Monty Brewster Baseball Association Recruiting Thread (historical)

[mikev]

Originally posted by joshuaaaaaa

Incidentally, josh is one of the more prolific writers in the MBBA. He's doing team news all the time, so you can expect to see plenty of issues of Long Bitching in this dynasty!


The Surfers didn't play great ball to open July, going only 5-4, however with Seattle going 4-5, Long Beach has moved back into a 1st place tie in the FLP. The Surfers opened the month beating Birmingham before losing 2 of 3 to both Montreal and Des Moines before bouncing back to win a pair over Las Vegas. The Surfers were outscored 44-39 over the 9 games, giving up 5 runs or more in each of the last 6 games.

Donnie Rotten, David Hulse, Adrian Cabrera, Ice Cube and Oscar Mazzarella are all hitting .300 or better in early July, with Cube (.355/.474/.613) and Mazz (.407/.448/.778) leading the way. On the flip side, there's Billy Ashley (.148/.233/.148) and Ted Sale (.226/.359/.355). The team is concerned about Sale, as he's not hitting much for power or average this year. His OBP (.380) is excellent, however he's not the offensive leader that he has been in the past. Thankfully, Mazz seems to be having his breakout year, with his highest ever average and OBP.
On the pitching front, Sam Morton is really struggling and could soon find himself out of the rotation. He's 1-7 in his last 10 starts. He hasn't pitched horribly in most of them, he just pitches well enough to lose. Charlie Lindquist is tearing it up at AAA (4-1, 1.68 ERA, 0.99 WHIP) and could find himself back on the big club soon (we erroneously said that Lindquist was struggling at AAA last column, because we can't tell the difference between MBBA and AAA stats sometimes). The jury is still out on Ash Sorrels and he doesn't have a hugely high ceiling, so he's unlikely to ever be more than a 4th or 5th starter.

Curt Wilson walks way to many batters (51 in 101 innings), and he's still pitching well enough to keep the team in games, as reflected by his 7-6 record. He's another symptom of the team having a very strong #1 and #2, then hoping that they get a decent game out of #3 - #5.

Last year's #1 pick, Ramon Ayala is making great strides at AAA and could also be called up in the very near future. His biggest accomplishment was pitching a perfect game against the Mesa Tables on June 30. He also has a 2 hit shutout with 14 strikeouts to his credit this year. In addition, he's pitched 8 or more innings in 18 of his 21 starts this season, and one of the 3 where he didn't he went 7 innings. Yeah, I think he's being called up soon.

23-23 in save opportunities.

11-4, 3.05 ERA, 1.29 WHIP. Not bad for a 36 year old.

Through the middle 10 days of June, the Surfers play 1 more in Las Vegas, then come home to face Buffalo for 3. After that its a flight to New Orleans for a quick 3 game set with the Crawdads before returning home to play Atlantic City in a 3 game set.

[mikev]

In a move that was both expected but also somewhat surprising yesterday, Crawdads GM Mike Voelker announced that star centerfielder Eric Davis had been traded to the Las Vegas Hustlers.

That was the expected part.

The slightly surprising part was the player who would be coming back to the Bayou in exhange for Davis: All-Star outfielder Sean Bockus.

Bockus brings a high level game to New Orleans, albeit a slightly different style than Davis. While Davis relied mostly on 400+ foot longballs, Bockus is more of a doubles hitter with some pop on occasion. This season, he's having a bit of a down year, as he's currently under an .800 OPS for the first time since becoming a full time starter in 1990. He's also approximately 6.5 million dollars cheaper than Davis, though he is a free agent at season's end and reportedly was seeking 8 figures annually from Vegas. That seems like it's an awfully rich asking price, but then again he's a Slick Fielder caliber player at all 3 outfield positions with a career .820 OPS.

Some members of the media have questioned the move, wondering aloud if this will block a potential callup of prospect Jason "Ogre" Stucky, who has shown considerable development this season at AA Shreveport. When asked about the situation, Voelker did not dodge the question.

