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May 1, 2002 The Biggest Stories of 2002 We've hit the one-third mark of the 2002 season, and you know what that means. Time to review where we've been by looking at the ten biggest stories of the year (so far): Story #1: The Trade. Every year, it seems as if "The Trade" is always the #1 story of the season. In 1999, "The Trade" was Randy Johnson moving to Stamford. In 2000, "The Trade" was John Smoltz moving to Stamford. In 2001, "The Trade" was Tim Salmon and Phil Nevin moving to Stamford. This year, we finally have a new team involved in "The Trade." On March 6th, the Allentown Ridgebacks added Curt Schilling to a pitching staff that already included Randy Johnson, Roy Oswalt and Wade Miller. Instantly, the balance of power in the BDBL shifted from the Zoots to the Ridgebacks. This trade has been discussed ad nauseum on the message board, and the quality of the players "sacrificed" (and received in addition to Johnson) by the Ridgebacks in this trade has been debated at great length, so I won't rehash those old arguments here. While the merits of this trade have been, and will continue to be, questioned, there is no question that it has had an enormous impact on the 2002 season. At the time the trade was made, I expressed some fear that this deal would cause a mass exodus of teams vying for contention. I even went so far as to question whether this trade was "in the best interests of the BDBL." Sure enough, just one-third of the way into our season, less than a third of our 24 teams are still trying to compete this year. Is this a direct result of the Schilling trade? No, not completely. In years past, we've seen plenty of teams bow out early to refocus on rebuilding for next year. This year, though, it seems as though more teams are voluntarily dropping out of contention - and they're doing so earlier than ever before. I have no doubt that the Schilling trade had at least something to do with that. With the exception of maybe one or two wild card races, it will be six months before any meaningful games will be played in the BDBL. Our BDBL season now lasts for only two chapters, spanning three months. Clearly, something must be done. Which leads to our next item... Story #2: Going Once, Going Twice? When I first sat down and wrote the framework for our BDBL rulebook in the Fall of 1998, one of my goals was to create a league where poor teams could improve themselves in a hurry. Another one of my main goals was to create a league that was as close to a realistic model of Major League Baseball as possible. Four years later, I'm beginning to think those two goals are mutually-exclusive. Every year, the question is raised as to how we can stop so many teams from giving up their hopes of contention so early and skewing competitive balance by giving away their superstars in exchange for future considerations. Under our current rules, you can't blame a non-contending team at all for wanting to unload their overpriced superstars for tomorrow's bargains. And you certainly can't blame competing teams for sacrificing their future for a shot at post-season glory. But if the BDBL is ever going to feature a season that is more than two chapters long, we have to reconsider the way we reward teams for losing and punish teams for winning. The new "d-day" draft proposal may just be the solution to all of the league's problems in terms of realism and competitive imbalance. If this proposal passes, there will no longer be an incentive for teams to lose. Non-contending GM's will no longer feel so anxious to dump their star players. Contenders will be forced to sacrifice greater talent to load up for the playoffs. Free agent dispersal will be far more realistic and payroll-management will become far more important and challenging. In short, the d-day draft proposal will turn my original vision for this league into a reality. I'm just sorry I didn't think of it sooner. Story #3: Blazers Fizzle - Again. How many times have we seen this story before? The New Milford Blazers go into the regular season with a top-shelf pitching staff and a promise of turning their franchise around with a long-awaited winning season, only to have those dreams snuffed out in less than two chapters. In the history of the BDBL, a team has lost 100 or more games six times. Three of those teams have also made the playoffs at least once in the past three years. One of those teams, Allentown, is well on its way to the playoffs this season. The Blazers are the only