Latest CFCL Bulletin and Roster Changes

10/02/07

"The end of baseball season can be bittersweet.  If you team didn't win the Series you're left second-guessing decisions made along the way and hoping you get another season to get it right."
    - PJ Franklin, My Boys

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October 1

KENNDOZA LINE reserve T Iguchi, activate M Giles.

KENNDOZA LINE reserve N Garciaparra, activate J Lane.

KENNDOZA LINE reserve P Burrell, activate W Taveras.

October 2

The following players completed their CFCL contracts and have become free agents (potential Hometown Discount players are marked with an asterisk (*).  See the Hometown Discount Watch section of this report for details.

Click here for updated rosters in Excel format.
Click here for the 2008 Rotation Draft Pick Tracker

Free Agent Bids and Waiver Claims

Congratulations Kenndoza

They don't come any closer than this.  It took a 163rd game lasting 13 innings to declare the 2007 CFCL Champion and when the dust cleared in Colorado it was Kenndoza Line left alone atop the standings, just two points ahead of David's Ruffins.

But things were even closer than that pair of points would suggest.  Only two Runs Scored are all that made the difference between CFCL veteran David Holian securing his second straight Championship and relative newcomer Kenn Ruby achieving his first.  If, over the course of that final game, Ruffin Adrian Gonzalez had crossed the plate a couple more times (he was left stranded after doubling to lead off one inning) or Kenndoza Liner Kaz Matsui had been held in check, the teams would have tied at 92 points apiece.  The resulting tie-breaker would have gone the Ruffins way, denying Kenndoza Line the 2007 CFCL Crown.

As it was though, Kenndoza held on for their first of what could be numerous CFCL Championships.  Indeed, in their short history, they've proven themselves a force to be reckoned with, finishing in the money three out of their four years.

Of course, money finishes are one thing, but its the trophy we play for, and Kenndoza Line made all the right moves in winning their first.  Possibly no move was more important than when they decisively pulled the trigger on the season's first and biggest deal, a 14-player swap with Steve's Stones that brought Carlos Lee, Pat Burrell, Carlos Delgado, Roy Oswalt, Ryan Dempster, and others in the Kendoza fold. 

It took nearly six weeks, but eventually that package of talent, combined with the Kenndoza's already strong roster, and owner Ruby's skill at manipulating his roster around the salary cap, brought Kenndoza Line to First Place in Period 22, where they stayed (despite a number of close calls) until the end of the season.

As for David's Ruffins, they started strong in their follow-up to their Championship season, holding first place for nearly all of the season's first three months.  A bad summer fade, however, saw them drop to 4th place in Period 14 and stay there through Period 22.  They finished strongly, however, creeping into Third Place in Period 26 and by the last game of the final Period 27, had leapt into Second Place, nearly spoiling Kenndoza Line's party.  What was behind the Ruffins' Summer Swoon?  It turns out that Head Ruffin Holian had spent much of the summer traveling.  Not on a scouting trip, scouring the country for young talent, but quaffing Italian fine wine in an apartment off of Piazza (not Mike) Santo Spirito in Florence.  Hmmm.  Perhaps it's tough to claim the Ruffins weren't winners this year after all.

Third Place in 2007 went to CFCL stalwarts, David's Copperfields.  Despite a flurry of deals at the trading deadline and a late push at the season's end, the Coppers finished 3 points back of Kenndoza Line.  More evidence of how close the 2007 race was, though, is the fact that 11 more RS over the course of the season would have given the Copperfields the championship. 

During the second half of the season, the Copperfields spent a number of periods taking turns in First Place with their oldest rivals, Dem Rebels.  The Rebels held first place as late as Period 20 before settling into Fourth Place, where they finished the season to round out the money spots.

The remainder of the first division was completed by two teams who spent the second half of the season in a battle for Fifth Place, which is the first of the non-money spots but carries the reward of the first pick in each of the 2008 Rotation Draft rounds and the largest of the Home Town Discount Budgets.  The Graging Bulls came out on top, and had actually spent the early part of the season contending for a money spot.  The Bulls narrowly edged the DoorMatts, who started the season very slowly but ultimately rose to Fourth Place before fading to end 2007 in Sixth Place.

