September, 2012

Three Cheers for the Champs

New Milford Blazers

Probably the least surprising event to occur in 2012 was the season-long dominance of the Blazers.  New Milford went into the winter with the most dominant team in the league, on paper, and left the auction with two more MVP-caliber players in David Ortiz and C.J. Wilson.  Ortiz was signed despite the fact that the team already had an MVP candidate (Adrian Gonzalez) entrenched at first base.  No problem, though.  Peburn simply played the fat bastard out of position all season.  The result: 136 games in right field, 144 put-outs, 5 assists and only 7 errors.

At the plate, Ortiz took full advantage of the ridiculously low ballpark factors Diamond Mind mysteriously gave to Fenway Park, hitting a whopping .320/.382/.575, with 50 doubles, 33 homers, 110 runs scored and 90 RBI's.  Despite those Nintendo-like numbers, he was arguably only the third best hitter on the team.  The aforementioned Gonzlez led the team with a .360 batting average, posted a .990 OPS, hit 42 doubles and 33 homers, scored 114 runs, and drove in 105.  Alex Avila (.324/.391/.552, 50 2B, 25 HR, 94 RBI) also had a monster season in a ballpark tailor-built for left-handers like himself.

Another lefty, Robinson Cano, hit .317/.377/.560 with 23 homers.  He also hit 53 doubles, giving the Blazers THREE batters with 50+ doubles in the same season.  Together, those four hitters combined for more than 511 runs created.  If we add Shane Victorino's 108.4 runs created, that gives five players a total of 620.2 RC, which is more than the entire team totals posted by Bear Country and Granite State.

Overall, New Milford's 877 runs scored is a far cry from their 2011 total of 935.  This year's version also hit fewer home runs (194 vs. 230), walked less (443 vs. 617), and had a lower OBP (.347 vs. 354) and SLG% (.479 vs. .485).  Of course, that 2011 squad was swept out of the OLCS, so maybe that's not so important.

The striking difference between the Blazers in 2011 and v.2012 is on the mound.  The addition of Wilson made a tremendous impact.  The Blazers already owned a Cy Young winner (Clayton "Asswipe" Kershaw) heading into the winter.  Wilson was nearly a carbon copy:

Having those two pitch four times in a seven game series will probably have a big effect on the team's post-season fate.  (Thanks, again, to those of you who didn't bid for Wilson.)

As if those two weren't enough, the team also picked up Cliff Lee in a mid-summer trade in exchange for a used 1991 Honda Civic with a bad transmission and 254,000 miles on it.  Lee (8-6, 3.57 ERA in 123+ innings) was a bit of a "disappointment" compared to his MLB numbers, but what do you expect from a "#3 pitcher?"  If New Milford decides to go with a four-man rotation in the playoffs, they will likely hand the ball to 16th-century Renaissance artist Guillermo Moscoso (10-5, 3.79 ERA in 133 IP).

As we all knew well before the season began, the Blazers are the favorites to win the OL championship.  Fortunately, sometimes it's difficult to live up to great expectations.  (See the '08 Slyme, the '07 Cowtippers, the '05 Cowtippers...or pretty much any Cowtippers team.)  If you're looking for a reason to believe the Blazers will not win the OL title (and who isn't?), you could point to their 7-9 regular season record against the Cowtippers.  But seven of those games were decided by two runs or less, so the overall record is almost meaningless.  And of course, there has also been endless chatter on the BDBL forum about the fact that all three of New Milford's aces are left-handed.  But given the performances of Wilson (.228/.289/.334) and Kershaw (.235/.279/.342) against right-handers this season, that doesn't seem like much of an issue at all.  That said, the Cowtippers were the 6th best hitting team in the entire BDBL this season against left-handers, so there is a glimmer of hope in Salem.

Allentown Ridgebacks

When some teams lose 105 games in a season, it is a death sentence.  When Tom DiStefano loses 105 games, it's an opportunity.  The Ridgebacks won BDBL championship #4 in 2010, winning 109 games during the regular season, and then marching their way toward another inevitable trophy.  That team was carried by two unlikely heroes -- Ben Zobrist and Jason Bartlett -- who had spent their entire careers as slap-hitting utility infielders before trading their souls for one out-of-nowhere monster season.  Combined, the two hit 47 homers (35 by Zobrist), 74 doubles and scored 213 runs.  When the season ended, however, their chariots turned into pumpkins, and they returned to the same old light-hitting utility infielders they had always been.

