2003 News Flash Archive

The Hard Hats and Copperfields celebrated the New Year by making the first CFCL trade of the off-season.

In the deal, the Hard Hats sent three-peating Cy Young Award winner Randy Johnson, reliever Scott Sauerbeck, and their 11th and 15th round Rotation Draft picks in 2003 to the Copperfields. In return, they received third baseman Scott Rolen, outfielder Richard Hidalgo, and the Coppers' 7th round Rotation Draft Pick for 2003.

The Hard Hats deal Johnson almost a year after acquiring him from the Six Packs (January 9, 2002). While the Hats had no complaints about Johnson's production, his age (39) and salary (.46) made him available. In Rolen, the Hats acquired the league's premiere power hitting third baseman, but also take on a disappointing Hidalgo, who has one year remaining on a guaranteed contract.

The Copperfields are gambling that the Big Unit has one more year left at his current level, which should make him even more valuable this year with the move to 5x5. They'll pay for that production, as taking on Johnson's salary adds a significant chunk to their already bloated pitching budget. Between Johnson's .46 and Chuck Finely's guaranteed .30 contract, the Copperfields will be committing .76 to two starting pitchers. For the Copperfields, the only thing scarier than Johnson's and Finley's combined salary has to be their combined age - 79!!

The CFCL has approved the following new rules or changes to existing rules, which will go into effect for the 2003 season:

The formula for the second tie breaker will be changed to AB+BB+(3*IP). Walks were added to ensure that proper credit is given to hitters who draw a lot of walks. This especially made sense since walks will become part of the CFCL's scoring in 2003 with the move to OBP as a scoring category.

The minimum number of Innings Pitched that each team must record will be increased from 900 to 1000. Any teams that do not meet this mark will receive 0 points in the ERA, WHIP, and K:BB categories.

When players are lost to the American League during the season, Free Agent Acquisition Budgets will no longer be increased by the amount of the traded player's salary. The player must be released and there will be no compensation for losing the player. NOTE: Discussion of alternate plans for handling players traded to the AL is currently underway on the Message Board.

The CFCL Trade Deadline will be changed to Noon on August 1. This is the day after the MLB trade deadline, which should allow for any last-minute maneuvering in response to any MLB deals that may have been made.

Owners who are entitled to Topper rights for one or more players will no longer need to name the players for whom they are retaining Toppers when they submit their cuts. Instead, they will name the players on Draft Day, prior to the beginning of the Draft.

The Ruffin front office has announced that effective immediately they can be reached at the following e-mail address:

CFCL owners should update their address books to replace the Ruffins' old address with this new one.

The CFCL Front Office has tentatively announced Sunday March 30 for the 2003 CFCL Auction and Rotation Draft. March 30 is the day before Opening Day of the 2003 National League season. Scheduling the Draft for Sunday will enable us to secure the same Draft facilities we used for the last couple of years (Rich Bentel's office in Oakbrook).

It is likely that the Draft will be scheduled to begin at 8:00 AM. A confirmation of the time will be forthcoming.

The CFCL owners have voted to adopt new rules governing what happens when a player on a CFCL roster is traded to the American League by their National League team. The new rules give the owners the option of keeping the player for the duration of his current CFCL contract. Seven owners voted in favor of the new rule, three owners favored releasing such players without compensation, and two owners abstained from the vote.

Previously, players who were traded to the AL were automatically released. It is expected that the new rule will ease the impact that trades to the AL will have on the CFCL, particularly when they occur during the season.

Eric says he may create a different e-mail address just for CFCL business, but until then you should update your address book to replace the Lambchops' old address with this new one.

The CFCL's own Jason Grey, has released the 2003 edition of the Mastersball.com Fantasy Baseball Annual. The book is described as "combination strategy guide with an in-depth player profile guide for 2003; 200+ pages of fantasy goodness."

The book includes:

Jason's player profiles including 3-year stats and expanded comments for over 1200 players

How-to guide to player valuation

2003 bullpen analysis

Draft and in-season strategies

Managing statistics and standings (do Kelly a favor, and read this!)

Managing luck in fantasy baseball

The Annual is available in two formats:

A print version (shipping February 19) for $23.95 + $4.25 for 2-3 day shipping

A downloadable version that you can read online or print (access codes released February 18) for $19.95.

If you want to do your own analysis and strategizing, the Masters' player stat projections are also available on their own for $9.95 (which includes updates published weekly between now and Opening Day.

For more information about the book, including ordering instructions, visit Jason's website (http://www.mastersball.com) or click on the book cover above.

