Team Lewis Strikes Again!

Justin bragging to BJ about winning the genetic lottery.

New GM Mike Lewis continues his make over by dealing the "Good Upton" to Chin Music for a boatload of draft picks.  Details are below.

Chin Music trades: Leo's #1, Veno's #2, Lisi's #2, Veno's #4 to Team Lewis for 
Justin Upton, Lewis #9, Lewis #11, Lewis #13, Lewis #14

Team Lewis Makes First Official Trade

Team Lewis has acquired C Joe Mauer from the Metalheads for a 5th round pick.  This is the first of what many believe will be a busy off season for new GM Lewis as he begins to re-shape his roster.

Metal Heads get Team Lewis' 5th round pick, Team Lewis gets Joe Mauer

Chin Music Acquires Greinke

Greinke anxious about the trade chews at his fingernails

NORFOLK, MA - In an exchange of underperforming binkies, Chin Music has acquired SP Zach Greinke from the DC Dynasty for RF Jason "Oden" Heyward.  Both sides also received draft picks.

Chin Music deals -- Jason Heyward, Lisi's #1 and Joey's #3 to  DC Dynasty for -- Zach Grienke, Leo's #6 and Joey's #7

Rooters Franchise Sold To Best-Selling Author

Brighton, MA – 

“I never throw a player to the wolves until I am certain that he is one of the wolves.”

                -Coach Bill Parcells

The commissioner’s office is pleased to announce the sale of the Royal Rooters franchise to Mike Lewis for the fee of 2 hockey pucks and a case of Budweiser.  Mr. Lewis has been preparing for this opportunity his entire life and is poised to take the bull by the horns and bring pride back to the once mighty Rooters franchise.   

The new team name has yet to be determined, but ownership is ready to make its mark on the league immediately.  Lewis has been added to the league contact list.  Please join me in welcoming him to our little Cuckoo's Nest.

Some fun facts about Mike Lewis: 

• He is a childhood friend of Grant Casassa, Owner of Chin Music
• He is founder and CEO of City Sports. 
• He is the best-selling author of Moneyball: The Art of Winning An Unfair Game.
• Lewis is a connoisseur of Smooth Jazz and considers Heavy Metal to be entirely too barbaric.
• On the ice, he has never been scored upon by either Casassa brother, a shutout streak spanning 256 minutes.
• In addition to fathering his own child, he has lended his prolific services to both Shawn Kemp and Antonio Cromartie.
• Lewis hand-picked Brad Pitt to star in the film version of Moneyball and resembles Brad Pitt more than Pitt himself.  
• In his younger days, Lewis served as a scout for the Cleveland Indians and was instrumental in convincing the Tribe to trade up in the draft in order to select Sizemore.
• He is a card carrying member of both "Sal's Pals" and "Grady's Ladies."

GUILTY!

Braun in another one of his steroid-induced psychotic episodes.

Ryan Braun has been banned for 50 games for testing positive for PED's.  Many state that he should be stripped of his NL MVP and the BBWAA should re-vote to crown a new MVP.  This is a huge blow to the Milwaukee Brewers and less importantly, to the Metalheads.  Does this news taint the Metalheads championship?  Should the title be stripped from owner Joey Vignault for employing a cheating juice head?  Perhaps an asterisk would be more appropriate?  Should owner Vignault be kicked out of the league for his cheating ways?  Or maybe a suspension (ie lock his team) for the duration of the Braun suspension would be a fair penalty?  Please offer your comments below.

    

Watney To Follow Rooters Out The Door

Heidi Watney's contract will not be renewed by NESN.  She will be the new sideline reporter of the LA Lakers, so yes she is now officially on lockout. 

The good news, the Sox have a chance to hire someone who actually has a clue what is happening on the field.

FINALLY! The Duke has come back to MLB!

After masterminding 2 championship teams, '94 Montreal Expos and '04 Boston Red Sox, Dan Duquette has his eyes trained on a '14 Championship for the Baltimore Orioles.

Sox Retire Number of JD Drew

Record Books Updated

Records have been updated.  Boston Pilgrims now have the all-time best winning percentage.  Yellow Stars have fallen to mere percentage points above the immortal Gil for worst w% all time.

