A C T I O N
January-February 2000
TAMPA BAY 1999 ASC CHAMPIONS
Tampa Bay has made a remarkable feat by following Cleveland's series victory last year to bring the trophy back to the National League back to back with a 4 game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds. While Tampa Bay's left handed SP staff was keeping the Reds basically very quiet except for Belle and Griffey, who both hit 2 hr's in the 4 games,
Tampa bay had 8 home runs by 6 different players with Alou and Sexson each hitting 2 hr.
Game#1 TB-4 Cin-3 WP-Rogers HR-Sexson, Alou
Game#2 TB-3 Cin-1 WP-Whisenant HR-Davis, Sexson
Game#3 TB-8 Cin-5 WP-Spradlin HR-Kelly
Game#4 TB-7 Cin-6 WP-Rogers HR-Rodriquez,Camminitti,Alou
CO-MVP's Sexson 7-13, 2 hr's, Rogers 2-0 as SP
Thanks for the great season!
Jack Welch
THE ROAD TO THE SERIES - THE PLAYOFFS
In the National League, The Kansas City Royals reached the playoffs for the second straight season (preceded by a 23-year franchise drought as the Chicago White Sox), and advanced to the 2nd round by sweeping Minnesota in three games. Meanwhile, eventual Series champ Tampa Bay matched the feat, sweeping the Texas Rangers in three straight. Tampa put the Royals in too deep a hole by winning the first three games of their best-of-seven NLCS series, and though Kansas City staved off elimination by winning the next two games, Game 6 finished the Royals' hopes and sent the Devil Rays on to the Big Show. In the American League, it was yet another sweep as Cincinnati polished off Montreal quickly, and advanced to the ALCS, eventually moving on to face Tampa in the Series. My apologies, but I'm not finding the records of how the St.Louis/Milwaukee series played out, so I'm at a loss to tell you more about how the Reds captured the AL crown. I'll shoot for better file organization next year!
Jeff Lowe
RULES CHANGES
To sum things up here are the final draft changes that will affect the 2000 draft.
1) Starting with next year's draft, owners will still be able to protect 30 players for
the draft. 10 more players may be listed as "unprotected players". Any players
over these 40 players must be released into the draft.
2) When it comes to the draft, teams will no longer receive two extra picks for having
less than 26 rated players. In addition, the draft will now consist of 4 base rounds (and
a supplemental round). These 26 fewer picks will be made up when owners release players.
3) As for rleased players, teams will now get a pick for every 3 players released. The
picks will be distributed according to this schedule and will be now sandwhiched between
rounds:
For 3 players released, a team gets a pick at the end of the 7th round.
For 6 players released, a team gets picks at the end of the 6th and 7th rounds.
For 9 players released, a team gets picks at the end of the 5th, 6th and 7th rounds.
For 12 players released, a team gets picks at the end of the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th rounds.
For 15 players released, a team gets picks at the end of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th rounds.
For 18 players released, a team gets picks at the end of the 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th
and 7th rounds. (That's two picks at the end of the 3rd round.)
For 21 players released, a team gets picks at the end of the 3rd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th
and 7th rounds. (That's three picks at the end of the 3rd round.)
And so on. Note that in the first year there would be a lot of teams releasing a lot of players, but this would be minimized in subsequent years.
The picks at the end of each round would be similar to the supplemental picks in that
they are sandwich picks.
4) Finally, there is no longer on cap on the amount of unprotected players a team may lose
during the draft. However, when a team loses an unprotected player they may pull back one
of their released players.
Thanks to all for participating.
Don Cassidy
Hi guys. I have one more change I think we should institute now that we have changed the protect rules. Traditionally, in ASC the protected lists we submit are based on the players we have on our roster at the beginning of the trading season. I think it would make more sense if the protected lists consists of players that our on our teams at the time the lists are due. For example, if the draft is Nov 20 and the protect lists are due Nov 1, teams will protect, unprotect or release players that are on their teams as of Nov 1 (or when they turn the list in). As with the other rule, only protected players can be dealt after the date the lists are sent in. I think it makes more sense and will give teams more trading flexibility. I always found the other way confusing, protecting players we might not have had for a month.
