Rules Change Voting Results

by Vaughn Nuest

Below is a run down of how our crop of proposals fared this year. Kudos to BRASS voters for again carefully considering the proposals and voting, in most cases, in overwelming numbers one way or the other.

Over the years I've always been impressed with how clear league preferences are on most topics and how smart voters have been in assessing the best and most fair season in which to implement changes also. This year is no exception.

No matter what your position is on given topics, the league has always been so well served by its membership and how they approach these critical voting issues. Good work guys, as always. I've never been stuck with a klunker or impossible to implement or understand league change.

Commentary on the voting ....

The first Proposal, the one which synchronizes the in-season playing months with actual months, passed 21-2 (one abstention). So we will be trading now during in-season months right up to the last day of the month and then beginning play around the 7th of the following month, with a deadline for completion of games as the last day of the given month also.

It seems clear that we've dug about as deep as the league cares to dig in terms of reducing the number of amateur players on rosters and increasing the draft's strength. While league voters narrowly approved (by a 13-11 margin) a further reduction in the number of amateur players we want to see on rosters, the league strongly favored retaining two amateurs (13 votes) over both the option of one amateur (5 votes) or zero amateurs (6 votes). As with last year, this change won't take effect until the 2009 Draft. So we all have about 13 months to cut down to a total of 2 amateurs on our 2009-10 pre-draft rosters.

71% to 29% of the membership (17 yes to 7 no) voted to make another in our series of routine, cosmetic modifications to BRASS dollar amounts to make them feel just about like modern MLB salary numbers. The proposal also slightly modified the Y1, Y2, and Y3 contract amounts to bring them more closely in line with MLB entry wages and account for the salary increases that MLB players get as their early service time accrues (BRASS had a flat rate for each season with no raises). The new dollar amounts will be shown in the next roster file update, which will come out after the April 18 trade freeze begins. The new system will officially be in effect at that time.

23 of us liked the proposal that modified our player overuse fines to a graduated scale whose penalty amounts varied in direct proportion to the size of the infraction. The usage buffer concept is retained in this proposal, preserving the buffers that currently exist to cover slight manager miscalculation and other events. We definitely thought overuse fines should still exist, but that the fine should better fit the crime that our current system.

By a 14-10 margin, the league said they prefer to keep the Home/Road Discrepancy program in place as is, measuring and rewarding as it does now.23 of us also stated that we believe players who are on no-trade contracts may not be exposed to selection in The Draft and must remain on a team's protected list from here forward.

17 of the 24 of us want to see veteran players get veteran player (or "U") contracts when selected in the draft. We'll begin this with the 2008 Draft.12 people felt the current Y1 PA and IP thresholds were best and 12 wanted to see them revised slightly, as detailed in the proposal. So these thresholds will stay as they are.

By a 14-10 margin, league voters did not wish to see draftees become eligible for a month-to-month contract, irrespective of their MLB PA or IP levels. These contracts (MTM) therefore remain in the private domain of Secondary Free Agency signees.

By an 88% to 12% (21 to 3) margin, the league approved the utilization of the "B" contract minimums and not the "U" contract minimums to determine contract amounts for players re-signed after returning to their teams when no one signed them in the Free Agency process.

And in what is certainly the ballot item with the biggest impact on league play of any proposal on this list, the question of whether to eliminate the DH (and if so, when), the league voted decisively but not overwelmingly, 58% to 42% (14-10), to eliminate the DH from BRASS in the future. The 2010-11 season was selected by 13 voters as the year in which this will be implemented. The 2009-10 season was the choice of 9 voters. 2 voters wanted the DH to be gone immediately, starting with next season.

So we will all have until September 1, 2010, exactly 30 months from today, to figure out how best to plan our individual roster set up for the elimination of the DH. While I would bet the league membership is savvy enough to have done it in 3 months if they needed to, we'll have 10 times that transition period, so we will have plenty of time to make plans or discuss/vote on any special circumstances that we perceive may be part of this implementation.

I encourage you all to give some individual thought about how this change will impact your roster and while it almost sounds silly to consider how something 30 months away will impact you, time passes and things can catch up to us all. Someone like me, who has extended DH David Ortiz's contract for three seasons, will have some decisions to make before that last season comes due for me when Big Papi may not have a position on my roster anymore, other than pinch hitter.Again - great work here guys. Nothing we can't handle and implement cleanly on this list. Nothing scares me at all here from an administrative standpoint.

And from the decisive voting totals here on the topics we all liked, it certainly looks like we all decided to tweak the league in small ways to make it more fun or more to our liking, which is the point of the process.

I'll revise the constitution as I am able, as usual, to reflect our changes and get the new document out to you all.

Good luck with your draft prep!

About rule changes

I would just like to add my 2 cents about the recent posts on rule changes. 

I agree with most of what has been written so far. In particular, I see no reason for tripling the salary scale. I was sitting on the fence on this, but you guys convinced me (I will have to change my submiottedvote): we're used to this scale, and it doesn't matter whether we have a $500 or $35M stipend to play with, what counts is player/value, no matter what the baseline is.

Plus, I can't remember the details (what is Scott who wrote about that a few years back?), but I'm not sure straightforward tripling of everything doesn't create some discrepancies somewhere down the line.

As for the amateur players ratio, I personally love the draft, and scouting those is my favorite part. But I understand the league's concerns, and will vote for abolishing them altogether (might as well do it all the way if we're going to do it).

More on Team Nicknames

by Daniel Valois

It would actually be interesting to see more people comment on their team's nicknames. I'm sure some of them have interesting stories behind them.

Here are mine. The first two are kind of boring, the last one is more interesting.

BRASSWORLD: Lafontaine Park Diamonds. I live right next to Lafontaine Park in Montreal, and its baseball diamonds (in ever dwindling numbers now) were where I had my best years playing organized baseball between the ages of 10 and 15.

BLOC: Parc Jarry Expos. The Expos were (and will always be) my favorite sports team of all-time. Damn you MLB. Your loss. Parc Jarry was the home of the Expos from 1969 to 1976, before they moved to then state-of-the-art Olympic Stadium. It was a small place (max. capacity of just under 30, 000), but it was a fantastic place to watch baseball. You could almost touch the players on the field, and the ambiance was crazy. People just loved their Expos. The first year, the Expos were one of the very few teams to draw over a million fans (at a time when one million was a lot) to their games. I have so many fond memories from that place. The "Parc Jarry" moniker is of course aimed at reflecting the French part of Montreal’s bilingual culture.

BRASS: Montreal Sunsets. Well, Montreal is my hometown, I was born right downtown, baptised at what later became the Université du Québec à Montréal, and lived there all my life except for a 10-year hiatus in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, and Los Angeles. "Sunsets" stands for two things: first it's an homage to my alma mater, UCLA, where I got my PhD in, ahum, 1991. Our department (Linguistics) was just off Sunset Boulevard. I just loved my time there. The logo's colours are UCLA's. Benoît Gauthier, a fellow Montrealer who was then a member of Brass, designed it (as well as a few others in the league).

Second, it's a reference to a unique set of events that happened a few times at the old Expos home of Jarry Park, before league officials decided to delay the start of some early evening games.

Jarry Park was a small Junior League stadium, with one set of bleachers in left field. Early in the 1969 inaugural season, the team had scheduled a bunch of 7pm games. That worked for a while. The problems started when the days got longer and the sun would start to set after game time from higher up in the sky. It so happened that those sunsets were right behind the left field beachers, which after a while were no longer shielding the infield from the glaring sun. That’s when "infield ground-rule doubles" started to happen. The chain of events would go like this: batter grounds out to shortstop, shortstop handles the ball cleanly, throws over to first base perfectly, and … first-baseman loses the ball in the sun ! Nobody touched the ball after the throw, both the fielding and throwing part of the play were flawless, and the batter ends up at second base. Official scoring: ground-rule double. After firstbaseman Ron Fairly complained a few times that every groundball to shortstop Bobby Wine was life threatening, game umpires decided to delay the game once the sun would competely set behing that problematic spot.

And if you think this is funny, ask someone to tell you the Joe Sparma story!