Record Book

Congrats to Metalheads - 2011 Championship

A new Evil Empire is born...

DC Loves Sushi

The DC Dynasty re-acquires man crush Ichiro along with Jon Lester and LEO #3, LEO #7 in a four player trade with Irish Labatt.  Heading to Labatt land is Dan Uggla, Justin Verlander, and ERIC #10, ERIC #12.

Hamels Family Takes A Ride On The Orient Express

The Boston Pilgrims have traded man-crush Cole Hamels to the Wuxi Opium Eaters in exchange for PAT #2 draft pick.  Included in the deal are smoking hot wife Heidi and family Shih Tzu Muffin.

ANALYSIS: This deal is pretty cut and dried.  Wuxi needed keepers and had a surplus of picks.  BP needed to shed a surplus of players and was choosing between Hamels, Bautista, Strasburg among others.  The #2 pick is pretty fair value for SP of Hamels calibre even if he does end up as the #4 starter in the best rotation in baseball.

Thunderlips Give Rios/Kinsler Scorgasms!

Thunderlips have traded Alex Rios and Ian Kinsler to the Multiple Scorgasms for Charlie #9 and Brandon Phillips.

Werth A Star!

The Luoyang Yellow Stars have traded Patrick #4 pick to the DC Dynasty for OF Jayson Werth.

Draft 2011

So I know everyone is starting to get ramped up for the season.  I thought that I would offer a little food for thought.  Who will Tom select with the #1 pick in the draft?  The first 2 rounds are listed below for everyone's mocking pleasure...

ROUND 1

1.  Irish Labatts (via Multi Scorgasms)
2.  Melrose Warriors
3.  Luoyang Yellow Stars
4.  Fenway Flats
5.  DC Dynasty (via Metalheads)
6.  Royal Rooters
(Supplemental Picks for all who keep 4) - my estimate is 2

(Supplemental Picks for all who keep 5) - my estimate is 3

7.  Thunderlips

8.  DC Dynasty 2

9.  Irish Labatt 2 (via Rockers)     

10.  Chin Music

11.  Boston Pilgrims

12.  Royal Rooters 2(via Irish Labatt)

ROUND 2

13.  Irish Labatt 3

14.  Boston Pilgrims 2

15.  Chin Music 2

16.  Irish Labatt 4 (via Rockers)

17.  DC Dynasty 3

18.  Thunderlips 2

19.  Multiple Scorgasms (via Royal Rooters)

20.  Metalheads 

21.  Multiple Scorgasms 2 (via Fenway Flats)

22.  Luoyang Yellow Stars 2

23.  Multiple Scorgasms 3 (via Melrose Warriors)

24. Multiple Scorgasms 4

So there it is, the first 24 picks, plus another approx 5 from supplementals.  Metalheads are the last team not named Rockers to select a player.  Both Labatts and the Scorgasms will have made 4 selections (non supplemental) by the end of the second round.

Not Quite "Scott Free"

EVANSTON, Ill. (CBS) - WMAQ-Ch. 5 sportscaster Mike Adamle is facing DUI charges after being arrested in north suburban Evanston early Monday morning.
Adamle, 61, of Evanston, was arrested at Main Street and Judson Avenue in the southeastern part of Evanston about 1 a.m., Evanston police said.
The former running back for the Bears and the Northwestern University Widlcats was driving his four-door, 2002 BMW when he was pulled over for failing to observe a flashing red light at Main Street and Sheridan Road, Evanston police Cmdr. Jay Parrott said.
The arresting officer suspected Adamle had been drinking and put him through a field sobriety test, which he failed, Parrott said.
Adamle was then taken back to the Evanston police station, where he exhibited some “erratic behavior.” He was subsequently taken to Evanston Hospital for a drug screen, Parrot said.
Those tests were submitted to the Illinois State Police Crime Lab. The results are pending.
Adamle is scheduled to appear in Cook County Circuit Court in Skokie on Feb. 14.
He was charged with disobeying a traffic control device, driving while under the influence and a minor vehicle code violation — failure to notify the Secretary State’s office of an address change.
Adamle is a freelance staffer at NBC 5, who appeared on weekend newscasts and the “Sports Sunday” show. He was scheduled to appear next on Channel 5 newscasts Friday.
Station spokeswoman Toni Falvo had no immediate comment about the DUI charge or Adamle’s status at the station.
Adamle graduated from Northwestern in 1971 after earning team captain, All-America and Big Ten MVP honors his senior season. He still holds four NU rushing records.
He was a fourth-round draft choice of the Kansas City Chiefs in 1971, and also played for the New York Jets before joining the Bears from 1975 to 77.
Since retiring from football he’s held a variety of sportscasting jobs, including stints with NBC Sports, ABC Sports, ESPN, ESPN2 and WLS-TV ABC 7. He hosted the “American Gladiators” TV show from 1989-94, and was also CBS 2′s princpal sports anchor from 2001 to 2004.