Although the Ridgebacks still had plenty of firepower in Ryan Braun, Jay Bruce, Justin Morneau, Lance Berkman, Ian Kinsler and others, DiStefano decided it wasn't enough to bother trying to defend his title.  So he began scrapping his team for parts, dealing Morneau, Berkman, Kinsler and several others in exchange for youngsters and cheap fliers.  One of those cheap fliers was Jacoby Ellsbury, who had spent his entire career (major league, minor league and most likely little league) as a slap-hitting speedster whose career-high in home runs at any level was 9.  But once again, the Baseball Gods' favorite son was blessed with yet another miracle.  Overnight, Ellsbury suddenly and mysteriously blossomed into a power hitter.  The result for the 2012 Ridgebacks has been nothing short of breathtaking: .336/.373/.583, 40 doubles, 32 homers, 110 runs scored, 125 RBI's.

Ellsbury hardly carried the Allentown lineup alone this season.  Ryan Braun (.300/.375/.512) contributed 30 homers and 100 ribbies to the cause.  Zobrist (.259/.344/.436, 54 doubles, 17 homers, 126 runs scored) bounced back to have another quality season.  And Todd Helton -- a $1 million flier taken in the 2011 auction -- hit .293/.361/.471 with 15 homers.

Amazingly enough, the Ridgebacks managed to score 781 runs this season despite the fact that Jay Bruce (.271/.358/.489) managed only 229 at-bats in the over-crowded Allentown outfield, despite Mike Stanton hitting just .233/.323/.440, despite Chipper Jones hitting just .230/.288/.368 as a Ridgeback, and despite Carlos Santana hitting just .207/.333/.358 with only 11 home runs.

With all this talk about the Allentown offense, you would think that would be the main reason this team is en route to the playoffs.  In fact, it is the pitching that carried this team throughout the year.  Allentown set a new BDBL team record by posting an ERA of just 3.00.  Tim Hudson (10-5, 2.35 ERA in 130+ IP as a Ridgeback), Jeremy Hellickson (15-5, 3.07 ERA), Josh Beckett (17-10, 3.32 ERA) and Tim Lincecum (16-11, 3.35 ERA, 263 K's in 236+ IP) formed the league's best starting rotation.  And as if that weren't enough, DiStefano gave his team a 5th ace by acquiring Michael Pineda (9-2, 3.35 ERA in 91+ IP for Allentown) in trade, for no apparent reason other than he could.

But perhaps the team's greatest strength this season was their bullpen trio of Brad Ziegler (1.26 ERA in 57+ IP), Greg Holland (1.37 ERA in 65+ IP) and Koji Uehara (2.31 ERA in 70 IP).  Thanks to those three, the Ridgebacks lost just two games all season when leading after seven innings.

The Ridgebacks were 6-6 against the St. Louis Apostles this season, but went just 1-3 in their only match-up after the Apostles acquired several impact players at the Chapter Four trading deadline.  In the third game of that series, Tim Lincecum went 6 innings, allowing 3 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks, while striking out 12.  Yet, when the Division Series rosters were announced, Lincecum was left off the roster entirely.  DiStefano explained that he doesn't "like the way Lincecum matches up" with St. Louis' lineup.  Given the nearly identical numbers between Lincecum and Pineda (presumably his replacement) in platoon splits, walk rate and home run rate, I really can't imagine what was meant by Tom's statement.  But given the four trophies sitting on his mantle, I'll assume he knows what he's doing.

Sylmar Padawans

Padawans GM John Duel headed into the free agent auction with a league-high $33.7 million in spending money.  Unfortunately for Duel, the free agent Class of 2012 was by far the weakest in league history.  In the first two days of the draft, Duel signed a couple of starting pitchers at $3.5 million each that most figured would be mediocre at best.  The first signing, Carl Pavano, proved to be a serviceable innings-eater, going 13-10 with a 4.18 ERA in 211 innings.  But Duel's second signing turned out to be the steal of the draft.  Jason Hammel, a less-than-mediocre pitcher in MLB '11, posted a record of 19-6 for the Padawans this season, with a 2.59 ERA in 187+ innings.  Defying all expectations (and logic), he won the OL ERA title and finished among the top three in opponent batting average, OBP and slugging.

