Challenge Contests — by Justin Eleff

My friend Gene McCaffrey, who writes an annual baseball book (Wise Guy Baseball) that pays special attention to challenges, used to refer to relief pitcher as the infernal position. Challenge players own relievers mostly for one statistic -- saves -- and saves can come from almost any pitcher who gets save opportunities.

The problem is, save opportunities often bounce from one anointed closer to others according to considerations as fleeting (or imaginary) as who has the "closer mentality," the makeup required -- upon taking the mound to pitch a single inning, usually with the bases empty -- to get three outs before the other team scores enough runs to tie the game. You know: the makeup required to pitch with an ERA under 9.00, 18.00 or 27.00, depending on the situation.

Saves are baseball's infernal category because paying for a quality pitcher doesn't guarantee you'll get them. Mariano Rivera has paired an ERA under 2.00 with a WHIP under 1.00 four times in the five seasons since 2004; he hasn't led the American League in saves once during that stretch. Among those who have: Bob Wickman (T-2005), Joe Borowski (2007), Brian Fuentes (2009).

The infernal category. The infernal position.

Over the last few weeks, football has become just as infernal at one position of its own: kicker.

You may recall that I opened the year with a mix of Football Challenge kickers that worked perfectly. Ryan Longwell (MIN) was kicking for one of the game's best offenses at a reasonable price -- he'd been the easiest pick among all listed kickers. But my real luck came in the forms of Steven Hauschka (BAL, then) and Lawrence Tynes (NYG, still).

They were cheap. Their teams were scoring plenty. They were scoring plenty.

Hauschka opened the year with 8 kicking points vs. KC, then 7 at SD, then 10 vs. CLE. Tynes had already hit double-digits twice by the time Hauschka did it; he opened with 11 vs. WAS, then 15 at DAL.

Mix in Longwell and I was off to the only really hot kicking start I've ever had; I didn't have to think about any of these guys except to shuffle them out on their bye weeks ...

... until recently.

Hauschka, never known for his accuracy, started to struggle. So did Joe Flacco, for that matter, knocking the Ravens' offense down a couple of pegs and seeming to magnify Hauschka's misses. When he missed a field goal from inside of 40 yards in Week 9, then another in Week 10, he lost his job entirely -- to Billy Cundiff, who may as well be Joe Borowski.

Tynes, never on the solidest footing after a goofy injury cost him most of 2008, started to struggle. So did other Giants, for that matter, knocking their offense down a couple of pegs and seeming to magnify Tynes' misses. He hasn't lost his job -- yet -- but the team has recently worked out potential replacements including Hauschka (go figure) and Graham Gano.

Gano, for one, won't be getting Tynes' job -- he just signed with Washington, which dumped Shaun Suisham.

Suisham's fate was sealed when he missed a short kick that would have beaten the undefeated Saints on Sunday; instead the Saints won in overtime on a kick by Garrett Hartley ... who'd missed a would-have-been game-winner as regulation time expired ... in his first game after replacing John Carney.

This infernal position is burning the NFL down to the ground.

What to do about it?

Depends.

I assume none of you are stuck with Hauschka or Suisham or Carney AND no backup AND no purchases remaining. If you are, that will almost certainly cost you money in a categories game (perhaps in a points game as well), but nothing can be done about it. Ignore that possibility.

If you happen to be stuck with Hauschka or Suisham or Carney AND no backup BUT do have a purchase remaining, at least in a categories game you should use it right now. Again: sticking with any of those guys (or any other displaced kicker) will cost you money. If you've been riding Hauschka since he got cut, taking a zero every week, shame on you. Even in a points game, several zeros from a kicker equals a zero or two from a quarterback.

If you aren't stuck with any displaced kicker BUT do have Tynes AND no backup AND no purchases remaining, a quick but earnest prayer might be in order.

If you aren't stuck with any displaced kicker BUT do have Tynes AND no backup BUT have at least one purchase remaining, either use one right now (on Hartley, now manning one of the cushiest jobs in the league) or be sure to keep one in reserve just in case.

And if you aren't stuck with any displaced kicker AND don't have Tynes OR have a backup, my hat is off to you. You planned this better than I did.

I got one thing right, though, quite by accident.

Our man Ian Allan has written several times in the past few years about the incredible accuracy of today's placekickers. Younger kickers seem to be more accurate than ever before; some of the best old kickers last longer and longer and therefore crowd the competition for jobs; whatever, generation after generation the league is missing fewer kicks. That means that teams expect more and more of their kickers.

Thinking about that pre-season, I latched on to one of Ian's comments about Dan Carpenter's accuracy and stuck him on my taxi squads to back up the other guys. I always carry a backup kicker for bye coverage, and it just so happened that Carpenter was a schedule match for Longwell / Hauschka / Tynes -- but I picked him specifically for his accuracy.

That was smart, it turns out, because one thing I haven't had to worry about is Carpenter losing his job. My biggest possible disaster this season (barring injuries) would require both Hauschka and Tynes to be cut -- and even then, because I knew Carpenter would hold his job, I knew I could cover with just one kicker purchase for the whole year. I haven't made that purchase yet, and I still have one in reserve in every challenge in case Tynes doesn't pull through.

But the biggest lesson here?

It's for 2010. You won't see me write again that the only factors to consider when picking kickers are their salaries and their teams' likely offensive output. From now on I'll consider accuracy / job security along with the rest. Beats the hell out of the "kicker mentality."

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