Rule Change Proposal Comments

As we're dealing with the flurry of messages and decisions endemic to free agency, hopefully we'll all remember that there are proposals to be voted on. It would also be good if there could be some discussion of the proposed changes before the voting, so people can make informed decisions. I'll start the ball rolling with some thoughts:

2 - Reduce the number of AM players
If you read my earlier post, you know I like this one. I'm for phasing out AM players completely, and the logical next step in that process is to reduce the number to either 1 or 2 next year (having gone from 5 to 3 this year). As others have noted, the lack of impact players in the rookie draft pool really draws out the process of turning around a bad team. Plus, the most astute managers tend to also be the best at picking AMs, so dynasty teams tend to get reinforced.

3 - Update dollar amounts
I've been through at least two of these now, and I'd really, really like it if I didn't have to do it again. (I'm talking about rescalings, not a restructuring like when we went to the Y1-Y2-Y3 system.) I really don't care whether our salary structure comes anywhere near matching that of Major League Baseball; that target will never sit still anyway. I want a system that's easy to use and understand, and which balances the different types of costs in a way that makes sense.

Multiplying everything by 3 isn't going to make the system easier for anyone. Not that most of us will have trouble remembering to adjust the numbers before comparing contracts across different years, but it's one more thing to worry about.

Just as with previous updates, it's not just a matter of multiplying everything by a fixed number. If this proposal passes, AM, M0 and Y1 contracts will be cheaper (relative to the revenue stream) than they are now, while Y3 contracts will be more expensive. Should we make those changes? I don't know, but if we do, we should do so explicitly, not as a side effect of/footnote to a general round of inflation.

4. Scale fines to level of overuse
A very good idea, and long overdue; frankly, it's ridiculous to charge the same amount for a ticky-tack foul as for using, say, Barry Bonds full time. I'd like to see the ranges widened somewhat, and/or based on percentages of a player's allotted usage instead of fixed PA/IP amounts. But the proposal before us is certainly better than what we're doing now.

6. Protecting NT players from the draft
This is a no-brainer for me; I actually thought we already required this. The only change I'd make is to allow NT players to be left unprotected as long as the owning team pays the NT cost if the player is claimed by another team.

7. Drafted veterans must be signed to U contract
The problem with this is that it's not always obvious which players are affected. Sure, if the guy had 200 AB the year before, you'll probably know about it. But suppose he pitched 50 innings in 2002, then had a couple of Tommy John surgeries before finally getting back to the majors last year. And suppose you didn't really start paying attention to baseball until 2003. It's going to be an unpleasant surprise when you draft him, then learn that you can't sign him to a Y1 contract.

The nice thing about the present system is that all players in the draft pool are treated equally, regardless of their history. I'd like to keep it that way.

9. Drafted players can be signed MTM
We always had this option (at least once MTM contracts were introduced in the first place) until the overhaul of the contract system. I don't know if the MTM option was removed deliberately or if that was an oversight, but I see no reason for the removal. The MTM contract is the ideal vehicle for a player who doesn't have enough PA/IP to keep on the roster the whole year, and doesn't figure to have any future in MLB. Why shouldn't you be able to use it on a draftee?

Where did the name Chuckanut Bay Tubas come from?

So, why the Chuckanut Bay Tubas? Good question. The answer is that I wanted to pay homage to the early portion of my undergraduate studies. Coming out of high school, I was a really good tuba player. Believe it or not, when played properly the tuba can be quite a beautiful solo instrument, with more range than any other brass instrument. I decided to go to Western Washington University to pursue my undergraduate degree in music performance (never mind the fact that after two years I switched to physics, that's a whole 'nother story).

So, Western Washington University is located in beautiful Bellingham, Washington. I thought about naming the team the Bellingham Tubas, but that didn't quite do it for me. So then I thought about Bellingham Bay Tubas, as Bellingham Bay (part of the Puget Sound) is quite beautiful to look at. However, that name really didn't quite work for me either. Just south of Bellingham Bay is Chuckanut Bay, which is a great place to canoe or kayak. Chuckanut Bay Tubas had a nice ring to it, so a new franchise name was born!

So there you have it. Not a made-up name at all. It pays homage to my early years as an undergratuate student and now joins the lineup of great names for my strat teams:

RRBL: Madison Warthogs - went to grad school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, have some warthog slippers.

NASA: Renton Microbrews - grew up in Renton, Washington and I love beer.

BLOC: Redwood City Atom Smashers - currently live in Redwood City, California and part of my current job is to collide protons into other atoms to make radioisotopes.

BRASSWORLD: Palo Alto Robber Barons - an homage to my employer's location and the mascot that the student body wanted when Stanford University decided that Indians was no longer a politically correct mascot.

Gold League Division Series: (1) Diamond vs. (4) Chuckanut Bay

Game 1: Chuckanut Bay 4 at Diamond 7
The Diamond Gems defeated the Chuckanut Bay Tubas by a score of 7 to 4 at Coors Field. Diamond had 4 runs cross the plate in the bottom of the 6th inning when they had 5 base hits. The key offensive moment was provided by Alfonso Soriano who made the Diamond fans a happy lot when he doubled bringing in two baserunners. Diamond out-hit Chuckanut Bay for the game, 13 hits to 5. Pat Neshek (1-0) got credit for the victory, pitching 1 inning and allowing no runs. J.J. Putz recorded the save, his 1st. The losing pitcher was Livan Hernandez (0-2). He was hit hard and gave up 9 hits and 2 walks in 5 innings.

Game 2: Chuckanut Bay 2 at Diamond 1
Kevin Millwood went 8 strong innings as the Chuckanut Bay Tubas defeated the Diamond Gems by the score of 2 to 1 at Coors Field. Chuckanut Bay took the lead for good in the 3rd inning plating an isolated run utilizing 2 base hits. Chuckanut Bay had only 6 hits for the night. The victory was credited to Millwood (1-1) who went 8 innings, allowing no runs. Takashi Saito earned his 2nd save. Josh Johnson (0-1) took the loss.

Game 3: Diamond 14 at Chuckanut Bay 6
Lance Berkman ripped 4 homeruns and had 9 RBI as the Diamond Gems outscored the Chuckanut Bay Tubas 14 to 6. Berkman really lit it up for Diamond. The Chuckanut Bay fans let him have it for what he did to their boys. He belted a three-run homer in the 1st inning, blasted a two-run home run in the 2nd inning, smashed a bases-empty 'big-fly' in the 3rd inning and lofted a three-run bomb (his 4th of the post-season) in the 7th inning. Diamond finished with 15 hits while Chuckanut Bay ended up with 7. Chris Capuano (1-0) got the win allowing 4 runs in 5 innings. John Maine (1-1) suffered the loss. He served up 4 homeruns in his 5 innings. 'They made a couple of mistakes and I took full advantage,' Berkman said 'next time I'm sure they'll pitch me tougher.'

Game 4: Diamond 7 at Chuckanut Bay 1
In a lop-sided win the Diamond Gems ripped the Chuckanut Bay Tubas by a 7 to 1 count. Scott Rolen had a good evening at the plate. He doubled bringing in two baserunners in the 1st inning and bombed a two-run dinger (his 1st of the post-season) in the 3rd inning. For the game Diamond out-hit Chuckanut Bay 12 to 5. Chien-Ming Wang (1-0) picked up the victory, allowing 1 run in 5 innings. Livan Hernandez (0-3) absorbed the loss. He allowed 10 hits and 5 walks in 5 innings.

Game 5: Diamond 7 at Chuckanut Bay 8
In an exciting finish the Chuckanut Bay Tubas pulled out a win over the Diamond Gems by a score of 8 to 7 at Busch Stadium. The deciding run was scored by Chuckanut Bay in the 9th. After an out was recorded, Geoff Jenkins blasted a solo shot (his 2nd of the post-season) giving
Chuckanut Bay the win and sending the home town fans into a frenzy. Chuckanut Bay managed 12 hits in their victory. Takashi Saito (1-0) picked up the victory, allowing 3 runs in 1 inning. Adam Wainwright (0-1) was charged with the loss in relief. Dave Dick was just happy to get a win, 'We've had such a bad streak of games -- boy, it's great to get the monkey off our back. Now maybe we can relax a little and play the kind of baseball of which we are capable.'