There was a very clear delineation between the first division and the second division for most of the season, with teams crossing over from the bottom six to the top six only a couple times all year, and then only momentarily.  That doesn't mean there wasn't excitement in the lower half of the standings, though.  Five teams spent the whole season shuffling through the 7th-11th spots in the standings, and in the end only 12 points separated those five spots.

Seventh Place went to Teddy's Splendid Splinters, perhaps the league's most puzzling team this year.  Trying to follow up on a Second Place finish in 2006, the Splinters made their last roster move of the season on May 14, despite experiencing long-term injuries to key players later in the year and owning a full Free Agent Acquisition Budget.  In spite of their inactivity, the Splinters eeked ahead of two teams in the final weeks of the season to squeeze into Seventh Place.  This "success" leads one to wonder whether they could have contended for a money spot with something resembling a normal effort.

Just behind the Splinters were the Stones and Picts.  While neither team contended for a money spot, both of them made an impact on the pennant race in the trade market.  Neither team made it above 7th place and by the end of June Steve's Stones were ready to look toward next year.   Initial trade feelers went nowhere, but about a week from the August 1 trade deadline another posting in the league forum quickly resulted in the season's first deal - a 14-player blockbuster with the Second Place Kenndoza Line.  The deal helped fuel the Line's pennant drive, and the Stones are hopeful their return in the deal, keyed by Matt Kemp and Tim Lincecum, will lead them to better things in 2008.

Nick's Picts also had a tough start to the season, and never quite got it going.  Shortly after the Kenndoza Line-Stone deal was reported, the Picts announced they were ready to build for the future as well.  The Copperfields responded and the morning of the trade the Picts sent Albert Pujols, Rafael Furcal, and Aaron Rowand to the Coppers for a package that included Ryan Howard, Michael Wurtz, and Hometown Discount-eligible Edwin Encarnacion.

After their deals, the Picts and Stones stayed near each other in the standings, with the Picts leading slightly until the season's final period when the Stones snuck into Eighth Place, leaving Ninth Place for the Picts. 

Near the bottom of the 2007 standings, it was veteran franchise Eric's Lambchops battling it out with second-year team Mo's Red Hots.  The Lambchops struggled with consistency all year and at one point went through a performance trough that almost had them dropping past the languishing Da Paul Meisters into last place.  Seemingly resigned to 11th, a late-season push and corresponding drop by the Red Hots took the Chops into 10th place, where they finished their final CFCL season.

Mo's Red Hots had entered 2007 with high hopes after nearly finishing their rookie season in the money.  Things looked good early on, as the Hots spent most of the season's first half at the top of the second division.  A massive slump, however, saw the Red Hots lose 20 points over the final 10 periods and they faded past the Lambchops into 11th Place.

And then there were Da Paul Meisters.  When they finished the Period 1 in Tenth Place, it represented the season's high point for them.  In last place by the season's second period, there they stayed until the end of the campaign.  Though no more inactive than the season's other disappearing team, Teddy's Splendid Splinters, the Meisters did not have the strong squad the Splinters started the season with. By the end of the year, the Meisters were well below the minimum Inning Pitched mark, which meant they received zero points in the ERA, WHIP, and K:BB categories, regardless of their actual ranking.  This was the death blow to the Meisters, who finished 20 points behind the 11th Place Lambchops.    

Data Correction

Note that the final CFCL standings posted at the CBS Sportsline website are not completely accurate.  Our rules state that if a team fails to meet the IP minimum of 1000, that team will receive zero points in the "rate" pitching categories (ERA, WHIP, K:BB), but that the team should maintain its place in the standings so teams with worse rate stats do not benefit from the team above them slacking off.

For the first time in CFCL history we've had a team finish with fewer than 1000 IP, and Sportsline got the resulting standings only partially right.  They awarded the Meisters zero points in ERA and WHIP, but did so by dropping them to the bottom of those categories.  That meant the Splinters, Red Hots, Picts, and DoorMatts all had their pitching point totals incorrectly inflated.