Duel's trade with Matt Clemm in the winter of 2011 has become the new Gold Standard for horrendous BDBL trades, displacing the legendary Jones-for-Dempster deal by noted horrendous dealer Jim Doyle.  Most people focus on the Alex Rodriguez component of Duel's trade with the Jamboree, simply because of the size and long-reaching ramifications of A-Rod's contract (which Clemm insisted upon before making the deal.)  But let's not forget that Clemm also traded a $100,000 Madison Bumgarner in exchange for A-Rod and his contract.  All Bumgarner did this year was go 20-7 with a 3.08 ERA and 207 K's in 224+ innings.

The trio of Bumgarner, Hammel and Pavano formed a solid, if not spectacular, rotation for most of the season.  But Sylmar's entire season -- and post-season fortunes -- changed radically with the Chapter Four acquisition of Roy Halladay.  As with the Bumgarner trade, Halladay was simply dropped into Duel's lap without requiring much of a sacrifice whatsoever (Peter Bourjos, Rafael Furcal, Juan Nicasio, and Ryan Howard's contract.)  Since coming to the Padawans, Halladay has perhaps the Ozzie League's best pitcher: 9-4, 2.29 ERA in 121+ IP, with a 12/102 BB/K ratio.

Offensively, a couple of players picked up via trade this past winter carried the team: Lance Berkman (.290/.381/.530, 31 HR, 111.9 RC) and Matt Holliday (.301/.379/.557, 29 HR, 100.4 RC).  Long-time Padawan Hunter Pence (.323/.374/.485, 19 HR, 110.9 RC) also enjoyed a career year.  Howard (.255/.365/.561, 17 HR in 212 AB) has been very effective since his acquisition.  And former Allentown mainstay Mark Reynolds has been the most productive .198 hitter in league history, as he hit 30 homers and created 64.1 runs.

After spending the past several years painfully explaining his strategy of fiscal prudence to the league again and again, Duel has thrown that strategy out the window, sacrificing extended success for one shot at greatness.  To get to the next round, the Padawans will have to get past the Mississippi Meatballs, against whom they went 9-3 during the regular season.  And given that the Meatballs will be without many of their best players thanks to overusage -- again -- the Padawans are in a very good position to advance to the OLCS for the first time since 2005.

Kansas Law Dogs

In most years, 106 wins would be good enough to capture the #1 seed in the playoffs.  This year, however, it wasn't even enough to capture the division crown.  The Law Dogs had a tremendous season offensively, leading the Eck League in home runs (221), while ranking #2 in runs scored (823) and OPS (.791).  This, from a team that I wrote "doesn't have much to Twitter about" offensively in my pre-season preview.

As expected, Kansas got huge seasons out of Jose Bautista (.299/.433/.608, 49 HR, 154.6 RC) and Carlos Gonzalez (.272/.335/.529, 34 HR, 87.4 RC).  I wrote in my preview that J.J. Hardy had some "nice power numbers, but only gets on base at a .310 clip."  Well, Hardy surprised by hitting .311, driving his OBP up to a respectable .333.  That went along with the expected power supply of 37 HR, giving him 102.1 runs created on the season.

To his credit, Chris Luhning never took it for granted that he would finish behind the Allentown Ridgebacks in his division, and he fought and scrapped every step of the way, right to the finish line.  He made a significant trade before Opening Day, and never stopped tweaking his roster until the final deadline had passed.  That pre-season deal with the San Antonio Broncs shored up the Kansas starting rotation, adding a third ace to the roster in the name of Doug Fister.  Fister ended up winning 20 games for Kansas, to go along with a team-best 3.04 ERA in 234 innings.  He was added to a Kansas rotation that already included mainstays Cole Hamels (22-7, 3.24 ERA in 227+ IP) and Matt Cain (15-11, 3.30 ERA in 232 IP), giving Kansas one of the league's best rotations.

Last winter, Luhning exchanged closers with the Corona Confederates, trading Joaquim Soria for Mariano Rivera.  All Rivera did for Kansas was post a microscopic 1.26 ERA in 64+ innings and save a league-high 55 games.  At the final trading deadline of the year, Luhning made another trade with the San Antonio Broncs, adding Heath Bell (1.93 ERA in 32+ IP as a Law Dog) to be Rivera's setup man, as well as fortifying the catcher's position with Miguel Montero (.316/.358/.576, 16 HR in just 75 games).

