The contracts for the following players expired and they were released at the end of the season.  The players whose Hometown Discount rights for 2006 are held are in red text 

Remember that any free agents acquired in September (except those acquired for .25 or more) receive B contracts and are automatically released at the end of the season.  This is to prevent teams with remaining FAAB left restocking with NL September call-ups. 

Plans have been put in place for the 2005 CFCL Awards Banquet to be held on Sunday October 30 at the Home Run Inn in Addison.

Early counts indicate there may be a heavier than usual turnout, with possibly 8 owners planning on attending. 

As has become tradition, everyone attending will get a pack or two of baseball cards to open.  This year's packs are Topps 1990 and 1991 wax packs (I believe the last two years that Topps cards came with gum).  Possible rookie card scores include:  Juan Gonzalez, Marquis Grissom, Sammy Sosa, Frank Thomas, and Bernie Williams from 1990; and Chipper Jones from 1991.

If you pull the Frank Thomas card and his name is missing from the front of the card, it can be worth quite a chunk of change (which I'm sure you'll split with me...).  Plus Topps inserted one of every card they ever previously issued in random packs, so there's no telling what you might end up with.

It promises to be a good time, and I hope everyone who's available can make it.

Survey Results

Thanks to everyone for completing the end-of-season survey.  I'll be compiling all the responses and posting the results in a future report.   For those of you who included questions or comments that need responses, I'll be replying via e-mail sometime soon.

Copperfields Take Home Another Title

With 10 CFCL Championships already to their credit, winning an 11th might seem to be old hat for David's Copperfields.  In many ways, however, the 2005 race was the most unlikely, hardest-fought, and closest battle in their history, making the 2005 Title one of the most satisfying. 

The Copperfields entered the season with subdued hopes.  In a failed attempt to catch 2004's eventual Champions, Steve's Stones, the Copperfields had agreed to take Carlos Beltran's .52 guaranteed contract for 2005 off the Lambchop's hands.  The gamble didn't pay off as the Coppers finished second behind the Stones, and they came into 2005 facing the decision to either honor the over-paid Beltran's contract or pay a substantial buyout penalty.  The Coppers decided to stick with Beltran in the hopes that his power/speed production from 2004's second half would carry over to the new season.   They might have been better off taking the penalty, as Beltran failed to produce on all fronts.  When Mike Lowell (.23) and Todd Helton (.46) also started slowly, the Coppers found themselves with a $1.20 black hole on offense that sucked the production right out of their team.  Beltran, and especially Helton, eventually rebounded a bit, but Lowell never got it going and spent much of the second half on the bench.

Even with that three-headed monetary handicap, the Copperfields spent the early part of the season near the top of the standings.  However, the Reservoir Dogs immediately took a firm hold on first place, and by the middle of June were owners of a commanding 20-point lead over the second place team.  The Coppers began chipping away at that lead, and by the end of July had cut it in half.  Fueled by a busy and productive Trade Deadline day, in which they completed 5 deals and brought on a dozen new players, the Copperfields kept the momentum going.  By mid-August they had broken the 100-point barrier and snuck ahead of the slumping Dogs.

The Reservoir Dogs regained control a week later and held onto first place for another three weeks before the Copperfields moved back on top for good.  The Copperfields looked to be securely in control with 10 days left in the season, but a mini-collapse by their pitching staff, coupled with a incredible charge by the Dogs' offense meant the teams went into the season's final two days separated by only two and a half points, with seven points still in play.

The race went down to the last day, in fact the last couple games on that day.  The Reservoir Dogs capped off surges in the RS and RBI categories by passing Kenndoza Line in each category to gain a couple points, and moved ahead of the DoorMatts in SB.  At one point on that last day, the Reservoir Dogs actually moved into first place.  However, the Copperfield batters had a successful day at the plate which, combined with utter futility from David's Ruffins' batters, moved the Coppers ahead of the Ruffins in OBP by only .0004.    On the pitching side, Kenndoza Line eeked ahead of the Dogs by picking up two Quality Starts, and Dontrelle Willis and Roy Oswalt of the DoorMatts combined to strike out 18 batters while walking only a pair, which was just enough to move the Matts ahead of the Dogs in K:BB.  Oswalt, however, gave up 4 earned runs in his outing, which cost him a Quality Start.  That meant the Matts remained tied with the Copperfields in the category, salvaging half a point for the Coppers.

By the end of the day, the Copperfields were in first place by 2.5 points, but just two more walks by DoorMatt pitchers, one less earned run by Oswalt, and four more hits or walks by Ruffin hitters would have been enough to eliminate that lead. 

