Outlaw Career Leaders

I've had a NASBL team since I joined in 1991 and picked up my beloved Cleveland Indians. Several years later I picked up the San Diego Padres and later the two teams merged into the Outlaw Josey Wales. I've been keeping stats since the beginning and would like to share my career leaders over the past eighteen years.

Of note:

• Manny Ramirez's last homerun of the season was his 500th!
  
• Alfonso Soriano cracked the top three in homeruns
• Omar Vizquel is 2nd in hits and 3rd in RBI, proving the virtue of persistence
• Tim Hudson passed Andy Ashby as career wins, strikeouts, and innings pitched leader
• Jake Peavy cracked the top three in strikeouts
• My all-time saves leader was a throw-in in a trade that involved Mark McGwire, Trevor Hoffman, and Raul Mondesi
  

My Career Leaders:

Hits

1. Manny Ramirez 2144
2. Omar Vizquel 1750
3. Albert Belle 1631
   

Batting Average (2500 AB)

1. Tony Gwynn .360
2. Kenny Lofton .301
3. Manny Ramirez .300
   

Runs

1. Manny Ramirez 1269
2. Kenny Lofton 1005
3. Albert Belle 983
   

Home Runs

1. Manny Ramirez 500
2. Albert Belle 380
3. Alfonso Soriano 158
   

RBI

1. Manny Ramirez 1409
2. Albert Belle 1156
3. Omar Vizquel 590
   

Stolen Bases

1. Kenny Lofton 613
2. Omar Vizquel 374
3. Willy Taveras 115
   

Games Won

1. Tim Hudson 116
2. Andy Ashby 113
3. Charles Nagy 87
   

Winning Pct (100 decisions)

1. Mark Langston .572
2. Andy Ashby .562
3. Tim Hudson .547
   

Strikeouts

1. Tim Hudson 1262
2. Andy Ashby 1153
3. Jake Peavy 1063
   

Saves

1. Keith Foulke 128
2. Trevor Hoffman 117
3. Armando Benitez 74
   

ERA (100 decisions)

1. Mark Langston 3.99
2. Charles Nagy 4.28
3. Tim Hudson 4.31
   

Innings Pitched

1. Tim Hudson 1932
2. Andy Ashby 1840
3. Mark Langston 1303
   

Time of the Year for Dealing!

"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow"

It's the time of the year for trading,
So teams can start debating.
And since the new cards aren't here,
Let's make a deal, make a deal, make a deal

Teams are working on their cut downs,
To make their Rosters safe and sound.
Here's a list of guys that won't stick,
So try and trade one for a Draft Pick!

With the Dra--ft almost set,
Managers are looking for their Best bets.
They are hoping their future picks,
Don't wind up in making them sick!

It's the time of the year for trading,
So there will be a lot of debating.
Picking the right players to make your team sound,
So you can win the NASBL Crown!!

Do you pick for the future or for now,
Or trade 3 magic beans for a cow.
Managers want all the Winning Parts,
Sometimes they end up Throwing Darts!

It's the time of the year for trading,
So teams can start debating.
And since the new cards aren't here,
Make a deal, make a deal, make a deal

Best of everything in 2009 NASBLers!

Building of the Wales

Every year I like to analyze how my players were acquired over the years.

Fourteen the of the seventeen Outlaw Josey Wales players likely to be retained were acquired by draft, including five 1st rounders, three 2nd rounders, and two supplemental draft picks. This has got to be the most draft-heaviest team in our history, courtesy of eight keepers from the amazing 2008 draft.

Only two players were acquired by trade, and we have one player left from the old NASBL rookie protection system.

