Howdy, CFCLers!  I hope that everyone is enjoying whatever holidays they choose to celebrate as 2005 winds down.  After a long winter's nap, things are just starting to wind back up here in CFCL Headquarters.  We've been in kind of hibernation mode for the past couple months, but the New Year will bring the beginning of Winter Waivers, the off-season trading period, and before you know it, Spring Training will bring Roster Freezes and Draft Day.

Winter Waivers Coming

Here's early warning that Winter Waivers are just around the corner.  This is the first year under the new system in which Winter Waivers is delayed until after the MLB winter meetings and closer to Spring Training.

As a quick refresher, here's a quick outline of the new process.

The deadline for submitting 23-man protected lists will be 4:00 PM on Friday January 6 (the first Friday in January).  Send protected lists to [email protected].  All the previous rules and conditions for protected lists apply -- M contract players and AL players DO count against the limit of 23 players you can keep, and you must protect any players on long-term contracts.

Whether you’re e-mailing your cuts or phoning them in, I highly recommend that you supply the list of players you’re keeping AND the list of players you’re cutting. This will help make sure no one slips through any cracks.

Players who are not protected are available to be claimed (except those who are in the AL) on waivers.  The deadline for submitting a claim on a player from the first group of waived players is 4:00 PM on the following Tuesday (January 10).

For each player you claim you must waive one of your 23 protected players.  These waived players form the pool for the second round of Winter Waivers, which concludes at 4:00 PM on the following Friday (January 13).

The Friday-Tuesday cycle continues until there is a round in which no players are claimed.

Free trading between CFCL teams can begin upon the completion of the first round of Winter Waivers (January 10).

Those are the basics.  Really the only thing that's changed for this year is start date for Winter Waivers and the shorter waiver periods -- all the other previous rules still apply.  For more detail on this, see the Winter Rosters and Winter Waiver article in the Constitution.

Ownership Review

At the end of last season, all but two of the current owners reported they expected to return for the 2006 season.  Steve Olson and Jason Grey were unable to commit at the time because they were uncertain about their schedules next year.  Happily, Steve has since said he definitely plans on coming back, however there's been no word yet from Jason.  

The Executive Committee is hopeful of having full 2006 ownership confirmed by the time of Winter Waivers.  If you situation has changed at all, please let us know as soon as possible.

Draft Day Target Date

National League Opening Day in 2006 is scheduled for Monday April 3.  That means our target weekend for Draft Day is April 1-2.  It seems to have been the norm in the past several years that we end up drafting on the Sunday date.  While that's certainly not set in stone yet, that's probably the current favorite.

As usual, we'd like to have a definite date set by mid-to-late January, so if you know if issues with either the 1st or 2nd of April, let me know ASAP.

Survey Results

Back in October, everyone participated in the traditional end-of-season opinion survey.  This is the first real chance I've had to present the results, so without further ado, here's what the CFCL's thinking.

CFCL, 2006.  11 of 13 general managers said they definitely planned on returning for the 2006 season.  

The Stones and Reservoir Dogs were not sure yet whether they'd be returning.  As reported above though, the Stones have since said they'd be back.

Draft Day Location.  We reported in the survey that it was possible the office we've used for the past several years would not be available next year.  We asked for possible alternate locations and received the following thoughts and suggestions:

• There are several places in Bloomington I can get us into :)  Many would have wireless broadband too, not that we allow net surfing during the draft...

• Wyndham Garden Wood Dale - probably cost $100 for the day or so. That's easily split.

• Places such as restaurants or rooms we'd rent could be troublesome because of the length of time we'd need them.

• My football league drafts at a place called Loon Cafe and I don't think they charge anything.  I can look into it if you want.

• I could possible get my office in Hoffman Estates, but it may be a hike for some owners.

• We could use my office in St. Charles.

• We could use my office (downtown Chicago).

• I would be more than happy to offer my conference room, but it's in the city.  It would seat 12 pretty comfortably.