Happy Holidays!
Don Cassidy
SOME OPINIONS TO CONSIDER..
I know I am going to get myself in trouble here but what the hell...
I have been back now for about 5 weeks now. Those of you who know me, know I have been in
this league on and off for about 15 years now. Some things won't change so I won't pretend
I can make a difference myself. Some of you have already heard this speech so just ignore
it. But....
Some people feel that some of us in the league trade too much. I am obviously the most
"guilty" of this but there are others like Bob, Jack, and Dave who are very
active. We trade because we enjoy doing it and because we want to build the best possible
teams. That is what is fun for us. You don't have to agree with our philosophy or like
what we do. You don't have to replicate what we do or even make a lot of trades. What I
would say, though, is that if you want to draw a correlation between a successful team and
its level of activity, you will see that the more active a team generally is, the better
that team winds up being.
Which leads me to my next point...I don't care if people don't make any trades. That's
your prerogative. What I'd like to expect, though, is an attempt to be as competitive as
possible. If you plan on being competitive in 2 years, try building your team over that
period and stick to your plan. Stay active and participate.
I guess what I am saying is that the league should be more than just a forum to play
games. It should be a league to build your team, correspond with other league members, and
participate in league decisions. If I wanted to be a part of a league with no interaction,
I would run my own draft league on my PC and let the computer control the other teams.
And please, if someone contacts you regarding a trade or anything else for that matter,
please have the courtesy to at least acknowledge them. Let them know you received their
message. You can tell them you want to think about it or that you aren't interested. It
really doesn't matter. And if you say you are going to get back to someone, please do.
It's pretty damn annoying to be waiting for someone to get back to you and then never hear
from them again.
Well, I've said what I had to. Of course, it seems like I am always saying something. I just would like some people to take the league a little more seriously and make it enjoyable and fun for everyone. Every time you ignore an e-mail or an IM, you discourage participation. I'm not saying you have to be nearly as active as me, but each person can make contributions in his own way.
Joe Hamrahi
I agree with Joe on all of his points. I try to encourage everyone to participate in trade
talks because it makes for a more interesting, fun league. For years, the big complaint in
the ASC was that the same teams won every year (Piser, Berks, Howard, Leo Tekiel, ect). I
feel that there is a lot more parity these days and more teams are competitive. The last
two years the guys who won the series were myself and Jack. Last year the Twins and the
Ranges both made the playoffs for the first time. So, it seems like more teams have a
chance to win these days. This should be encouragement for teams to make some deals and
take a run at a wildcard or a division title. The more active we are the better the
division races will be. So keep that in mind and drop me a line for some trade talks!!
Don Cassidy
Hello.
Damon from the RFBA Angels / ASC A's here. I figured I'd just throw my 2 cents in on the
"trade or not to trade" debate. I think the people who know me can attest to the
fact that I'm "on the fence" trade wise. I make about 8 trades a year, but I'd
much rather put together a line up and play the games then trade next years draft picks
over the Internet. Having said that, I agree 100% that for a league to be successful ALL
members must stay active and /or forge a bond with each other. It at it's best when you
have a friendly competition with the fellow members in the league. Some of my greatest
strat memories were winning the championship in a 6 team league, over a guy I hated. OK,
bad example.....but the more you trade (but most importantly, inter-act) with the other
members in your league, in my opinion the more enjoyment you will pull from it.
On the other side of the argument, the "Trade just to Trade" mentality is
getting a bit over the top. It seems in both leagues, the same 8 guys trade the same 100
players back and forth to each other. That's fine for some, but I feel the
"non-traders" should set there goals a little more realistically. You will never
have a successful league with every team trading like madmen. Every league needs a dozen
or so solid citizens that pay their dues, play there games, report their stats on time and
a curtious to other league members. Speaking of which: Here are some pet peeves that I've
found in responding to trade requests.
