PICTS trade E Gagne to DA PAUL MEISTERS for M Grissom, M Hampton, and P Shuey.

Click here for updated rosters in Excel format.
Click here for the 2004 Rotation Draft Pick Tracker

Pre-season games are just days away, which is a sure sign that spring is just around the corner.  Another sure sign is that you’ll be hearing from me more and more often over the next several weeks, all leading up to:

We've been targeting this date for a while and made it official several weeks ago, so it shouldn't come as any surprise.  Jason has booked his flight in for the day, so we can't change the date at this point.  If you haven't done so yet, please block out the 4^th on your calendar in big red letters. 

Rich has reserved the large conference room at his company’s Oakbrook office on the 4^th, so we’ll once again be drafting in comfort and with lots of elbow room.  Like last year, we'll plan on starting around 8:00 AM.

As always, everyone will be responsible for brining his own lunch and beverages for the day.  There will be some limited fridge space available and microwave for warming things up (at least there was last year).  Since we'll be in Rich's workplace, alcohol would not be a good idea.  As is tradition, I will provide the traditional Old Gold pretzel rods and Twizzlers.

We’ll again be using the Internet to communicate with Ruffin Draft Headquarters in Greensboro, NC., and we’ll hopefully be able to display the Bid Spreadsheet for all to see.  Everyone seemed to like having the current bid information projected, and I’m working on updating the display to list the name, salary, and team of the previous player acquired.  Hopefully that will cut down on the “who got him?” and “how much?” questions that follow many of the player acquisitions.

On the topic of computers, I'll toss this out now – if you plan on bringing a laptop to the Draft, make sure you also plan to bring an extension cord and/or a power strip.  There are a limited number of outlets available, and not everyone will be able to sit right next to one.

There will be plenty more Draft Day information coming your way as the date draws near.  Speaking of dates…

Along with Draft Day, here’s a list of other important dates you should know:

The Administrative Pre-Season will kick off on March 24 when Roster Cut Sheets will be sent to CFCL owners.  Roster Cut Sheets will be sent 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 of the website.

If you have Excel and it would be easiest for you, you’re free to edit the Roster Cut Sheet and send it back to me.  Otherwise, you can type the players you're keeping and cutting, plus any contract information into an e-mail.

If there’s anyone out there who would rather submit cuts via snail-mail, let me know and we can discuss adjusting the dates – you'll need to have your cuts done earlier to allow for delivery time.

If there are any questions about how the process works, check the relevant portions of the Constitution or contact me.

Also, please remember that you’ll be required to send a check to cover all your expenses by Roster Freeze Day.  I’ll send reminders in future mailings, but if you want to get it out of the way, you can send it now.

Here’s a breakdown on what will be due with your cuts:

Kenn, Teddy, and Rich have already paid up (thanks guys!), but the rest of you should make checks out to David Mahlan and send them to:

David Mahlan
1431 Palmer
Downers Grove, IL  60516

The quote at the top of this report comes from an Instant Message session with Jason.  Jason had IMed to let me know he had booked his flight to Chicago for Draft Day, and I thanked him for committing to traveling in for the Draft.  His response was that he "didn't want to miss a chance at some ass-kicking."  He didn't specify, but I got the impression from his next sentence (the quote at the top of this page) that he fully anticipated being the administrator of said CFCL ass kicking, not the receiver.

As the transaction at the top of the report indicates, the trading season has sprung to life, and we’re coming to that point in the pre-season when Rotation Draft picks can start changing hands at a pretty rapid pace.  Keep in mind that there are a few tools available on the website to help keep Rotation Draft picks straight:

At the end of the Roster Changes section of the online Report, there is a link to the 2004 Rotation Draft Pick Tracker.  This is a web page that lists all of the draft picks owned by each team and also indicates those picks that have been traded away.

The Excel roster sheet (available in the Download Center) lists all of the draft picks that have been acquired by each team via trade.  The number in parenthesis at the top of the list is the total number of draft picks owned by that team.

The Download Center also includes the full listing of all 2004 draft picks, broken out by round and fully updated for all trades to date.  This can be found under the 2004 Draft Prep section.

