DEM REBELS claim A Jones on waivers, waive C Floyd (.32W).

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With only one player claimed, Winter Waiver action seems to be grinding to a halt. And since Cliff Floyd is making his second trip along the waiver wire this winter, it seems unlikely that we’ll go another round. Just in case, though, the period for Round 4 of waivers will expire at 4:00 PM on Friday, November 28.

On the 2003 End of Season Survey back in September, a couple teams replied that they weren't sure about returning for the 2004 season because other life commitments might prevent them from participating.  Since then there have been a couple controversies during which multiple owners either expressed an possible intention to drop out, suggested that other owners drop out, or otherwise expressed uncertainty about their continued participation.  In some cases this was strictly the result of the controversy at hand, in others the controversy was merely the potential final straw that would cap a building dissatisfaction.

The end result is that we're no longer positive exactly who's returning next year and who isn't.  We're currently assuming all 12 teams will be back, but we also know multiple teams are still evaluating their positions, waiting to hear about where they'll be living next year, etc.  Despite the uncertainty we haven't excluded anyone from participating in Winter Waivers, but in order for us to shift from the end of the 2003 season to prep for the 2004 season, we need to get membership settled.

We definitely don't want to rush anyone into a decision, but at some point we'll need to firm up plans for next year.  With that in mind, I'm going to ask everyone to reconfirm your participation for 2004 within the next few weeks.  If you already know whether you'll be back or not, you can respond right away.  If you're thinking things over or waiting for other elements of your life to fall into place before committing, you've got a while to do some soul searching or finalize plans.

No matter how you responded on the survey, please e-mail me by Monday December 15^th and let me know if you'll be returning.  That will give us enough time to decide before the Holidays how we want to proceed in terms of filling any openings (or if we want to fill them at all) and have a plan in place that we can start working on immediately after the New Year.  If there's some reason you can't give a definite answer by the 15^th, let me know and we'll see what we can work out.

Also, soon after we get confirmation on 2004 membership, we'll be trying to finalize the date (or at least the weekend) for Draft Day (see Draft Day 2004 below).  Jason is willing to fly to Chicago for the Draft, so it would be nice of us to commit to a date as early as possible so he can book flights, etc.  We'd like to nail down the weekend by the middle of January – we can then take a little longer to select a specific day.  I know things have a way of popping up, especially early in the spring, but it's only fair that we accommodate Jason by settling on a weekend fairly early.  Once we commit to a date and Jason buys his ticket, if a conflict arises that prevents you from making the Draft you'll have to find someone to draft for you.

Thanks in advance!

Opening Day next year will be April 4.  That means our target weekend for Draft Day would be April 3 - 4.  Please keep these dates in mind during the off-season.  Since we'll have at least one owner flying in from out of town for the Draft, we'd like to select a firm date by mid-to-late January.  FYI, Palm Sunday is April 4 next year and Passover begins April 6.

Based on the final 2003 standings, here are the teams that will receive Toppers, the number of Toppers the team receives, and the players who are eligible for Topper use.  There was a lot of dumping of B contracts this year and as a result there will only be a maximum of four toppable players in the 2004 Draft.  

Record Book