Tuesday, May 15, 2007

When will LCC pull the trigger?



Every league has their trigger-happy GM who's a habitual wheeler-n-dealer. From the glory days of Red Auerbach to modern the day madman, George Steinbrenner.

And the NASBL is blessed with Steve Beard (shown at the right at his high school's project graduation party). Upon entering the league Beard has molded LCC in a Dr. Frankensteinian manner, never satisfied and often taking one step forward followed by two steps back.

NASBL.com only contains recent trade data (hmm, wonder if the new commish is trying to hide his trading ways?), but that small sample reveals only four moves by LCC in the last 18 months.

With the Cannibals sitting only 2 games out of first and 1.5 back in the Wildcard race, Beard is either playing possum or this prolific trade machine has run out of steam.

While the recent acquisition of "The Tee" made the waiver wire reports, it lacked the usual pizazz of a Beard move. So what's it gonna be Beardo, the league sits and waits, patiently wondering what rabbit, er turd, you're pulling out of your oversized baseball head next.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

It's good to be back in the South after a dismal 10-16 Block I road trip.

The Block I Good:
  • Manny is Manny - .618 slugging, .418 onbase, 14 HR despite limited playing time.
  • Omar the Feared - More than just a leather flasher at age 39, Omar is leading Outlaw with a .314 batting average. Omar the Feared is third, yes third, in the entire NASBL league with 5 intentional walks!
The Block I Bad:
The Block I Ugly:







Illinois raised the white flag of surrender yesterday and looked toward the future by packaging Brian Giles and Josh Johnson for a First Round Draft Pick, Joe Blanton and Chone Figgins. Owner/GM Brad Sherlag said, "Obviously the 1st Round Pick is a big deal to us. We have looked ahead to the draft and project it to be a shallower draft than last year with the talent drying up very early in Round 2. Getting another first rounder helps us snag two quality players. Blanton is a young arm coming back and Figgins should be able to pinch run some for us."

When asked if having Blanton in the rotation instead of Johnson will help the Chows move up in the 1st round with their own pick, Sherlag responded agrily “Morandini will put the best team on the field he can and try and win.”

Many Chows are still rumored to be on the block, most notably Frank Thomas, Bob Wickman, Adam Everett, Kiko Calero, Matt Thornton, David Dellucci and Pedro Feliciano. With the extension of the Block I trade deadline, the Chows hope to make another move before Block II.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Cannibals Sign Former VFS Batting Tee to Pro-Rated $28m Contract


In a surprise reaction to the Vermont Fighting Sioux's recent blockbuster deal, their in-state rivals the Lake Champlain Cannibals have signed a former VFS batting tee to a record $28 million dollar minor-league contract.
"The Tee," as it has become known, earned its all-capital appelation and its local notoriety by pitching a complete simulated-game no-hitter against the famously light-hitting VFS outfield of Chone Figgins, Mark Kotsay, and Coco Crisp ("The Tee" is shown at left, inducing a Mark Kotsay groundout dribbler).
Said LCC GM Steve Beard, "The Vermont State Championship is a very important title to us. And while we were able to sign away Jose Cruz Jr from our in-state rivals, the local press made much of the fact that VFS GM Justin Rabidoux was able to sign not one, but two of our former players (Chone Figgins and Coco Crisp) to play against us this year. As far as "The Tee" goes, well, let me just say that we've been scouting him pretty much since he was part of a Little Tikes TotSports Teeball Set playing backyard ball in Essex Junction. He's always had excellent control of the strikezone, but never really seemed to show the velocity and movement we thought he'd need to succeed at the NASBL level."
"Well, let me just tell you - all that changed for good last week! Our local scouts were just on a routine spy mission down in Burlington, and we happened to see "The Tee" through the knothole in the fence, getting ready for a simulated game against struggling VFS outfielders Figgins, Crisp, and Kotsay (locally known by their initials as the F*CK outfield, although persistant rumors exist that they earned their nickname not for their initials, but due to the expletive GM Justin Rabidoux shouts every time one of them pops out with the bases loaded). He looked calm and confident out there, just pounding the strikezone with his non-heat. For the first few innings of the simulated game, we didn't think much of it. But as Figgins, Crisp, and Kotsay repeatedly pounded their bats on the ground and shouted out their acronym, we slowly began to pay more and more attention."
"Hey," said our senior scout, "Get the gun on that Tee."
"Can you guess what he was bringing? Well, let's just say the last two digits on that gun reading were zero-zero, if you know what I'm getting at..."
"About the 6th innning you could really tell The Tee had something special going. His teammates started getting the idea about that time, too. The bouncy backyard pitch-back thingy moved way down the bench, and the HitAway(tm) wrapped itself quietly around a pole up by the dugout entrance. Eventually, even the Tom Emanski Instructional Video quit talking to him."
"I guess that goes to show you, even inanimate training aids can get a little bit silly when destiny comes knocking."
"Well, to make a long story short, "The Tee" ended the VFS outfield's batting practice session in short order - 27 up, 27 down. At that point, we were sure we needed to make our move. While some minor legal questions remain, I don't see how our recently signed $28 million dollar minor-league contract with "The Tee" can do anything but improve our team's chances for a successful run at the post-season, and almost as importantly, the Vermont State Championship."

