News Page

Our Total Quality Stats web pages are now up and running for the 2001 season. All rosters are current and up-to-date, and more importantly, the Free Agents listing includes everyone who will be available in the Draft (so far), including players who were released following the 2000 season because they played out their options. Other useful information includes, stats for last year, as well as the number of games played by position.

TQS is still working on enhancements and redesigns of the pages, and have sent the following teaser about things to come:

Nick Hansen, GM of Nick' Picts, as well as the founder and owner of the slowly burgeoning web design company, Black Fez Productions, has announced a new e-mail address for official Picts' business: [email protected]. This is the Picts' 18th e-mail address since joining the CFCL a little less than a year ago. I don't know what they do to keep getting kicked off their ISPs, but it's gotta be pretty nasty. Seriously, the change is a result of Nick acquiring his own domain name for his company -- the CFCL wishes Nick the best of luck with Black Fez, and Nick promises "Read my lips: I will never change my email address again after this time. . ."

Also announcing a new e-mail address was Kelly Barone of the Six Packs. Kelly will be retaining his old AOL address, but will not be checking it very frequently. To be sure to reach him, use his work address as well: [email protected].

News recently reached CFCL headquarters that Paul Zeledon, of Da Paul Meisters had a nasty accident a few weeks ago and broke his right arm in two places.

The injury will require 4-5 months to heal, which means Paul will have to skip his annual trip to Florida for the White Sox fantasy camp. Paul, whose trading card from the 1999 camp is pictured to the right, didn't express any concern or doubt about his ability to fulfill his General Manager duties while recovering. Though, if he's hopped up on pain medication, now might be the time to call with that trade offer for Mike Piazza...

The CFCL wishes Paul a speedy recovery and hopes his injuries won't hinder him too much at the Draft table.

NOTE: I will be offering Paul's 1999 trading card on eBay, where I expect it to pull in big dollars, especially now that his career is in doubt.

For the past few years, there have been an increasing amount of concerns expressed about the number and extremity of dump trades that are being made during the season. During the 2000 season, numerous owners commented about the amount of dumping going on, and in the "suggestions/comments" section of the 2000 Awards Ballot, a few teams repeated their concerns and mentioned the need for some kind of restrictions on dumping.

The Executive Committee has been hard at work over the last several weeks, trying to develop new rules in order to reduce the amount of dumping, and today they unanimously approved two measures that it hopes will address the problem.

There are two types of players who are typically dumped from non-contending teams to contenders during the season: high-salaried players who would probably not be retained the following season, and B-contract players who are automatically released at the end of the season. Each of these new plans addresses on of these groups of dump targets.

The aim of the in-season salary cap, obviously, is to reduce the number of high-priced players any one team can acquire during the season. The exact level of the in-season cap has not yet been decided upon, as the Executive Committee wants to set it low enough to restrict excessive dumping, but high enough to allow for normal transactions, free agent acquisitions, and some reasonable level of dumping. Also under consideration is an in-season salary floor, which would prevent a team from dumping off too much of their talent. There are concerns, however, about what teams might do to circumvent the salary floor.

The second plan, Limited Toppers, targets the dumping of B-contract players. The Executive Committee hopes that the Limited Toppers will reduce dumping by giving B-contract players some value to teams not in the running for a money spot. Currently, B-contract players are among the first to be considered for dumping. Since they will be made free agents immediately after the season, non-contending teams have not reason to hold onto them, preferring instead to dump them to contenders for whatever they can get. Under the new plan, teams will have the possibility of retaining the Topper for one or more of the B-contract players they own at the end of the season.

Since ONLY B-contract players that a team owns at the end of the season will be eligible for Toppers in the following year's Draft, it is expected that non-contending teams will retain more of them than they otherwise would, or, if they still trade them, that they will make sure they get something of value in return.

It's important to note two things though: 1) we will be using LIMITED Toppers -- not all B-contract players will havve Toppers on them (we expect a maximum of 12-15 players to be toppable in a Draft), and 2) holding the Topper for a player does NOT guarantee that you will get him in the following Draft -- you still have to have an open spot for him on your roster plus be able and willing to top the highest bid by .01.

There are still a lot of details to be worked out on this plan -- how many players each team can retain Toppers for, the number of teams that will get Topper rights, when the players whose Toppers are being retained need to be identified, etc.

Information will continue to be posted here as the Executive Committee finalizes the rules for the 2001 season.

Don't be a fool -- be sure to block out April 1 on your calendar for Draft Day, 2001.

The CFCL Front Office has tentatively tabbed Sunday April 1 for the 2001 CFCL Auction and Rotation Draft. Plans call for the Draft to once again be held at Rich Bentel's office in Naperville, and most likely we'll kick things off at 8:00 AM. April 1 is the day before Opening Day of the 2001 MLB season.

If you know of a conflict with this date, now is the time to speak. Let David or Rich know as soon as possible if you won't be able to make this date.

With the current Major League Collective Bargaining Agreement set to expire at the end of 2001 season, predictions of doom and gloom are already rearing their ugly heads. In fact many analyst are predicting a "signing freeze" on free agents next fall, as well as a prolonged work stoppage. Some have even gone so far as to predict that the entire 2002 season will be wiped out.

This would present a few problems for the CFCL -- most importantly, what happens to player salaries and contracts? Do contracts move from D to C and C to B, even if no games are played? What if only a portion of the season is played -- at what point do we go ahead with a Draft and at what point do we tank the season?

