Some Assembly Required Wins Week 26 Prize

[Tom Kessenich]

Congratulations to Some Assembly Required for finishing first in the NFBC last week with 2,740.5 points.



Ichiro Suzuki (.522) led the way at the plate while Ivan Rodriguez (.455-1-5), Robinson Cano (.370-2-5), Jason Kendall (.364, 5 RBIs) and Bobby Abreu (.346-3-8) also delivered big weeks. John Smoltz and Woody Williams led the pitching staff with a pair of wins apiece while Francisco Rodriguez picked up 3 saves.



Congratulations again to Some Assembly Required and congratulations to all of our weekly winners in the 2006 NFBC.

[Tom Kessenich]

Close but no cigar doesn’t count for much in fantasy baseball. So for the past few weeks Bobby Jurney’s near-misses for the NFBC weekly prize were more a feel good kind of thing.



But Jurney knew his team was on the verge of something big. And something big finally happened in the season’s final week.



Thanks to big offensive weeks from Ichiro Suzuki (.522) and Ivan Rodriguez (.455-1-5), Jurney’s Some Assembly Required team in Tampa League 2 finished first in the NFBC last week with 2,740.5 points.



Robinson Cano (.370-2-5), Jason Kendall (.364, 5 RBIs) and Bobby Abreu (.346-3-8) also delivered big weeks. John Smoltz and Woody Williams led the pitching staff with a pair of wins apiece while Francisco Rodriguez picked up 3 saves.



Not only did Jurney take home the weekly prize but his strong final week also enabled him to secure the league title in Tampa 2.



“Our Week 26 strategy was to put out the best team possible to try and cash in Tampa 2, first and foremost,” said Jurney, who lives in Dunkirk, MD and is married with five children. “We had been very close to winning a week over the past three – 10th-place finish in Week 24; 9th in Week 25 and winning it in Week 26.



“We had a very thin hitting bench lineup going into the final week and only $1 in free-agent money. So basically we threw out the lineup that would rack up the most at-bats and take our chances. It worked.



“We had seven guys with 5 or more RBIs for the week. Again for pitching, we wanted to max out the potential for Wins and Strikeouts without sacrificing ERA and WHIP. This also worked for us in Week 26. We had two wins from Smoltz and Williams and got 5 or more Ks from six pitchers.



“We just flat-out started the only lineup possible and just got flat-out lucky. But I will take luck and the prize over skill anyday.”



Jurney, a route manager for the Washington Post, has been playing fantasy sports for about 20 years. He said he learned some valuable lessons this season that led to his league title.



“I went into the draft with the sole focus of hitting first and wait on pitching,” he said. “The closer run in the fourth round changed that a little.



“We wanted total balance across the board and use the FAAB to fill any holes. We thought we accomplished that at the draft but found ourselves in dead last in Tampa 2 six to eight weeks in.



“We 100 percent used FAAB to make us what we were. We got Jake Westbrook, Josh Johnson, Rich Hill and Woody Williams for next to nothing and they totally anchored our pitching staff down the stretch.”



For finishing first last week, Jurney receives a Tony Perez autographed baseball courtesy of Tri-Star Productions.