Ashby	Boone	Gilkey	Leiter	Guillen	Maddux

HISTORY: The Kass Kickers entered the league as an expansion team in 1996. The Kickers hung around for much of the season within striking distance of the money before finally landing in ninth. The Kickers were led in nearly every category by Ellis Burks, a positive for the injury prone ROTO stud, but perhaps more reflective of the Kickers lack of depth.

In 1997 the Kickers remained in the hunt for the title for most of the year behind their suberb staff of Pedro Martinez, Alex Fernandez, and Carlos Perez and blazing speed (203 steals on the year). Despite the late season acquisition of Mark McGwire, the Kickers could just never seem to get enough power in their lineup to push them over the top. And, when their pitching faltered just a bit at the end of the season, the Kickers found themselves in third place, still a nice achievement.

The Kickers continued their strong play with a solid 4th place finish in 1998. Despite shaky power numbers, the Kickers rode their dominant starting pitching of Andy Ashby, Al Leiter, and Tom Glavine to the win and ERA crowns and a spot in the money.

Looking for their 3rd consecutive money finish, the 1999 Kass Kickers limped home in 9th place despite racking up 33 pitching points behind a solid rotation. Edgardo Alfonzo deliverd offensively, but most of the rest of his offense battled injuries and inconsistency and/or lacked the depth 1-14.

In 2000, the Kickers bounced around in the middle of the standings before settling in 5th place, just out of the money. The Kickers were a strong offensive team behind the bats of Jeff Kent, Preston Wilson, Jeff Bagwell, and Todd Helton. However they could muster only 18 pitching points despite some premier pitchers (Reynolds, Maddux, and Randy Johnson) spending some time with the Kickers.

BEST TRADE:Secure in their pitching strength in 1997, the Kickers deal Pedro Martinez to the Sums for Mark McGwire, who nearly single handedly (23 HR in 140 AB) leads the Kickers to the title.

WORST TRADE: In 1999, the Kickers trade Alex Fernandez and George Arias to the Mighty Mice in exchange for closer John Franco. Due to injuries, Franco pitches only 8+ innings (2 saves), while Fernandez delivers 90+ innings of above average work for the Mice while Arias accounts for 56 low value at bats. Although the trade was relatively meaningless in the overall standings, it did prevent the Kickers from being able to trade Fernandez for something else they might have needed.

FRANCHISE MVP:Ellis Burks

CAREER LEADERS:

AB			H			HR			RBI
B. Boone	1417	E.Alfonzo	367	E. Burks	72	J. Kent	        224
E. Alfonzo	1172	B. Boone	351	J. Kent	        55	E. Burks	210
J. Kent	        1093	J. Kent	        342	Pr. Wilson	54	E. Alfonzo	202
Pr. Wilson	1049	E. Burks	334	E. Alfonzo	52	Pr. Wilson	186
E. Burks	1037	Pr. Wilson	287	Br. Boone	46	Br. Boone	185	

SB			AVG			IP			W
R. Clayton	51	T. Helton	.379	C. Perez	617	M. Hampton	37
Pr. Wilson	46	E. Burks	.322	M. Hampton	456.7	A. Leiter	29
S. Javier	45	E. Alfonzo	.313	A. Leiter	400	C. Perez	27
T. Womack	44	J. Kent	        .313	S. Reynolds	362.7	S. Reynolds	23
E. Burks	39	D. Segui	.309	A. Ashby	357	A. Ashby	22
			
SV			RAT			ERA
J. Franco	104	P. Martinez	0.88	P. Martinez	1.72
J. Brantley	23	G. Maddux	0.89	G. Maddux	2.25
J. Acevedo	17	J. Fassero	1.04	D. Cook	        2.38
T. Adams	14	Ju. Guzman	1.18	J. Fassero	2.57
Do. Henry	12	A. Ashby	1.20	J. Franco	2.59