The CFCL Executive Committee realized that uncertainty about the 2002 season could conceivably affect roster decisions in 2001, from deciding who to sign to a long term contract to who to trade for during the season. Deciding that it would be best to have a plan in place as soon as possible, the Executive Committee developed the following contingency plan for the 2002 season:

Now, if there are fewer than 81 games played, but the majors still go ahead with a shortened season of some kind, we will have some kind of "unofficial" CFCL competition. What this will be is still to be determined, but right now the thinking is something along these lines: we'll start from scratch and hold a straight draft (no bidding) to get our rosters; maybe we'll use different categories (OBP instead of BA, Strike Outs instead of W, etc) or just add additional categories to the ones we use (Runs Scored and Strike Outs, for example); basically we'll use the opportunity to try out some new and interesting rules. At the end of this experimental season, all the rosters will be disbanded and we'll go back to the rosters we had at the end of 2001.

The CFCL Front Office was officially notified this weekend that the ForGoetz Me Nots would not be returning for the 2001 season. Nots owner Dave Goetz cited a number of things that would keep him too busy to stay competitive, foremost among them was "building momentum for the impeachment of George Bush."

The ForGoetz Me Nots were one of the six original CFCL teams in 1984, and were the first CFCL Champions. They left the league following the 1985 season, and returned in 1994. There are, of course, many Goetz highlights from his time with the league, but foremost among them has to be the time during the 1999 Draft when Goetz actually drifted off to sleep during the bidding.

The Nots will be taken over by a new owner -- someone with CFCL drafting experience. Last year, Hard Hats' owner Matt Grage had to leave the Draft for a couple of hours, so he had brought along his friend Tim Leen to fill in for him. During a break in the Draft, Tim mentioned that if we ever had an opening in the league, he'd be interested in joining. When Dave told us he wouldn't be returning, we contacted Tim and he jumped at a chance to take over the ForGoetz Me Nots. An announcement of a new team name will be coming soon.

CFCL business has been heating up on the administrative side for the last few weeks, and now things are warming up on the baseball side as well. Nick's Picts and Bruce's Witzke a Go-Go today completed the first trade of the new millennium and the first CFCL trade of this off-season.

The Picts sent loud-mouthed closer John Rocker and first baseman JT Snow to the Go-Go for ace starter Curt Schilling and 1999 CFCL MVP Chipper Jones.

Rocker (.15), who has two years remaining on a long-term contract signed last spring, gives the Go-Go another inexpensive closer to go along with Dave Veres (.04), while Snow could grab the spot vacated when Andres Galarraga was lost to the AL.

By acquiring Schilling (.27) and Jones (.48), there's no doubt the Picts come out ahead in terms of talent in this deal; however along with the talent they also take on .75 in salary. The Picts definitely had room to take on that payroll, though. Even after this deal, their roster sports only 5 players with salaries over .10.

The CFCL Executive Committee continued a very busy January by finalizing the details for the in-season salary cap that is being instituted for the 2001 season. The Executive Committee actually decided to go with a 3-phase salary cap, with the amount of the cap changing depending on the time of year.

The Executive Committee spent considerable time investigating various levels for the salary cap, including checking what other leagues with a similar structure as ours do, as well as experimenting with roster moves from last year. In examining last year's moves, the EC found that the only teams who came close to going over the salary cap were those who were on the receiving end of dump trades. Based on last year, there will be plenty of room under the cap for regular transactions (active/reserve list moves, injury replacements, free agent acquisitions, etc).

In order to track a team's status in relation to the salary cap, we've asked our stat service, Total Quality Stats, to add a "total active roster salary" to the roster reports on the website. This change has already been made (click on the Rosters link on the menu from any TQS page). Also, the Front Office will be redesigning the Excel roster sheets to include a total salary field.

Next, the Executive Committee tackles the other portion of the new anti-dumping measures, Toppers. Also, they will examine the feasibility of having a salary floor as well as a cap.

With an in-season salary cap already in place to discourage the dumping of high-salaried players, the CFCL Executive Committee took steps to address the other group of players subject to frequent dumping: players in the final year of their current contract. To discourage massive dumping of these players, the EC developed a Topper plan aimed at increasing the value of B contract players to teams who are out of the running for the current season.

Under this plan, some teams would receive Topper rights on a limited number of B contract players that they own at the end of the season. When a team owns a player's Topper rights, that team has the right to "top" the highest bid for that player by .01. It his hoped that by offering this incentive it will give B contract players some value to teams who are out of the pennant race.

Currently, there's no real reason for an 8th place team to hang onto a player on a B contract since he'll be lost at the end of the season, so they may as well dump him to a contender for draft picks. Now, however, that 8th place team might want to keep the player since they could conceivably have an inside track at getting him back next year. They may still decide to trade him, but at the very least they will have more incentive to make sure they get something of value in return for him.

In order to make sure the Topper plan is targeted at the right teams, the number of Topper rights a team receives will be based on where they place in the final standings:

This distribution means there will be a limit of 15 possible Toppers in any given Draft, and focuses 4/5 of all the Toppers in the lower half of the standings. Note that the teams finishing in 8th and 9th place get more than any other teams -- this is to encourage teams lower in the standings to stay as competitive as possible throughout the season.

Hopefully this all makes sense, but in case it doesn't here's an example walking through the new rule:

As you can see, owning the Topper rights to a player does not guarantee that you'll get him. However, it will hopefully it will give non-contending teams at least a little incentive to resist dumping their B contract players.

An updated version of the Constitution with all the new rules will be available online and for download soon.

CFCL preseason action continued to heat up today as the Six Packs and Lambchops got together on a deal.

Going to the Lambchops was catcher Mike Lieberthal (.15). In return, the Six Packs received OF Adrian Brown (.05) and the Lambchops' 13th round Rotation Draft pick.

As announced here earlier, Dave Goetz has decided to withdraw his franchise, the ForGoetz Me Nots from the CFCL. Last month, the team was sold to new owner Tim Leen, and today the CFCL is proud to reveal the name of their newest franchise. Effective immediately, the ForGoetz Me Nots will be known as Tim's Maulers. The Maulers become the 32nd franchise in the CFCL's 17-year history.

