May, 2007

Top Ten Stories of 2007 (So Far)

Story #1: The Marlboro Badgers

The Marlboro Hammerheads went into this off-season with a whopping $48.4 million to spend in the auction and draft.  GM Sharky Kaminski then went on a feeding frenzy in the auction, throwing his money around like a drunken Paris Hilton.  $12 million here, $8 million there -- a little bit to every player on the block, "just to keep everyone honest."  In total, Sharky bid 44 times (which may be a BDBL record), and won the bidding for six players.

On the first day of bidding, Sharky was shocked to learn that none of his bids won.  Instantly, he shifted into panic mode, and openly wondered if he would be "stuck" with a ton of cash in the draft.  So, on Day Two, he frantically threw money at all five players in Lot #2.  He won the bids for four of them.

Among those four players was David Ortiz, whom he had signed for $10.5 million.  But instead of celebrating this signing, he once again shifted into panic mode, and openly wondered if he would now be "stuck" with Ortiz, given that his high VORP made him difficult to trade.  So, exactly 37 minutes after he had paid $10.5 million to acquire Ortiz, Sharky placed his new slugger on the trading block, practically begging someone to take him off his hands.

That's when New Hope Badgers GM Tony Badgers, smelling blood in the water, stuck his toe in to test it out.  Shortly thereafter (and we can't be sure exactly how long it was, given the gag order placed on the league at that time), Ortiz became a Badger.

How has that trade worked out for New Hope?

Well, let's see...

• Ortiz is currently hitting .335/.451/.908.
• That .335 batting average ranks 8th in the OL.
• That .451 OBP ranks #2.
• That .908 slugging percentage ranks #1.  (The next highest SLG% is .620.)
• After two chapters of play, Ortiz has 36 homers and 95 RBIs.  No other player in the OL has more than 18 homers or 48 RBIs.
• Ortiz has created 87.7 runs in 56 games.  No other batter in the OL has created more than 58.6 runs.
• Ortiz alone has accounted for 37% of New Hope's total team home runs, 30% of their total RBIs and 27% of their total runs created.

Basically, David Ortiz is a modern-day Babe Ruth.  He is on pace to hit 103 home runs this season, with 271 RBIs and 250.6 runs created.  His .908 slugging percentage is a whopping 121 points higher than the single-season BDBL record.

In other words, yeah, this trade has worked out pretty well for New Hope so far.

But Sharky's efforts to fill Tony Badger's trophy case didn't end there.  With the first trading deadline of the season approaching, Sharky felt the searing heat of Mariano Rivera's cutter burning a hole in his pocket.  Desperate to rid himself of the burden of carrying one high-profile, high-market-value player for more than a few days, and feeling the overwhelming pressure of that February 1st trading deadline bearing down upon him like a thousand-ton weight, he began frantically shopping Rivera around.  Scared to death that his star closer's market value was disappearing quickly with every passing second, like sand in an hour glass, the pressure mounted with each passing tick of the clock.  Sweat began to bead on his ample forehead, and his glasses began to fog up, as he desperately scoured the internet for someone -- anyone -- to take Rivera off his hands before it was too late.  Then, just in the nick of time, Tony Badger stepped in to save the day once again.  And just nine days after trading David Ortiz to the Badgers, Sharky added Rivera to the Badgers' pile of presents as well.

How has that trade worked out for New Hope?

Well, let's see...

• In 26 games pitched (32.1 innings), Rivera owns a 0.56 ERA.
• He has allowed a grand total of 2 earned runs and 25 base runners in those 32.1 innings.
• He is a perfect 14-for-14 in save opportunities, and has 5 wins on the season.

In other words, yep, that trade has worked out pretty well for New Hope, too.

Together, Ortiz and Rivera have carried the Badgers to a BDBL-best 39-17 record.  And in exchange, all it cost them was Jason Giambi, Shane Victorino, Shaun Marcum, Daniel Cabrera, James Loney and Chad Paronto.

Thanks, Sharky.

Story #2: "The Trade" v.2007

It happens every year.  Every year, some team makes some trade that is so controversial, it causes the entire league to throw its collective arms in the air and exclaim, "Well, this season is over.  No sense in playing this one anymore."  Every year, this trade sparks a huge debate over rules changes that can prevent trades like this from ever happening again, and yet every following year the pattern repeats itself.  Over and over and over.  Ad infinitum et ad nauseam.