"Yes, I knew that I'd get some heat about aquiring another outfielder and not calling up Jay, but the bottom line is we're not ready for him to lose a year of service time to come up and be a platoon player against left handers. We feel he'd be better off staying in the minors and continuing his development this year so he can come into Spring Training with a chance at a starting job in '96. Quite frankly, we're not going to be keeping up with the Birmingham or Des Moines of the division this year, so we feel it's best to keep our chips for as long as possible."

A noteworthy item in the transaction log is that Stucky was promoted to AAA Baton Rouge. Hopefully his development will continue against the higher level of competition.

[mikev]

Originally posted by ronzonie7, Greenville Moonshiners GM

Jay Lee goes down

Well, we were kind of hanging around there, but things are ready to implode now, thanks to Jay Lee going down with a big injury and screwing us bigtime. He may have been making a push for POY, thanks to a string of winning decisions (pushing his overall record to 8-5), and driving his ERA down to 2.17. He goes down at a time where he was dominating the JL in K's, and that ERA figure was good for second best. But, that's the way it goes. He'll be back sometime in August.

Aaron Hayes finally got healthy, and his debut went very well. He hit .348 with a HR and had 5 steals. He's going to be a force in my outfield for many years...unless we deal him away like we have just about every other big named player we've had over the years, except for...

Long Chamberlain is carrying his own load this season. He's up to 13 HR (in only 170 AB's). Despite playing in just over half of the teams games this season, he's already 3rd on the club in VORP. Despite Jack See posting a career year, I think Chamberlain will be on the top of the Shiner heap by the end of the season.

[mikev]

Originally posted by Millsy, Washington Bobwhites GM

In the JL Atlantic Division it still remains to be seen if anyone actually wants to win the division. After what has seemed like forever the Bobwhites have slowly put together something resembling success and have managed to eek out a slight 4 game lead over the Baltimore Monarchs and Louisville Sluggers.

How we have managed to do even that is difficult to quantify. The team leader in RBI’s, Hank Carl, has driven in a pedestrian 50 runs (tied for 24th in the MBBA). The Bobwhites HR leader, Ramon Echagua (17 HR’s) is tied for 17th.

The one saving grace thus far would appear to be the pitching staff, most notably the starting trio of Shane Christen (10-6, 2.63 ERA), Ken Howell (9-2, 2.23 ERA) and John Doherty (7-6, 3.11 ERA). In addition the bottom half of the rotation has seen some upheaval, with veteran Henry “Hog” Ellis having been relegated to a mop-up/spot starter role and rookie Ben Dover now filling the 5th spot in the rotation.

With a 3 game series coming up this week against the mighty Valencia Stars the Bobwhites will now have a chance to see what this team is made of and if they have any chance of making the postseason.

[mikev]

Originally posted by Leejay56, Louisville Sluggers GM

Louisville Courier-Journal
July 21, 1995

Restoring faith in the BABIP gods
There is sense of relief in Louisville as the BABIP gods appear to have restored the Sluggers in their favor. Since bringing up Ernie Ford in place of Howard Domagal, the Sluggers have been building momentum in digging out of a 10 game under-.500 hole. The last 10 games have seen the Sluggers go 8-2 and pulled them 1 game above the .500 mark. Just as important, Louisville now has a share of 1st place.

The catalyst to this remarkable turnaround has been the improvement on D. Louisville is now ranked 7th in the JL in BABIP (.302) where they used to be dead last. This in turn has restored order to the pitching staff as they now sit with an ERA of 4.17, good for 8th in the JL. A month ago, the staff was the league's doormat at 12th.

Combined with an offense that hasn't missed a beat and Louisville is carrying a good deal of momentum. The pitching has held teams to 3 runs or less 7 times in the last 10 and on the occasion when the opposition socred 7, Louisville managed to win both shootouts.

[mikev]

Originally posted by joshuaaaaaa, Long Beach Surfers GM. (Remember what I said about him being a pretty prolific writer...)

Despite being outscored 37-30, the Surfers won 6 of the 10 games played in mid-June to improve to 55-44, still tied with Seattle atop the FLP standings and 3 games up in the Wild Card standings. Lonf Beach defeated Las Vegas in the series finale, then lost 2 of 3 to Buffalo before bouncing back to take 2 of 3 from both New Orleans and Atlantic City. The team was shut out twice and scored more than 4 runs only twice. The team gave up 3 or less runs in 6 of the 10 games and even notched a shutout. For a change of pace, lets do a game by game review.