Game 6: Chuckanut Bay 9 at Diamond 2
The Chuckanut Bay Tubas had very little trouble at Coors Field downing the Diamond Gems. The score was 9 to 2. Chuckanut Bay came up with 5 runs in the top of the 2nd inning when they had 4 base hits. The early run support proved sufficient for Paul Byrd (2-0) and Chuckanut Bay. That was all the run support Byrd required. Chuckanut Bay had 8 hits for the night. Josh Johnson (0-2) was given the loss. He allowed 5 runs and 4 hits in 1 and 2/3 innings.

Game 7: Chuckanut Bay 9 at Diamond 1
In an embarrassing outing for the Diamond Gems pitching staff, Chuckanut Bay Tubas flexed their collective muscle amassing 9 runs as Livan Hernandez (1-3)with help from the bullpen held Diamond to 1 run. Chuckanut Bay set the tone of the game in the first inning when they tallied 2
runs on 1 hit. The early run support proved sufficient for Hernandez and Chuckanut Bay. That was all the run support Hernandez required. Chuckanut Bay had a total of 8 hits for the game. Chris Capuano (1-1) absorbed the loss. Chuckanut Bay scored big getting 4 runs off him in 2 and 1/3 innings.

This series was one in which one team got a lot of luck and as a result won the game. Both teams scored 39 runs in the series, showing how even the matchup really was despite some lopsided scores. Game 7 really could have gone either way, but I seemed to get good luck in the form of home run splits and Vaughn was getting bad luck in the form of two errors by a 2e6 shortstop, hitting into a lineout DP to kill an early rally, KRod giving up two bases-loaded walks, etc.

Honestly, if these teams played another 20 games, I bet Diamond wins around 14 out of 20. I just happened to catch a couple of breaks. Chuckanut Bay looks forward to matching up with Green Bay or Plainsfield in the next round.

The Look of the Face

In a word, grim. Very grim.

A combination of expired contracts and failed prospects has left the Face with a badly depleted lineup and a virtually nonexistent pitching rotation. Going into free agency:
- David Eckstein's B contract has expired, making him a URFA. Ben Zobrist was released, so the closest thing to a replacement is AM Brent Lillibridge, who has yet to play in the majors.
- Once-promising second baseman Jorge Cantu has fizzled, and Ryan Freel lost much of the year to injuries and ineffectiveness (plus he's an RFA).
- In the outfield, Luis Gonzalez went URFA, Freel and Milton Bradley are RFAs, and Mark Kotsay was even more injured and ineffective than Freel. Former prospects Laynce Nix and John Rodriguez were released, leaving nothing in the pipeline.
- Worst of all is the rotation. Doug Davis, Jarrod Washburn and Kenny Rogers all finished out their contracts, and prospects like J.P. Howell and Seth McClung took steps backwards. Ubaldo Jimenez and Edgar Gonzalez will pick up a little of the slack, but they and (God help us) Tomo Ohka are the only starters we have at this point. That's 240 innings total, scarcely more than you normally expect from your #1 starter alone.

Not much waits in the wings, either. Adam Jones is a coming star, but Alberto Callaspo's upside is a middle-of-the-pack second baseman, Scott Moore's is a mediocrity at third, and Guillermo Quiroz will get about 400 at-bats in a 5-year career as a third-string catcher if he's very, very lucky. Dioner Navarro is expected to break out; if he does, and Mike Napoli takes charge in Anaheim, one of them can be traded. That's about it.

I should be able to repair some of the damage with free agents, as I lead the league in both bank balance and margin. But to actually put together a winning team that way, I'd need four regulars and four rotation starters, half of them stars and the other half at least league average. A couple of relievers wouldn't hurt either; I haven't mentioned my bullpen, but suffice it to say that Joe Borowski is my closer. It's possible to get all that from free agency, but you need a much bigger budget than mine. (A team called the Iowa Roscoes went Steinbrenner on the league and bought an All-Star squad a few years ago, but they had over $90M to work with.) No, I'm going to have to just hope for enough warm bodies to field a team and allow me to go for prospects with upside in the rookie draft.

Wild Card: Chuckanut Bay vs. Great Kills

The Gold League wild card matchup was Chuckanut Bay (89-73) vs. Great Kills (88-74). The winner of this series gets the reward of having to face the Diamond Gems (120-42), holder of the best overall record in the league. So, here's how the games went...

Game 1
Great Kills 2 at Chuckanut Bay 9
John Maine went the distance and Julio Lugo left the yard and had 2 RBI as the Chuckanut Bay Tubas defeated the Great Kills Galloping Ghost by the score of 9 to 2 at Busch Stadium. Great Kills never recovered after Chuckanut Bay took the lead in the 3rd inning when they scored 2 runs on 2 hits. The critical plate appearance was by Lugo who brought a roar from the partisan Busch Stadium fans when he bombed a two-run dinger (his 1st of the season). Chuckanut Bay had a total of 11 hits for the game. Maine(1-0) allowed 2 runs on the game. Jason Jennings(0-1) was tagged with the loss. He was hit hard and gave up 10 hits and 3 walks in 6 and 2/3innings.

Game 2
Great Kills 11 at Chuckanut Bay 3
Ben Sheets racked up an impressive total of 16 strikeouts and Alex Rios had 2 base hits and 3 RBI as the Great Kills Galloping Ghost defeated the Chuckanut Bay Tubas 11 to 3 at Busch Stadium. Sheets(1-0) contributed a very nicely pitched game. He surrendered only 8 hits and no walks in 9 innings and allowed 2 gopher balls. Great Kills had a total of 16 hits for the game. Livan Hernandez(0-1) took the loss. He got hit pretty hard, allowing 8 hits and 3 walks in 5 innings. 'He was really impressive tonight,' Hernandez said of his counterpart. 'Our guys were just swinging at air.'

Game 3
Chuckanut Bay 4 at Great Kills 8
Alex Rios cracked a homer and had 2 RBI and Ted Lilly whiffed 10 batters as the Great Kills Galloping Ghost topped the Chuckanut Bay Tubas by a score of 8 to 4 at Angels Stadium. Lilly(1-0) gave a fine effort for Great Kills. He surrendered 5 hits and 2 walks in 6 and 2/3 innings. Great Kills and Chuckanut Bay each finished the night with 10 hits. Kevin Millwood(0-1) was the losing pitcher. Lilly was pleased with his performance. He noted, 'I had good zip on my pitches. Just as important, my location was right on. The fans really got into the game too - that alwayshelps me. Now, if I can only do that again in my next outing.'

Game 4
Chuckanut Bay 10 at Great Kills 6
Third baseman Miguel Cabrera went yard and had 2 RBI at Angels Stadium as the Chuckanut Bay Tubas beat the Great Kills Galloping Ghost 10 to 6. Paul Byrd(1-0) got the win despite looking shaky at times. He gave up 8 hits and 1 walk in 6 innings. The Chuckanut Bay offense poured it on, scoring in 7 of the 9 innings. Brendan Donnelly(0-1) was tagged with the loss in relief. He gave up 4 runsin 2 innings of work.

Game 5
Great Kills 3 at Chuckanut Bay 5
Miguel Cabrera had 2 base hits at Busch Stadium as the Chuckanut Bay Tubas beat the Great Kills Galloping Ghost 5 to 3. Chuckanut Bay took the lead off Jason Jennings in the first inning when they scored 4 runs on 3 hits. That was all John Thomson(1-0) needed. The pitchers took over after the 4th inning as neither team was able to score again. Thomson was helped out by Takashi Saito who recorded his 1st save. Jennings(0-2) ended up with the loss. He pitched 6 innings giving up 6 hitsand 3 walks.

The series was very much back and forth and it seemed to switch quite frequently as to who was getting the rolls at any given time. In game five, Chuckanut Bay seemed to get all the rolls at the crucial times. These were two very evenly matched teams.

Now, here's hoping the Vaughn's brain is still scrambled from organizing free agency when the next series gets underway!

Duluth Advances: Home Sweet Home

by Michael Swanson

Ask the ‘87 and ‘91 Twins. Ask the ’01 Diamondbacks. And now ask the 2008 Dukes. I know it is only a divisional series, but ask all these teams how important it is to have home field advantage. The Duluth-Superior Dukes (106-56) won the divisional series over the East Lyme Crush (103-59), four games to three. This series was one of the closest series I have been a part of. One at bat could have changed the whole thing.