No definite word yet on the availability of the place we've used previously, but it's good to know there are plenty of alternatives available if needed.  Thanks to everyone who has volunteered to host -- we may be in touch.

Renting a Draft Headquarters.  Would you be willing to pay for a draft location if needed?

• Yes - 7 votes

• Yes, but not more than $___ - 4 votes ($20, $20, $10, $10,000)

• No - 2 votes

It appears that as long as it's not too extravagant, most owners would be willing to pitch in for rental on a draft location of some sort.  It sounds like we may have several free locations possible, though, so it may not come to that.

Draft Pace.  How do you feel about the pace of the Draft Day Auction?

• I'm comfortable with the pace of the past few years - 4 votes

• The pace is too slow - 1 vote

• Other - 6 votes:

  • The only time it is rushed is the rotation draft.

  • My comments don't matter here.

  • Pace OK, but some rudeness re bid clarifications.

  • It seems rushed.

  • Auction is OK, but tense.  Rotation draft is way too fast.

  • More time between players, less time during player.

For the most part, it would appear that we're doing OK pace-wise (most of the "other" respondents are leaning toward the "pace is good" viewpoint).  In fact, based on some of the comments, we may have gone a little overboard in quickening the pace. 

I'm a bit disturbed by the "my comments don't matter here" remark.  I'd like to think we've created an environment in the league where everyone feels comfortable in expressing their opinions.  The fact that those opinions may not always align with the majority of owners in the league in no way trivializes them.  Everyone's comments ALWAYS matter.

Auction Format.  Would you be interested in exploring a change to a "true auction" bidding format?

• I'm fine with the current format, but would consider switching - 6 votes

• Yes, I'd definitely support the switch - 2 votes

• I think it's worth discussing - 2 votes

• No, I would not want to switch bidding formats - 2 votes

It looks as though it would definitely be worthwhile to at least taking a look at the possibility of going the true auction route.  I imagine the best place to start would be a discussion in the Forum -- keep an eye out for a thread there. 

Time Between Phases.  What do you think about the amount of time between the end of the Auction and the beginning of the Rotation Draft?

• The current length of time (about 15 minutes or so) seems about right - 7 votes

• There's too long a break, I'm pretty much ready to start once the Auction's done - 2 votes

• It's too short, I'd like to have more time - 1 vote

• Other - 1 vote:

  • I'm split between just enough and too short

It would appear that the status quo is just fine in terms of the downtime between draft phases. 

Other Draft Day Comments.

• While the pace of the auction has improved in recent years, the pressure to keep things moving has had an impact on the "fun" aspect of the Draft.  There doesn't seem to be much tolerance for chatting, BSing, etc.  Hopefully a happy medium between the 8-hour Speed Draft and the 14-hour Snoozer Draft can be reached.  Moving to an auction format may help with that, but then you'd have to find someone to be auctioneer.

• I think we could lessen the drive to bring new players up for bid - thus slowing the pace a bit - if we could squeeze the deliberation time I and others use when deciding about that extra penny on Drew.

• While it's important to keep moving, I think flexibility is the key.  If someone is taking too long in the bathroom or got lost on the way to the draft, etc., you just wait.

• Since I'm not a morning person, I'd like to see the draft start later in the morning.

• We can't always see real clear at the back of the room (eye problems for me) and some extra patience would be appreciated when some of us need to clarify bids.  Just like Rich and Dave sometimes need others' patience because of the many things they are trying to manage, plus putting together their teams.

There seems to be a growing feeling that while the quicker Drafts are nice, we've lost a slight amount of the carefree attitude we used to have on Draft Day.  Perhaps in the effort to stick to that "brisker" pace, we've become a little too regimented.    There's such a drive to stick to the business of the Draft, that we discourage some of the things we used to most look forward to about Draft Day.