BDBL franchise to have lost 100 games in a season twice. Not only haven't they made the playoffs, they haven't even sniffed a 70-win season yet. In three and one-third seasons, the Blazers own a franchise record of 182-352. That's a career franchise winning percentage of just .341. Instead of taking a huge step forward this season as expected, the Blazers have actually found a way to underperform their historical record, winning at a .296 clip this season. How can this be? Well, as I wrote on this page a couple of months ago, last-place teams in the BDBL have historically turned their franchises around quickly by taking advantage of our rulebook. The Blazers, quite simply, haven't done so. For every trade they've made to help the team in the future, they've made just as many trades that have hurt the future of the franchise. They've paid far too much money to mediocre players, giving them too little money to spend in the draft. They've wasted their top draft picks on players who provided little help to the franchise either instantly or in the future. They've wasted their top farm picks on players who will likely never make a contribution to the Blazers franchise. And most egregious of all, they haven't taken advantage of their high picks in the free agent acquisition process, letting useful players slip by them while they slept on the sidelines. Put it all together and you've got a recipe for four straight losing seasons. Once again, the story heading into next year will be how much the Blazers have improved, and how they should enjoy their first winning season and perhaps even a spot in the playoffs. They'll have a pitching staff that includes C.C. Sabathia, Vicente Padilla and Kevin Millwood and a lineup that includes Sean Burroughs, Alfonso Soriano, Torii Hunter, Austin Kearns, Corey Patterson, Darryl Ward and Ramon Vazquez. Add in the fact that they'll lose $29.3 million in free agents, and the Blazers should be able to compete in 2003 - and far beyond that. Then again, I could be writing about them again on this page at the same time next year. Story #4: The Salem Streak. The Salem Cowtippers strung together fourteen straight wins in Chapter One. Did this set a BDBL record? Who knows? We don't keep track of streak stats in this league. Did it change the course of the Benes Division race? Without a doubt. The Cowtippers weren't expected to run away with the Benes Division this season. In fact, the Great Lakes Sphinx got nearly as many votes to win the division as the Cowtippers in our pre-season polls. The Marlboro Hammerheads were also supposed to make a strong run at the division title. But thanks to that fluky streak early in the season, both teams have now dropped out of the race, leaving only the Manchester Irish Rebels to stop Salem from coasting to their fourth straight division title. How did this happen? Well, for starters, Salem's pitching has been outstanding. They own a 2.91 ERA as a team, due in some part to a better-than-average defense. Mike Mussina (7-3, 3.08) and Steve Sparks (5-3, 3.55) have pitched about as well as expected. Pedro Astacio (5-1, 3.73) is pitching as well as everyone but Paul Marazita expected. But the rest of the starting staff has peformed well above and beyond expectations. 26th-round draft pick Paul Byrd was unhittable in Chapter One, posting a microscopic 0.90 ERA in 20 innings before being shipped off to Atlanta. His replacement, Shane Reynolds (2-1, 3.46), has done a fine job filling in for him. Paul Wilson (6-1, 2.15) was phenomenal in Chapter Two, and has been one of the bigger mysteries in the BDBL this season. John Thomson (4-0, 2.91) has been spectacular in limited time. And the bullpen foursome of Derek Lowe, David Weathers, Mike Magnante and Norm Charlton has a combined ERA of 2.00. (This, from an organization that has been criticized for their ability to scout pitching.) Offensively, the Cowtippers have a couple of players performing better than expected (Robin Ventura and Mike Cameron) and a couple of players performing worse than expected (Lance Berkman and David Eckstein.) Overall, the Cowtippers are #1 in runs scored in the Ozzie League for the second year in a row, and third year out of the last four. It's possible that even without the streak, Salem might have run away with the division. But thanks to that fluky streak, there is now little doubt about it. Story #5: Chicago Hopeless. The Chicago Black Sox have been a roller coaster franchise throughout BDBL history. This year, Black Sox fans are undoubtedly