Matt's Hard Hats completed their second trade of the off-season today, teaming up with the Lambchops on a promising-pitcher-for-draft-picks deal.

The Hard Hats sent starting pitcher Brad Penny and their 9th and 12th round Rotation Draft picks to the Lambchops for the Chops' 7th and 14th round picks. Penny is currently signed to a guaranteed long term contract that will pay him .15 in 2003 and 2004.

The trade marks the first move by the Lambchops toward defending their CFCL Championship Title. The Hats were also involved in the only other trade this off-season when they dealt another starting pitcher, Randy Johnson, to the Copperfields on New Year's Day.

CFCL teams today reduced their rosters to 15 or fewer players in preparation for Draft Day 2003.

Only one team, Dem Rebels, kept the maximum number of players, with most teams cutting down to between 10-12 players. The DoorMatts cut their roster the most, keeping only 8 players.

In financial terms, the Reservoir Dogs come out way ahead, with a whopping average of .17 to spend on each of the 11 players they'll need to acquire. At the other end of the spectrum, Tenacious B and the defending CFCL Champions, Eric's Lambchops, have the least to spend per player - less than .08.

Among the big-money players (more than .15) cut today were Brian Jordan (.19) and Tino Martinez (.17) of Da Paul Meisters; Chuck Finely (.30) and Luis Gonzalez (.37) of the Copperfields; Jason Isringhausen (.40) of the DoorMatts; Danny Graves (.34) of Nick's Picts; JD Drew (.17), Andruw Jones (.39), and Billy Wagner (.37) of David's Ruffins; Russ Ortiz (.18) of the Reservoir Dogs; Eric Young (.21) of Tenacious B; and Craig Biggio (.21) of Steve's Stones.

Finally, two teams were penalized for releasing players on guaranteed contracts. The Ruffins will lose a total of .10 off their $2.60 Draft Day spending limit for cutting JD Drew and Darryl Ward, who each had a year remaining on long-term contracts. The Copperfields, meanwhile, will have only $2.45 to spend on Draft Day after they released Chuck Finley, who had a guaranteed contract because the Copperfields signed him for .30 as a free agent during the 2002 season.

Due to a clerical error in the CFCL Front Office, JD Drew, who was released yesterday by David's Ruffins, has been reinstated to the Ruffin pre-Draft roster.

Drew had been erroneously listed on the CFCL rosters and the Ruffin's roster cut form as having an E contract. The Ruffins bought out Drew's contract in order to release him, and anticipated paying a .05 buyout fee for the year remaining on Drew's contract. After the pre-Draft cuts were announced, it was discovered that Drew actually had an F contract, which meant there were years remaining and that the buyout penalty would have been .10 deducted from the Ruffins' Draft Day spending limit.

Rather than take the hit to their Draft Day budget, the Ruffins decided to keep Drew and pay his .17 salary, despite the fact that Drew is expected to miss at least the first couple months of the 2003 season as he recovers from knee surgery. The revised figures leave the Ruffins with 1.52 to spend on Draft Day.

Several CFCL teams made last-minute adjustments in preparation for Opening Day 2003:

The following clipping from the Piscataway Post-Gazette was sent anonymously to CFCL Headquarters:

ZELEDON ARRESTED FOR CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT ASSAULT
By John Bunyon

Paul Zeledon, principal owner of Da Paul Meisters rotisserie baseball franchise, was arrested Friday evening on the charges of conspiracy to commit assault. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment and was released on $50,000 bond. If found guilty of this Class D felony, he will have to serve 1-3 years in prison.

According to witnesses, Zeledon was having dinner with some family friends on Friday night at a restaurant in the "westies" when he excused himself to check on some business matters on his laptop. Moments later, he returned, spewing barely understandable jargon to whoever could and would listen. Witnesses said that while the general text was not coherent, they did pick up on recurring words/themes that included "Grey", "wiretaps", and "make him pay". When detectives Briscoe and Green came to question Zeledon in regards to his comments, he was very sarcastic and demanded to know what exactly he had said that warranted this sort of behavior.

They arrested him shortly thereafter, after phone records confirmed that he had placed a call to a business associate with possible connections to organized crime in the South Bronx.
Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy declined comment on this potentially high-profile case, simply stating that further investigation was needed before they chose a course of action. Zeledon family attorney Dick Shapiromeister strongly denied the charges, charging the prosecution with overzealousness.

Zeledon is currently under investigation by the DA's office on separate counts of conspiracy to commit assault, as he allegedly had one of his ballplayers throw a pitched ball at one of his former players during a game last month.

