get a good changeup down.

20. When your Cubs choke this fall, who will be to blame?
Who wins in this trade, Liriano/Nathan for Pierzynski? The GM, you always blame the GM for not making that perfect deal.....or the Goat. Depends if you're sober or not.

One good jab deserves another. Touche my friend, and good luck this year.