Another significant off-season trade made by Luhning involved the trade of Michael Young and Brett Gardner to Great Lakes in exchange for Logan Morrison and Coco Crisp.  Although it seemed like a significant downgrade at the time for Kansas, Morrison (.295/.386/.525, 21 HR, 84.9 RC) turned out to be a decent replacement for Young's bat, and Crisp (.290/.329/.457, 34 2B, 10 3B, 13 HR, 102 R, 48 SB) proved to be an excellent replacement for Gardner -- all at a fraction of the cost.

It has been a grueling battle for the Law Dogs all season long, and that battle will only get more difficult from this point forward.  Regardless of the outcome, Chris Luhning should be proud of what he has accomplished this season.

Mississippi Meatballs

The Meatballs franchise reached the 100-win mark for the first time in franchise history this season.  Unfortunately, it came at a price, as manager Nic Weiss once again overused several key players en route to that milestone.  Nelson Cruz (.255/.300/.419, 14 HR in 384 AB), Victor Martinez (.332/.376/.470, 13 HR, 50 2B, 105.1 RC) and Troy Tulowitzki (.320/.385/.576, 36 HR, 133.9 RC) are all ineligible for the Division Series due to overuse.  That's the team's best hitter, second-best hitter, and one of their best power hitters. Ricky Romero (17-12, 3.87 ERA in 249 IP) was also overused, but is eligible to play if Weiss pays a $1 million penalty.

If this story sounds familiar, it's because Weiss did the same thing last year, overusing Romero, Martinez, Tulowitzki, Colby Rasmus, Scott Rolen and Wandy Rodriguez, disqualifying them from the Division Series.

These unfortunate suspensions mar what was otherwise an extraordinary season.  The Meatballs owned the second-best offense in the Ozzie League, scoring 775 runs (over 100 fewer than New Milford, who ranked #1), and posted a .756 team OPS.  Aside from Tulo, Martinez and Cruz, David Wright also hit .265/.343/.420 with 13 HR and 62.1 runs created.  And Dan Uggla smashed 35 homers while hitting .245/.316/.482.

On the pitching side, Romero was by far the most effective starter on the squad, and should win a few Cy Young votes with 17 wins, a 3.87 ERA and 243 K's in 249 innings.  The rest of the staff consists of Jake Peavy (9-7, 3.57 ERA in 121 IP), Erik Bedard (6-2, 3.73 ERA in 70 IP as a Meatball), Brandon Morrow (9-10, 4.04 ERA in 196 IP) and someone named McClellan (9-6, 4.22 ERA in 153+ IP).  Jaime Garcia (9-4, 5.65 ERA in 108+ IP) is another option, although his performance the entire season hardly warrants a major role in the post-season.

Mississippi's bullpen was its strength throughout the season.  Four relievers managed to post an ERA of 2.15 or below, with at least 41 innings each: Al Albuquerque (1.54 ERA in 41 IP), Sergio Santos (1.83 ERA in 68+ IP), J.J. Putz (1.85 ERA in 63+ IP, with 44 saves) and Mike Adams (2.15 ERA in 79+ IP).

Way back in 1999, the hapless Litchfield Lightning, led by the hapless Phil Geisel, somehow managed to overuse ELEVEN different players during the season en route to winning the OL wild card.  The Lightning drew the Los Altos Undertakers in the Division Series, in what was then the league's most lopsided mismatch.  And yet somehow, some way, despite the suspensions of six of their starting players, including two all-stars and their best pitcher, the Lightning managed to upset the Undertakers and advanced to the OLCS.  In other words, stranger things have happened in the BDBL.

Chicago Black Sox

2012 was just another typical year for Chicago.  They began the year as they always seem to do, losing 17 out of their first 28 games.  After one chapter of play, they already trailed the first-place Akron Ryche by double digits.  They then spent the next four chapters gaining ground in that race, going 74-30.  Their .712 winning percentage over those four chapters was the best in the BDBL -- by four games!  And their .689 winning percentage over the final five chapters tied New Milford for the best record in the BDBL.