yelling, "Stop the ride! We want to get off!" Chicago went from 101 losses in 1999 to 105 wins in 2000. They won 105 games again in 2001, and they are now on pace to lose 127 games this season after starting the year with a BDBL-worst 11-43 record. If they maintain this pace, they'll own the BDBL record for losses - something that would have been hard to believe a year or two ago. What happened? Well, for starters, Chicago's pitching has been even worse than advertised - and it was advertised to be pretty damn bad. The Black Sox went into the draft without a pitching staff - and it shows. Their team ERA is an abysmal 6.74, and they've allowed a whopping 12.2 hits and 15.8 baserunners per game. Their team ace, Chris Holt, is sporting an ERA of 6.10. The starting rotation's ERA as a group is 7.15. It's hard to believe that any pitching staff could ever be this bad. Fortunately for Chicago fans, the roller coaster appears to be climbing upward once again. The 2003 pitching staff will receive a major boost from Josh Beckett (unless Florida management continues to abuse his arm) and Mark Prior. Unless the world turns inside-out and the universe collapses upon itself, those two will ensure that the Black Sox don't trail the league in ERA for the next ten years. Tomo Ohka, Darren Oliver and J.C. Romero are also having nice years so far. Offensively, the Black Sox will probably have Nomar Garciaparra back full-time next year, and should get better production from Carlos Delgado, Andruw Jones, Jason Kendall and Richard Hidalgo. With the pitching boost and offensive improvement, it wouldn't be any surprise to see the Black Sox back on top of the division next year. The roller coaster ride continues. Story #6: The Race to Itoldyaso. This has been a banner year for "I told ya so"-type debates on the message board. Before this season even began, we were already buying front row seats to the Astacio vs. Brown steel cage death match, preceded by undercard bouts of Nevin vs. Lowell, Dempster vs. Jones, Burroughs vs. Johnson and, as always, Davis vs. Johnson. Since the year began, we've added several great match-ups that should keep us entertained throughout this year and for years to come. Match-ups such as Diaz vs. Brownlie, Durazo vs. Gagne, Schilling vs. Ortiz and Aubrey vs. Jones. Then there is the Royal Rumble featuring the pitching prospects from three BDBL teams. In Cleveland's corner, there is Colby Lewis, Andy VanHekkan and Jorge Julio. In the Salem corner, Dewon Brazelton, Adam Johnson and Brandon Claussen are all lacing up their gloves. And in the third corner, Stamford's Juan Cruz, Kenny Baugh and Clint Nageotte are holding a group prayer session for their shoulders and elbows. How these bouts will turn out - or better yet, how these fights will be judged (naturally, since one-third of the pitchers for both Stamford and Cleveland are already pitching in the Major Leagues, I'm sure they'll want to use Major League service time as a requirement) - will be a source of entertainment for years to come. Story #7: Tee Ball...the Final Frontier? The Plattsburgh Champs were the first team to break the amateur barrier in the BDBL, plucking Mark Teixeira off the farm free agent wire in 1999 while Teixeira was still a freshman in college. The Chicago Black Sox were the next barrier-breaking team, drafting Josh Beckett while he was still in high school. Ricardo Aramboles, chosen by Akron in the inaugural farm draft, was the first 16-year-old ever selected. In last winter's farm draft, the Bear Country Jamboree became the first team ever to select a foreign player (Hideki Matsui) who had yet to sign with an American team. For a while, it appeared that every barrier that could ever be broken in the BDBL had already been broken. Then, this past chapter, the Bear Country Jamboree and Stamford Zoots drafted 17-year-old high school juniors Lastings Milledge and Delmon Young (respectively.) Where will it end? In an ever-more-difficult attempt to get a leg up on the competition, will BDBL GM's be seen at their local Little League fields sporting stop watches, clipboards and radar guns? Are the rumors about that six-year-old tee ball phenom from Allentown true? And what about that fetus in Texas that has been labeled a "can't miss" by several Major League scouts? Story #8: The Atlanta Purge. For three years, BDBL GM's have been salivating over the 2003 BDBL free agent draft class - a class that includes Sammy Sosa, Jeff Bagwell, Vladimir Guerrero, Barry Bonds, Shannon Stewart, John Olerud, Rich