A day after christening their team with a new name, Tim's Maulers anointed their roster with their first trade.

The Maulers sent second baseman Jose Vidro and their 7th and 16th round Rotation Draft picks to Matt's Hard Hats for pitcher Glendon Rusch, releiver Ugueth Urbina, and the Hats' 1st round Rotation Draft pick.

Vidro had a bust-out year in 2000 and was one of the league's most productive middle infielders. At .07 he should be a big bargain for the Hard Hats. In Rusch, the Maulers pick up a young starter coming off a solid season, and Urbina gives them a potentially dominant starter, though it's questionable how effective he'll be after last year's injury plagued season.

The Hard Hats have struck again. Just a couple days after completing a deal with the newly-christened Maulers, the Hats have sealed another deal. This time they sent steady first baseman Eric Karros plus their 9th, 11th, and 15th round Rotation Draft picks to Steve's Stones for promising fireballer Brad Penny and their 7th round Rotation Draft pick.

The Hard Hats continue to cut salary, netting a .63 decrease in team salary as a result of the two deals. They also pick up another 7th round pick, which (by virtue of being the first round in which players receive .05 salaries) seem to have taken on some kind of mythical quality -- 8 of the 12 picks in that round are now owned by 3 teams -- the Hard Hats, Rebels, and Ruffins.

The Stones, meanwhile, had the necessary space to pick up Karros' salary. While Penny was part of the booty the Stones received from the Copperfields in exchange for Randy Johnson last year, they felt they needed a boost in the power department. While Penny has all the potential in the world, he's still fairly unproven, while Karros has been one of the more consistent performers for the past several years.

The CFCL today released the schedule of events that will culminate with Draft Day and Opening Day during the first weekend in April. The scheduled dates are as follows:

Roster Cut Sheets Mailed Out
Completed Roster Cut Sheets Should Be Mailed Back
Roster Freeze Day (for cuts submitted via e-mail)
Roster Freeze Day (for cuts submitted via snail-mail)
Keeper List Mailed Out
Draft Day
NL Opening Day

Monday, March 12
Tuesday, March 20
Wednesday, March 21
Friday, March 23
Monday, March 26
Sunday, April 1
Monday, April 2

The Administrative Pre-Season will kick off on March 12 when Roster Cut Sheets will be mailed to CFCL owners. Unless otherwise requested, owners who typically receive standings reports via e-mail will also receive their Roster Cut Sheets via e-mail in Excel Format. If you do not have Excel on your computer, you can download a free Excel reader from Microsoft -- there's a link in the Download Center.

Owners will have the option of returning the completed forms via e-mail or via snail-mail. If forms are e-mailed back to the Head Office, they must be received by the morning of Wednesday March 21. Forms from owners who will be using the US Postal Service will not be due until Friday, March 23. Whichever delivery system is used, the completed forms should be in the mail by March 20 to ensure they'll arrive on time.

If there are any questions about how the process works, check the relevant portions of the Constitution (which will be updated soon), or contact me.

Two more teams have joined the recent trade-fest, with the Bentel cousins getting together on a deal.

Dem Rebels sent outfielder Jeffery Hammonds (.10) and shortstop Neifi Perez (.15) to the DoorMatts for pitchers Russ Ortiz (.05) and Elmer Dessens (.07). The Rebels also nab yet another Rotation Draft pick, receiving the Matts' 2nd rounder.

Hammonds was one of the Rebels offensive leaders last year, and Perez was acquired from the Six Packs mid-year as part of the Rebels pennant drive. In Ortiz, the Rebels acquire a promising young hurler who struggled early last year, but had a dominant second half. Dessens gives them a reliable middle reliever who can spot-start where needed.

In a tiny bit of pre-Draft Day roster fine-tuning, the Copperfields and Lambchops got together and minor parts. The Copperfields sent 2B Warren Morris and 3B/C Michael Barrett to the Chops for SS Damien Jackson and minor league OF Ben Broussard.

Morris, who had a solid rookie season for the Copperfields in 1999, slipped in his sophomore campaign and enters 2001 on shaky footing. Barrett had a disappointing 2000 season as well, being shuttled between catcher and 3B all year. Analysts expect him to bounce back strong this year.

In Jackson, the Copperfields hoped to acquire some cheap speed, but they'll also need to hope that Jackson will be able to steal enough bases to offset any negative impact his batting average may have. Broussard gives them a promising young OF who is probably a year or so off.

With just a little over a week until Draft Day, the CFCL Front Office has decided to pack up Draft Headquarters and move East a bit. The Draft was originally planned for the same place it was held in 2000, Naperville. Concerns about the amount of space available at that location, however, led Official CFCL Draft Location Scout Rich Bentel to explore other options, and it looks like he's found us a winner.

Plans now call for the Draft to be held at the Oakbrook offices of Rich's employer, Waddell & Reed (2907 Butterfield Road). This location will give us a much larger room to spread out in, and is also 15-20 minutes closer to the majority of CFCL owners.

The Oakbrook location may also provide the ability for Rich to connect his laptop to a network, giving him a high-speed connection to the Internet. This is important, as Rich will be serving as Official Liaison to Ruffin Draft Headquarters in Greensboro. Rich will use Microsoft NetMeeting to connect to Head Ruffin David Holian's computer. Rich will then operate a specially-designed Excel spreadsheet to track each bid as it happens during the Draft. NetMeeting will allow Rich to "share" this spreadsheet with the Ruffins, so as each bid is recorded in Oakbrook, it will appear on Dave's computer screen in Greensboro. This will allow Dave to see at a glance exactly where the bidding stands at any given moment (who has the highest bid, who's in, who's out, etc.). NetMeeting also has audio capabilities which will allow Dave to state his bids into a microphone connected to his PC and have them broadcast to Draft Headquarters in Oakbrook. Since the Rotation Draft is usually faster-paced than the auction, we'll move to a speakerphone for that portion of the Draft.