This year is no exception.  Appropriately enough, on April Fool's Day, the Kansas Law Dogs and Corona Confederates formed an alliance that sparked not only controversy, but philosophy.  After this trade was made, I found myself asking the age-old philosophical question: "Why are we all here?"  And to date, I have not yet arrived at an acceptable answer.

This 11-player trade came less than 12 hours after Corona had put several star players on the trading block, and less than three months after Corona GM Ed McGowan had declared:

"Now that I have landed the guy I really wanted (Santana), I feel confident that I will make the playoffs this year. And no one will convince me otherwise until we are mighty near the trade deadline."

And yet, nowhere near the trade deadline, there was McGowan, trading away the guy he had happily paid a BDBL-record $21 million to acquire.  Needless to say, this decision sparked a barrage of questions:

What was the point of signing Santana in the first place?  Was it merely to "give it a go" for only 28 games?  Was he acquired solely for his trade market value?  Was all that talk about making the playoffs just for show?  Did McGowan make the right call by waving the white flag so early?  Was the wrong call signing Santana in the first place?  Was it necessary to throw in Brett Myers, Chad Cordero, Joe Borowski and Julio Lugo in addition to Santana?  Could McGowan have done better if he'd traded those players separately?  And of course, there's the age old question: Could he have done better if he'd just waited until later in the year, to gain some perspective and hindsight on those players?

And what about the Law Dogs?  Is there any way they can compete in 2008 while spending nearly 70 percent of their total salary on just three players?  If not, is this just yet another example of a team that is willing to sacrifice one or more years of complete embarrassing ineptitude in exchange for a one-in-four shot at the trophy?  Could the Law Dogs have won the trophy without taking on all that salary?  Is the era of the "superteam" alive and well, despite all the changes we've made to the league rulebook over the past several years?  And if so, is there ANYTHING we can do as a league to prevent this "superteam" strategy from ruining the joy we all derive from this hobby?

So many questions.  Will we ever find any answers?

Story #3: Eck League Parity

One-third of the way into the 2007 season, eleven out of the twelve teams in the Eck League are separated by a grand total of SIX games.

Read that sentence again.  ELEVEN OUT OF TWELVE TEAMS ARE SEPARATED BY SIX GAMES.

The Allentown Ridgebacks currently own the 11th-best record in the EL, and they're only six games behind in the wild card race.

SEVEN DIFFERENT TEAMS in the Eck League have won either 30 or 31 games this season.

In particular, the Person Division is WIDE open at the moment, with all four teams separated by just ONE GAME.  The Funkadelic and Slyme are currently tied for first, despite the fact that SoCal's runs margin (24) is much higher than Nashville's (4.)  And Wapakoneta and South Carolina are tied for second-place, despite the fact that Wapa has outscored their opponents by just 7 runs, while the Sea Cats own the best runs margin in the division at 32.

Story #4: From Champs to Chumps

BDBL history is filled with examples of teams that went from champions one year to chumpians the next.  But this season, that group seems bigger than ever.

It starts with the Blazers, of course, who went from the Ozzie League champions to...well...a story that deserves its own category.  (See below.)

The Marlboro Hammerheads easily ran away with their division last year, and were favored to win the OL title before they were derailed by the Blazers.  But, just four months later, they're sporting a 15-41 record in last place.  Like New Milford, Marlboro's predicament this season is no accident.  Marlboro's strategy of loading up on players in their walk year in an effort to win the BDBL championship and stockpile cash for the auction and draft hasn't worked out too well so far.  But then, no one expected it would.

The Confederates were all about confidence and cockiness heading into this season.  After recapturing the Butler Division last year, Ed McGowan made a big, bold statement about his outlook for 2007 when he signed Johan Santana to a BDBL-record $21 million.  (But then, we've already covered that story.)  Next, he traded the #20 prospect in baseball, Ryan Braun, to acquire pesky little fireplug, David Eckstein.  At the time, McGowan stated that Eckstein was the final piece to his championship puzzle.  "Losing Braun has the potential to come back and bite me," he wrote, "but I am not going to sit back and not pull the trigger on any deal I feel points us to the championship each and every year."  Six weeks later, McGowan officially threw in the towel.  And the once-great, once-proud Confederates franchise now sits in third place in the Butler Division with a record of 27-29.  (And, I might add, they are now tied atop the BDBL ALL-TIME standings with 818 wins, and will soon be passed for good.)