The games were hard fought and all but one statistic was the same.

Batting Average: D-S .254, EL .250.
Runs Scored: 30 each.
Doubles: D-S 12, EL 14.
Strikeouts by pitchers: D-S 37, EL 41.

I could go on. The one stat that jumps out at you are the homeruns. East Lyme connected 7 times while the Dukes were able to crush 14 times.

The big guys really came through! Justin Morneau led the Dukes hitting 4 homeruns and hitting in 7 runners. Albert Pujols hit 3 balls out of the yard and had 8 rbi, while Alex Rodriguez also connected 3 times but hit only 4 runners in. Beltran had 3 for the Crush.

Game 1:
The Crush got on the board right away in the first as Derek Jeter scored on a wild pitch. The Dukes came back in the bottom of the first plating 4 runs with the big hit from Morneau on a 3-run homer. Eventually the Crush tied the game 4-4 in the seventh on a single by Carlos Beltran. Alex Rodriguez then hit the game winning homerun in the bottom of the 8th off Joel Zumaya(0-1). The winning pitcher Mariano Rivera(1-0) pitched two innings and gave way to Joe Nathan to earn his first save.

Game 2:
The Dukes scored first in the bottom of the second with a Justin Morneau homerun. By the bottom of the fifth, East Lyme had built a lead of 3-1. The lead did not last long as in the bottom half of the inning, Duluth-Superior scored 3 runs. The big hit was a 3-run smash by Albert Pujols. The Dukes would go on to score 2 more runs to win 6-3 and to take a commanding lead of 2-0 in the series. The winning pitcher Freddy Garcia gave up 9 hits in 5 innings. Jon Rauch, Darren Oliver and finally Joe Nathan(save #2) needed to help out with 4 strong scoreless relief innings.

Game 3:
The next 3 games belonged to the crush. The crush took a 4 run lead in the first inning of game 3 and never looked back. Connor Jackson plated two runners with a first inning double and Mark Derosa had a solo shot in the 8th. The final score, 7-2 and East Lyme was back in it. Greg Maddox was the winner and Lackey was shelled for 9 hits and six earned runs in only 5 2/3 innings of work.

Game 4:
Again East Lyme got a four run inning but this time they had to wait until the 7th inning. The Dukes were enjoying a 3-2 lead thanks to two homeruns and three runs batted in by Alex Rodriguez. Carlos Beltran’s two run homer in the bottom of the 7th was the big blow and helped East Lyme to tie the series at 2-2.

Game 5:
Chris Young and C.C. Sabathia fought for 7innings and the game was still up in the air until the last out was recorded. Down 3-1 in the top of the ninth the Dukes sent up Tadahito Iguchi with one out. Iguchi bombs one off reliever D. Reyes to make the score 3-2 and then with two out and the tying run on first, Reyes is able to close the door by getting Randy Winn to fly out and secure a 3-2 game lead for the Crush. Other homeruns hit were Cuddyer(2nd) and Carroll(1st).

Game 6:
Game 6 pits Erik Bedard and Freddy Garcia and the Crush erupt with two first inning runs on a two-run bomb by Carlos Beltran(2nd). The Dukes not to be outdone comes back in the bottom of the 1st with two of their own to tie the game. The Dukes busted the game open when they were able to score four more runs in the third. Cuddyer was the star of the game: in the top of the third inning he robs Juan Rivera of an extra base hit, then in the bottom hits his 2nd double of the game to hit in his 2nd run of the game. East Lyme pecked away at the 6-2 lead the Dukes had scoring one in the fifth and two in the seventh. Joe Nathan was called on again to shut the door on the Crush and did just that. Nathan struck out Derek Jeter and Russell Branyon to end the game and force a game 7 in this Divisional series.

Game 7:
Game 7 starters were Greg Maddux and John Lackey. The first inning was exciting as Derek Jeter starts off with a base hit and eventually scores on Barry Bonds. Swanson was heard saying, “If you would have told me that our pitcher would hold Barry Bonds to a batting average of .048 in this series, I would have laughed in your face. Our pitchers pitched great to keep him off the board.”

The bottom of the first saw the Dukes score two with Pujols’ 4th homerun of the series. The Dukes would go on to score one in the second on a homer off the bat of Iguchi(2nd). Two more runs would be scored in the 4th inning and another in the 7th. In all the Dukes hit 3 homeruns and 4 doubles in this game and win the game 6-2 and the series 4-3. Lackey(1-1) was the winner and Greg Maddux(1-1) the losing pitcher.

Notable stats:
Dukes:
Pujols: 3 HR’s, 4 2B’s, 8 RBI, .333 BA.
Morneau: 4 HR’s, 7 RBI, .192 BA.
AROD: 3 HR’s, 4 RBI, .261 BA.
D. Oliver: 5 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 K’s
Nathan: 3.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 7 K’s

Crush:
Carroll: 7 RBI, .381 BA.
Beltran: 3 HR’s, 9 RBI, .370 BA.
C. Jackson: .360 BA.
Jeter: .333 BA., 4 SB’s, 6 runs scored.
Bonds: 1-21, .04 BA.

Tuba growlings

The New York Giants better win the championship this year, because it will be a while before the franchise (to be renamed the Chuckanut Bay Tubas at the completion of the postseason) sniffs the playoffs again.

I inherited a team with a lot of expiring contracts and decided to play out the rest of the season and then rebuild. Sure enough, I just got done with the roster decisions and the Chuckanut Bay Tubas will only have 18 players under contract (plus two amateurs) heading into free agency, plus matching rights for Miguel Cabrera.

The Tubas have a ton of holes, and don't figure to be active players in free agency as it would require a monster budget to fill them all. The Tubas will only have two starters, two relievers, no catcher, no third baseman (unless Cabrera's best offer is matched), and very offensively challenged players at second base and shortstop. Indeed, it's time to get young, plug holes via secondary free agency and hope that new GM David Dick is good at assessing young talent.

BRASS 2008-09 Off-Season Begins Tonight

The league year ends tonight at midnight and we move, administratively, into the 2008-09 league season (our 19th).

Below is the off-season schedule of activities that we will be following this year. Please note that it differs modestly in a few places from the schedule outlined in last year's constitution version. The changes are to allow contract decisions to occur with a fully accurate bank account update, to calibrate key activities to weekends, to avoid having free agency fall on Easter weekend or my business trip the following weekend and to wrap the Draft before Mother's Day.

This year's schedule was trickier than usual. So please save and use this schedule as the official off-season schedule.

February 26: New League season begins. Trade freeze begins.
February 27: I will send out the roster file for contract decisions and roster cuts process.
March 1: Contract decisions and cuts are due back to me.
March 7: I will report signings, cuts, provide a free agent list and bid forms, provide revised rosters with pre-free agency bank accounts.
March 13: Free Agent bids are due.
March 15: I will send out the League Changes voting ballot. Henry sends out League Awards ballot. March 15: Free Agency process begins.
March 21 (or earlier): Free Agency process concludes.
March 25: Free Agency report is sent, league changes and league awards ballots are due.
March 27: Open trading period begins.
April 15: League changes results are reported, league awards voting totals reported.
April 18: Trade Freeze begins.
April 20: 30-man protected lists are due before the draft.
April 25: The Draft begins at 7 pm, ET.
May 9: The Draft concludes.
May 10: Open Trading period begins.
May 15: Draft report due.
May 25: Secondary Free Agency process begins. Player list and bid files sent out.
May 30: Secondary Free Agency bids are due.
June 7: Secondary Free Agency results reported.
2008-09 season begins in September.

I Zinc Ve Have Sometink to Proof, Yes?

...he says in his best Colonel Klink voice.

This past season, aside from the perennial strong performance from the East Lyme club, the Zinc division did not enjoy a lot of success. Let's look at the status for each team moving into free agency (and sorry if I missed some transactions - there have been a few!).

Cream City:
The Pirates battled but ultimately lost out for the worst record in the league. They fought the good fight though! Now after a complete rebuild they look poised to take the division if the dice fall their way a bit.

