Roadkill brass making deals during "dead" period

The Roadkill front office is taking advantage of the temporary NASBL playoff delay to make several deals acquiring former GRK alumni Edwin Encarnacion & Chase Headley along with Dexter Fowler & Dioner Navarro. "Moving On" include Cespedes, Sandoval, Lawrie & Feliz. GM Miller stated "Dexter will leadoff & provide solid CF. EE will DH & is the protection we've needed for Stanton. We still believe in Wieters for the long-run but Dino will carry the load this season with Santana moving to 1B".

Headley is the wild card. He will likely be the opening day starter at 3B. Anthony Rendon will replace fan favorite Brandon Phillips at 2B. It's rumored that Yovani Gallardo or Jesse Chavez & draft picks could be packaged for an upgrade at Closer.

Turbulence and Trade winds in Troy turn into Roster Turnover

Troy, NY:  The Haymakers failed to make the postseason for the first time in three years in 2014 and rumor was that GM Ken Anderson was not happy about the status of the team and the chemistry in the clubhouse.  Two days after announcing that a number of players were available for trade, Troy has made two blockbusters that have effectively reshaped the team and possibly the future of the team.  A total of 12 players and two picks exchanged hands and effectively puts Troy on the rebuilding block for the future.

  Gone are the likes of players who would have been interesting to watch for the Haymaker fans: Edwin Encarnacion, Dexter Fowler, Chase Headley, Scott Kazmir, Russell Martin and Greg Holland.  The players coming to Troy are former first round picks Pablo Sandoval,Yeonis Cespedes, and Matt Cain along with Wilson Ramos, D.J. LeMahieu, Brad Miller.
   "We were looking to shake things up and build toward 2015 and beyond." said GM Anderson, "We may not be contending next season, but watch out for the Haymakers in the near future."
     Troy also received two second round picks, the GRK round 2 and the LVI round 2. They now own five of the top 32 picks, including three in the top 20.  With a number of quality players available, the team should fill out nicely come March.

   The new look team is currently if flashing a good amount of young talent and planning to look like the following (although a lot can change in the course of the offseason):

C: Wilson Ramos
1B: James Loney
2B: D.J. LeMahieu
3B: Pablo Sandoval
SS: Alcides Escobar
LF: Yeonis Cespedes
CF: A.J. Pollock/B.J. Upton
RF: Alex Rios/Josh Hamilton
DH: Josh Rutledge/Brad Miller
Rotation: Madison Bungarner, Jon Niese, Josh Collmenter, Matt Cain, Dillon Gee

After eight seasons in the NASBL; the future in Troy is looking positive.

NASBL 2015 Base Draft Order for Non-Playoff Teams

The base draft order for non-playoff teams will be:


1)  Slatington Bulldogs
2)  Troy Haymakers
3)  Georgia Roadkill
4)  Dallas Fort Worth Spurs
5)  Illinois Chow Chows
6)  Outlaw Josey Wales
7)  Pocono Chin Music
8)  Springfield Isotopes
9)  Shawnee Crows
10)  Canyon Country Cannons


Picks 11-16 will be in order of playoff exit.


Usage played a role in the draft order, as TRY narrowly edged out GRK due to 2 overusage points by GRK's Alex Wood.  In addition, SHA fell from 7th to 9th due to 70 points of overusage by various players.

Tradeageddon!

The Outlaw Nation had grown quite complacent watching the team build through the draft season by season, making a mere four trades over the past five years.  Suddenly the legion of fans woke up with their heads spinning faster than Linda Blair's after a series of five trades involving thirteen players and seven draft picks, including star players David Ortiz, Albert Pujols, and Adrian Beltre, one 2014 first round draft pick (Christian Yelich), and two 2015 first round draft picks.

Before the carnage was over, Outlaw had essentially traded

• elder star David Ortiz
• slightly less elder star Adrian Beltre
• power hitting first-baseman Mike Napoli
• two great non-keeper cards

 for:

• post-hype breakout Lonnie Chisenhall
• elder star Albert Pujols
• young stud lefty closer Jake McGee
• Lehigh's first round draft pick and Vermont's first and fifth round picks

Analysis of the new world order:

While Ortiz and Beltre have a good year or two left, they are nearing their sell-by dates and Outlaw was going nowhere fast this year.  Outlaw decided to sell high and get young, which we certainly did with two first-round draft picks, Jake McGee and Christian Yelich.  No regrets there even though Ortiz and Beltre will have valuable cards at least through 2015.

Then the opportunity to trade Yelich for the hot post-hype Lonnie Chisenhall presented itself.  We know that Chisenhall wasn't really the .330 hitter he was batting at the time of the trade, but couldn't resist the hot-hitting Indian.  We may regret trading the young center-fielder we need, but we hope to have a .290-.300 BA, 15-20 HR guy at the hot corner for years to come.  Time will tell.

Then the opportunity to trade the 32 year-old Napoli and a 3rd round pick for for the 34 year-old, recently injury-prone Pujols presented itself.   How does this fit into the youth movement?  It doesn't, but we figure that the chance at just one, or maybe two great Pujolsian cards could be the difference between an also-ran team and a playoff contender, or a playoff-contender and a World Series team.  We'll take that chance even though we will miss Napoli.

Outlaw Career Wins Leaders

Twenty-three years of Outlaw All-Time wins leaders from 1991 to 2013 including the predecessor NASBL Cleveland Indians and San Diego Padres:

1.  176, Tim "Chicks Dig the Longball" Hudson, 2000-2013
2.  113, Andy Ashby, 1994 - 2003
3.  113, Jake Peavy, 2004 - 2013
4.    87, Charles Nagy, 1992 -1999
5.    83, Mark Lanston, 1991 -1995

The NASBL all-time home run leader at his position is also Outlaw's career wins leader!

Fernandez Pitches No Hitter - Solidifies ROY Bid

Illinois Times - Today Jose Fernandez made Illinois franchise history throwing the franchises first no-hitter and narrowly missing a perfect game against Shawnee.  Pedro Alvarez drew a walk and was the lone base-runner.

Fernandez who is not only contending for the ROY but also the Cy Young was sharp from the beginning.  He struck out 11 Crows improving his record to 12-6 and his ERA to 2.56 as the Chows bested Shawnee 3-0.  Amazingly, Fernandez has gone the distance 12 times in 20 starts and this was his 5th shutout on the season.  The Chows lack of power is all that is standing in the way from Fernandez having an even better record.

The Chows crack PR department issued this formal statement: This has been a rough Block III that has taken the Chows out of contention.  Having this gem pitched in late August gave our great home crowd something to remember.  We look forward to Fernandez anchoring our staff for years to come. Congratulations to Jose on this great accomplishment.

EdCouch makes a flury of trades at the deadline...

At last count the New Potatoes traded 8 players(28% of the 30 man roster) and a few draft picks during the last block and by doing so made a run for the world series for the 2nd year in a row.

The fans are shocked  to see future hall of famer Pujols get traded after one half of a season,  but the Potatoes GM says that the deadline moves have put the team in a good position to succeed,  but only time will tell.

With about an hour remaining before the trade deadline the question remains, are the New Potatoes done?