Aurilia, Larry Walker, Luis Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez, Mike Sweeney, Greg Maddux, Kevin Brown, Roger Clemens, Jim Edmonds, Tom Glavine, Phil Nevin and Andy Pettitte (just to name a few.) No team may be in a better position to reap the bounty of that 2003 draft class than the Atlanta Fire Ants. When the Fire Ants dumped $50 million worth of Ken Griffey's contract, no one thought that Atlanta GM Gene Patterson would be able to top that feat. Then, the New Milford Blazers came calling. In exchange for Doug Mientkiewicz's paltry $1.1m contract in 2003, Atlanta was able to dump Mike Hampton, a.k.a. "The 500-pound Gorilla on Billy Romaniello's Back." Not only is Hampton turning in the worst year of his career (19 walks in 25 innings, plus an 8.88 ERA), he is owed another $45.5 million through the 2007 season. Hampton's contract is - by far - the worst allocation of salary in the BDBL. After dumping those two burdensome contracts, the Fire Ants now owe just $21.8 million to eight players (not counting the players they will sign to contracts at year's end.) The importance of dumping those two contracts can never be underestimated, and those might have been the two best trades of the year by any team. Story #9: Aces Low. There once was a time when an ace in the Major Leagues was an ace in the BDBL. Then came the 2003 season. When the Zoots acquired Roger Clemens in exchange for prospects last winter, one well-known (and highly-respected and intelligent) BDBL pundit declared that the 2003 season had been all but decided. Instead, the Rocket (4-7, 5.58 ERA) has been a dud. When Woody Williams (2-6, 5.58, 88 H in 69 IP), Terry Adams (1-4, 6.42) and Jason Bere (0-8, 7.20) all went for $5 million or more in last January's draft, their owners were expecting to receive a little more bang for their buck. C.C. Sabathia was supposed to form an unstoppable one-two punch with Greg Maddux at the top of the New Milford Blazers' rotation. Instead, Sabathia (1-6, 6.00) has left the Blazers punch-drunk. The Litchfield Lightning traded the greatest hitter in the history of baseball and received a pitcher (Bartolo Colon) with a 3-4 record, a 4.85 ERA and a $7 million salary. The Cleveland Rocks traded two outstanding prospects for "20-game winner" John Lieber in order to push them over the top in their division battle with the Akron Ryche. Instead, Lieber is 0-3 for the Rocks with a 4.42 ERA. And that's a vast improvement from his record as a member of the Slyme (1-5, 8.65). Robert Person and Matt Morris were supposed to be the backbone of the New York Knights' starting rotation. Instead, they're a combined 8-8 with a 5.34 ERA. And then there's Tim Hudson, one of three aces on the Akron Ryche pitching staff. In 79 innings this season, Hudson has allowed 93 hits, 33 walks and 11 homers. He's 5-6 on the season with an ERA of 5.45. Yet somehow...Paul Wilson is 6-1 with a 2.15 ERA. Go figure. Story #10: Mimes Making Noise. After three years of playing in the shadow of the BDBL's dynastic Zoots powerhouse, the Madison Fighting Mimes finally have a chance to win their division. The height of Madison's frustrations came in the 2000 season, when they won 98 games but failed to make the playoffs, losing their division by just one game to the Evil Emp- er, I mean, the Zoots. Madison enjoyed a stellar draft, adding former Zoot Rafael Palmeiro (.318/.414/.682 so far this season) in the first round. That move led to their bold decision to move Jeff Bagwell (.304/.417/.665), acquired from the Salem Cowtippers in exchange for the legendary Petey Astacio and Dewon Brazelton, to third base. Thanks to that powerful duo, Madison currently ranks fourth in the Ozzie League in runs scored. On the mound, carryover Joe Mays (6-1, 2.48) has done a tremendous job at the front of the rotation. Elmer Dessens (3-0, 3.30), Kelvim Escobar (1-1, 3.64) and Miguel Batista (5-3, 3.94) have been outstanding as well. As if that weren't enough, Madison added Greg Maddux (6-3, 2.33) this past chapter in a gutsy trade with the New Milford Blazers. Maddux joins Keith Foulke (2-1, 3.86, 6 SVs), who was added last chapter in an effort to bolster a bullpen headed by Bob Wickman (2-3, 3.74, 8 SVs) and Matt Herges (2-1, 1.70). With Mad Dog and Foulke on board, the Mimes can finally put up a fight to win their division and unseat the loathsome Zoots for the first time in league history. Now, if only some team could put up a fight for the OL wild card, maybe my dreams of a Zootsless post-season can finally come true... |