Key acquisitions: Frank Thomas, Russ Springer, Joe Saunders, Shane Victorino, Reynel Pinto, Mark Teixeira, Aubrey Huff

Key departures: Ryan Shealy, Cory Sullivan, Xavier Nady, Ryan Doumit, Francisco Cordero, Carlos Villanueva, Hideki Matsui, Chris Young (OF)

SPs: AJ Burnett & Rich Hill headline this group, which slots Jeff Francis, Ian Snell, and Daniel Cabrera into the 3-4-5 roles. This is a reasonable and balanced rotation which should match up fairly well with most teams.

Bullpen: The loss of Cordero will hurt some, but Accardo,Valverde, B Wagner, and the newly acquired Springer provide plenty of quality innings.

Hitters: The Teixeria trade really sets up this lineup nicely, which now has a power SW bat to complement a strong leadoff bat in B Roberts, and an OF studded with talent youngsters like Victorino, Jeremy Hermida (likely DH), BJ Upton and Corey Hart, along with veteran CF Aaron Rowand. JJ Hardy and a platoon of Wilson Betemit and Brandon Inge round out the IF, leaving C as the only spot with real question marks.

Summary/projections: The Pirates will sport an above-average offense, solid defense, and sufficient starting pitching to make a strong playoff run. The bullpen should be able to hold on most leads. I look for 88-92 wins here.

East Lyme:
The top dog in the division last season may be sorely challenged to hold onto that status in 2008-2009. With its cash stash dwindling and some key players aging, East Lyme made a few moves to get younger and cheaper while not drastically harming its talent base. Two future HOFers are gone in Bonds & Maddux but at least Bonds is easily replaced.

Key acquisitions: Woody Williams, Dave Weathers, Chad Qualls

Key departures: Barry Bonds, Greg Maddux

SPs: The East Lyme rotation will be led by two of the top LHs in all of baseball, Erik Bedard & CC Sabathia. The rest of the rotation will feature some combo of RHs Williams, Bonser, Wakefield & Vargas and maybe a FA or two.

Bullpen: New acquisitions Weathers and Qualls will play key roles here, as will returning vets Bob Howry, Damaso Marte, CJ Wilson and Joel Zumaya.

Hitters: Jack Cust looks to take over the DH duties from the departing Bonds, and joins Derek Jeter, Nick Markakis, Luke Scott, and Carlos Beltran to form the backbone of the Crush lineup. The infield will feature ROY Ryan Braun and Mark De Rosa as well as up & comer 1B Conor Jackson.

Summary/projections: This is an offense that will not have trouble scoring runs, though infield defense leaves something to be desired at this point, and SPs beyond the top 2 are weak. This looks like a team that will score runs and hold onto most leads due to a deep bullpen, but will lose a few blowouts as well against better pitching. I see an 85- to 90-win season here.

San Jose (updated for Sizemore trade):
Like Cream City, the Scorpions are looking for a turnaround, but in this case it may still be another year off. The new blood injected into the franchise will help, but free spending of cash in order to acquire players and picks may hurt the club in free agency.

Key acquisitions: Joe Blanton, Carlos Pena, Josh Hamilton, Manny Delcarmen, Ryan Church, Randy Johnson, Kevin Correia, Andrew Brown, George Sherrill, Ryan Doumit, Mark Ellis, Barry Zito, Jacoby Ellsbury, Ron Villone, Mike Lamb, Cory Snyder, Randy Wolf, Chuck Lofgren, PNC Park

Key departures: Grady Sizemore, Fausto Carmona, Brian Bannister, Vernon Wells, Jeff Clement, Humberto Sanchez, Carlos Villanueva, Chad Cordero, Kevin Millar, Nick Punto, A Otsuka, Tom Gordon, Carlos Silva, Rudy Seanez, Scott Baker, Chris Ianetta, R Springer, J Lopez, McLouth

SPs: The Scorpions lacked a true #1 SP after dealing Carmona for a big bat, but the acqusition of Blanton will help some. So now Blanton, Zito and Bush will serve as the mainstays of the rotation, then mix & match with the Unit, Wolf, Correia, and whatever scraps can be found in free agency.

Bullpen: Springer was dealt, but replaced soon after by the live young arm of Manny Delcarmen. Manny will join Gregg, Janssen, Sherrill, Brown and Villone to make up a deep and talented bullpen which fits the home park nicely.

Hitters: Pena, Grady Sizemore and Jimmy Rollins made up the heart of the lineup along with platoon RFer Hamilton, but Sizemore was moved in a deadline deal to improve pitching and acquire picks. In the short term he'll be replaced in the lineup with Church vs RH and Logan vs LH, which will weaken the OF defense to a 3 in CF (Hamilton) but should not hurt the offense much. The C platoon of Doumit & Snyder should be productive enough, and Mike Lamb & J McDonald will do the same at the hot corner. Rent-a-player Ellis will turn a lot of DPs with Rollins as a partner. The club holds signing rights to other players at multiple positions, so free agency will also have a bearing on the final lineup spots of LF/DH/3B.

Summary/projections: The addition of Blanton and Johnson to the SPs makes it a deeper and more talented group, capable of keeping games close, and the bullpen is back to being a strength with the addition of Delcarmen. If the final lineup spots are filled with league average or better bats, the offense should be productive enough to win some games. This looks like an 84-88 win team if the final holes are filled reasonably via FAs & the draft.

Olympia:
The Seariders are waiting for a new swell to come in but that swell may take a while to build. Finances and talent that is a ways from maturing have dictated another year of rebuilding for this club.

Key acquisitions: Chris Capuano, Charlie Haeger, Clay Hensley, Humberto Sanchez, Carlos Silva, V Wells, Tom Gordon

Key departures: Barry Zito, Jacoby Ellsbury, draft picks

SPs: This team acquired much-needed cheap innings in its last deal and Silva and Capuano headline a group that will just tread water until reinforcements (Gio Gonzalez, an improved John Danks?) are ready.

Bullpen: Some reasonable upside with Aardsma, Jorge Sosa, and Luke Hudson, but off years for some of this group made things tough on their owner.

Hitters: Aside from Aaron Hill, not a lot to look at here. Hatteberg will provide his usual strong OBP, but youth & power are lacking at nearly every position. I anticipate some restocking via the draft.

Summary/projections: Another 50-55 win season coming here, and possibly worse as the division rivals are stronger. 2010 maybe better?

2008 BRASS Draft Lottery results

Maybe Paul should have stuck around a while longer? :)

The vacant Happy Valley franchise has secured the 2008 #1 overall Draft pick by winning the BRASS Draft Lottery. The order of selection for the first seven picks in each round is shown in the results report below. The public draft lottery process this year involved the calculation of the sum of random one-digit numbers generated by the shooting percentage results of NBA games.

The method is explained in detail further below the results report that follows.


1. Happy Valley - 171 points
-------------------
2/20: Cleveland @ Indiana
4+8+1+4+7+6+6+6+7+4+3+8+3+7+5+9+0+0 = 88
2/22: Atlanta @ Golden State
4+6+7+4+3+5+8+5+2+4+7+9+2+3+1+7+0+6 = 83

2. Olympia - 170 points
------------
2/20: Chicago @ New Jersey
3+8+1+2+8+6+7+5+0+4+2+9+5+2+6+7+7+8 = 90
2/22: Milwaukee @ Detroit
5+0+0+4+0+0+6+6+7+5+1+7+3+6+8+7+7+8 = 80

3. Meridian - 154 points
------------
2/20: Atlanta @ Sacramento
4+9+3+5+0+0+7+2+7+4+6+5+5+2+6+8+0+6 = 79
2/22: Sacramento @ Charlotte
4+5+5+5+2+9+7+5+0+4+3+9+4+4+0+7+1+1 = 75

4. Cream City - 153 points
----------------
2/20: Dallas @ New Orleans
4+5+2+2+6+7+8+5+2+4+6+7+5+2+6+7+5+0 = 83
2/22: Denver @ Chicago
4+8+3+3+5+7+7+8+1+5+7+1+5+0+0+6+0+0 = 70

5. Sugar Creek - 145 points
------------------
2/20: New York @ Philadelphia
4+5+9+2+2+7+7+3+3+5+7+0+5+0+0+7+3+1 = 70
2/22: Houston @ New Orleans
4+9+4+3+1+6+7+6+9+4+0+0+1+8+2+5+6+0 = 75

6. Montgomery County - 143 points
-----------------------------
2/20: Orlando @ Toronto
4+5+2+3+2+1+7+8+1+5+8+8+5+5+0+8+8+0 = 80
2/22: Philadelphia @ Orlando
4+5+6+2+3+1+7+5+0+5+1+2+4+5+5+8+0+0 = 63

7. Hoth - 141 points
-------
2/20: Memphis @ LA Clippers
3+6+4+3+0+0+7+5+0+4+5+0+5+0+0+7+5+9 = 63
2/22: Portland @ Seattle
3+7+2+2+2+2+8+3+3+4+6+2+6+2+5+7+8+6 = 78

2008 Draft Lottery method:

To come up with a "game sum" for the randomly assigned NBA games, you add together the individual digits of the six shooting percentage totals for the game.