The adjustment was most damaging to Nick's Picts.  When the Meisters were returned to their correct ranking in the WHIP category, they ended up just ahead of the Picts (by a mere 0.005).  The adjustment cost the Picts a point, which dropped them past Steve's Stones in the overall standings and into 9th place, trailing the Stones by half a point.

In addition to dropping the Picts in the standings, the adjustment also cost the Red Hots, Splinters, and DoorMatts each a point or two in the standings, which could affect the amounts in their Home Town Discount budgets.

Let's hope this is a one-time occurrence in the CFCL...

Turnover

In a not-completely-unexpected development, the CFCL lost three owners shortly after the season ended.  Eric Lamb, (19 seasons), Paul Zeledon of Da Paul Meisters (16 seasons), Teddy Scott of Teddy's Splendid Splinters (4 seasons) have all withdrawn their franchises from the league.  

The Splinters and Meisters were called out during the season for lack of participation - going through extended periods with disabled players on their active rosters while suitable replacements rotted on Reserve and full Free Agent Acquisition Budgets gathering dust in the coffers.  Neither team made a transaction of any kind after early May.

Teddy's notice of departure was a breezy "I won't be back next year" and he didn't respond to a follow-up e-mail, so the exact reasons for his inactivity and low-key resignation may remain a mystery.

Paul said he thought long and hard about whether he has/will have the time necessary to fulfill his commitment to the league and his fellow owners, and in the end the answer was no.  He said he leaving had nothing to do with the CFCL and everything to do with his time availability. 

The most surprising withdrawal was that of the Lambchops the fourth-longest tenured franchise in the league, though in retrospect even that could be foreseen.  Eric nearly left the league after finishing in last place in 2001, feeling he no longer had the time to keep up with day-to-day operations of the team.  Instead, however, he brought on John Lemon as assistant GM and took the CFCL championship in both 2002 and 2003.  Following a disappointing 2007 season, Paul Mahlan, Eric's most recent assistant, tendered his resignation and Eric felt the time had finally come to call it quits.  The good news is, though, that Eric very much wants to stay involved with the CFCL, and has already offered to help out on Draft Day 2008.  

The Executive Committee has already put out the call to current owners for potential candidates to join the league, and we'll soon be posting our openings on some of the better fantasy baseball message boards.  If you know of anyone in the Chicago area who would make a good CFCL owner, let us know!

In the meantime, best of luck to our departing owners.  We hope you'll always look back fondly on your time in the CFCL.  

A New CFCL For 2008

Our roster of owners is not the only element of the CFCL that will be different next year.  The Executive Committee is currently discussing a number of fairly significant changes to the league constitution and how the league is run administratively.    The aims of the changes under discussion are as follows:

To simplify the administrative burden on the league Front Office.  Somewhere in the past 25 years (realistically, probably in the last 5 or so), I became an old man and I simply can't keep up like I used to.

To simplify the gameplay by altering or eliminating some of the more complex rules.  This should help our incoming owners get up to speed more quickly, plus reduce the amount of day-to-day oversight necessary for the league.

To stop fighting with the stat service.  With all it's warts, CBS Sportsline appears to be the best service running, but unfortunately the way it works didn't always coincide with our rules, so there was a lot of conflict.  I'm tired of butting heads with the stat service and am willing to give a little.

What form will these changes take?  Some of the things currently under discussion include:

Require owners to enter their own transactions at the Sportsline website

Eliminate mid-week moves (and therefore stop the never-ending debate about what moves are valid when and in response to what).  However, in conjunction with this...

Have 2 or 3 transaction dates per week rather than just the current one, with free movement between active and reserve lists

Eliminate in-season waivers (I mean, c'mon - Rudy Seanez and Steve Kline are slugging it out for best waiver claim of the year)

An underlying goal of all of these changes and the others being discussed is to make the league easier to run and participate in without dumbing it down or reducing the challenge and fun.  I think it can be done.

If you have any thoughts or ideas, share them in the Forum thread about the changes.

Editor's Note:  Let the record state that the following Monroe Doctrine was submitted for publication the day after the season ended.  Any references to "upcoming" events such as MLB post-season games which have, in reality, already passed, are purely the result of my delinquency in composing and publishing the remainder of this report.