Here are Outlaw's likely keepers listed by seniority, with their years of service and how they were acquired:

• Manny Ramirez, 14 years, 1995 Old NASBL rookie protection
• Tim Hudson, 9, 2000 1st round
• Alfonso Soriano, 5, 2004 trade, Pettitte & Soriano received for Barstool Colon and 1st round pick
• Jake Peavy, 5, 2004 2nd round
• Jason Bay, 4, 2005 1st round
• Scott Kazmir, 3, 2006 1st round
• Adrian Gonzalez, 2, 2007 1st round
• Jonathon Broxton, 2, 2007 2nd round
• Mike Napoli, 1, 2008 supp 1st round
• Scott Downs, 1, 2008 supp 2nd round
• Dustin Pedroia, 1, 2008 1st round
• Joakim Soria, 1, 2008 2nd round
• Ryan Ludwick, 1, 2008 3rd round
• Melvin Mora, 1, 2008 6th round
• Ryan Theroit, 1, 2008 9th round
• Ryan Dempster, 1, 2008 10th round
• Rich Harden, 0, 2008 off-season trade for Aramis Ramirez

Honorable Mention:

• Omar Vizquel, with 13 years of service, brought to Outlaw in a 1996 trade for Mark Langston, is likely to be released this year.
• Aramis Ramirez, with 10 years of service, acquired in the 2nd round of the 1999 draft, was reluctantly traded in 2008 to acquire ace Rich Harden.

NASBL Less Filling Award Winners Announced!

The results from the 2008 NASBL Awards Balloting are in! Here are your winners from the Less Filling Conference:

MVP:
Prince Fielder, PCM - Pocono's first MVP winner in a decade (the last was Mike Piazza in 1998) led the NASBL in homeruns with 57, and led the Less Filling in RBI with 140. Prince also led the LF with an amazing .681 slugging percentage, and posted an admirable .293 batting average. Fielder earned 14 first place votes, but like his counterpart MVP winner David Ortiz in the TG, he was left off one ballot entirely.

Cy Young:
John Smoltz, PCM - Pocono completed a sweep of the two highest awards on the strength of veteran John Smoltz's 3rd career personal award. Smoltz was Fireman of the Year for Pocono in 2006, and also won the Cy Young in 1994. Smoltz led the LF in wins (18) and ERA (3.31), and trailed only Chin Music teammate Johan Santana in strikeouts (219). Smoltz earned 14 first place votes.

Rookie of the Year:
BJ Upton, GCG - The number 3 overall pick in the draft put up solid numbers across the board, leading all Less Filling rookies in RBI (68), runs scored (60) and stolen bases (30). Among rookie homerun hitters, Upton trailed only PCM's Kevin Kouzmanoff. In the closest balloting of the 2008 Awards, Upton took home 5 first place votes, with Grundy County Grizzly teammate Brian Bannister taking another 4 votes.

Fireman of the Year:
JJ Putz, MSU - Miami's JJ Putz became the first NASBL Fireman since Yorktown's Eric Gagne in 2004-2005, and the first ever in the Less Filling, to take home back to back Fireman awards. The award also marked the 3rd consecutive year the FOY has been won by a Miami Surf closer (2006 Chad Cordero being the other in the streak), the first time in NASBL history a single team has won back-to-back-to-back Fireman awards. Putz's 1.54 ERA and 36 saves both led all Less Filling closers, and his .878 save percentage trailed only TRY's Huston Street (.889). Putz's 14 first place and 1 second place vote gave him 73 points in the awards voting, the highest total by any 2008 NASBL Award winner.

NASBL Tastes Great Award Winners Announced!

The results of the 2008 NASBL Awards Voting are in! Here are your winners in the Tastes Great Conference:


MVP:
David Ortiz, LCC - Known as Big Papi, the portly Lake Champlain slugger dominated most offensive categories. He won the TG Triple Crown with an amazing .360/56/159 line, and only a Prince Fielder (PCM) homerun on the final day of the season kept Papi from winning the NASBL Triple Crown. In addition, Ortiz led the NASBL in walks, OBA, and SLG. Ortiz tallied 12 first place votes, but was left off the other 3 ballots entirely.

Cy Young:
Daisuke Matsuzaka, LVI - Another aptly nicknamed player, particularly for a Strat leaguer, Dice-K led the league in ERA with an amazing 2.60 mark, the 7th best in league history. Matsuzaka's 252.1 innings were 2nd in the league, trailing only IronPig teammate Aaron Harang. Dice-K's 242 k's were good for 5th in the league. Matsuzaka tallied 11 first place votes.