July 11: Long Beach 5, Las Vegas 1 - A 3 run homerun by Donnie Rotten in the 3rd breaks a 1-1 tie and the Surfers cruise behind Ken Gladden, who tosses a complete game 6 hitter for his 13th win.

July 12: Buffalo 3, Long Beach 0 - The Surfers manage only 4 singles against Richard Tolleson and Melvin Ripken, spoiling a solid outing by Tim Regina, who falls to 11-5 on the year.

July 13: Long Beach 4, Buffalo 3 - Brian Fantana's 2 run homerun with 1 down in the bottom of the 9th caps a comeback from an early 3-0 deficit. In his MBBA debut, Ramon Ayala has a rough first inning, then settles down and tosses a complete game, allowing 8 hits and 2 walks while striking out 10.

July 14: Buffalo 9, Long Beach 0 - Once again, the Surfers are unable to score against Buffalo pitching, this time Angus MacGyver. Curt Wilson is knocked around for 6 earned runs in 7 innings and falls to 7-7 on the season.

July 15: Long Beach 4, New Orleans 3 in 10 innings - A 2 run homerun by Adrian Cabrera in the top of the 9th off of Gunga ties this one and Ice Cube wins it with another homerun off of Gunga in the top of the 10th. Rob Dibble picks up the win in relief of Sam Morton, who has his best outing in some time.

July 16: New Orleans 6, Long Beach 3 - Ken Gladden allows 4 runs (2 earned) in 6 innings to take the loss and fall to 13-8. Tim Scott allows runs for the first time in 1995 to put the game farther out of reach. Ted Sale and Billy Ashley both homer in the loss, its just not enough.

July 17: Long Beach 2, New Orleans 0 - Tim Regina tosses 7 shutout innings and 3 relievers combine to complete the 6 hit shutout. The Surfers only get 6 hits of their own, the two critical ones being a run scoring double by Brian Fantana and a run scoring single by Ice Cube in the 2nd inning that provided the games only runs.

July 18: Long Beach 7, Atlantic City 4 - Long Beach touches up Oriol Hernandez for 5 runs in the bottom of the first, keyed by homeruns by Adrian Cabrera and Mazz and help Ramon Ayala move to 2-0 in his young MBBA career. Ayala gives up 4 runs in 8 innings, allowing 7 hits and 1 walk while striking out 9. Rob Dibble pitches the 9th for his 24th save.

July 19: Long Beach 3, Atlantic City 1 - Curt Wilson tosses 8 innings of 4 hit ball and Rob Dibble moves to 25 for 25 in save opportunities as the Sufers stifle the Gamblers offense. David Hulse has a 3 hit day for the Surfers and Billy Ashley's homerun in the 4th gives the Surfers their 2nd run of the game, which was all they needed.

July 20: Atlantic City 7, Long Beach 2 - Sam Morton falls to 3-9 after giving up 6 runs in 6 innings as his not-so-slow deterioration continues. The Surfers score both of their runs via the long ball, as Ted Sale and Ice Cube go deep.

The Surfers haven't made any trades, but are still searching for another starting pitcher to replace Morton, assuming Charlie Lindquist isn't recalled from AAA Santa Monica.

[mikev]

Originally posted by lynchy34, Des Moines Kernels GM

The surrender flag has been waved in Des Moines, as the Kernels have shipped out their #2 arm in exchange for three prospects.

The Kernels sent veteran P Shamus Perfetto to Phoenix for minor leaguers CF Capleton Masutto, MR Lucio Fernandez and CL Lloyd Olmos. Perfetto and the more than $27 million owed on his contract are gone, but so is one of the top arms in the Frick League. In his place are Masutto, who is a super talented leadoff hitter with blinding speed and great defense in center field. We need him to develop because we love him as a future Kernel. The relievers are both pretty well developed and will start in AA and AAA, respectively. They should infuse the bullpen with some quality youth within the next two seasons.