The mystery isn't why Chicago was so good over the last five chapters; it's why they were so bad in the first chapter.  But hey, this is a wacky game, and things happen.  In the end, the Black Sox wrapped up the season with the EL lead in runs scored (868) and OPS (.791).  After a slow start, Miguel Cabrera finished with MVP numbers (.326/.405/.543, 45 2B, 29 HR, 123 R, 116 RBI).  Starlin Castro (.316/.344/.421, 43 2B) was as good as Bobby predicted.  Evan Longoria (.302/.382/.606, 42 HR, 100 R, 133 RBI) posted MVP-type numbers.  Matt Wieters (.300/.360/.492, 36 2B, 21 HR, 93 RBI) enjoyed a stellar sophomore campaign.  Justin Upton (.278/.342/.486, 44 2B, 24 HR, 91 RBI) also overcame an abysmal start to post all-star numbers.  And newcomer Matt Kemp (.295/.348/.483, 14 HR in 80 games) provided the mid-season offensive boost the team was hoping for.

Great offense is nothing new in Chicago.  The news this year is that Chicago's pitching excelled as well.  Jered Weaver (23-4, 3.17 ERA in 255+ innings) may win the EL Cy Young award.  Carlos Zambrano (12-4, 3.15 ERA in 157 IP) was shockingly good in a supporting role.  Zach Britton (14-7, 4.16 ERA in 164+ IP) turned in a stellar rookie campaign.  And Anibal Sanchez (9-5, 4.22 ERA in 134+ IP) was solid for Chicago after his Chapter Three acquisition.

In the bullpen, no one was better than Ryan Madson, who posted a microscopic 1.08 ERA in 41+ innings, with 33 saves.  And Sean Burnett (1.57 ERA in 34+ IP) and David Pauley (1.75 ERA in 66+ IP) were stellar in the setup role.

Chicago managed to reach the 100-win mark for the fifth time in franchise history.  And their reward for reaching that milestone is facing another 100-win team in the Division Series, the Kansas Law Dogs.  Chicago went just 5-7 against Kansas during the regular season, and managed only 2 wins in their last 8 meetings.  In those 12 games, however, 8 of them were decided by 2 or fewer runs, so despite the lopsided record, this Division Series is a coin-toss.

Salem Cowtippers

It wasn't pretty, but the Cowtippers managed to claw their way back into the post-season.  Salem never had a shot at the division title, so it was a battle for the OL wild card from Game One.  The Cowtippers held onto a decent lead in that wild card race throughout most of the first half, and headed into the all-star break with a three-game lead in that race.  Then, in Chapter Four, Salem went just 7-17, which allowed a few other teams to jump into the race.  The Cowtippers followed that abysmal "effort" by winning 19 games in Chapter Five to seemingly put the wild card race in the rear view.  But then, in Chapter Six, Salem stumbled yet again, and went just 14-14.  In the end, the Cowtippers managed to eke out the wild card win by just two games.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.  Salem headed into Opening Day with what appeared to be a stellar starting rotation headed by Cy Young candidate James Shields and all-stars Wandy Rodriguez, Ubaldo Jimenez and Colby Lewis.  Shields got off to a great start, and owned a 10-6 record and 3.30 ERA at the all-star break.  But he stumbled HARD in Chapter Four, posting an absurd ERA of 7.68 over six starts.  And he was merely mediocre over the final two chapters, with a 4.34 ERA over 45+ innings.

Rodriguez was a disaster from Day One, and finished with an ERA (4.86) nearly a run and a half higher than his MLB ERA.  And Jimenez (4.32) and Lewis (5.96) were equally disappointing.

At the Chapter Four deadline, I made a bold decision.  Instead of standing pat with "good enough", I put it all on the line and made a few trades to strengthen my team for both this year and next.  In doing so, I traded away our MVP, Matt Kemp.  At the time, Kemp was hitting a robust .328/.387/.607, with 23 homers and 64 RBI's.  He was among the league leaders in several categories, and was a huge weapon against all the left-handed pitchers in my division.  But he was also my team's greatest trade bait.  And after he injured himself in MLB, jeopardizing his 2013 BDBL season, the decision to trade him became a no-brainer.