Speaking of "once-great" and "once-proud," whatever happened to the Sylmar Padawans?  After reeling off two straight Griffin Division championships (both by the skin of their teeth), the Pads currently sit in last place with a record of 23-33.  Unlike last year, the problem in Sylmar has nothing to do with offense.  (The Pads are currently ranked 5th in runs scored in the OL.)  And their pitching (8th ranked in ERA) doesn't appear to be a problem, either.  It appears the problem is plain old bad luck.  Sylmar currently owns a Pythagorian record that is EIGHT WINS higher than their actual record -- which is easily tops in the BDBL.  They own a 6-14 record in one-run games, thanks in no small part to their closer, Francisco Rodriguez, who has blown five saves in twelve opportunities.  The Padawans with bullpen problems?  Who woulda thunk it?

And finally, over in Akron, the Ryche currently sit in third place with a record of 27-29.  This follows five straight seasons of 80 wins or more.  Of course, they're still only four games behind in the wild card race, so it may be a while before we know if this "fall from grace" is permanent.

Story #5: Those Awful Blazers

We all knew it would be ugly.  But did we ever imagine it would be THIS ugly?

• The Blazers own a 14-42 record (on pace to finish 40-120.)  But they were just 4-24 in Chapter One (the second-worst chapter by any team in BDBL history.)
• They've been outscored by 133 runs so far this season -- an average of 2.4 runs per game.
• They're batting .233/.287/.359 as a team, and are averaging 3.4 runs per game.
• They own a .634 OPS against right-handers.  Neifi Perez owns a .674 career OPS.  So basically, against right-handed pitching, the entire Blazers lineup is worse than Neifi Perez.
• They own a 5.35 team ERA, and as a team they're averaging 10.2 hits allowed, 4.1 walks allowed and 5.6 strikeouts per game.
• Blazers pitchers have allowed opponents to post an .847 OPS against them.  Tony Gwynn owns a career OPS of .847.  So basically, Blazers pitching makes every hitter they face look like Tony Gwynn.

The most amazing part of the Blazers season is that they managed to win 10 games in Chapter Two, and are currently only one game worse than the Marlboro Hammerheads, and two games worse than the Atlanta Fire Ants.  Rest assured, however, that it will only get uglier as the season progresses.  With David Dellucci now gone, the Blazers lineup features only one player (Gary Sheffield) with an OPS over .787 -- and that player is only eligible to step to the plate 144 more times this season.

Story #6: Playoff-bound Rocks??

Don't look now, but the Cleveland Rocks are in first place by four games in the Hrbek Division.  Is it time to order those cases of champagne for a celebration in Cleveland some time around mid-September?

If the Rocks play November baseball this year, only one franchise (the Great Lakes Sphinx) would remain that has yet to make the playoffs in the nine-year history of this league.  Unlike the Sphinx, however, the Rocks franchise has had a few close calls through the years:

• In the league's first season, 1999, Cleveland (then the California Storm) lost a one-game playoff to the Bourbonnais Bad Boys for the EL wild card.  California held a one-run lead heading into the ninth, but Storm closer Matt Mantei choked big-time, allowing three runs to score.  The Storm even caught a break in this game when Bourbannais' starting pitcher, ace Al Leiter, was forced to leave the game in the third inning with a random injury.  But it wasn't enough.
• The very next year, the EL wild card race ended in a tie once again, forcing another one-game playoff.  This time, the Rocks faced the Phoenix Predators.  Despite the fact that Phoenix's ace, Pedro Astacio, had to leave the game early with a random injury, the Predators still prevailed.
• In 2001, the Rocks enjoyed their best year ever, winning 92 games.  Unfortunately for them, it was only good enough for third place, as both Akron and Chicago finished with more than 100 wins.
• And in 2002, Cleveland traded a young Roy Halladay and Joel Piniero in an effort to compete, but despite the fact that no team in the Hrbek Division finished with more than 81 wins, the Rocks finished five games behind the Ryche.