Youngster P Tom Mayes will replace Perfetto in the rotation. Mayes is a crafty 23-year-old lefty who has excellent control and movement on his pitches. He has pitched very well in AAA Iowa City this year, posting a 10-6 mark with a 3.58 ERA and 1.27 WHIP. He doesn't dominate, but gets the job done. He will be pitching out of the #4 hole for us.

In other news:

-Top offensive prospect 1B James Vida is being moved up to AA after a great start to his pro career, hitting .358 with 1 HR and 11 RBI, along with some solid development.

- Blocked 1B Terry Francisen has been on fire this month, hitting .375 with a 1.063 OPS, 5 HR and 17 RBI. He is gradually pulling out of his two-month long slump and has begun posting respectable numbers. Francisen leads the team with his 17 HR and is second with 58 RBI. Management is still on the fence about re-signing the free agent to be, with 1B Will Clark faring pretty well in AAA.

- In case anyone was wondering, C Mario Cascio is an on-base machine. He leads the team with his .321 average and has an OBP over .400.

[mikev]

originally posted by lynchy34, Des Moines Kernels GM


One game out?

I guess the thing to do to motivate this club is to say we're waving the white flag and trade one of our top starting pitchers.

The Des Moines Kernels pulled to within a single game of the FL Wild Card, behind Seattle at 62-56. It's kind of crazy that the Kernels have hung around at this point, but the Kernel offense seems to get better each week (up to 7th in the FL in runs scored), while the pitching continues to be strong (3rd best in the FL). Rookie P Tom Mayes not withstanding, the starting rotation has been pretty damn solid. If Mayes' struggles continue, veteran P John Hoggan may get a long look for the rest of the season in the starting rotation. Catching Birmingham at this point is a pipe dream, as the Bandits hold a seven-game lead over the Kernels in the Frick Midwest.

Staying Put and Winning Hardware

Rumors were flying around Iowa that potential free agent 1B Terry Francisen might be shipped out of town at the trade deadline. But no suitors appeared for the most part, and Francisen stayed in Des Moines.
That may be a good thing, as he has caught fire. Francisen earned Frick League Batter of the Month honors in July, hitting .360 with 6 doubles, 6 homers, 22 RBI adn 25 runs scored. After a horrific start, the 33-year-old has gotten it going as the dog days of summer have bore down. Maybe the old man doesn't like the cold, I don't know. He has management seriously considering offering him a contract extension to stay in Des Moines for the next few seasons.

There's Something About Des Moines

Veteran P Eric van Leemer must like Des Moines for some reason. The 35-year-old is in the midst of one of his best seasons as a pro and is a big reason why the Kernels have managed to stay in the playoff chase. He is 10-8 with a 3.75 ERA this season, which puts him on pace for his lowest ERA since he posted a 3.65 ERA in 1992. Oddly enough, that was EVL's last season in Des Moines before being dealt west to California. EVL needs just three more wins to tie his career high of 13, set in 1990, his first season in Iowa. Van Leemer has shown no signs of slowing down really, and will be back in 1996 to pitch somewhere in the middle of the Kernel rotation.

[mikev]

Originally posted by Cliche, Phoenix Talons GM

Hanging on to the Wildcard

I looked at my TN page and realized that I hadn't written one in nearly two months (season time). This puzzled me greatly, considering that all in all my team is doing pretty well. Maybe the season ending injury to Emile Yost ruptured my memory.

Whatever the cause, the hiatus is over with now. Despite the Yost injury we're trucking along five back of Chicago in the JLM and holding a slim lead in the Wildcard hunt. It's a really good thing we picked up Shamus Perfetto from Des Moines just before the deadline, because with Yost out he's been a big help. He hasn't been great in his first four starts, but he's been pretty solid. My main concern is that I thought I was going to be able to relegate McGrevey or Walker to the bullpen, but that's not possible now. Both will have to remain in my rotation the rest of the season. Thankfully I've also still got Andy Nebraska and Bill Walters who have been very steady #2 and #3 arms all season long. Walters is having his best season in more than a decade. The bullpen is as strong as ever, thankfully.
McKinley Washington has been monsterous, already talling 29 saves with a good shot at 40-plus. He owns a 1.39 ERA with a 1.08 WHIP. In fact, nobody in the bullpen has an ERA north of 4, hence the group leading the league with a 2.32 mark. Jerry Dipoto and Steve Olin are their usual selves, holding ERAs of 1.72 and 2.83 respectively. even mid-season callup Robert Brocaro has gotten in on the act after a slow start, allowing just 7 earned runs in his last 22 1/3 innings.