According to the official league records, the following players are eligible to be signed to X-year contracts this spring:

As you’ll recall, X contracts were something we came up with as a means of encouraging the investment in minor league players and of rewarding their owners for scouting minor leaguers and sticking with their investments.

In order for a player to be eligible for an X contract, he must meet the following requirements:

He must have been drafted as a minor leaguer (M contract)

He may have been traded while a minor leaguer, but he must still be owned by the team that owned him when his contract changed from M to D

If you’ve got X contract-eligible players, see the CFCL Constitution for details about your options for signing these players at roster cut time.

The CFCL’s newest owners, Kenn Ruby and Teddy Scott, met about a month ago to draft the initial rosters for their new franchises, By Kennen and Teddy’s Splendid Splinters. The Draft was held at Edwardo’s in Oak Park and had Teddy and Kenn selecting players from the abandoned Six Packs and Tenacious B franchises. View the results of the Draft in the Draft Histories section of the web site.

First, the items that have already been approved. These are all clarifications of existing rules:

NL players who are placed on the Bereavement List will be treated just as though they had been put on the Disabled List. That is, they can be reserved, and activated when they return, in mid-week transactions.

NL players who are on a CFCL active roster and get suspended by MLB or their NL team, regardless of reason, cannot be reserved by their CFCL team. If the suspension is longer than 10 games, the player can be reserved, but not until he has served 10 games of the suspension.

During the season, a CFCL team must be able to field a full 23-man roster following a trade and any associated active/reserve list moves.

Shortly after those clarifications were approved via a league-wide vote, a couple other proposals were floated in the CFCL Forum:

The first involved revamping the Topper rules used to entice non-contending teams to hang on to B-contract players rather than dumping them. There are actually two threads discussing aspects of this proposal:

VERY Interesting Twist on Our Topper Rule

Topper Proposal

The second proposes allowing CFCL teams to keep unlimited M-contract players on their Reserve Lists going into Draft Day:

Keeping Minor Leaguers

If you haven’t done so yet, take a few moments to read through the discussion and contribute an opinion if the spirit moves you.  We'll be putting these issues up for a vote soon.

Fame continues to shine its spotlight on the CFCL:

Rocky Mountain Gator. "Trading the Gator" will be making its film festival debut in early March when it appears as part of the 4^th Annual Durango Film Festival in Durango, Colorado.  Producers Nick and Brad will be attending the festival to present the film – the first time, I believe, an audience outside of Chicago will experience The Thrill of The Gator. I'm sure all in the CFCL wish Nick and Brad much success in Durango and that it leads to bigger and better things for the film.

Former CFCLer All Shook Up. "Trading the Gator" poster boy Kelly Barone has become the first CFCLer to capitalize on his Gator fame, landing the one-time role of "harried mass transit passenger" on the local CBS news. Early last month Kelly was interviewed as an eye witness after the CTA train he was riding on collided with another train. Kelly handed in a convincing performance as a slightly rattled rider speaking of how he was jostled about in the train. No word yet on Kelly’s plans for his next role, but after this latest performance he should be able to write his own ticket. Seriously, it was good to see Kelly escaped the incident unscathed – for a further update on What’s Up With Kelly, see below.

Wire Report. Subscribers to RotoWire may have noticed an article recently posted at the site titled "Joining the Gator". It's a piece by new CFCLer Kenn Ruby describing his experiences joining an established Ultra league (that'd be us). The article indicates that this may be the first in a series (the next would potentially address the Expansion Draft). Congrats to Kenn on the writing gig. Keep an eye for the next installment as Kenn wonders "What the Hell Kind of Dorky Geeks Have I Gotten Myself Involved With?"

Yes, there is such a thing. After leaving the CFCL following the 2002 season, Kelly and Bruce have joined forces as co-owners of a replacement franchise in the Veeck League, a Chicago-based NL-only Ultra league. Here's hoping the Dynamic Duo takes their new league by storm and that the Veecks are a little more compatible with what Kelly and Bruce are looking for in a league and fellow owners. Hopefully they'll keep us posted on their progress. Good luck, guys.

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.  

NOTE: Whatever is decided about modifications to the Topper plan, we'll use the current approach for this year's Draft.

Record Book