The closeness of that race doesn't do justice to the strong season turned in by fourth-year owner Jason Grey's Reservoir Dogs.  Insanely dominant for most of the season, many observers felt the race was over by the All-Star Break.  The Dogs' early season success was fueled by a strong Draft aided by the acquisition of ace Pedro Martinez near the end of May.  The Dogs went all-out to win in 2005, dealing the league's best young closer in Chad Cordero to get Martinez, agreeing to guaranteed contracts for 2006 in order to lock up free agents Alex Sanchez (.25) and Randy Winn (.33), and trading away a number of solid keepers and 5 of their 17 2006 Rotation Draft picks.

In the end, the Reservoir Dogs were done in by injuries and circumstance.  Michael Barrett and Sean Casey were sidelined with concussions in the final weeks.  Pedro Martinez wasn't able to pitch in the final two and a half weeks of the season, Mark Redman missed the end of the season with a broken finger, Reggie Sanders, Dave Roberts, and Chipper Jones all missed considerable time in the second half, and workhorse Livan Hernandez was inconsistent down the stretch.   

Third place belonged to second-year team Kenndoza Line.  The doormatts of the CFCL in their inaugural season when they were named By Kennen, the Line were easily the league's most-improved team in 2005.  In fact, they spent much of the season's first half in second place behind the Reservoir Dogs before tumbling into fourth at the end of May.  They fought the Ruffins for third place honors during the second half and, fueled by a 2.28 ERA and 1.00 WHIP in 220 IP over the last month of the season, went into the final week with a legitimate shot at finishing in second place.  A great final week by the Reservoir Dogs, and a weak finish by the Line batters put an end to those hopes, though.  Still, the season has to be considered a success for the sophomore team.

David's Ruffins were considered by many to be the team to beat coming out of the Draft, but for the second year in  a row, their pennant hopes were crushed by a plague of injuries.  Key players such as Larry Walker, Craig Wilson, Milton Bradley, Scott Rolen, and Mike Piazza all missed considerable time on offense, while injuries to Ben Sheets, Jake Peavy, and John Thomson took their toll on the pitching staff.  

The CFCL's quietest team in 2005 finished fifth, winning the first pick in each of the rounds in 2006's Rotation Draft.  The DoorMatts were steady the whole year, despite making fewer than 40 roster moves during the season.  The Matts moved into 5th place in early July and were virtually unchallenged for the spot the rest of the season.  

After winning their first CFCL Championship in 2004, Steve's Stones entered 2005 in a bid to become the third straight franchise to win back-to-back titles (Copperfields in 2000 and 2001, Lambchops in 2002 and 2003).  Their drive for the pennant the previous year, though, had left the Stones without a solid base, however, and the team was never really able to contend.  Like the DoorMatts, though, the Stones were incredibly consistent all year long, spending the entire season in either fifth place or sixth, which is where they eventually finished.

For the second straight season, seventh place belonged to Dem Rebels.  The Rebels started slowly before making a charge to the middle of the pack in late May.  However, aside from a short-lived surge into 5th place at the end of July, the Rebels never really challenged for a money spot.

Led by Roger Clemens, Tim Hudson, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine, the eighth place Da Paul Meisters were owners of the league's best starting staff and set a new record for Quality Starts in a season.  Their offense didn't feature a single player paid over .19, however (until they signed free agent Larry Bigbe for .24), and never produced.

Like Kenndoza Line, the team they entered the CFCL with in 2004, Teddy's Splendid Splinters improved their place in the standings in their second season.   Unlike Kenndoza, however, the Splinters moved up just a single place, from tenth in 2004 to ninth.  The Splinters actually showed a lot of spunk in the season's second half, however.  Mired in last place at the end of May, the Splinters became the first team to throw in the towel and start rebuilding.  Despite dealing away Pedro Martinez, Ray Durham, Cliff Floyd, and Shawn Green in two deals, the Splinters played decently from the beginning of June on.  In that time, they picked up nearly 20 points and moved out of the cellar and into ninth place.

After moving up from last place in 2003 to 6th place in 2004, Nick's Picts appeared poised to make a break into the money spots this year.  The Picts never got it going, though, and after mid-April weren't able to rise any higher than 9th in the standings, eventually coming out with the short end of the stick in a battle with the Meisters and Splinters.  Those three teams were separated by a single point in the middle of August, but Picts fell off the pace to finish securely in tenth place.

Based on the 2005 standings and point totals, here are the teams that will receive a Home Town Discount Budget, the amount of their budget, and the players who are eligible for a discount.

Record Book

Week Ending 10/02:  No new records were set this week.

Da Paul Meisters set a new record in Quality Starts for the season, breaking the mark of 108 that had been set by the 2003 Lambchops.