Fireman of the Year:
Joe Nathan, ILL - Joe Nathan, a frequent visitor at the top of the Saves leaderboard (he holds 2nd, 3rd, and 8th on the Single Season Saves honor roll) nailed down his 2nd Fireman of the Year award for a Sherlag. In 2006, Nathan won the award for Doug Sherlag's Springfield Isotopes, while in 2008 he brought the award home for brother Brad's Illinois Chow-Chows. Nathan's 34 saves trailed only OJW's Joakim Soria (35) in the TG, and his 2.76 ERA trailed only LVI's Matt Capps (2.14) among TG closers with double-digit saves. Nathan earned 11 first place votes.

Rookie of the Year:
Daisuke Matsuzaka, LVI - The first ROY/Cy double winner in the NASBL since CCC's John Patterson in 2006, and the first ever in the Tastes Great. Matsuzaka led all Tastes Great rookie pitchers in innings and strikeouts, and trailed only LCC's Rich Hill (18) in wins. Matsuzaka earned 10 first place votes.

Surf Disappointed in WS Loss!

After a tough 7 game series and a disappointing game 7 loss to the WS Champs Springfield Isotopes, Surf Management has vowed to do whatever it takes to return to the "Big Show". Surf Owner, James Bessinger, was quoted as saying " We did our best and our guys played their butts off, But we have to do better, We will do Better!" Surf Management wasted no time in trying to "upgrade" the team. Although we hated to trade the likes of Jose Reyes, We are excited to have a SP of Dice-K's ability and although Derek Jeter is a bit older ( OK, he's much older! ) he brings a solid bat and good Def to the team. In another move the Surf "upgraded in two positions, 2B and C. 2B will now be manned by Jose Lopez and the Catching duties now rest on Ryan Doumit. Here is the Surf's Pre-Draft Depth Chart:

2009 Miami Surf ( Pre-Draft ) Depth Chart
POSITION STARTER 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
Catcher Ryan Doumit Pudge Rodriguez
First Base Carlos Delgado Lyle Overbay
Second Base Jose Lopez Jeff Kent
Third Base David Wright Gregg Dobbs
Shortstop Derek Jeter
Left Field Ryan Braun
Center Field Mike Cameron Melky Cabrera
Right Field Bobby Abreu
DH Carlos Lee
Starting Pitcher Cole Hamels Josh Beckett Dice-K Derek Lowe Andy Sonnanstine
Relief Pitcher JJ Putz Ryan Madson Al Reyes
Closer Billy Wagner

AARP catching up the DFW.

Dateline...Dallas

It was bound to happen. Nobody wanted to talk about it, nobody wanted to think about it. It still happened. DFW got old. The aging veterans are just that- aging veterans. Gone is Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr will not be offered a contract. They will be missed. But DFW needs to turn the corner 'now' and get out of the 'remember the good ole days'. They need to catch 'Fire in a Bottle' and build thur the Draft. The 'Fire in a Bottle' is a phrase that describes the outstanding Draft of OJW had last year. DFW has tried to get younger. Good news-last year's 1st Round pick Jemery Guthrie will be at Top Rotation again. Bad News- DFW traded for promising Ian Snell who was their Top Starter last year, has arm trouble this year (translation he sucks this year). It looks like they will have two 40+ year olds in the rotation in Greg Maddux and Jamie Moyer. DFW hopes Dave Bush can capture the magic he had a couple of seasons ago, and get rid of the Black magic of last yearv 5-5 record with a 6.81 era. DFW got some great news that pitcher Justin Duchscherer has agree to become a starter this season. They have very high plans for JD this year. For the Spurs to compete this year they need K-Rod to get back in the 40 saves area. He had only 21 last year.

DFW has a few holes (a few? duh!!) to fill via by the Draft or by trades. C- Victor Martinez will only to play part time due to injuries. Carlos Guillen will move to 3B this year. SS- Alex Gonzalez is out for the year his replacement Jeff Keppinger isn't ready to take over full time just yet!
Rumors are out the DFW hangs on to players to long and don't make enough trades, well travel secretary 'Pops' Carroll denied the rumors. Pop turns '73' in May. D'OH!