Matt's Hard Hats and the Reservoir Dogs completed the first trade of the 2003 CFCL season today when they agreed on a 2-for-2 swap. Going from the Hats to the Dogs are first baseman Derrek Lee and reliever Joey Eischen, while the Dogs sent starter Kris Benson and minor league hurler Bobby Basham back in return.

The deal marks the first CFCL trade since the Hard Hats dealt Brad Penny to the Lambchops back in March. The Hard Hats have been a party to every trade made in 2003, having earlier combined with the Copperfields in a blockbuster involving Randy Johnson and Scott Rolen on the first day of the year.

CFCL trades of any kind have been few and far between in recent times, but a trade like today's (a non-dump trade, in which both teams are trying to improve for the current season) has been a downright endangered species lately.

For 11 months, from December 2001 through October 2002, the CFCL was followed by a team of film-makers working on a documentary about fantasy baseball. They interviewed owners, family, and friends throughout that time, chronicled our draft prep, filmed Draft Day, recorded trade negotiations, and attended the end-of-season awards banquet. They tagged along when owners went to ball games, followed us to work, and were there to capture reactions when Darryl Kile died a day after the Six Packs traded him to the Lambchops.

This weekend, it all came together for the CFCL as owners attended a preliminary screening of the film. Those in attendance were unanimous in their praise of the documentary. The film examines the phenomenon of fantasy baseball, those who play it, and the affect it has on their lives. The CFCL serves as a representative league throughout the film, illustrating the various aspects of fantasy baseball.

Also featured in the documentary are owners from the American Dreams League and many of the big names in the fantasy baseball industry. Celebrities who appear in the film include: Dan Okrent, Glen Waggoner, and Valerie Salembier from the original Rotisserie League; humorist Dave Barry; historian Bill James; baseball writer/analyst Tim Kirkjian; Ron Shandler of BaseballHQ.com; Ben Brown of RotoRadio; James Cramer of CNN's "Kudlow & Cramer"; and USAToday political writer Walter Shapiro and his wife. "Real-life" baseball folk who appear include: Fernando Vina, Geoff Blum, Javier Vazquez, Todd Jones, Rich Aurillia, Denny Neagle, Ed Wade, and Omar Minaya.

Overall, it was a thrill to finally see the completed project. The film was informative and consistently entertaining. While CFCL owners may very well be biased, those who saw the documentary felt it was very well done and captured the essence of fantasy baseball in a way that will engage veterans of the hobby as well as those who are unfamiliar with it. Everyone seemed to be pleased and proud of their involvement.

The Producers' current plans call for a Grand Premiere at a theater in Chicago sometime around the 2003 MLB All-Star Break. Following that, their focus will shift to getting the documentary broadcast and showings at film festivals.

The Six Packs and Tenacious B combined today on just the second trade of the 2003 season. In the deal, the struggling Six Packs sent B-contract shortstop Jimmy Rollins to Tenacious B for infielder Alex Cintron and reliever Guillermo Mota.

While Rollins is off to a slow start this year, he should help Tenacious B solidify their current lead in Runs Scored, and they no doubt hope he will pick up his Stolen Base pace in the second half. For the Six Packs, the trade would seem to signify their second rebuilding effort in as many years.

The Reservoir Dogs today made an emphatic statement about their intentions for the 2003 CFCL season. In two separate deals, they traded away 9 players and received 10 in return, including some of the most sought-after B-contract players in the league.

In the first trade, the Dogs sent pitcher Kip Wells and prospect Brian Bullington to the Six Packs for pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim, outfielder Steve Finley, and second baseman Fernando Vina.

Later they completed a 14-player deal with the last-pace Copperfields, acquiring outfielders Lance Berkman and Vladimir Guerrero, third baseman Adrian Beltre, shortstop Royce Clayton, first baseman Tino Martinez, and pitchers Andy Ashby and Jeff D'Amico. In return, the Copperfields receive outfielder Juan Encarnacion, infielder Jose Macias, pitchers Kevin Millwood and Adam Eaton, and prospects Andy Marte, Anderson Machado, and Jonathan Figueroa.

The Six Packs continued the rebuilding they began in their deal with Tenacious B a week ago; while the Copperfields began dismantling a very disappointing squad in what had to have been a very painful trade to make. Three of the players they dealt, Berkman, Guerrero, and Beltre, had spent their entire careers in the Copperfield system.

Meanwhile, the Reservior Dogs put themselves into immediate salary cap jeopardy, but are poised to dominate offensively in the second half.

