DIAMOND NOTES

 

--A trade with no official press release shook up the Friends League last week.  With Mark Scott and Matt Scott trading star players (Randy Johnson and Alex Rodriguez, respectively), it put an end to two traditions in FLB.  Both players had been with their respective teams since the inaugural draft, and Matt fielded at least 20 A-Rod offers a year due to his glut at that position.

   So now what for the two teams?  Matt appears to have made a “win this year” type of trade, so it will be interesting to see if that gets him over the top.  Mark has a younger player that he can build around for the second half and for years to come.

   Neither owner was available for comment.  However, Mark’s official photographer, Scott Hinterthuer, remarked that his employer was quite cool during the late-night negotiations.

   “Chickee blee, the bro was OOONNN!  Didn’t flip.  [Golly.]” stated Hinterthuer.

 

--Even without the new split-season format, this year’s FLB race would probably go down as the most exciting in recent memory.  Five teams are within five points with one week left to go in the first half, and two-time defending champion Andy Stroud slipped from tied for first to tied for fourth in one week’s time.

 

--The commissioner is playing with a new way of projecting stats over the length of the season, and will probably have those pages up on the league’s web site after a few more weeks pass, giving him more data to work with.

 

--Commissioner Daniel Shoptaw has also had his trading hat on, but nowhere to go.  He has talked with owners Robert Arnwine, Mark Shively and Chad Skelton about possible blockbuster deals in the last week and a half, but nothing has come out of it.  Shoptaw states, “It’s still possible something will happen before the All-Star Break.  You never know.”

 

--How bad has it been for Skelton’s Smokies this year?  Not only are they sitting in last place, just when they can bring Kevin Brown off the DL, they have to put Pedro Martinez on it.

 

--The move of Slug Sauce is now official, as FLB adds the St. Louis market into the league.  Not much word out of St. Louis yet, though, as owner Andy Stroud is still getting settled.

 

--Robert Arnwine still states that he’ll trade his entire team for a date.  Otherwise, most of his players are still available, but they may cost a little more.

 

--Part of the problem with such a close race is that there may be little in the way of activity on the trade front, especially with the “reset” of stats in a couple of weeks.  Every team has a chance this year, so there may not be much movement until closer to the end of August.

 

--Players on the block from Shoptaw’s team include Troy Glaus, Preston Wilson, Pat Burrell, and possibly Roberto Alomar.

 

--Anything else you want written up?  Let me know!