Y! Announces New Features For 2011

Yahoo! Sports is proud to bring you the 2011 Fantasy Baseball season. Full Season Registration begins on Tuesday, February 8 and continues until Saturday, April 30. This year, Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball has undergone a another serious overhaul to deliver an even more intense and customized Fantasy Baseball experience.

• League Renewals - All returning leagues will be renewable.
• League Updates - A centralized location where you can go to see all of your leagues recent communication activity.
• Email Notifications - Keeps you aware of message board posts, smack talk, team slogan updates, and more.
• Offline Draft Tool - Commissioner can submit Standard or Auction Draft results.
  
• Franchise Invitations - Invite existing managers back to the league, invite a new manager to the league to take over an existing team, and invite a new manager to the league to manage a new team.
  
• Lock Teams - Allows the commissioner to lock teams so they can change the draft order, assign keepers, add and remove managers, etc.
• Team Ownership Transfers - Allows a commissioner to assign a team to a new manager.
  
• Trade Draft Picks - Make your league more strategic by allowing trades of next years picks.
• User Ratings - Rate the commish or another manager.
• Custom Schedules - Allows a commissioners the ability to set a fair and balanced schedule, to play rivals, and to control the leagues schedule.
  

Batting Order

3B-extraordinaire Pablo "Cheetos" Sandoval had at least 1 AB in each spot in the lineup this season.

Yahoo! Activation Date

Yahoo! site is scheduled to be launched on Tuesday, February 8th.

DRAFT DAY 2011 (Announced)

Draft Day will be Saturday, March 26^th @ 6 pm.  

Per our usual procedure, keeper deadline will be Saturday, March 19^th at midnight.  I will compile and email out the list on Sunday.

• Each team must keep a min of 4 and a max of 6
• Supplemental picks for all who keep less than 6 will be held between pick #6 and pick #7 of the first round of the draft
• Supplemental rounds are NOT reverse serpentine, but the actual draft is.  

We will re-visited potential rule changes in FEB once Y! is active again.  I want to see what their options are before we put anything formal to vote.  As I see it, the core issues are as follows:

• Expanding our player pool (either in the form of expanding to 14 teams or in adding roster spots)
• Playoff length (tbd based on Y! options)
• Transaction limitation (weekly limit, year long limit, FAAB, or leave as is)
• Buy in, Pay outs (keep at $65 or raise to $100, how does this impact payouts)

Draft Day 2011

I would like to propose that we have our draft on Saturday, March 26^th beginning at 6 PM EST.  I understand that this time might not be ideal in Communist China, but the last two drafts have been in the morning to compensate for the time difference, so this year I’m asking the Chinese to play along.  (I have to work until 4pm on this date) 

If you cannot draft on this date please respond.  I will naturally assume silence is means you are able to draft on this date/time.  I am hoping to officially finalize the date by JAN 31.

Incidentally, Opening Day is Thursday, March 31^st

Rockers and Labatts drop bombshell!

The Rockers have decided to throw all convention into the wind and field an undrafted 2011 squad!  GM Leo Pare was commented as saying,  "the biggest challenge will be staying sober through the first 2 hours of the draft after boredom sets in." 