I know a lot of the pressure to remain focused has come from Rich and I, because we've had a lot more business to focus on than everyone else.  Some of that business will be eliminated this year, as we should have all bidders present in the same room, which means we won't have to worry about the long-distance communications and bidding spreadsheet that we've used for the past several years.  Dave Holian has agreed to either travel to Chicago for the Draft or send a proxy bidder, and that will be the expectation for all out-of-town owners going forward.

That, of course, won't solve all the issues, we're open for other ideas about changes to the Draft and Draft Day.  One thing we're sure to be discussing will be a switch to a true auction format.  This would almost certainly lead to a shorter Draft, but would mean a significant change to the Drafing style to which the majority of the owners are accustomed.  Additional thought are definitely welcome.

Extra Stat Categories.  Would you be in favor of modifying the "extra" stats that appear on the TQS team reports to include the numbers to accurately calculate OBP?

• Yes, I think it's important to add them - 9 votes

• I don't mind either way - 3 votes

• No, they're not necessary - 1 vote

Would you be willing to pay extra (about $5 per person) to have the stats added?

• Yes - 10 votes

• No - 3 votes

There's strong support for this one.  I'll look into the possibility of adding the extra categories once sign-ups for TQS are available. 

Other Feedback.

• I love it.  Good job on the CFCL website especially!

• Other than the injuries and mysterious disappearance of certain players' abilities, this was the best year yet.  I am feeling much more comfortable with the category changes and think the league has done a good job modeling the important aspects of MLB.

• I'm not clear on the "extra" stats thing.  Are you referring to the page on TQS?  The "in game" link at TQS?  The stats that get e-mailed to us each week?  I don't see a drastic need for them and wouldn't be willing to pay for any changes.

• I hate Livan Hernandez.

Gone to the Dark Side

It's been quite a busy off-season in MLB, with plenty of players switching leagues.  Some CFCL teams have been hit quite hard by AL defections.

We also had what I believe is a CFCL first - a player returning to a CFCL team from the AL.  Last summer, Meister infielder Geoff Blum was traded to the White Sox for the stretch run.  The Meisters held onto him, and that dedication paid off as Blum returned to the NL this off-season.  That means the Meisters will have the option of keeping Blum active this spring.  

Also this off-season, Terrmel Sledge of Hot Sludge Sundae went to the AL and came back a couple weeks later, which is a perfect illustration of why we originally put the rule in place to begin with.

Other players haven't been so fortunate and are still undergoing exile in the American League.  Since their CFCL teams still retain the rights to those players, they'll remain on the Excel spreadsheet, but their names are shaded to indicate their status as AL players.  I've tried to stay on top of these moves, but as always if you see anything I missed, let me know.

Any of these AL players who are not protected during Winter Waivers will be released outright - they cannot be claimed on waivers.  

Imitation Is The Sincerest Form of Flattery.  Really!

A recent visitor to the CFCL Forums posted some nice remarks about the CFCL website, and provided a link to his own web page, that of the Luis Gomez Memorial League.

When I visited the page, it looked familiar to me, and after a bit I realized that it had been one of the web pages I'd featured in a CFCL report a couple years back.  One of the things I liked most about the LGML web page was the owner profiles (under Members Past & Present).  I wrote:

The league has a standard questionnaire that each owner completed and each owner’s responses are posted on a separate page. The questions range from baseball-related (favorite team/player/park) to more probing, philosophical queries (who would you like to play poker/strip poker with, favorite comic strip, etc.). The profiles really give you a sense of the owners and the spirit of community in the league.

I thought at the time that I'd really like to try something similar in the CFCL, but wasn't real confident about the level of participation we'd get, so I never mentioned it.  However, after the LGML Commissioner's recent post, Rich visited the web page and had the same reaction I did originally -- that it would be a lot of fun to include a survey like that on our owner pages.  We kicked the idea around a bit and decided to give it a go.

Rich is coming up with a set of possible questions, and we'll try sending out and Owner Profile Survey soon.  Hopefully everyone will get into the spirit of the thing and send a response.  Keep an eye on your mailbox...

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.