Offensively the team has slowed down a bit, but is still a formidable force. John F. Kennedy Jr. is not a full-time starter for the first time since he debuted in 1984. He is starting against left-handers while slap-hitting Edwin Dussault starts against righties. Kennedy might not be the only starter replaced in the outfield as Jeff Langenhan is in danger of losing his spot to top prospect Leandro Fernandez Luna who has been very solid in Triple-A and has a high ceiling.

The teams sluggers have disappointed lately with Joe Belinda in a serious slump and George Peralta in a tailspin since May. Each of these guys should be very good hitters, yet neither can do much at the plate right now. Gehringer, Tawk and Epstein continue to propel the offense with their high OBPs, but sooner or later someone has to drive them in with power. Don't be surprised if Luna and slugger Vyacheslav Kelly are with the pro team sooner rather than later to give the club an offensive boost.

Speaking of the minors, my remaining prospects are doing well enough. Fernandez, Masutto and Olmos were dealt in the deal to get Perfetto, but with both Luna and Hayden Christopher looking good in Triple-A the pipeline is hardly barren. "Boo" Ortega is coming along slowly in Double-A while closer Christopher Delia has established that he's too good for A-ball.

The Next Crushing Defeat

We play two more against Louisville, then head to Hawaii for a set. We then host the Monarchs before taking on Chicago in what should be a key divisional series.

[mikev]

Originally posted by fearbobafett, Chicago Black Sox GM

The sox still are in first place in the JLM, however thier lead was cut by two games this sim, going from 5 games to 2. The bright spot is that both Phoenix and us would still be in the wild card lead who ever happens to be in the top. The club is hoping they have enough in the tank to hold off Phoenix so they can avoid Valencia in the first round.

Chet Steadman topped 200 strikeouts for the first time in his career during his last outing vs. California. The conversion has done him wonders. If not for a shellacking last month vs. Washington his ERA would be under 2 on the year. Jeff Kiplinger should follow him during his next start as he is currently sitting at 198.

Bjorn Nepal continues to pitch very well of late, and looks like he may actually hit those talent rating bumps he got this year (9/9/10). For July and August he has posted a 4-1 record with an ERA 1.83.

Hakubi is trying to fool us into thinking we should pay him 15 mill a season by playing well this month, but it is not going to be well enough for us to extend his ass.

With the injury to Long Chamberlin, Henry Jones is just 2 homers shy of becoming the all-time leader at 577, although it will be very short lived. Jones does appear to have enough left in the tank to make a run at 600 before he retires.

[mikev]

In an announcement hastily given by New Orleans Crawdads GM Mike Voelker, it was announced today that Catcher Champ Kind was signed to a 3 year contract extension... nearly a month ago.

"Well, to be quite honest, I'm not sure what the hell happened. I'm sitting here, looking at the calendar, it's August 21, and I'm looking at the press release we have, and it's dated July 22. How it managed to not be ready for me until today, I have no idea, but rest assured that I have fired several members of the PR department."

Kind, 26, had one year of arbitration left before free agency, and the team wanted to get something done before that. "We feel that it's a very fair deal for all involved, and it allows us the financial ability to pursue other players as necessary."

The slugging catcher has 21 home runs and 63 RBI on the season, though his average currently sits at a lowly .234, and his OBP is a dismal .270. "I just been slumpin a bit this year, I'll pick it up" said the large man with the white cowboy hat on. The previous two seasons as a starter, Kind batted over .300 with OBPs of .346 and .336 respectively. His slugging is also down, but Crawdads brass feel that he will bounce back soon. Fans sure hope so, and rumors of the upcoming Champ Kind BobbleHat day have caused quite a buzz

[mikev]

Originally posted by birddog20, Louisville Sluggers GM

Louisville Courier-Journal
August 21, 1995

From Hero to ZERO ...