Rockers send Ellsbury, Lester and picks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9

for

Tulowitski and Labatt picks 11, 12, 13, 15, 16 and Charlie's 14

Brace yourselves for the messageboard meltdown that is about to follow.

Draft Day

So the New Year is upon us and January is flying by.  We are 33 days away from pitchers and catchers.  It is a good time to start speculating about Draft Day/Time.  I would like to get this nailed down early so that those who choose to travel can make their arrangements.  My initial thought is that the two best weekends are FRI-SAT, March 18-20 or March 25-27.  Opening Day is March 31st this season, so we those are the final two weekends in March before the draft.

Please post your comments.

HOF

Trevor Hoffman was awesome.

Fenway Flats Complete Overhaul In Blizzard Of Activity

The Fenway Flats would like to announce two trades on this Wednesday Nor'easter holiday.

• TRADE#1:  Fenway Flats deal TIM#2 and LISI#2 to Multiple Scorgasms for 3B Alex Rodriguez
• TRADE#2: Fenway Flays deal 3B David Wright to The Rockers for LF Matt Holliday

#29

Apparently Julio Borbon is not going to be getting a Tag Heuer for giving up his number to the incomparable? Adrián Béltre. Béltre had his number added to his contract. Youkilis is playing 3rd....

Keepers and Roster Tenure

I would like to call this the people who are afraid move talent list, so that I can save Mike the trouble of leaving this in the comment section.

LONGEST TENURED PLAYERS (seasons on same team)

1. Johan Santana......IL.....6
2. Miguel Cabrera....IL.....5
3. Justin Morneau.....RR....5
4. Carlos Lee...........YS....5
5. Felix Hernandex...CM...4
6. CC Sabathia........MS....4
7. Jimmy Rollins.......MW...4
8. Ryan Howard......DC.....4
9. Mark Teixeira......CM.......4
10. Cole Hamels........BP......4
11. Albert Pujols.......BP.......3
12. Evan Longoria.....CM.....3
13. Chase Utley.........CM.....3
14. Carl Crawford.....DC......3
15. Brian McCann.....MW....3
16. Matt Kemp.........MH......3
17. Roy Halladay......RR.......3

26 players, if kept will enter their second season with their respective team.

MOST TENURED PLAYERS PER TEAM (players with 2+ yrs on current team)

1. Chin Music.................4
2. Irish Labatt.................2
3. Royal Rooters.............2
4. Melrose Warriors........2
5. DC Dynasty................2
6. Boston Pilgrims...........2
7. Yellow Stars................1
8. Multiple Scorgasms......1
9. Metal Heads................1
10. Fenway Flats...............0
11. Thunderlips..................0
12. The Rockers................0

PLAYERS WHO HAVE BEEN ONLY DRAFTED ONCE

These are the players who were drafted in our inaugural draft, but who have been kept by one team or another every year since.  They are the only players to have been kept in every single year of our league history.

• Ichiro Suzuki (GIL, IL, DC, TL,TL, DC, IL, IL)
• Albert Pujols (CM, CM, CM, CM, CM, BP, BP, BP) 
• Carl Crawford (DC, TL, CM, CM, IL, DC, DC, DC)
• Miguel Cabrera (CM, PB, PB, IL, IL, IL, IL, IL)
• Mark Teixeira (GY, PB, PB, DC, CM, CM, CM, CM) 
• Alex Rodriguez (GIL, CM, DC, DC, MW, MW, IL, MS)
• Johan Santana (DC, DC, IL, IL, IL, IL, IL, IL)

FBB Goes International

I am proud to welcome the recent international viewers who have hit on our blog over the past 30 days.  We are truly becoming a global game.  Check out our stats...

United States 1,449 Croatia (Stojko Vranković) 4 China (Patrick before communism shut him down) 1 France (Rheal Cormier) 1 Malaysia (Jack Dunleavy) 1

Fenway Flats and Chin Music Announce Trade

Fenway Flats trade TIM#5 pick to Chin Music for Carlos Santana.

....and yes Joey, this one is for real.

CORRECTION:  The Braun for Haren trade between MH and FF never took place.  Rosters are correct as currently listed.  Apologies to all for the dumb joke, except for you Joseph.