More information about Draft Day, including directions to the new Draft Location will be posted soon.

The CFCL Front Office happily announced today that all teams had submitted their final roster cuts by today's Noon deadline. League Secretary David Mahlan immediately went to work updating rosters and expects to have an updated report with information about cuts and Draft Day posted on the website by the end of the day on Saturday.

In terms of a quick overview, big names released by their CFCL teams included Ken Griffey, Jr., Rondell White, Mike Hampton, Shawn Green, and Ugueth Urbina. All of these cuts were a result of the players' high salaries.

Players were also cut loose as a result of poor performance. The Lambchops released 2000 bust Jose Lima, who was acquired from Dem Rebels just prior to last year's Draft in exchange for Sammy Sosa. The Lambchops, who had signed Lima to a 2-year deal, will be penalized .05 for terminating the contract.

The following players were signed to X-year contracts: ABeltre (Copperfields), DWard (Ruffins), and BKim (Six Packs). These players receive a .02 raise this year, and then must either be released or signed to a long-term contract prior to next season.

JD Drew of the Ruffins was also eligible for an X contract, however the Ruffins decided to skip this step, as the Copperfields did with Vladmir Guerrero two years ago, and immediately inked Drew to a 4-year contract. The pact will pay Drew .17 per year and will expire following the 2004 season.

Other players signed to long term deals included Richard Hidalgo (Copperfields, 3 years at .17), Matt Morris (Lambchops, 2 years at .06), Preston Wilson (DoorMatts, 2 years at .15), Bruce Chen (Hard Hats, 2 years at .07), Jose Vidro (Hard Hats, 3 years at .17), Luis Castillo (Ruffins, 2 years at .07), Kerry Wood (3 years at .11), Armando Benitez (Six Packs, 2 years at .15), Brian Giles (Six Packs, 3 years at .31), Darren Dreifort (Go-Go, 2 years at .08), Darryl Kile (Go-Go, 2 years at .06), Dave Veres (2 years at .08), and Moises Alou (Stones, 2 years at .08).

Following the cuts, Steve's Stones will go into the Draft with the most money, with $1.58 to spend on 13 players. In terms of per-player averages, the Go-Go and Lambchops rule the roost with about .14 to spend on each player. On the short end of the stick, Dem Rebels will have only .42 to spend on 9 players (.05 average), while the Copperfields set an all-time record low, going into the 2001 Draft with just .25 to buy 10 players (.03 average).

A complete list of players released, updated rosters, and information about Draft Day will be posted in an updated Report soon.

The CFCL Front Office today announced that they have set up a new e-mail address to which owners can e-mail their weekly transactions. The new address, [email protected], is now operational and open for business.

Owners who are making mid-week injury related roster moves or reporting trades should send the transactions to BOTH [email protected] and [email protected].

David's Ruffins and Matt's Hard Hats got together today to complete the first in-season trade of the 2001 season.

The Ruffins sent perennial prospect Ruben Rivera and their 6th round Rotation Draft pick in 2002 to the Hats for promising, but unproven hurler Eric Gagne and the Hats' 4th round Rotation Draft pick in 2001.

After years of unfulfilled promise, Rivera has shown signs of putting it all together this season, while Gagne has begun to demonstrate the consistency that had eluded him earlier in his career.

For the second straight year the Six Packs have dealt second baseman Jeff Kent mid-season. In a just-completed deal, the Six Packs sent Kent and pitcher Chris Brock to the Maulers in exchange for ace Randy Johnson and infielder/ourfielder Geoff Blum.

Last season, with Kent playing out the final year of his contract, the struggling Six Packs sent the bargain-priced second sacker (.14) to the Copperfields in a deadline deal that helped the Copperfields seal the 2001 Championship. Kent became a free agent after the season and was one of the most sought-after targets in this year's Draft, fetching the a huge .40 paycheck from the Packs.

That paycheck may make him a questionable keeper for next season, but the Maulers felt they'd be more likely to keep Kent at .40 than Johnson at his current salary of .46.

Brock and Blum were throw-ins, though Blum could provide some production if he gets some playing time. Of course, he won't come near to replacing Kent's awesome middle infield production, but the Six Packs are hopeful that some of their under-performers will heat up to pick up the slack.

A week after acquiring pitcher Eric Gagne from the Hard Hats, the Ruffins turned around and packaged him in a deal with the Lambchops.

Joining Gagne in leaving the Ruffins were first baseman Travis Lee and minor league infielder Keith Ginter. In exchange, the Ruffins acquired short stop Edgar Renteria, pitcher Al Leiter, and old-time Ruffin favorite, Shawon Dunston.

The trade signals a move by the Lambchops into "playing for the future mode", while it seems to indicate that the 7th place Ruffins plan on making a run at the title. The trade leave the Ruffins just .06 short of the in-season salary cap of $3.00 -- the closest any team has come so far this year.

Nick's Picts, already owners of the CFCL's best pitching staff, bolstered their sagging offense today by acquiring slugging outfielder Sammy Sosa from Dem Rebels.

In exchange for Sosa, the Rebels receive speedy outfielder Juan Pierre, rookie starting pitching sensation Luke Prokopec, outfield prospect Reggie Taylor, and the Picts 2nd and 7th round Rotation Draft picks in 2002.

The Picts currently rank in the bottom third of every offensive category except for SB, where they lead the league. SB, of course, is the only offensive category that Sosa will not be expected to contribute.

If their trade of Sammy Sosa last week didn't make things clear enough, Dem Rebels erased all doubt about their intentions for this year and for the future today, as they completed two more deals today with contending teams.