Let's say the percentages for a sample game were as follows:

Team #1 Field Goal Pct: .423
Team #1 Point Field Goal Pct: .250
Team #1 Free Throw Pct: .734
Team #2 Field Goal Pct: .430
Team #2 3 Point Field Goal Pct: .290
Team #2 Free Throw Pct: .808

In this case, the sample game shooting would yield the following sum:

4+2+3+2+5+0+7+3+4+4+3+0+2+9+0+8+0+8 = 64

The team who was assigned this game would get 64 points, generated from the sum of 18 randomly occurring numbers at this public event.

To determine the lottery winner you add up the game sums of the two games each team was randomly assigned and the team with the highest combined total gets the overall #1 pick. The tam with the second-highest total picks 2nd, on down to the 7th highest total who selects in the #7 position. This draft order holds true for each round of the 2008 Draft.

The tie-breaker is the team having the game with the best 3-point percentage by any team in either of the two games. If still tied, we use free throw percentage and then overall field goal percentage.

The state of the Iron Division: The Southtown Misers

When Henry Vance took over the Syracuse franchise four years ago, the team was in complete shambles: there were no good players, young or veteran, not much in terms of draft picks, and virtually no money in the bank. Since then, Henry has led his Southtown Misers to two playoff berths, including one this year - narrowly squeaking by thanks to the undeniable virtues of home cooked meals.

Now, it’s back to square one. Well, not exactly. At least the roster has a few interesting trading chips that the Misers can turn into valuable commodities for the future. The rebuilding process is already underway in Southtown, with Roy Halladay having been sent to Meridian (who in turn shipped him to Plainsfield). For a first draft pick and a promising slugger. More trades are sure to follow in the next few weeks.

The present

On offense

The core players here are Victor Martinez, one of the better catchers (offensively at least - .892 OPS) in Brass, 2Bman Ian Kinsler (.796 OPS), 3Bman Troy Glaus (.839), the ageless ex-Expo Moises Alou (.916 OPS, although in only 355 plates appearances), and probably the most valuable player of all the current Misers, Placido Polanco, with a .341/.388/.458 to go along with a mind-boggling 2e0 rating at second base. Ryan Church also brings something to the table with an .813 OPS, .866 against right-handed pitchers. Finally, Scott Hairston will be useful with his .801 OPS versus RHP (although his. 689 OPS vs lefties is weak).

Unfortunately, two key and expensive players had horrible 2007 seasons: Andrew Jones (.726 OPS) and Vernon Wells (.706), although they redeem themselves a little with their Gold Glove caliber defense.

The pitching

Basically, it comes down to Joe Blanton and Noah Lowry on the starting front, and Juan Cruz and Manny Delcarmen in the pen. That’s it. However, all but Cruz are still on Y-contracts.

The future

The future of the Misers will all depend of the return they get from their upcoming trades. The core of tradable players may just bring in enough future talent to make the rebuilding process a successful one. In addition, Stephen Drew is still a promising middle infielder, and Felipe Lopez, disappointing the last two years after an All-Star season with the Reds, is still young and could return to form, especially now that he doesn’t have to play such a demanding position as shortstop anymore.
Finally, the team has at least three promising youngsters in Scott Elbert, Angel Villalona, acquired in the Halladay trade, and Eric Hurley, even if they are a few years away.

Resources

This is an area where the franchise needs to improve dramatically. Financially, the team only has $621, 176 in the bank, and, now with the trade of Halladay, $21, 595, 332 committed next year, including the “bad” contracts (things happen) to Randy Johnson $3.5M), Sidney Ponson ($2.05M), and Cliff Politte ($1.55M).
Moreover, the Misers have traded most of their early picks in an attempt to field competitive teams the last two years: their #1, 2, 4, 5 in 2008, and their #2, 3 in 2009. They did get Meridians’s 2008 #1 pick in the aforementioned trade.

In conclusion, all is not lost for Southtown, but Henry will have to be shrewd with his next moves, both personnel-wise and money-wise.

Rally Killer!

Well, I've read Vaughn's two recent posts and, unfortunately, both apply to me...

First, it's nice to get some kudos for making the playoffs but I really only made a couple of moves. The core of the Phoenix (Ryan Howard, Carlos Guillen, Carlos Lee, Brandon Webb) were here when I arrived. I did add a couple of pieces to the team on the field now, but I certainly didn't build the entire franchise.

Next step, ruin the franchise...

After the modest success to this point of the season, I managed to cripple the franchise by racking up millions in fines by mismanaging player usage. I did get the "benefit", I guess, of squeezing a few more innings out of Danys Baez. Danys Baez? Why did he get any use at all, let alone excessive use? Dumb. And, lesson learned...I hope...

So, after knowing at the end of January that I had made a mistake with Baez, I went ahead and allowed a couple of other players to get overused as well. If I recall correctly, I managed to drop $6 million on absolutely nothing. $6 million, I might add, from a bank account that was below the poverty line to begin with.

Now that the regular season is over, we'll if Vaughn's kind words hit home. Am I really a quality owner capable of building a contender? Or am I, as this season's moves might suggest, simply a world class Rally Killer...

How's the view from the top, guys?

I wanted to take a moment to congratulate Dave Berks (East Lyme), Mike Swanson (Duluth-Superior), Bob Lord (Green Bay), Robert Smith (Great Kills), Jason South (Phoenix) and Henry Vance (Southtown) for showing us all how to climb from the valleys to the mountaintop.

Any of these six teams will be my sentimental favorite to take the 18th BRASS crown this year and bring the coveted Old BRASS Bucket back to their respective homes. Why? All of these gentlemen are keeping the league strong and competitive by doing just what we hoped when we welcomed them into our enterprise: working to build a competitive franchise.

For those of you who have recently joined BRASS and are building your own squads in your image, new colleagues like Kai Neizman, Dave Silverberg, Sean Crawford, Rob Hamilton, Dave Dick and whomever is lucky enough to become our 24th owner, do yourself a favor and contact one of these guys and ask them how they did it because they are each very good at it!

How good?

Let's take a look...

Dave Berks inherited a team that averaged 107 losses per season in the two years before he took over. The squad continued to struggle on the field as Dave was building, losing an average of 103 per season in the first two years Dave had the team. This year? A fifty game improvement and the first division title in five years for the franchise!

Mike Swanson's squad averaged 98 losses for the three seasons prior to his acceptance into BRASS and the squad he inherited struggled even more during his first two seasons at the helm. As Mike tried to dig out of the mess, he had two seasons in a row where he lost 119 games and then 120. Ouch! But then Mike authored a 69 game turnaround last season and a division title. He followed up his 112-win season last year with a 106-win season and a repeat division crown.

Bob Lord inherited the one franchise in BRASS that had not been in the post-season in its history. Bob inherited a squad that posted a 104-loss season the year before he joined and as he tried to deal with the mess, posted another 104-loss campaign in his first year. Bob improved the record to 69 wins the next season, then 71 wins before breaking through this season with a division title, a franchise record 93 wins and the first post-season berth in the history of the franchise.

Robert Smith took over a team in mid-season that had bottomed out and had gone through 3 owners already in that year. Robert guided the squad in that season to a 68-94 record and then paid a 111-loss price for the ownership chaos the next season, his first full season, as he was rebuilding. Robert vaulted from the 111-loss season to the playoffs this year with a 37-game improvement. The playoff berth Robert engineered was the first in ten seasons for the squad.