This year, Cleveland owns a 31-25 record despite being outscored by their competition, 264-245.  In fact, while the Rocks are 19 runs in the minus column, the Akron Ryche are 19 runs in the plus column.  The difference between these two teams seems to be their bullpens.  While Cleveland is sporting a 13-6 record in one-run games, and has only blown one lead after seven innings all season, Akron is just 10-10 in one-run games, with five blown leads in late innings.  By no means is this race over.  A key acquisition by either team (or the lurking Black Sox of Chicago) would completely change the face of this pennant race.  But for now, dreams of November baseball once again dance in Mike Stein's head.

Story #7: The Monty Burns Curse Strikes Los Altos

With a .600+ winning percentage and a comfy six-game lead in his division, you wouldn't think Jeff Paulson would have much to worry about these days.  Well, other than global warming, of course.  But while the fate of the 2007 season may be sealed for Paulson, it is 2008 that keeps him awake at night.  (Well, that, and global warming.)

While the Undertakers were predicted to win the BDBL championship this season (at least, on this page), the true fear among BDBL owners was that this would be just the first of many BDBL championships for Los Altos, given their obscene assemblage of pitching aces.  However, something terrible has happened to Paulson's best-laid plans early in this 2007 MLB season.  It seems the Monty Burns Curse has struck the Undertakers in the cruelest way imaginable:

• Chris Carpenter: Los Altos' $20 million ace developed arthritis and an impingement in his pitching elbow in his first MLB start of the season, and is now attempting to work his way off the DL.  He missed nearly the entire month of April, and isn't expected to return until the second week in May (if all goes well.)
• Jason Schmidt: Placed on the DL with shoulder inflammation in mid-April, after getting pounded for six runs on seven hits in a two-inning start.  Paulson felt so uncomfortable paying Schmidt's $10 million salary in 2008 that he's already traded him.
• Ben Sheets: Paulson's $11 million investment has missed his past few starts with a groin strain.  He's pitched 30 innings this MLB season, and has only struck out 13 batters, leading some to speculate that he may be battling more than one injury.
• Jered Weaver: After missing the first two weeks of the MLB season with a biceps injury, Weaver has posted a 5.40 ERA in his first three games.
• Josh Johnson: Placed on the DL with an irritated ulnar nerve in spring training, and has yet to pitch in MLB.
• Mike Pelfrey: As far as we know, he's healthy.  But he also owns a 7.90 ERA on the year.
• Jeremy Sowers: He owns a decent 4.40 ERA on the season, but he's whiffed only 8 batters (while walking 9) in 28.2 innings.  Those are Nate Cornholio numbers!
• Matt Garza: Pushed out of the MLB starting rotation by...Sidney Ponson??...Garza is still toiling away in Triple-A, where he's sporting a 2.84 ERA, but has walked 10 batters in 19 innings.

Most of us would be happy to have ONE ace pitcher for the 2008 season, but here was Paulson stockpiling no fewer than EIGHT of them heading into the season.  Yet, here we are, one month into the MLB season, and the Monty Burns Curse has struck all eight of them in some way.  And that is Paulson's real inconvenient truth.

Story #8: The Rocket's Premature Launch

In 2006, the Blazers threw $19 million at a 43-year-old pitcher, fully aware that it would be an enormous burden on their 2007 team if that pitcher decided to once again "un-retire."  Sure enough, he did just that, and the Blazers were stuck with a $19 million 44-year-old pitcher who was eligible to pitch just half the regular season and part-time in the playoffs.  Without a doubt, New Milford would be forced to pay the price for their masochistic decision by carrying Roger Clemens' salary into the auction and draft.  That would be $19 million less the Blazers could spend to rebuild the franchise they had intentionally burned to the ground.  Sweet Karmic justice.

Then, Bob Sylvester stepped in and threw a monkey wrench into Karma's plans.

Three days before Christmas, the Blazers received an early gift when Sylvester agreed to take Clemens' salary in exchange for Dioner Navarro and $10 million in penalty money.  The question then became: "What will Bob do with Clemens?"  Would he trade him and get even more in return than a backup catcher and $9 million in market value?  Or would he hold onto him and ride him into the playoffs?