At the beginning of the year, Chico Escuela was preparing to begin his first year of AAA ball having just received a promotion to the Evansville Mudcats after completing a rather successful season with Louisville's AA team, the Williamsburg Boonies.

Life was good for the former #1 draft pick from 1994. Escuela was touted for his great range at 2b (18) and 3b (18) and was versatile enough to play short (15). As solid as he was with the glove, scouts loved his ability to swing the bat. Though not very selective, Chico could pretty much hit anything. High, low, in the dirt ... Chico wasn't fooled much. He had 9-7-4-3-10 talent and was on the verge of making it to the bigs with a 13 contact rating. This is a guy who sat near the top of the organizations best prospects list ... a prototypical Slugger middle infielder.

That was then, this is now. At the trade deadline, Louisville GM Martin Lee first noted the tremendous drop in Chico's talents. It was almost as if something was sucking the life out of him. By this time, Escuela's talents had plummeted to 4-5-2-2-7. The change was so subtle though that no one had taken notice. None of the player development reports indicated any drop in talents.

Then last week, the glum news hit:

Monday, August 14th, 1995
Third Base C. Escuela hitting potential DROPS.

Chico Escuela has gone from Hero to ZERO. Talent levels have dropped an unprecedented amount to 1-2-2-2-5. With the talent hit comes a demotion to the Paducah Polywogs.

So what the hell happened? Louisville is investigating. Instituting a zero-tolerance drug policy amidst rumors that Chico got involved with a stripper who got him hooked on Meth. The dream is over for this ZERO.

"Ya could have been a contendah."

[mikev]

It's almost over, guys.

Heading into the final weeks of the 1995 season, the Crawdads are basically guaranteed to have another losing season given their current 67-80 record. While good enough for 3rd place in the Frick League Midwest, they are also headed towards yet another Top 10 pick in next year's amateur draft. Apparently, our 13-year plan is still looking very, very good.

As we all know, the start of September signifies a chance for a select few minor leaguers to be called up for a trial run with the big league club as rosters expand to 40 players. This was no different in the Bayou, as one youngster and a couple of veterans were called up to be a part of the Crawdads.

Jason "Ogre" Stucky was called up and inserted as the starting right fielder against lefties, replacing the soon to be departed Christopher Crawford. Stucky was decent in his first stint in the MBBA since 1993, going 4-20 with 2 home runs. The team likes his development this season, as he was previously considered a "Never Will Be" prospect, but his ability to hit lefties well is going to keep him on the team for good this time.

Stew Foo was a minor league pickup in the past offseason after bouncing around several clubs before finally being released by Las Vegas. He pitched very well in AAA Baton Rouge, with a sub-3.00 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP in 187.1 innings, along with 200+ strikeouts. In limited duty so far, Foo has allowed 1 hit, struck out 2, and walked 2 in 3 innings with New Orleans. If he can manage to not walk the stadium, Foo will get a shot at replacing Kyle Claiborne in the bullpen next season. Claiborne bounced back nicely from his 6.31 ERA campaign with Vegas last season, but his demands of over 8 million per year for 2 seasons are outright ridiculous and the team has openly laughed in his face for it. He won't be back.

The third and last callup is AAA veteran Tommy Becker, a one time can't-miss prospect who has seen his offensive capability steadily decline as he's gotten into his late 20s. The classic "AAAA" player, Becker is a fantastic defender at 3 infield positions, but can't hit a lick. The team has informed him that he's being called up as a matter of respect, but he will not be back next year with a monetary contract and will be nontendered.

Upcoming Schedule

9/12 vs. Calgary
9/13 vs. Calgary
9/14 vs. Calgary

9/15 @ Austin
9/16 @ Austin
9/17 @ Austin

9/18 vs. Montreal
9/19 vs. Montreal
9/20 vs. Montreal

9/21 @ Las Vegas

[mikev]

The Monty Brewster Baseball Association is a fictional league that began with the 1973 season, and is currently wrapping up the 1995 campaign, our first with OOTP2006. Coming up on our 4th year (real-time) anniversary, the MBBA has a fantastic group of owners who are active, creative, and really bring a lot to a fake online baseball universe.