The busiest day, trade-wise, in recent CFCL history continued when the Hard Hats and Stones agreed on a 4-player deal - the third trade of the day. In the deal, which was the Hard Hats' fourth of the year, the Hats sent infielder Juan Uribe and pitcher Jake Peavy to the Stones in exchange for B-contract pitchers Jason Schmidt and Kyle Farnsworth.

The recent trade parade continued today when David's Ruffins sent long-time star Kerry Wood to the Lambchops for pitcher Tim Redding, outfielder/infielder/catcher Craig Wilson, and pitching prospect Bobby Brownlie. Along with Wood, the Lambchops also acquired the Ruffins' 3rd and 10th round Rotation Draft picks in 2004.

The Ruffins waived TJ Tucker and Todd Hollandsworth to make room for their new acquisitions.

The Reservoir Dogs continued to restructure their roster today, making their third deal in less than a week and the CFCL's fifth trade in that same period. The Dogs sent starting pitcher Vincente Padilla and prospects Prince Fielder and John Van Benschoten to Dem Rebels for speedy outfielder Juan Pierre and pitchers Mike Matthews and RIck Ankiel.

It was said about one of the teams in the original Rotisserie League that when they got the itch to trade, everyone in the league had to scratch. It appears that the same can be said of the Reservoir Dogs, who today completed their 4th trade in a week and 5th of the season. After the first four trades, in which the generally swapped pitching for offense, they today started rebuilding their pitching staff at the expense of one of their most productive hitters.

This time the team doing the scratching was the Copperfields (again). In the Coppers' second deal of the week with the Dogs, they traded B-contract pitchers Randy Johnson and Felix Rodriguez for third baseman Mike Lowell and utility man Jolbert Cabrera.

A week after addressing their pitching situation in a deal with Steve's Stones, the Hard Hats turned their attention to their offense and combined on a trade with Dem Rebels.

The Hard Hats sent a mostly-young package of first baseman Hee Choi, reliever Mike Remlinger, and prospects Nic Jackson, Adam Wainwright, and James Loney to the rebuilding Rebels for outfielder Shawn Green, first baseman Richie Sexson, and the Rebels' 9th and 15th round Rotation Draft picks in 2004.

The trade was actually agreed upon a day earlier, but was delayed when the Hard Hats were unable to get under the salary cap. After Saturday's roster moves, the Hard Hats stand right at the $3.00 mark, but they had to reserve second baseman Roberto Alomar to get there.

After spending just eight days as a member of David's Ruffins, Bobby Brownlie is headed back to the Lambchops. Brownlie had been part of the package the Lambchops used to acquire Kerry Wood from the Ruffins on June 28. Now, the Lambchops have reacquired the pitching prospect, along with another of the Ruffins' B-contract starters and some offense.

In a deal completed this morning, the Ruffins sent outfielder Ken Griffey, Jr., infielder Junior Spivey, starting pitcher Matt Clement, and Brownlie to the Lambchops for outfielder Adam Dunn and the Lambchops' 3rd, 7th, and 11th round Rotation Draft picks in 2004.

In associated moves, the Lambchops reserved Matt Morris and waived Solomon Torres to open up a roster spot. The Ruffins activated Curt Schilling to replace Clement on the roster.

The Lambchops celebrated the All-Star break by adding another piece in their drive to repeat as CFCL Champions. Their partners in celebration, Steve's Stones, make their second deal of the season with an eye towards 2004.

The Lamchops were dealt a potentially devastating blow last week when star outfielder Corey Patterson suffered a season-ending knee injury. The Chops made the best of the situation, though, dealing Patterson to the Stones along with prospect Dave Kelton and their 13th round Rotation Draft pick in 2004. In return, the Lambchops received outfielders Jim Edmonds and Brian Banks, as well as the Stones' 7th round pick in 2004.

The Lambchops continued to accumulate talent today in their effort to secure their first place standing. This time, they dealt with the usually silent DoorMatts, acquiring B-contract outfielder Matt Kotsay and the DoorMatts' 7th round Rotation Draft pick in 2004 in exchange for minor leaguers Chris Burke, and Carlos Duran.

The Lambchops didn't waste any time in trying to replace injured outfielder Ken Griffey when it was announced he would miss the rest of the season. The day after Griffey ruptured his Achilles tendon, they acquired outfielder/first baseman Ryan Klesko from the Copperfields. In return, the Copperfields received reliever Octavio Dotel.