In a controversial 11-player trade with the Chicago Black Sox, I traded Kemp, along with Jimenez, in exchange for Melky Cabrera, Paul Maholm, Trevor Plouffe and several others.  The league cried foul, claiming that I was "throwing in the towel."  But I wasn't done yet.  I then traded lefty reliever Darren Oliver and several players with future value to the St. Louis Apostles in exchange for Dustin Pedroia.  I traded a few more players with future value to the Atlanta Fire Ants in exchange for Sean Marshall, Carlos Pena and Juan Rivera.  And I swapped another couple of future assets for B.J. Upton.

In the end, Cabrera (.318/.349/.490, 12 HR, 58 RBI) and Upton (.289/.362/.474, 9 HR, 38 RBI) filled the void left by Kemp.  Pedroia (.328/.396/.529, 14 HR in 79 G) was a huge upgrade over Jamey Carroll at second base.  And Juan Rivera (.358/.433/.557) was a big upgrade over Justin Smoak at first base.  The Cowtippers hit .260/.317/.398 as a team, and averaged 4.5 runs per game, before these trades.  After these trades, Salem hit .285/.349/.435, and averaged 5.1 runs per game.

With the offense completely overhauled, I then turned my attention to the pitching staff.  At the final trading deadline of the season, I made another big trade with the Villanova Mustangs, dealing Lewis and several top prospects in exchange for Dan Hudson and Yovani Gallardo.  Hudson (6-2, 4.48 ERA in 84+ IP) was mysteriously a disappointment, yet still far more effective than Lewis.  And Gallardo (5-5, 4.43 ERA in 91+ IP) proved to be a decent replacement for the departed Jimenez.

In the end, through this series of trades, the Cowtippers set themselves up nicely for the stretch run, the playoffs and the 2013 season.  It's now up to the Baseball Gods to decide how the rest of this story plays out.

St. Louis Apostles

The Apostles were expected to dominate this division.  They were picked to win the division handily in my pre-season preview, and in pre-season league polling, St. Louis earned a unanimous vote.  Yet, four chapters into the season, the Apostles found themselves tied atop the division with the Southern Cal Slyme, each with a winning percentage of .567.  From that point forward, St. Louis picked up the pace, going 38-18 (.679) down the stretch, while the Slyme did a belly-flop (25-31, .446).

It's probably not a coincidence that this incredible turn of events happened to coincide with a blockbuster 11-player trade between St. Louis and SoCal at the Chapter Five deadline.  Despite leading his division at the time, SoCal GM Bob Sylvester threw in the towel on the 2012 season and traded several star players for future considerations.  Six of those players went to his son Bobby's team.  Paul Konerko (.282/.353/.607, 18 HR in 56 G) was a major source of power down the stretch for St. Louis, and was a major upgrade over Matt LaPorta (.242/.381/.444) and Mark Trumbo (.233/.273/.472) at first base.  And Josh Johnson (1.38 ERA in 26 IP) and Daniel Bard (1.08 ERA in 16+ IP) allowed just 6 earned runs combined in 43 innings over the final two chapters.

The trade didn't cost the Apostles anything in terms of 2012 value, and as it both strengthened the St. Louis club and weakened the Slyme, the Apostles were able to vault into the post-season uncontested.

Of course, these were hardly the only trades made by Bobby Sylvester this season.  It just wouldn't be a BDBL season unless the younger Sylvester turned over nearly 100% of his roster.  The winter began with a blockbuster trade with the Chicago Black Sox in which Sylvester sacrificed his former "franchise player" Starlin Castro and netted top prospects Jesus Montero and Yonder Alonso in exchange.  He then flipped Montero to Jim Doyle's New York Giants -- along with Chris Carpenter -- in exchange for Gio Gonzalez, Phil Humber and Lance McCullers.  Humber (11-9, 3.22 ERA in 178+ IP) ably replaced Carpenter in the rotation, and Gonzalez was then flipped (along with Alonso and Zack Greinke) to the Great Lakes Sphinx for Cliff Lee, Jered Weaver and David Wright (who was then immediately flipped to Mississippi.)

Weaver didn't hang around long, either.  Just prior to Opening Day, he was flipped to the Chicago Black Sox, along with Justin Upton and several others, in exchange for Pablo Sandoval, Curtis Granderson and three others -- including Jarrod Parker, the key to the Chapter Four SoCal deal.