Jason South took over a franchise that hadn't made the post-season in 15 seasons, when they were a division winner with a modest .500 record. This was the only post-season appearance for the franchise in its history. The five seasons prior to Jason's tenure this year were especially bad. The squad averaged 97 losses per season for the five years prior to Jason arriving on the scene. In just one season, the team landed itself in the playoffs, breaking the fifteen season drought!

Henry Vance's team, like Mike Swanson's actually broke through last season and is building on its success. Henry broke a fourteen season playoff drought last year and surfaced the franchise from years of losing with an incredible 75-game improvement from 2005-06 to 2006-07. In the eight seasons prior to last year's breakthrough, the franchise averaged a miserable 103 losses per year. Now, they are back in the post-season for consecutive years for the first time in 15 years!

Each of these gentleman has showed us all exactly how it is done and I salute them. We've had some struggling franchises in BRASS history and it is very clear that some of the league's least-heard-from franchises are now in great hands. BRASS is as strong as it has ever been, thanks in part to a great influx of high caliber new owners in the 2003-06 era.

Of course winning seasons and playoff berths are not the only want to measure how good an owner you are. Not by a long shot. But it sure helps make the experience more fun, eh guys!?

Thanks for being an inspiration to all and here's hoping Dave S. and Dave D. and Sean and Rob and Kai all have similar success when they finish putting their own personal stamps on their own inherited franchises!

Proposal for Changing Overusage Penalties

by Vaughn Nuest

I will be proposing that we make some modifications to the player overusage penalty system this off-season. I believe our system carried too heavy a fine for the cases of modest overuse of medicore players and is about right for the gross, negligent (intentional?) overuse of players by dozens of PA or IP.

I will propose that we continue to fine the gross overuse at a rate that is consistent with the BRASS tradition in order to preserve the disincentive we now employ to discourage this practice. We want to continue to make it unattractive for someone to pay a small fine for overusing players by say 100 PA each in order to avoid the costs of assembling enough players to fill their full roster of needs.

My proposal will focus on the smaller-scale overuse and adjusting those fines so that the penalty more closely fits the relatively small rules infraction.

I'd preserve the 10 PA and 5 IP usage buffer, designed to cover us from unexpected events or small calculation errors. After these buffers, the responsibility is all on us, as it should be.

I'll be proposing a graduated, increasing scale that fines overuse as follows:

Position Players:
11-15 PA over the limit: $500,000
16-20 PA over the limit: $1,000,000
21-25 PA over the limit: $1,500,000
26-30 PA over the limit: $2,000,000
31+ PA over the limt: $2,500,000

Pitchers:
6-9 IP over the limit: $500,000
10-12 IP over the limit: $1,000,000
13-15 IP over the limit: $1,500,000
16-18 IP over the limit: $2,000,000
19+ IP over the limit: $2,500,000

Here are some examples of how this year's overuse fines would have been affected with this new system. As you can see, the graduated scale preserves traditional penalties for gross overuse and adjusts downward the penalties for small-scale overuse to where they are about half or one fourth of the old amounts. The message here is that small scale mis-steps now are met with small scale penalties. Large-scale overuse is not encouraged by reducing the fine for it. Those fines are preserved.

Belfast: Currently fined $12,000,000, would be penalized $12,500,000 mostly because overusage was extreme.

East Lyme: Currently fined $2,000,000, would be penalized $1,000,000 under the proposed change.

Hoth: Currently fined $2,000,000, would be penalized $500,000 under proposed change.

I would leave untouched the text in the constitution that provides for replays for overuse of star players in order to gain post-season advantage. We still need to have a provision that allows us to overturn any intentional strategy to overuse say a Barry Bonds style card by 100 or 150 PA and just accept the fine. The fine should still be assessed and the damage of the unscrupulous overuse should be undone so no benefit is ever gained.I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on these ideas.

Thanks! Vaughn

Sugar Creek Looks Ahead

It's great to be able to look back at the long history of BRASS and see how franchises have fared through the years. Unfortunately, management of Sugar Creek (a franchise that has gone through seven other reincarnations during its 17 season BRASS tenure) has little fondness for the past. Only a pair of wild card berths, the last one in 2001, are the extent of post season experience for the team. This recently completed campaign was the sixth straight losing record.

New Name, Same Result: GM Sean Crawford took over the Washington Senators in early 2007 and renamed the team. He relocated to an area in central Illinois known as Sugar Creek, site of an early pioneer settlement. He chose the name Settlers because, like those who came before to the region, he also faced long odds and few resources. The team was low on cash yet also lacked a lot of big impact players. Previous ownership had done a good job scouting, with players like Melky Cabrera, Robinson Cano, Phillip Hughes and Cameron Maybin. Crawford decided it would be best to keep the young nucleus and weather the financial storm, signing cheaper veteran help.

Going Forward: Some of the free agent signees (Shawn Green, So Taguchi, Mike Timlin, Kyle Lohse and others) should do more than fill the roster when the 2008 season gets underway. At this point, only one player, Mark Buerhle, is signed beyond the upcoming year. That should allow for more flexibility as the team moves along. Buerhle, Aaron Cook, Derek Lowe, Phillip Hughes, Kyle Lohse and Jon Lester figure in the rotation as of now. Matt Belisle and Steve Trachsel could also make an appearance. An improved bullpen led by Scott Downs and Matt Guerrier should also put up better numbers.
On offense, Carlos Delgado is in the final year of his deal and while he still provides some pop, it remains to be seen if his best days are behind him. With a hefty contract and lackluster numbers, it's likely he'll remain a Settler in the coming year. Cano will handle 2b, Iwamura 3b and Alex Gonzalez at SS, although he's a free agent. Esteban German will also get some playing time on the infield.
Outfielders are set with Mike Cameron in CF, Melky Cabrera in LF and Shawn Green in RF. So Taguchi and Cliff Floyd will also see action.
The backstops are Gerald Laird and Bengie Molina. Laird is stronger on defense, but Molina adds more at the plate.

Outlook: In a strong division led by perennial power Diamond, Sugar Creek won't contend for the title. But it's possible with some solid moves in the draft, free agency and a trade or two that the Settlers could hang around the race for a wild card. The goal of course, keep moving in a positive direction and give long suffering fans of this franchise something to cheer about!

Cream City Outlook for 2008-09

Having won their first BRASS League title in 2006-07 with a convincing 4 game to 1 series victory over the game Andover Cougars, the Cream City Pirates management team took one look at the team and realized the $2,000,000 in the bank (after salary payment) would not fill the numerous holes on the roster. The holes were caused by injuries to key players like Hideki Matsui and Mike Matheny along with some departures. With little money remaining to pay for replacements, and to fill in a few other areas, the Pirates decided to try an accelerated rebuild. The plan was to contend again after suffering through a one-year hiatus. The plan has largely succeeded.

As of this article (and including the February 26 infusion of cash into Pirate coffers) the bank account now stands at $29,002,030. Most impressive about this number is that every position is filled on the team and this total is accurate AFTER all salaries are paid for the coming year. The Pirates are building for the long-term. It is the goal of management to be on par with those exemplary Diamond Gem and Plainsfield Hitmen franchises, each of which has won 14 division titles. In the Pirates short time, they have managed to win three division titles and one BRASS championship. They want to take the next step.

Pitching Staff -Rotation
The Pirates have put together a young and talented pitching staff that was augmented recently by the acquisition of A.J. Burnett. The oft-injured Burnett had ace-quality numbers this past year in 165 innings of work. His salary of $3,450,000 was the only instance in which Pirate management succumbed to bringing in a player somewhat overpriced. He's overpriced because of his propensity for injury, but if he stays healthy, a big “if”, he will be a more than adequate top of the rotation stalwart.

The number two through four starters are Rich Hill, Ian Snell and Jeff Francis. Hill had a spectacular first full season in the majors. His WHIP was a microscopic 1.19 and he held opposing hitters to a .235 BA. With a year of experience under his belt, he might make a run at 200 strikeouts.

Snell's sophomore year was also a success. He had an excellent 2.7/1 strikeout-walk ratio and looks ready to take the next step toward elite pitcher status.