The Lambchops had acquired Griffey from the Ruffins less than two weeks earlier, and Griffey's injury comes less than a week after the Lambchops lost outfielder Corey Patterson to a season-ending injury.

Second-place Tenacious B had a busy Monday today, completing three trades in a matter of hours.

The trade with the Six Packs was completed before Noon, so it was effective immediately. The other two were announced in the afternoon, so will take effect a day later.

Hot off the wildly successful July 13th premiere of "Trading the Gator," the fantasy baseball documentary that, in part, chronicles the CFCL's 2002 season, the league and the film were featured in a back-page article in the Wednesday Journal, the local weekly newspaper in Oak Park and River Forest, Illinois.

The article includes quotes from Rich Bentel, David Mahlan, and Dave Holian, who all attended Oak Park - River Forest High School, where the CFCL was formed in 1984. Brad Morris and Nick Barrionvero, producers and directors of "Trading the Gator" are also mentioned and quoted. CFCL owner Kelly Barone's name appears in an illustration of the promotional material for the film, but the photo editor wisely decided not to include the picture of Kelly that appears on the promotional material. Instead, a photo of Mahlan and his 2001 CFCL Championship trophy adorn the article.

Click on the title below to read the story (Note: I uploaded this quick and dirty - scanned the article as three JPGs and uploaded them. Each scan is on its own page, and each is between 200-300 KB, so they may take several seconds to load).

With the CFCL trade deadline only days away, the Hard Hats made a move to solidify their bullpen, acquiring relievers Rod Beck and Tom Martin from the Picts, along with the Picts' 10th round Rotation Draft pick in 2004. In exchange, the Hard Hats sent outfielder Orlando Palmiero, pitcher Damian Moss, and their 3rd round Rotation Draft pick in 2004 to the Picts.

The Reservoir Dogs acquired one of the league's leading relievers today in a deal with Steve's Stones. The Dogs received closer John Smoltz, starter Al Leiter, and catcher Mark Redmond and sent first baseman Tino Martinez, catcher Charles Johnson, and starting prospect John Patterson to the Stones.

In a relatively tiny deal compared to the other trades that have been completed recently, the Ruffins today traded infielder Chris Stynes to the Reservoir Dogs for pitching prospect Macay McBride.

In a surprising move on the eve of the trading deadline, Matt's Hard Hats pulled the plug on their 2003 season and sent ace starter Jason Schmidt, reliever Scott Williamson, and their 9th round Rotation Draft pick in 2004 to the first place Lambchops in exchange for first base prospect Brad Nelson, pitching prospect Bobby Brownlie, and the DoorMatts' 7th round Rotation Draft pick, which the Lambchops had acquired earlier in the year.

The trade marks the third time the well-traveled Brownlie has been dealt this season, and the second time the Lambchops sent him packing.

In preparation for the trading deadline and IFAB Day on August 1, the CFCL Front Office released updated FAAB balances and salary cap levels for each team:

After some spirited bidding, Tenacious B came out on top in the Sidney Ponson sweepstakes. Their bid of .34 guarantee's Ponson's contract for 2004. In surprisingly restrained bidding, Dem Rebels nabbed Raul Mondesi for a mere .19.

Sidney Ponson .34 Tenacious B .26 Picts .21 Da Paul Meisters .20 Copperfields .19 Hard Hats .17 Dem Rebels	Raul Mondesi .19 Dem Rebels .16 Da Paul Mesiters .15 Copperfields (10^th) .15 Hard Hats (4^th) .11 Picts .10 Lambchops	D Glanville .08 Picts .05 Hard Hats (4^th) .05 Lambchops (1^st)	Robin Ventura .16 Da Paul Meisters .11 Picts .10 Copperfields .08 Hard Hats .06 Tenacious B .05 Dem Rebels
Chin-Hui Tsao .06 Hard Hats .05 Copperfields (10^th) .05 Six Packs (7^th) .05 Res. Dogs (2^nd)	Tim Spooneybarger cl Hard Hats (4^th) cl Reservoir Dogs (2^nd)

After never finishing higher than 3rd place in their first 13 years of existence 2003 CFCL Champions Eric’s Lambchops now have their second title in as many years. In taking their second straight crown, they join David's Copperfields as the only franchises in CFCL history to repeat as champions.

After last season's victorious run, many thought the Lambchops were a long shot to repeat their success, especially losing under-priced key parts such as Bobby Abreu (.22), Eric Gange (.10), and Matt Morris (.06) to free agency. The Chops were quick to put the doubts to rest though, opening the season in first place and never falling lower than 3rd or more than 10.5 points behind the leader. By Period 7 (May 16), the Lambchops were in 1st place to stay.