In the first trade, the Rebels sent third baseman Phil Nevin, second baseman Pokey Reese, and starter Russ Ortiz, all of whom are playing out the final year of their contracts, to Bruce's Witzke a Go-Go for pitcher Darryl Kile, shortstop Ricky Gutierrez, and minor league hurler Carlos Zambrano. The Rebels also continued their quest to own the entire first .05 round of Reserve List picks by acquiring the Go-Go 7th round pick in 2002.

In a deal announced just minutes later, the Rebels dealt closer Antonio Alfonseca and infield prospect Bobby Hill to the Ruffins. In return, the Ruffins put together a package of minor league talent: outfielder Chin-Feng Chen, pitcher Wascar Serrano, second baseman Marcus Giles, and their 10th round Rotation Draft pick in 2002.

The moves laid to rest any Rebel hopes for contention this year and almost completely cleaned their roster of B contact players -- only Mike Remlinger remains. They also gave the Rebels a whopping 11 players on minor league contracts, tying an unofficial CFCL record set this year by the Hard Hats.

The Go-Go and Ruffins are the third and fourth teams recently to toss their hat into the ring of contenders with a play-for-this-year deal. Of the six teams contending points-wise, only the Copperfields and DoorMatts have yet to jump into the fray.

In an effort to enhance the natural excitement surrounding the July 31 Major League trading deadline, the CFCL Exectutive Commitee has created a new mid-summer event called the Interleague Free Agent Bid Day, or IFAB Day for short.

IFAB Day will be the day immediately following the MLB trade deadline each year, so as long as the MLB trade deadline remains at July 31, IFAB Day will be August 1. July 31 is typically the day that sees the greatest influx of players from the American League, which means the Tuesday following July 31 is where we typically see the most frenzied free agent bidding.

However, depending on the calendar in any given year, that Tuesday may be as much as a week after July 31. By the time Transaction Day rolls around, much of the trade deadline frenzy and excitement has died down. Players who came over from the AL may have settled into well-defined roles at that point, which eliminates the wild, speculative bidding that takes place when the Tuesday come more closely after the 31st. Finally, it means that a number of players may have been traded from the AL to the NL at the deadline, but have to sit unowned for the greater part of a week.

Last year, things worked out perfectly, as July 31 fell on a Monday, which meant all the MLB trades had been completed and announced by the time the Noon Tuesday transaction deadline rolled around. It made for a pretty exciting couple of days.

It's hoped that IFAB Day will help capture that same excitement in every year. With a handful of new, potentially valuable free agents coming to the NL and being eligible for bidding the very next day, owners will be under the gun to do their homework and weigh various options for bidding, creating an pressure-filled atmosphere rivaled only be Draft Day.

1. On the Interleague Free Agent Bid Day, bidding will be allowed on ALL free agents (not only those that came over from the AL in trades).

2. If the MLB trade deadline falls on a Tuesday (as it does this year), players traded to the NL from the AL can ONLY be bid on on the Interleague Free Agent Bid Day. This would prevent a situation where Pedro Martinez gets traded to the Mets at 11:45 on Tuesday and is snagged for .12 by someone who's got Internet access at work.

Finally, an additional side benefit of IFAB Day is that we’ll not only know ALL the players who came over from the AL, but we’ll know all the players that CFCL teams lost because they were traded to the AL. This means we’ll know exactly how much each team has to spend in their FAAB , and any additional money that's added to the FAAB for players lost to the AL can immediately be used on players traded over.

In what has got to be the most insignificant 8-player deal in CFCL history, the Copperfields and Lambchops combined on a trade that represents the first small indication that owner David Mahlan may feel his Copperfields have a shot at the top spot this year.

The Copperfields acquired B-contract third baseman Aaron Boone, B-contract minor league second baseman Warren Morris, infield prospect Miguel Cabrera, injured pitching prospect Scott Sobkowiak, and a 7th round Rotation Draft pick in 2002 from the Chops. In return, the Lambchops get penny outfielder Roosevelt Brown, infielders Chris Donnells and Stubby Clapp, and first base prospect Ben Broussard.

For the Copperfields, the trade obviously revolved around Boone, who, while he's one of the lighter-hitting starting third basemen in the league, offered a significant upgrade over part-timer Donnells. The Copperfields currently have third baseman Fernando Tatis on the injured list, but his date of return is in doubt.

Donnells and Clapp were obviously filler for the Lambchops, who have been hit hard by injuries and had been playing with several holes in their active roster. However, Brown, at .01, and Broussard give the Chops something to build around.

Both Morris and Broussard had been involved in a pre-season deal between the Copperfields and Lambchops, in which the Copperfields received Damien Jackson. Morris had been a huge disappointment for the Lambchops, and while Jackson has been injured for much of the season, he has stolen a handful of bases for the Copperfields while healthy.

The Picts, Six Packs, and Stones can breath a little easier today, as the CFCL's in-season salary cap increases from $3.00 to $3.50. All three teams have been hovering just below the $3.00 limit in recent weeks, and currently sport active roster salaries totaling more than $2.90.

The in-season salary cap will remain at $3.50 until September 1, when it will increase to $3.60 where it will hold until the end of the season.

When that Six Packs captured their sole CFCL Championship in 1999, closer Robb Nen ("but Rich, it's Robb Nen") led the bullpen corps and the Packs picked up first baseman Jeff Bagwell in a mid-season deal with Steve's Slackers. In an effort to return to a formula that's worked in the past, the Six Packs today acquired Bagwell and Nen from Dem Rebels. Also returning to the Six Packs is reliever Mike Remlinger, who began his career with the Packs.

Leaving the Six Pack juggernaut for the Rebels are first baseman Sean Casey, starter Adam Eaton, outfielder Peter Bergeron, and the Packs' 7th and 13th round Rotation Draft picks in 2002.