We're a writing league, with plenty of incentives based on writing Team News, League Features, Trade Analysis, and more. This isn't just a "stay away and export for each sim" league. We want substance, we want fanatical owners, and most of all we want a ham and cheese on... oh, sorry. I got a little carried away.

With the switch to 2006, our MLB Defector program was scrapped, as we now sim MLB right alongside the MBBA. As of now there are no plans to give the MLB teams to real owners, but if we happen to get 30 or so people who are interested and dedicated, who knows! Other cool features of the league include Custom Amateurs for each years draft, the All-American Baseball Association (independent feeder league for the MBBA), and the Florida Prospect Developmental League (winterball!).

In short, here's what we are looking for:

1. Somebody who will be on the forums, preferably on a daily basis. Most of us are dorks who are online all day long
2. Somebody willing to write. If you are not a creative writer, this is not where you want to be. We have participation requirements, but we also have some nifty bonuses for meeting and exceeding them.
3. Somebody willing to give it (at least) a couple seasons, be here for the long haul. A good portion of our owners have been around for quite some time, there are even several original owners, who have been around for almost 4 years.
4. Somebody that will absolutely, positively, no doubt about it, vote Gunga Oogolagunga into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. No questions asked.

(Okay, so I threw in that last one.)

So come on and register on the forums, take a quick look at The Constitution, and if you feel like it, take a look at the League Reports. Then, go fill out an Application

I won't say which team(s) are/will be open just yet, but I'll say the one of them has a pretty great foundation laid for the long run, and the other is in pretty dire need of a solid owner to come in and right the ship.

We look forward to seeing you!

[mikev]

Okay, we're going to need one owner.

The open team is The Madison Wolves.



They're going to need some help, but they're looking like they will have a Top 3 pick in the amateur draft, and have an absolute monster of a 1B in Brock Lee to build the offense around, as well as a pretty good crop of prospects.

Financially, Madison is in pretty good shape. The Legend, Sawyer Silk is coming off the books this year, and without his 12M salary, the team sits at about 40M total. Plenty of flexibility within the 80M salary cap that the league offers, and we'd like to get somebody in for the offseason, draft, and free agency.

There are 2 more regular season sims, then playoffs, so we've realistically got a couple of weeks for somebody to look around the league, check out the team, and decide what they want to do with it in the offseason.

Come check us out!

[mikev]

It was also just announced today that one of our long time owners will be stepping down at the end of the current MBBA season due to travel outside the country coming up, so...

it saddens me to announce that we will also need a new owner for The Calgary Marauders starting in the 1996 offseason.



Calgary is currently right in the thick of the Frick League Pacific division race, 1 game back of Long Beach and Seattle. They're led by Allen Izatt who is one of the best pitchers in the MBBA, and are poised to be ready for a pretty good run if they can shave just a hair off their payroll and extend a few key guys.

[mikev]

Originally posted by Millsy, Commish and Washington Bobwhites GM

How Quickly Things Change

How quickly things can change in the JL Atlantic. On 9/1 we stood at 1 game under .500 and 4 games in back of the Louisville Sluggers. On 9/11 we now stand at 3 games over .500, are riding a 4 game winning streak and now sit only 1 game behind the Sluggers.

The Bobwhites top performer of the sim has to be rookie, September call up, Kevin Drury. In his first Major League start Drury went 7 strong innings vs. Omaha, giving up only 2 hits and striking out 5. In his second start 5 days later he went 6.1 innings vs. Louisville, giving up 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 5. Only 22 years old, expect to see Drury in a Washington uniform for many years to come.

On the offensive side of things rookie SS Waichirou Moronobu had an outstanding sim as well. “Thumper” was 16 for 37 for .432 BA. Combine that with a .475 OBP and .676 SLG and Moronobu looks to be making a push for some Rookie of the Year consideration.

The Bobwhites will continue to try and keep things rolling with series coming up vs. Baltimore, Chicago and Madison.

[Recte44]

bump.

We've gotten a few nibbles, but we're still on the lookout for quality people as this process continues.

One of the reasons the MBBA has been so successful over the years is that we like to be on the selective side, and be sure that the MBBA is a good fit for the potential owner and vice versa.

There's still some time to see what's going on in the MBBA. We've gotten through most of our rough patches with the new software, and are looking forward to only getting better from here!