That's not to say they had an easy time of it. In many ways 2003 was a much tougher road to tread than 2002 - which is saying something because the '02 season had them dealing with the death of Daryl Kile only 12 hours after dealing for him. While none of 2003's roadblocks were as tragic and affecting from a human standpoint as Kile's death was, they were much more frequent and damaging from a baseball standpoint.

Perhaps fueled by the experience and confidence that comes with being a defending champion, the Lambchops met those roadblocks head on and refused to give in when they lost Brian Jordan, Corey Patterson, and Ken Griffey Jr to season-ending injuries within a two week period.

The second place Hard Hats stood in 4th place, 8 points out of 1st at the July 31 trading deadline, when they made the surprising and controversial decision to pull the plug on their season. They traded their ace starter Jason Schmidt (B contract) and reliever Scott Williamson (headed out of the league in 2004) to the first place Lambchops for low minor leaguers Bobby Brownlie and Brad Nelson.

Just a surprising was the fact that the remaining Hard Hats, led by Mark Prior, rallied over the next couple weeks and from time to time actually pulled into a first place tie with the Lambchops. It would be a disservice to the work done by Lambchop GM Eric Lamb and his assistant John Lemon to say that the dump by the Hard Hats gave the Chops the championship, but there's no escaping the fact that the race would have been very different had the Hats kept Schmidt and Williamson - or traded them to a team they weren't competing with.

It's unfortunate for Hard Hat GM Matt Grage that the Schmidt trade will end up being the defining moment of the Hard Hats' 2003 season (and probably of Grage's CFCL career to this point), because other than that they had a very impressive season. The Hats have improved their place in the standings each of their 4 years in the league, and very nearly became the first of the recent crop of expansion teams to win the Championship.

Speaking about improving in the standings, the Reservoir Dogs improved from 11th place to 3rd in just their second year. The Dogs made a very strong run at the top spot, turning their roster over via trades at a rate not seen in the CFCL since the days of the Bald Eagles. In all, they made seven deals and at one point pulled within 7 points of the front-running Lambchops. They were never able to make that final sustained push toward the top, though, and finished 9 points back. A major 4-point surge in the season's last week pulled them out of 4th place and into 3rd, however.

Like a broken record, Tenacious B ended the season in 4th place - the third straight year they've taken the last money spot. The B spent most of the second half trading spots in the standings with the Reservoir Dogs, and the two teams went neck-and-neck in the Total Bases, Runs Scored, and Runs Batted In categories. The Dogs came out on top in all three of the categories, beating Tenacious B out of 3rd place by a mere 23 TB, 10 RS, and 2 RBI.

In another close battle, Da Paul Meisters edged David's Ruffins for 5th place and the rights to the first pick in each round of 2004's Rotation Draft. The Meisters and Ruffins battled back and forth for the entire second half, swapping spots in the standings and were never separated by more then 3 points after the middle of June. This marks the highest finish for the Meisters since 1999, and is a step back for the Ruffins after three consecutive 5th place finishes.

The second six of the CFCL's 12 teams finished in a bunch at the bottom of the standings, separated by only 11 points. Leading the second division pack were the Six Packs, who rallied from 10th place to 7th at the end of June held firmly onto that spot the rest of the way. Steve's Stones spent much of the season nipping at the Six Packs' heels, and even rose to 7th place at one point before finishing the season a strong 8th.

The remaining teams spent most of the season shuffling in and out of the bottom four places in the standings.

A surge over the final month of the season raised Dem Rebels into 9th place, while the DoorMatts rose from 12th to 10th in the last two weeks, despite not making a single roster move after July 15.

David's Copperfields and Nick's Picts battled each other for last place, with the Picts winning out and finishing just half a point behind the Copperfields. It was the Picts' second consecutive last place finish, while 11th place was by far the low water mark in the Copperfields' 20 year history.

Team	Salary	FAAB	Players	Team	Salary	FAAB	Players
Meisters	2.70	.21	40	Copperfields	2.18	.20	40
Lambchops	3.42	.10	40	DoorMatts	2.61	.74	40
Dem Rebels	1.91	.49	40	Hard Hats	3.09	.29	40
Picts	2.73	.39	40	Ruffins	2.66	.35	39
Six Packs	1.95	.05	40	Reservoir Dogs	3.37	.10	40
Tenacious B	3.16	.61	40	Stones	2.28	.37	40