- The "what do you want for blank?" e-mail. GOD, I hate that! If you take the
time to e-mail a guy...have an angle!. I get a dozen e-mail's/IM's a week that ask me
about a player in that manner, with no form of reference whatsoever. I'm then expected to
look up the guys roster (IF he's left his team name..a big if) and then put together a
trade offer in a timely manner. Bull S**T! Take the time to look at MY roster and put an
offer on the table. If it's unacceptable, I'll counter. At least we will have a place to
begin negotiations. Then guys wonder why they haven't heard back from you the next day.
- Also, while I'm ranting. How about we cut down the trade announcement e-mails! Man, it's
getting a bit crazy. It's one thing to be e-mailed 5 times a day on Jin Ho Cho's latest
stop, but do we need the other teams "I confirm the trade" e-mail too!?! In the
RFBA we have a posting site where if you are so inclined, you can go look up the day or
weeks trades. Hopefully we can have the same system one the new ASC site is up. Web guys
get no credit for a lot of hard work, so I'm not about to tell them what to do or how to
do it. It's just a suggestion.
That's my 2 cents. If you haven't made a trade in a while, find a hole in your roster and
try to fill it. It's pretty fun. If you trade all day, try taking a deep breath and
reading a book. I suggest "Be Cool" from Elmore Leonard. I read it about 3
sittings and my teams were still there when I was finished. Of course that's just my
opinion... I could be wrong.
Damon Russo
-Editor's note: actually, we do require all trades to be verified by both parties,
hence the duplication in emails regarding the same trade - that's just managers following
directions (which we don't always get enough of). However, I'm in agreement that we can
eliminate many of these emails by keeping the website up to date with the trades. Biggest
stumbling block is that I'm sure David Meese only has limited time to send me the updates
(keeping up with some of you guys is a LOT of work!), and thus the site is only updated
periodically... many managers want to know on a daily basis who's gone where. For now, the
constant emails seem to be the only answer, but perhaps at some point, it will make more
sense to just report the trades directly to me to be included quickly on the site. Of
course, that will entail my also having to take over roster management, and I don't think
I'm ready to bite off that much right now, with doing the newsletter already. We'll get
the process refined sooner or later. - Jeff Lowe
DO YOU WANT TO SAVE SOME TREES?
Don Cassidy touched on my latest proposal via email this week, but I want to put it in print here, so that everyone has a chance to see it. I'm of the opinion that we could probably be a lot more efficient, AND save on dues, if the league material was updated on the website regularly instead of mass-mailed to the membership. I realize that at least one manager does not have web access, and another uses his only sporadically, and prefers hard copy to looking things up on the Web, but I'd like to find out more about how the rest of you feel. My idea is to put the material that would normally go in the ACTION onto the website... if you want a hard copy, you'd be able to print it out directly from there. I would still print ACTIONs just like in the past for the managers who need it, or who prefer to have it that way, but we could save a LOT on postage and printing costs by not having to run off 26 of these puppies every time I put one together. The plan would be to have those managers who still want their subscription to continue paying the annual $25 dues, but I think dues could be reduced to as low as $10 for those who are willing to get the info directly from the site (and/or print it from there if they so desire). I need to hear from everyone on this at some point, so please give it some serious thought. Thanks.
