NFBC Champion Profile - Chris Stephenson

[Tom Kessenich]

On Draft Day, it’s the top picks which generate the most attention. Pujols. ARod. Guerrero. Those are the names that have fantasy baseball owners salivating.



But while those star players can be counted on for terrific production, it’s often the players drafted later –and often much later – who provided the critical elements needed in a championship season.



That was definitely true for Chris Stephenson’s team in Las Vegas League 8 in the 2006 NFBC. Ask Stephenson what was the key to his first-place finish in that league and his team’s third place finish in the overall standings and he does not hesitate to reply:



“Michael Cuddyer and Eric Byrnes,” said Stephenson, who co-managed the team with Andy Nolan. “I know it’s not that simple, as a lot has to go right to win a championship in the highly competitive NFBC. But getting that type of production out of our 29th- and 30th-round selections goes a long way toward bringing home the title.



“Many of our star and late-round selections panned out and our stars played like stars. We felt that we had the best starter in Johan Santana, the best power hitter in Ryan Howard and the best closer in Francisco Rodriguez.”



Not only did Santana prove to be a key member of their championship team, but he was a surprising one.



“We mocked the first round a bunch of times and in none of those drafts did we have Johan slipping to us at 13,” Stephenson said. “So many people say to avoid a pitcher in Round 1 but our big board said to take him. So with very little trepidation we pulled the trigger.



“We typically stuck to our big board as much as possible through the first 10 rounds and then we re-assess. We knew we had some power to make up with Santana as our No. 1 pick so we kept that in mind.



“Also, knowing that we had Santana pulling on most of our pitching numbers we opted for a more veteran staff on good teams. Jose Contreras, Mark Buehrle, Tim Wakefield and Greg Maddux along with Danny Haren anchored our starters.



“As for hitters, we like the 15-20 homer guys who can steal 5-10 bases. Also we always like to get production out of our catchers. Michael Barrett and Ramon Hernandez were a great duo.”



One free-agent pickup also proved critical.



“We spent 40 percent of our FAAB budget on Cole Hamels,” Stephenson said. “We knew it would that type of money to land him. We also felt that we had an opportunity to land a pitcher that woulud make a very good pitching staff great so we did it.



“Hamels did not disappoint.”



Put that all together and it resulted in a strong team that Stephenson and Nolan soon believed had a chance to do some big things in the NFBC.



“On June 1 we were eighth overall but only 150 points off the overall lead,” Stephenson said. “At that point we still thought we’d get something out of Eric Gagne and if so , the way our offense was starting to click and the way we pitched all year we thought it was possible to win our league and maybe the overall title.



“Then Gagne went on the shelf for the year, we had a miserable July and (David DiDonato’s) team took off so we knew the overall was going to be tough to catch. For the first time in months we became concerned with our league title. But the six-week stretch from Week 18-Week 23 where we finished in the Top 13 five of those six weeks we started to dream again.



“Unfortunately, at that point we could still barely see (DiDonato’s) backlights.”



The overall title did not materialize but the league title and an impressive third-place finish were in the cards for the duo, who have been playing fantasy baseball since their freshman years at Holy Cross in 1993. The two have remained close friends since then, competing in a local league together.



Nolan is married with three children in Bellingham, MA. Stephenson lives in Seattle and not only competes in the high-stakes world of the NFBC but is a professional poker player who competes on the World Poker Tour.



“The combination of the NFBC and Las Vegas in March are a perfect fit for Stevie and me,” Nolan said. “We feel like this competition was made for us.”