VFS - ILL make season's first big trade




The 1st place Vermont Fighting Sioux and the Illinois Chow Chows (currently in last in the uber-tough TG East) have struck the first big trade of the 2007 NASBL season.

The Sioux have acquired starting pitcher Josh Johnson and RF Brian Giles in exchange for their 1st round pick in the '08 NASBL draft along with Joe Blanton and Chone Figgins.



The move represents two significant upgrades for VFS. Johnson (3-2, 3.80 for ILL) is a front end of the rotation pitcher and his starts will be easier on the eyes of Sioux fans compared to Blanton's (1-1, 8.53). VFS now has a legitimate playoff caliber rotation as JJ joins Cy Young candidates John Lackey (3-1, 2.34), Ervin Santana (3-1, 3.55), Bret Myers (5-1, 3.42) and ROY hopeful Francisco Liriano (2-1, 2.66 in a swing role).

Chone Figgins was batting 9th and playing RF against RHP and playing CF vs LHP for the Sioux in playing in all 38 games hitting a paltry .239 with an OPS of .715. Giles will step into the RF vs RHP role and his #s with the Chows (.282, .792) are worthy of a higher spot in the lineup.

This is the first time the Sioux have traded away a top pick in years, but GM Justin Rabidoux wanted to strike while the iron was hot. VFS advance scouts have been touring the minors and early reports are the '08 draft will be lacking depth, thus making the 1st round pick easier to part with.



More on this trade is sure to come from numerous media outlets.

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Roadkill Suspend Rocket Trade Talks

With the Rocket heading back to NYY the Roadkill front office have suspended trade talks involving the future NASBL HOF. "Roger obvoiusly still has something in the tank despite his 7+ ERA in Block I" GM Miller was quoted. We just haven't received the serious offers we would expect for a front-end starter for a playoff contending team. If Clemens doesn't help GRK this season he most certainly will next when the Roadkill will be a much stronger club if the early results of the MLB season are any indication.

Jermaine Dye and Ray Durham are considered expendable with the strong performances of Mags, Vlad & Aaron Hill.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

My 2 cents....NFL Draft vs. NASBL Draft

Last weekend the NFL Draft was held. I enjoy following the Draft as much as the next person, BUT the word overkill comes to mind. Espn does a great job but watching the same thing over and over again and listening to all these experts opinion does wear on you. I also listen to some of the Draft on the radio. When things got slow they took calls from the listeners. People would call in and give their views on the Draft and what they felt there team should have or could have done. One piece of information I heard (which I thought was very amusing) was a source from the Cowboys told him that it would be a "Cold day in Hell" before they would draft a kicker. Well what do you know in the 6th round the Cowboys drafted a kicker Nick Folk of Arizona. Low and behold listeners started calling in and asking why would Cowboys sources give out wrong information during the draft? That got me thinking about a more important draft than the NFL, which of course is our NASBL SOM Baseball draft. Trying to get correct info during the NASBL Draft is like trying to get blood out of a turnip! I know one manager who won't tell you who he's looking at or who may be involved in a trade because he doesn't want to "jinx it". Unfortunately I understand where he's coming from. When there are two picks before your draft pick and you say the player's name who you want out loud, then bam he will get taken. We all do it; it's human nature I guess, but that's what makes the Draft so much fun! Here's one for you this year a manager said before the Draft he wanted Stephen Drew, then bam he was taken number 1!! See the jinx works. Now I am sure the fact that there were several picks before his pick didn't have a thing to do with it!!