This is all very confusing, I realize, so let me try to break this down into much simpler terms.  Last winter, Bobby basically traded Jesus Montero, Starlin Castro and Justin Upton for Cliff Lee, Pablo Sandoval and Curtis Granderson.  Lee went 8-2 for St. Louis, with a 4.02 ERA, before he, too, was later shipped off to New Milford (but I'll get to that later.)  Sandoval hit .292/.331/.549 with 21 homers and 80.8 runs created.  And Granderson hit .271/.374/.511 with a team-leading 12 triples, 30 home runs and 112.9 runs created.

Take a deep breath.  He wasn't done trading.

In December, Sylvester made yet another blockbuster trade involving a big-name player.  This name was perhaps the biggest: long-time franchise mainstay Albert Pujols.  Pujols was shipped, along with Mariano Rivera, to the Corona Confederates in exchange for Joe Mauer, Mark Trumbo and Allen Craig.  Mauer hit a respectable .284/.365/.348 in his first season away from the Corona franchise, and Craig added a .318/.382/.570 batting line in limited (179 AB) appearances.

Sylvester still wasn't done.  A week later, he acquired another big bat for his lineup, sacrificing Austin Jackson and a few others in exchange for Michael Young.  Young was among the most productive members of the St. Louis lineup, hitting .328/.373/.469, with 50 doubles and 112.1 runs created.  That same day, Sylvester made his final blockbuster trade of the winter, acquiring Dan Haren (12-17, 4.41 ERA in 261+ IP) from the Bear Country Jamboree in exchange for prospects.

After the Weaver trade just prior to Opening Day, Sylvester somehow calmed down a little bit.  Amazingly, he didn't make a single trade in Chapters Two or Three.  Then, at the Chapter Four deadline, he went nutty -- again -- making a total of 10 trades involving 46 players (and who knows how many draft picks.)

First, Dustin Pedroia was shipped off to the Salem Cowtippers in exchange for Jamey Carroll and Darren Oliver (with several other prospects involved.)  Carroll was then immediately flipped (along with Trumbo and others) to South Carolina in exchange for Brandon Phillips (.272/.322/.426), et al.  Next, Lee was flipped to the Blazers in exchange for Mike Morse, Gavin Floyd and Josh Collmenter.  Morse (.331/.379/.610, 18 HR in 236 AB) became the team's top hitter down the stretch, while Floyd (8-1, 3.18 ERA in 104+ IP) and Collmenter (6-3, 4.33 ERA in 89+ IP) more than capably filled in for the departed Lee.

Next, Sylvester sent several players to the San Antonio Broncs in exchange for Josh Willingham.  He then immediately flipped Willingham to the Granite State Lightning in exchange for prospects.  Before the deadline had passed, Sylvester also acquired and then immediately flipped Casey Kotchman and Nolan Reimold.

Thank god for the Chapter Five trading deadline, or Bobby would still be trading.  That helpful deadline allowed the dust to settle long enough for us to gauge what kind of team we're looking at.  With Morse, Young, Craig, Andre Ethier, Sandoval, Mauer, Konerko, Phillips and Granderson, this is a very good lineup that scored an average of 5.2 runs per game over the final two chapters when they were all playing together.

In terms of pitching, we're looking at a playoffs rotation consisting of Floyd, Humber, Collmenter and Haren, with Scott Baker (10-5, 4.05 ERA) also available if needed.  It is rare to see a successful playoffs team that lacks a traditional ace, but Bobby Sylvester has always insisted that ace pitchers are unnecessary to succeed in November.  I guess this year's squad will test that theory.  The St. Louis bullpen is very strong, with four pitchers (Rafael Betancourt, Bard, Johnson and Fernando Salas) who would be closers on most other teams in the BDBL.

Despite all of the frenetic wheeling and dealing (or perhaps because of it), the Apostles have earned a ticket to the Post-Season Tournament of Randomness.  And as we know all too well from BDBL history, anything can happen from this point forward.  St. Louis will have their hands full in the Division Series, dealing with the Allentown Ridgebacks and their record-setting pitching staff, their five-headed outfield monster, and their status as the favorite children of the Baseball Gods.  But lesser teams have beaten better teams in post-seasons past.  Just ask Bobby's dad.