The trip down memory lane is costly for the Six Packs, as they take on considerable salary in Bagwell and Nen, pushing them close to the the in-season salary cap which only today increased to $3.50. The Rebels, on the other hand, have little to worry about, as their active roster salary now totals less than $2.00.

One day after the Six Packs threw down the gauntlet with their acquisition of Jeff Bagwell and Robb Nen, Bruce's Witzke a Go-Go made a move of their own, striking a deal with Da Paul Meisters.

In the trade, the Go-Go acquire outfielder Steve Finley, closer Jose Mesa, and pitchers Jim Brower and Mike Thurman in exchange for outfielder Brian Jordan, closer Dave Veres, second baseman Marlon Anderson, infielder Juan Castro, and the Go-Go's 8th round Rotation Draft pick in 2002.

In their second deal in less than a week, the Go-Go have acquired closer Ugueth Urbina from the Lambchops in exchange for pitchers Curt Smith and Vladmir Nunez.

The move comes only days after the Go-Go traded for Da Paul Meister closer Jose Mesa, and would seem to enable the Go-Go to stay ahead of the Six Packs in the Saves category. The acquisition of two closers in a week, coupled with the loss of starting ace Kevin Brown to injury, would seem to make it difficult for the Go-Go to compete in Wins, leading to speculation that they are dumping that category in the hopes of high finishes in the ERA, Ratio, and Saves categories.

Less than two months after acquiring Sammy Sosa from Dem Rebels, Nick's Picts have shipped the slugging outfielder to the surging Six Packs. Letdown by their pitching staff, the Picts pennant hopes have faded, and today they sent Sosa and B-contract second baseman Fernando Vina to the Six Packs for shortstop Rich Aurilia, pitcher Brian Tollberg, catching prospect Kade Johnson, and the Six Packs first round Rotation Draft pick in 2001.

Two days after acquiring more offensive firepower in the persons of Sammy Sosa and Fernando Vina, the Six Packs have put the finishing touches on their bullpen, acquiring closer Antonio Alfonseca from the Ruffins. The Six Packs sent a package of minor league talent, Wilson Betemit, Jason Stokes, Junior Spivey, and their 10th round Rotation Draft pick in 2001, to the Ruffins.

The trade was the second deal involving Alfonseca this year, as he had previously been acquired by the Ruffins from Dem Rebels. All told, Alfonseca has netted six minor leaguers and two 10th round draft picks this year.

The Go-Go jumped back into the Championship race with both feet today, acquiring outfielders Ken Griffey, Jr. and Geoff Jenkins from Steve's Stones in an 8-player deal. Along with Griffey and Jenkins, the Go-Go also received catcher Todd Hundley and minor league first baseman Jorge Toca.

In exchange, the Go-Go sent outfielder Jim Edmonds, pitchers Darren Dreifort and Jason Grilli, and pitcher Craig House.

Toca makes a repeat appearance in Go-Go/Stone trades. Last season, he was dealt from the Go-Go to the Stones in the trade that sent Moises Alou to the Stones for and Ugueth Urbina, Jay Bell, and Barry Larkin to the Go-Go.

With the Six Packs and Go-Go preparing for a late charge, the Copperfields today sent a package of four young players to Nick's Picts for outfielder Shawn Green and starting pitcher Curt Schilling.

In return, the Copperfields gave up second baseman Hiram Bocachica, third base prospect Morgan Ensberg, minor league outfielder Abraham Nunez, and former Pict pitching prospect Mike Naninni.

The Go-Go have been busy wheeling and dealing as the CFCL trade deadline nears. Their latest deal sends injured starting pitching stud Kevin Brown to the Maulers for catcher Javy Lopez.

In an effort to cement their current lead in the pitching categories, the Copperfields completed a deadline deal for starting pitcher Al Leiter of the Ruffins. In return the Ruffins receive inconsistent, but talented starter Matt Clement and the Lambchops 7th round Rotation Draft pick in 2002. Clement was originally a Ruffin farmhand and has spent his entire career with the Ruffins aside from his four months with the Copperfields this year.

The CFCL's first IFAB (Interleague Free Agent Bidding) Day wasn't exactly the bundle of thrills it was expected to be, but that was mainly a result of inaction on MLB's part. Typically MLB trade deadline day sees fairly heavy action in terms of players coming from the AL to the NL, but this year most of the action took place in the days before the deadline. Even so, four teams took advantage of the new event to attempt to acquire new talent.

The Hard Hats were the big winners, acquiring three players. They added starting pitcher Tomo Ohka (.11), outbidding the Go-Go (.06) and Stones (.05). They picked up infield help in Rey Sanchez (.06), outbidding the Stones (.05). The Hard Hats capped off their IFAB Day action with the uncontested acquisition of reliever Mike Trombley (.10).

The Go-Go acquired starting pitcher Bobby Munoz with an uncontested bid of .06, and also added reliever Mike Fetters (.15) by topping the Copperfields (.13).

Spurned in their attempt to pick up Fetters, the Copperfields settled for Scott Sauerbeck (.05).

As the CFCL enters the final full month of the season, active rosters expand to 24 players and the in-season salary cap makes it's final increase of the year, raising by .10 to $3.60.

Several teams took advantage of the opportunity to add an extra active player for the stretch run. The front-running Copperfields added outfielder Mario Encarnacion, recently acquired as a free agent. The Six Packs, Go-Go, Meisters, and Rebels also added outfielders, activating Jay Payton, Geoff Jenkins, Tim Raines, and Kerry Robinson respectively. The Hard Hats bolstered their bullpen with reliever Courtney Duncan.

