2008 NFBC Champion Profile - Todd Zola

[Tom Kessenich]

1. How did it feel to win the league title?

Considering the quality of competition and how close I have come to winning an auction league in the past, it was very rewarding and satisfying.



2. What were the keys to your championship season?

The keys were patience and perseverance, along with a patchwork pitching staff holding itself together just long enough to get the job done. On offense, I went with a modified stars and scrubs approach with the scrubs being players I felt would pick up increasing amounts of playing time as the year progressed. As such, my hitting counting stats were a little low until these players indeed began playing a few months into the season. With the pitching, there was admittedly a good deal of luck involved as I was reliant upon several low-strikeout guys such as Kyle Lohse, Brian Moehler and Jorge Campillo and I had lost my anchor John Smoltz early on. Fortunately, Ricky Nolasco stayed healthy and had a superb season.



3. Was there a point in the season when you began to realistically believe you could win the title?

I was in the bottom half of the standings for the better part of the first half of the season. But once my part-timers became full-timers or at least got fairly regular at bats, I began a steady ascent. Come September, it was basically a question of whether my pitching would survive the last month.



4. What draft day strategies worked out the best?

Coming into the draft, I decided I wanted to pay $20 for a closer. I had the opening toss and put out Billy Wagner for $20, got crickets and was quite pleased. He got hurt towards the end of the season, but I got just enough from him to compete. I also think the plan of loading up with multiple eligibility backup players like Brendan Ryan, Jeff Keppinger, Jeff Baker, Omar Infante, Jerry Hairston and Aaron Miles as my "scrubs", in hopes that some will emerge as regulars or get significant playing time worked well.



5. Did any not work out the way you planned?

Drafting Smoltz as my anchor didn't work and counting on an unproven rookie catcher in JR Towles was a big mistake.



6. How did FAAB work for you?

Because of the general stars and scrubs nature of my strategy, I had to go fishing early for active players, which took me out of the running for the big guns at the trading deadline. Knowing this going in, I was fine with 'overpaying' early to make sure I had live bodies active each week. Then I made sure I had enough leftover to pick up the September callups, which really helped.



7. How was the competition in your league and the overall event?

The competition was absolutely top-notch. The "sister" AL Vegas auction gets a little more attention and notoriety because some of the more accomplished gamers have won that league, but there are a lot of the same owners competing in both. Truth be told, if the season were even a day longer, I may not have been fortunate enough to win the league, as there were several categories I barely was ahead of the next competitor, most notably my good friends John Menna and Gene McCaffrey of Wise Guy Baseball.



8. How long have you been playing fantasy football/fantasy sports?

I am not exactly sure when I started as those were my drinking period, but 20 years give or take a season is about right.



9. Personal info - married/single, where do you live, what do you do for a living?

I am single, and live just west of Boston. I am a chemist by trade and am doing some consulting work, but after my company of over 10 years had to unfortunately close its doors, unbeknownst to them, the government is paying me to work out and drop some weight while I search for something else. I have also just recently resurrected the Mastersball.com website and may look to make that my full-time endeavor if things go well.