Meanwhile, despite pitching in Colorado, Francis took another step toward becoming listed with the top pitchers in the game. His strikeout-walk ration was only slightly less than Snell's, and his ERA was actually lower at home than on the road. I know that ERA is an overblown stat, especially for Strat fans, but it is still indicative of a pitcher not afraid of the Coors Field effect.

The number five spot in the rotation is held by the erratic, but still promising Daniel Cabrera. Pirates management hopes that like Sandy Koufax, Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson's, all who were just a bit wild early in their careers, Cabrera will harness his talent. He could become the ace of the group.

Rounding out the rotation is spot starter, Joe Saunders. This coming year is important for Saunders. With the unfortunate injury to Kelvim Escobar, Saunders is being thrust into the rotation. We shall see.

On a final note regarding the Pirates rotation ... did I mention that other than Burnett, none of the others is more than 28 years old, and future salary considerations have already been built in. They're going to be around for awhile.

Pitching Staff – Bullpen
Heading the Pirates' bullpen this is primary closer Jose Valverde. He compiled a 1.12 WHIP last year. However, the load of closing is not primarily on his shoulders. He'll be ably backed up by hard-throwing lefty, Billy Wagner, and death-on-lefties righty, Jeremy Accardo. The setup men are impressive, too. Russ Springer and Justin Speier both bring nastiness to their encounters with right-handed batters, while Reynel Pinto will bring it with an attitude versus lefties. Kyle Farnsworth provides junk innings and mop-up.

Lineup
1st Base: One of the Pirates most recent acquisitions came at the cost of yielding young star outfielder, Chris Young. However, given that the Pirates outfield is loaded, sending away Young in exchange for slugging first baseman Mark Teixeira was a no-brainer. And given the Pirates tradition of stellar defense, Teixeira's gold-glove caliber fielding fits in nicely. He's priced reasonably for another three years at $2,333,333 per year. Aubrey Huff will back up Teixeira.

2nd Base: Brian Roberts returns to reprise his role at second base. He brings a near .300 batting average, high OBA and 50 steals in addition to excellent defense as evidenced by the 2e8 rating he received from Strat. He will be the primary lead off hitter for the Pirates.

Shortstop: JJ Hardy came into his own last year. Probably occupying the number 8 spot in the Pirates' lineup (yeah it's that good), Hardy brings 26 home runs and a low strikeout rate in addition to his 2e14 excellent shortstop rating. Shortstop and second base are high on the X-result list for chances and the Pirates are fortunate to be strong in the middle infield.

3rd Base: Brandon Inge and Aubrey Huff are slated to split third base duty this year ... Inge facing lefties and Huff the rest. Inge's defense (2e20) will see him coming in to replace Huff near the end of games. The two of them banged nearly 30 home runs last year. Any sort of production close to that will be fine.

Catcher: Johnny Estrada holds down the catching position, but Pirates management would be remiss if it wasn't said that some improvement is bing looked at, possibly in free agency. Estrada's +2 arm is not satisfactory, not is his plodding speed and low OBA. He was not one of our better acquisitions, especially now that he is a backup for the Mets, thereby not justifying his $1.6M salary with the Pirates. A backup catcher also needs to be found.

Outfield: Here is where the young Pirates shine. BJ Upton (.300 BA 20-20 man), Jeremy Hermida (second half .339 BA), Corey Hart (.295 BA, 33-9-24 and 20+ steals) and recently acquired Shane Victorino (1e5[-3] RF defense and 37 steals) bring combinations of youth, power and speed to the outfield positions. And, Aaron Rowand (.300+ BA, 45-0-27 and 1e2[0] defense) brings stability along with stellar defense in center field.

Pirates' management is very excited about the future of the franchise. With the bank account stabilized and salary extensions accounted for the next 4-5 years, this team could see, with some luck, a couple more championship banners joining the one earned last year.

The state of the Iron Division: The Dayton Dragons

The present

When I joined BRASS six years ago, Meridian and Dayton were, and would be for the subsequent three years, in a constant battle for Iron Division supremacy, putting together several 100+ win seasons between them.

Now, like Meridian, the Dragons have been in rebuilding mode for the last few years. But it looks as though the rivalry of a few years ago is about to be rekindled.

Like the Trojans, Dayton has a few promising or established young players, and a couple of budding superstars. In the first category, Montrealer Russ Martin is already one of the best catchers in MLB, even adding speed to his well-rounded set of skills. Justin Verlander ranks among the better pitchers in the major, and will only get better with time. Jeff Francoeur is solid in right field and could become a perennial 30-HR hitter, and Edwin Encarnacion is solid at the hot corner and should improve over the next few years. Plus, Zach Greinke seems to have rebounded from his off-the-fields problems.

Dontrelle Willis had a subpar 2007, but he is too talented not to rebound at least some, and Mike Pelfrey, acquired from Montreal in the John Smoltz trade, is a highly touted right-handed starting pitcher, as is Andrew Miller from the left side. Add to this the upcoming superstars Jay Bruce and Evan Longoria, and solid prospects like Ian Stewart and Jeff Niemann and you have the makings of a very good team for a long time.

In addition to all the talent, Dayton has a solid bank account of $19, 442, 523, and has wisely kept all of its picks (except its 2008 third rounder) for the next two years, while adding Montreal’s 2008 second and fifth round picks.

Aside from the bright future, to me one of the most impressive things about Dayton is that, despite the rebuilding, they have managed to field very competitive teams the last two or three years. And next year should be no exception.


Looking at 2008-09

The pitching

Other than Willis and Verlander, no starting pitcher really stands out on the Dragon’s current roster, except maybe for Greinke (3.29, 1.29 WHIP in 122 IPs). Paul Maholm pitched 177 innings, but had a WHIP of 1.42. He can gets lefties out, though, as shown by his .630 OPS against versus LHB. So either the draft, or free agency and trades, will have to help here..

The bullpen has a couple of nice pieces with Brad Lidge (67 IPs, 3.36 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and 19 saves), Scott Linebrink (70 IPs/3.71/1.32). Todd Jones had 38 saves, which should give him a nice closer rating, but had a 4.26 ERA and 1.41 WHIP. JC Romero had a poor WHIP (1.40), mostly due to his giving up 40 bases on balls in 56 innings, but his OPS vs LHB and RHB is solid (.645 and .677, respectively).

Position players

There is a nice nucleus here with Martin behind the plate (.843 OPS and 21 steals in 30 attempts), Francoeur (.782 and Gold Glove defense, not to mention a cannon for an arm), Encarnacion (.794 OPS), Jeff Kent (.875 OPS), Frank Thomas (.277/.377/.480), and the stellar defense of shortstop Adam Everett. Melvin Mora is still capable at 3b with a 3e14 rating and a .762 OPS.

There are some very nice platoon players on the roster, too. Scott Spiezio had an .832 OPS versus lefties, while Reed Johnson managed an outstanding .913 against southpaws. On defense, Speizio also qualifies at very infield position except shortstop, as well as in the outfield, and Johnson is more than solid in the outfield with ratings of lf-2(-1)e1, rf-3e1, and cf-3e1. Jay Payton can be useful versus LHP (.285/.353/.423), while Daryle Ward will have a monster card against RHP (.333/.439/.539), although his playing time will be limited (133 PAs).

Then, there are Brady Clark whose .OPS versus LHP was .822, including a .386 OBP, and Lew Ford (.256/.347/.419 vs LHP, and good defense - lf-2(-1)e5, cf-3e5, and rf-3e5).

Finally, Mike Scutaro and Jason Smith are versatile utility players, although their bats are a little weak, especially in Smith’s case, and Mike Piazza will be an adequate backup for Martin.
and

In conclusion, while the Dragons are not yet ready for prime time, they should be formidable opponents to their divisional rivals, especially Meridian, in a very short period of time.

Projected lineup for now

C Martin/Piazza
1B Ward/Spiezio
2B Kent
3B Mora/Encarnacion
SS Everett
OF Johnson
OF Francoeur
OF Clark
OF Payton
OF Ford
DH Thomas
SP Verlander
SP Willis
SP Maholm
RP Lidge
RP Linebrink
RP Jones
RP Romero
RP Gobble