For the 4th time in their history, David's Copperfields have repeated as CFCL Champions. 2001 marks the Copperfields' 10th CFCL championship. The Coppers entered the 2001 Draft with a record low .25 to spend on 10 players. They spent that .25 wisely, however, and in the end finished only half a point off of their record-setting 2000 total of 88.5 points. The Coppers set a new record for pitching points, with 44. It was the only new record set in 2001, which indicates how balanced the league was despite the final point totals. The Copperfields remain the only CFCL Champ to repeat the following year, and in 2002 they will attempt to achieve their second three-peat, which they did by finishing on top in 1986, 1987, and 1988.

The second place Six Packs were languishing in 6th place, 17 points out of first place in mid-June, but put together a series of blockbuster trades and rose steadily in the standings over the next couple months. They were never able to get within less than 8 points of the Copperfields, but had virtually clinched a second place finish by mid-August.

There was a neck-and-neck finish for Third Place, with the DoorMatts and Go-Go requiring two tie breakers to determine who finished in 3rd and who finished in 4th. The teams ended up tied with 67 points. The tie remained through the first tie breaker, as each team topped the other in 4 categories. For the second tie breaker, each team's AB total is added to three-times their IP total. After the calculations were complete, the DoorMatts came out ahead with a total of 10622 versus the Go-Go's amount of 10144.

The DoorMatt's third place finish was the highest in their eight-year history. The DoorMatts were actually in First Place for several weeks of the season, but their decision to not make any mid-season trades while all the other contenders were wheeling and dealing may have cost them a chance at a higher finish.

The Go-Go followed up their surprising 3rd place finish in their debut season of 2000 with another strong performance, nearly edging out the DoorMatts to repeat in 3rd. They were jinxed all year long, though, and lost key parts of their pitching staff to injuries and trades to the AL. In the end, they were almost able to sneak into 3rd place, but fell just short.

Rounding out the money spots were the 5th place David's Ruffins, who had finished in fifth the year before as well. Expected to contend after a disappointing season in 2000, the Ruffins were never able to put it all together for a run at the top. The Ruffins' farm system is still well-stocked, however, so they remain a threat. Also, by virtue of their 5th place finish, the Ruffins are entitled to use a Topper next year on one of the players they are losing to free agency this fall. That means there's a good chance that Andruw Jones, Scott Rolen, or Todd Helton will be back with the Ruffins next year.

The real race at the end of the season was between the Picts, Da Paul Meisters, Stones, and Hard Hats for 6th place and the coveted #1 pick in each round of the 2002 Rotation Draft. The four teams entered the final week of the season separated by only 5 points.

The Picts spent considerable time in the money places early in the year, but ended up slipping. They did a fine job of holding on to finish atop the second division, though.

The amazing Hard Hats picked up 4.5 points in the final week of the season and leap-frogged over both the Meisters and Stones to finish in 7th place. The Hard Hats were the only non-contending team to make any roster moves in September, so it's nice to see their hard work and diligence paid off.

The Stones made a strong push for a money finish early in the season, but decided to play for the future with a blockbuster deal with the Go-Go.

Da Paul Meisters entered the last week of the season in 7th place, but ended up slipping to 9th. They were severely handicapped very early on when owner Paul Zeledon was unable to stay for the entire Draft in April. Paul's inexperienced fill-in had an understandably difficult time filling out the Meister roster and Reserve List with late-round picks, so the team's 9th place finish has to be viewed as a pleasant surprise.

Tenth place went to the first year Tim's Maulers. Disappointing seasons from key players such as Mark McGwire may have doomed the Maulers from the start. Eleventh and Twelfth place were filled by a couple of veteran CFCL teams: Dem Rebels and the Lambchops. The Rebels made what may have been a premature decision to throw in the towel and dealt away many of their top producers in early June, while the Lambchops struggled out of the gate and never recovered. Both teams have a solid core of young talent, though, and are bound to improve soon.

The Go-Go are dead, long live the Go-Go! After two glorious years of successfully challenging the established hierarchy of the CFCL, the Go-Go co-ownership team has disbanded. The amicable dissolution of this partnership was demonstrated during a joint news conference held by majority partners Harry Witzke and Bruce Ellman. During the conference, the ownership team revealed that Ellman's "Big Red One Corporation" (NYSE: HRD) bought Witzke's "Definitely & Officially Heterosexual Corporation's" (NYSE: D'OH) controlling interest in the Go-Go Baseball Team, Inc., leaving the day-to-day management of the team in Ellman's hands. Witzke has agreed to act as a consultant during this transition period and possibly beyond.

In leaving behind the management of the second most successful CFCL franchise over the course of its two year existence, Witzke was quoted as saying he wanted to devote more time to his family and the expansion of his 9-and-a-half-Minute Oil and Lube empire as well as developing his fledgeling franchise The Bait & Mate: Fishing Equipment Store and Adult Relaxation Motel complete with bass-stocked whirlpools and big game fishing harness/vietnamese hanging baskets in each, uniquely themed suite. Suites are available by the hour.

Ellman was not immediately available for comment but made it known through a spokesperson that his first order of business would be to evaluate the team and instill a winning is everything attitude that includes "beating your opponents down like the dogs that they are." He also has plans to sponsor several orphanages and runaway female teen shelters. His work with Scandinavian Au Pairs is widely regarded as seminal in the often maligned industry. Describing his often hard [hearted] approach, Ellman has been quoted as saying that "There's nothing more satisfying than turning these girls into young women. You can see the results of your work on a daily basis--sometimes 2 or 3 or more times a day."

The winners of the 2001 CFCL awards were announced tonight at the annual CFCL Awards Banquet. The first order of business (after ordering the pizza, of course) was to award certificates and prize money to 2001's top teams. Next, the winners of the 2001 CFCL balloting were announced.