Jeff Lowe
DRAFT RESULTS
Following are all the players selected plus a summary of players taken from unprotected lists:
Players Drafted:
ANA - Matt Clement, Roy Halladay, Kevin McGlinchy, Ryan Glynn, Orber Moreno, Kelly Dransfeldt
ARZ - Joe Mays, Paul Abbott, Jeff Barry, Armando Almanza, Vicente Padilla, Anthony Shumaker
ATL - Ben Davis, Billy Koch, Joe Nathan, Dan Reichert, Chad Harville, Brent Billingsley, Mickey Callaway
BAL - Vernon Wells, Peter Bergeron, Robert Fick, Gary Matthews, Micah Bowie, Sean DePaula, Robert Ramsay, David Riske
BOS - Gabe Kapler, Jose Jimenez, Wilton Veras, Chad Meyers, Casey Blake, Masao Kida, Creighton Gubanich, Jamie Arnold
CHI(N) - Ron Belliard, Jacque Jones, Kyle Peterson, Francisco Cordero, Chris Fussell, David Doster, Tom Davey, Amaury Garcia
CIN - Chad Hermansen, Jeff Weaver, Vladimir Nunez, Jose Nieves, Mark Johnson, Wade Miller, Steve Montgomery, Kevin Witt, Mike Magnante, Melvin Mora, Carlos Hernandez, David Lamb, Jeff Liefer
CLE - Erubiel Durazo, Ted Lilly, Dee Brown, Alberto Castillo, Jim Leyritz, Roosevelt Brown
DET - Bruce Chen, Kyle Farnsworth, Cristian Guzman, Kent Mercker, Dave Borkowski, Geoff Blum, Brad Rigby, Brian Edmondson
HOU - Ben Petrick, Russell Branyan, Calvin Pickering, Scott Sauerbeck, Robert Ryan, Trent Durrington, Angel Encarnacion, Cleatus Davidson, Jolbert Cabrera, Jose Molina
KC - Randy Wolf, AJ Burnett, Jerry Hairston, Ramon Castro, Braden Looper, Mike Darr, Buddy Carlyle, Jason LaRue, Byung-Hyun Kim, Mark Brownson, BJ Ryan, Trace Coquillette
LA - Warren Morris, Daryle Ward, Guillermo Mota, Ben Molina, Glen Barker, Danny Kolb, Mike DuVall, Jay Ryan
MIL - Scott Williamson, Ramon Hernandez, Mark Quinn, Kevin Barker, Mike Lincoln, Paul LoDuca
MIN - Chris Singleton, Dan Smith, Willie Otanez, Henry Blanco, Derrin Ebert, David Lee, John McDonald
MON - Carlos Lee, Ed Yarnall, Kevin Millar, Angel Pena, Olmedo Saenz, Torii Hunter, Juan Acevedo, Calvin Murray, Scott Radinsky
NYM - Rick Ankiel, Octavio Dotel, Shawon Dunston, Mike Venafro, Ray Holbert, Steve Schrenk, Craig Counsell
NYY - Ruben Mateo, Derrick Gibson, Brian Simmons, Mike Morgan, Jay Payton, Deion Sanders, Gabe Molina, Mike Garcia
OAK - Freddy Garcia, Pat Mahomes, Denny Hocking, Ryan Minor, Doug Mirabelli, Peter Munro, Jeff Manto
PIT - Kris Benson, Kip Wells, Wiki Gonzalez
SEA - Mitch Meluskey, Onan Masaoka, Eric Gagne, Doug Mientkiewicz, Tomo Ohka, Brian Hunter - ATL, Brett Hinchliffe, Mark Sweeney
SF - Luis Polonia, Mike Figga, Norm Charlton
STL - Michael Barrett, Tim Hudson, Jeff Zimmerman, Lance Berkman, Mike Lowell, Jeff Frye, Terrell Lowery, Brian Rekar, Frankie Rodriguez, Mike Mohler, Dan Perkins
TB - Ramon Ortiz, Gil Meche, Alex Ramirez, Jin Ho Cho, Brian Cooper, Dan Wheeler, Scott Schoneweis, Matt Beech, Andy Sheets, Lou Pote, Jeremi Gonzalez, Terrell Wade
TEX - Chad Allen, Ryan Rupe, Adam Kennedy, Cole Liniak, Jimmy Anderson, Sean Lowe,
Julio Ramirez, Jose Santiago, Reid Cornelius
Unprotected Players Lost:
ARZ - Beech, Edmondson, Manto
ATL - Rigby, Frankie Rodriguez
BAL - Frye, Counsell, Charlton
BOS - D Sanders
KC - Mohler
MIL - Magnante, Acevedo, Leyritz
MIN - Mark Sweeney
NYM - A Sheets
OAK - Dunston, Mercker, Hocking
TEX - T Wade, A Encarnacion
TOR - Jeremi Gonzalez, Mike Morgan, Rekar