Come check us out!

[mikev]

71 wins, 85 losses, third place. It's more of the same in New Orleans as the 1995 season dwindles down, but slowly we're getting out of this rut that we're in. I'm predicting that by, uh, like 2008 we'll be at least challenging for second place.

We started the sim by dropping 2 of 3 to Calgary at home (hey, we wanted to be nice to Bisbo on his way out), then we won 2 of 3 against Austin in Austin, and finally ended the sim by losing 2 of 3 to Montreal. Pretty much status quo for the season, unfortunately.

To make matters worse, Lee Dedeau managed to injure his back and missed a start, and will be taken out of the rotation for the rest of the season in hopes that he doesn't get lumped AGAIN. *evil glare at Recte*

On the bright side, Jason Stucky is proving that he does belong in the MBBA. His line of .306/.324/.500 over the 15 games he's played in is very promising, and the team has high hopes for Ogre to add some much needed power to the middle of the order to compliment Champ Kind and Team MVP Willie Williams.

On the pitching side of things, Righty Grove is having a very good season given the crappy team surrounding him. 12 wins, a sub-4.00 ERA, and 5th in the MBBA with 265 strikeouts. With the dollars that have been thrown at top tier pitchers the last few offseasons, the team is very happy with Grove's 6.2 million for the next couple seasons. Continuing the good starting pitching for a good price, former MLB Defector Shawn Boskie continues his masterful season, albeit marred by a terrible win-loss record of 10-11. Boskie sports an impressive 2.70 ERA, with a 1.16 WHIP and a miniscule 42 walks over 236 innings this season, and is 5th in the FL with a VORP of 57.0. Boskie's 5.5 million per season extension was questioned when it was signed, but for a legit ace, that's not a bad contract at all.

Now, I know that most of you wouldn't even notice, but no Crawdad season would be complete without talking about him. After being written off for dead by a bunch of idiots, Gunga Oogolagunga has come back this season to post an ERA of 3.50 with 31 saves and a 0.95 WHIP. The career saves leader (486) is also approaching 100 wins on his career, he surpassed the 1,000 strikeout mark (he's pitched a total of 1097 innings, mind you). I'll say it again: The man is a g*d*mn Hall Of Famer, and whoever thinks otherwise is a moron, end of story.

To finish out the season, the Crawdads plan on a combination of Hookers and Blow, followed up by a relaxing couple days on the beach.

Upcoming Schedule

9/21 @ Las Vegas
9/22 @ Las Vegas
9/23 @ Las Vegas

9/25 vs Long Beach
9/26 vs Long Beach
9/27 vs Long Beach

[mikev]

Originally posted by pedersenkirk, Vancouver Mounties GM

Another disappointing season in Vancouver

That's all, folks. The Vancouver Mounties have been mathematically eliminated from the 1995 MBBA playoffs. But it's not all bad, if the team can come around and win at least one of their final six games, they can finish at .500. Not exactly something wannabe contenders aim for, but a nice mark nonetheless for a team that was expected to finish in the basement of the JLP.

"We've made some good strides this year," said owner/GM Kirk Pedersen. "Guys like Bobby have really made people want to come out to the ballpark again."

Bonds has had a solid rookie season, despite his prodigious amount of strikeouts, with that counter now sitting at 147 in 141 games. "I know I need to be more patient at the plate, but I just love swinging my bat so much," he said. "I think I should be getting involved more on the basepaths in the coming years because my speed is a real asset to this team."

Bonds has a disappointing 31 swiped bags so far this season, even though the Mounties have set his stealing all the way up on the slider, BRPOC at work, I think so. His .249 batting average won't make too many people happy, but the excitement the rookie brought to the field in his inaugural season in the show brought Mounties fans to their feet.

"I'll be back next year, ready to step my game up to the next level, definitely," Bonds said to the media during batting practice. "But my main focus is to finish this year off strong."

Another bright spot for Bonds so far this year has been his stellar defense, as he's only committed two errors in the field all season to go along with six assists.

"My speed definitely helps me get to balls that most other outfielders could only dream of catching," he said. "And I know that I will improve every night as long as I keep working hard to make myself the best player I can be."