First Time Out A Hit For Thelen In NY League 3

[Tom Kessenich]

You never forget your first time. And Joe Thelen is never going to forget his first-ever fantasy baseball draft.



That much is certain.



After years of competing in auction events, Thelen decided to try his fantasy expertise with a draft for the first time this year, taking part in the debut event of the NFBC. The end result? A first-place finish in New York League 3.



Not bad for a first-timer.



“I feel very good and very proud,” said the 62-year-old Thelen from Garden City, N.Y. “I played 15 years in an auction league, both American League and National League so I’ve never been in a draft league before.



“The reason I chose the draft was because it was both American and National leagues. So I found it interesting going with the draft as opposed to the auction. In some ways, it was better.”



Thelen said he had a feeling leaving the draft in New York back in March that his league would be very competitive, and that certainly proved to be the case.



“With four weeks left in the season we had seven teams within like eight points,” he said. “I finished about 25th overall. So we had a very competitive league and I feel good about having won (competing against) such astute players. I think we all beat the heck out of each other for most of the season.”



Thelen’s NFBC league title came in large part to a somewhat risky Draft Day decision to punt the save category. Realizing he would not be competitive in that category, Thelen instead opted to load up on offense.



In retrospect, Thelen said he probably overdid the emphasis on offense a bit.



“I lost my second-round pick, Richie Sexson, in the third week of the season and I still had one of the highest offensive point totals in the whole event. That tells me I could probably tone that down next year. But my offense was obviously the strength of my team.



“The big thing was holding off on my shortstop because there were several there in each round but I kept picking starting pitchers. I did that until the 26th or 27th round when I said I couldn’t wait anymore and I got Carlos Guillen instead of Royce Clayton, who wasn’t terrible.”



Thelen was also very active on the Waiver Wire each week and credited many of his pickups for helping propel his team to the league title.



“I did a good job of picking up pitchers,” he said. “I picked up guys like (Estaban) Loaiza and (Gil) Meche. I probably picked up people every week and I think that’s a strategy worth thinking about. You can always improve your team.”



Having successfully conquered his first-ever draft experience, Thelen plans to return to the NFBC in 2005 and has high praise for the industry’s only multi-city, high-stakes fantasy baseball event.



“I thought it was terrific,” he said. “I liked the way you monitored it. I liked all of the communication and I thought it was really well run. I will definitely be back.”