Albert Pujols, drafted by Matt's Hard Hats for .03, was the runaway winner of the Steal of the Year Award. Aramis Ramirez (.03) of the Six Packs and John Burkett (.01) of Da Paul Meisters were the distant runners up. At the other end of the spectrum, Matt Mantei (.44) of Da Paul Meisters became the 9th closer in 12 years (and fifth straight) to be awarded the Nick Esasky Award.

Vinnie Castilla of Steve's Stones was named the year's Best Free Agent Acquisition and the Mesiter's Paul LoDuca won the award for Best Reserve List Pick. Closer Mike Williams, picked up by Nick's Picts last winter, was named Best Waiver Claim, and the Hard Hats, who produced the trio of Josh Beckett, Jimmy Rollins, and Bud Smith, were named the Most Productive Farm System of 2001.

Barry Bonds, of the DoorMatts won his 4th Most Valuable Player Award (the previous had been in 1990, 1992, and 1993). Bonds is the only player in CFCL history to be named MVP more than once. Another multiple winner, Randy Johnson of the Six Packs, won his second Cy Young Award. Johnson won the award last year when with the Copperfields.

In the only unanimous vote this year, the DoorMatts' Albert Pujols won the Rookie of the Year Award. Copperfields GM, David Mahlan, won his third General Manager of the Year Award, edging Six Packs top boss Kelly Barone. Matt Bentel (DoorMatts), Matt Grage (Hard Hats), Bruce Ellman/Harry Witzke (Go-Go), and Nick Hansen (Picts) also received votes.

The CFCL Executive Committee selected Matt Grage, owner of the Hard Hats, to receive this year's Paul Mahlan Award. This award annually goes to the owner the the Executive Committee feels best captures the perseverance in the face of adversity that's been demonstrated by original CFCL owner Paul Mahlan. The Hard Hats faced their share of adversity in 2001, losing Carl Pavano, Matt Williams, Jose Vidro, Rondell White, Rafael Fucal, Rick Reed, and others, for a significant part of the season. Despite this Matt carried on, using his entire Free Agent Acquisition Budget in an effort to improve. In spite of being out of contention for a money spot, the Hats made roster moves in every transaction period in September, the only non-contending team to do so (other than September roster expansion moves). With his moves, Matt tried to improve his team for 2002, but also continued to put the best team possible on the field right through the end of the season.

The CFCL is pleased to announce that Jason Grey will be taking over the reins of Tim's Maulers, effective immediately. The Maulers' previous owner, Tim Leen, announced following the 2001 season that he would not be returning for a second year. The search for a replacement owner turned up a number of good leads, but Jason really stood out.

To top all that off, Jason's a Cub season ticket holder. Sounds like a perfect CFCL fit. Jason will be announcing a new name for the Mauler franchise soon.

Barring any unforeseen events, the CFCL ownership is set for 2002. Now we just need to cross our collective fingers that there's actually a season...

The Lambchop franchise has announced the hiring of John Lemon as Special Assistant General Manager for the 2002 season. John is a sportswriter for the Daily Herald and brings a wealth of baseball knowledge to the Lambchop Front Office.

Details are still being ironed out in terms of Lemon's duties with the Lambchops, but for the time being any correspondence to the Lambchop Front Office should be sent to both Lambchop owner Eric Lamb and Asst GM Lemon ([email protected]).

In a historic vote, the CFCL has elected to change the stat categories they use for their scoring, effective with the 2003 season.

A Yes vote from at least 75% of CFCL teams was required for the proposed changes to be approved, and the final tally of 9 in favor and 3 against just met that level.

On-Base Percentage
Total Bases
Runs Batted In
Runs Scored
Stolen Bases

Earned Run Average
Ratio (WHIP)
Strikeouts-to-Walks Ratio
Quality Starts
Saves + Holds

MEISTERS HIRE DIRECTOR OF SCOUTING - NORTHEAST REGION
Henderson breaks gender barrier, becomes first female executive in CFCL

Da Paul Meisters once again broke new ground in CFCL history on Thursday, December 13, hiring Kristin Henderson as their Director of Scouting - NE Region. Henderson becomes the first female executive in the 18 year history of the CFCL.

"We are very pleased to add Ms. Henderson to the Meister organization", said Senior VP of Baseball Operations and Founding Owner Paul Zeledon. "She brings a vast knowledge of the National League to our organization, and is extremely knowledgeable on the operations of the teams in the National League East. In this day and age where it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage the day to day operations of our respective franchises, and where 2 person operations are starting to become commonplace, she promises to help bring the Meister franchise back to its days of former glory that it held in the early and mid 1990s".

Zeledon added that while Henderson's job responsibilities have not been completely ironed out, they will consist of analyzing player personnel issues within the Meister organization, suggesting, approving or rejecting trade possibilities within the Meister organization, disseminating breaking news involving NL East and potentially other teams to the Meister front office, and assisting in salary cap issues.

Henderson, an alumni of North Carolina State University in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., with a Masters degree from DePaul University, first became acquainted with Zeledon in the summer of 1999 through mutual acquaintances and subsequently ended up playing on the same coed softball team, has been in high demand in the sports arena. She turned down an offer to become Director of Public Relations for the NBA Denver Nuggets to join the Meister organization.

Da Paul Meisters first joined the CFCL in 1992 as an expansion franchise and came in last, trying to build for the future. They showed marked improvement in 1993, finishing 4th, and then stunned the Rotisserie world in 1994 by knocking off the mighty Copperfields to win the CFCL title in a strike-shortened year. The organization has hovered around mediocrity over the last several years and, due to having to leave last year's draft early, recorded a 9th place (out of 12 teams) finish after floating around 5th to 7th place for a good part of the year.

1st - 4th	No Toppers
5th - 7th	1 Topper each
8th - 9th	3 Toppers each
10th - 12th	2 Toppers each