That question was answered on March 12th, when the first-place Slyme sent Clemens to the first-place Kansas Law Dogs -- along with Paul Konerko -- in exchange for Adam Jones, Adam LaRoche, Chris Shelton, Ted Lilly and Wil Ledezma.

Here was a first-place team giving another first-place team (in their own league) not only one superstar impact player, but two!  Clemens joined Mike Mussina and Aaron Harang in the Kansas starting rotation, giving them an extremely formidable playoffs rotation.  Then, just three weeks later, the 'Dogs replaced Harang with Johan Santana, transforming their rotation from "formidable" to "downright obscene."

After resting the entire first chapter, Old Man Clemens was given seven starts in Chapter Two, and went 3-0 with a 2.72 ERA.  Despite his efforts, the Law Dogs went just 13-15 in the chapter, and fell into a tie for first in the Higuera Division.  Meanwhile, the Slyme still remain at the top of the Person Division, tied with the Nashville Funkadelic.

How this soap opera will end is anybody's guess, but the route that Clemens took to get into the Kansas starting rotation is the stuff of legend.

Story #9: Villanova "Goes For It"

The Law Dogs' disappointing 13-15 record in Chapter Two allowed the BDBL defending-champion Villanova Mustangs to creep back into the playoff picture.  After the addition of Johan Santana by the Law Dogs, however, this race looked to be over.  But then, Villanova GM Tony Chamra did something quite radical and unexpected.

In a single day, Chamra managed to pry not one, but TWO, ace pitchers from two first-place ballclubs in the middle of the season (which is a history-making feat in and of itself.)  By doing so, he agreed to add at least $15 million to his 2008 payroll by taking on two pitchers who likely will have zero impact on his 2008 ballclub.

Neither Pedro Martinez (6.75 ERA in 40 IP) nor Jason Schmidt (4.44 ERA in 81 IP) were living up to their expectations this season prior to this trade, so Chamra is banking on a change of scenery sparking a major reversal in their performances.  Not that the Mustangs really NEED a major boost to their pitching performance.  The 'Stangs currently lead the EL in ERA (3.85) by a wide margin.  And offensively, Villanova ranks third in the EL in runs scored.  So the question is: how much of a boost did Chamra really buy with that $15 million?

This year's Higuera Division race feels a lot like last year's, only with Chamra playing the role of his mentor, Tom DiStefano.

Story #10: Can You Believe What Jim Doyle Just Did?

The Manchester Irish Rebels were expected to compete for the Benes Division title this year, but a lackluster 28-28 start to the season, combined with a devastating hot streak by the Ravenswood Infidels, means the Irish are currently looking at a NINE-GAME deficit in the division -- by far, the largest in the BDBL.  But don't let that stop Jim Doyle from recognizing where he is on the success cycle.

Despite a roster that includes Miguel Cabrera, Scott Kazmir, Cole Hamels, Matt Cain, Carlos Quentin, Nick Markakis and Alfonso Soriano, Doyle convinced himself that the window of opportunity for his team is closing rapidly, and that 2007 is his best shot at making the playoffs.  The devastation to his team's future began with his signing of C.C. Sabathia to a $20 million salary this winter.

It then continued when, just prior to Opening Day, Doyle sent three very promising youngsters (Yovani Gallardo, Adam Loewen and Jarred Saltalamacchia) to the Chicago Black Sox in exchange for Ivan Rodriguez and Kurt Suzuki.  While I-Rod is hitting just .251/.300/.407 for the Rebels, and Suzuki is hitting an empty .300 for the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, Loewen has compiled a 3.20 ERA in MLB, Gallardo is sporting a 2.35 ERA in Triple-A (with a 7/33 BB/K ratio in 23 IP), and Salty is tearing the cover off the ball (.329/.424/.658) in Double-A.

Rather than cut his losses, however, Doyle went back to the well yet again prior to the Chapter Two deadline, and traded yet another outstanding young prospect, Andrew McCutchen, in exchange for free-agent-to-be Jason Giambi.

Jim Doyle is clearly on a mission.  A mission to do what, only he knows.  (And I'm not even sure about that!)