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12 December 2004 |
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Vol. X Winter 1 |
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12 December 2004 |
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Vol. X Winter 1 |
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ISBL HOME ENCYCLOPEDIA DISKS AUCTION SITE FORUMS E-MAIL 2005 ROSTERS 2005 TRANSACTIONS 2005 CALENDAR 2005 FINANCES 2005 JR DRAFT LOTTERY 2005 BALLOT
CROWN ROYALS HEAD TO NL, OWNER SEARCH FOR MOOSE The deadline came and went without a response from Brad McConnachie, and so he won't be with us for the ISBL2005 Season. That sets a few moves in motion; namely, the Toronto Crown Royals, after a year of patient lobbying, will make the move from the AL to the NL. The Moose won't be moving to Ajax to become the Axemen after all (though they will move from the NL to the AL), and we'll be looking to fill the vacancy shortly with a new owner. A COUPLE EXTRA DISK NOTES When the MLB2004 disk was released by DMB, there were three pitchers whose opposing OPS came out to above .900, in contrast to the numbers I used from ESPN. Nelson Figueroa (GIA), Arthur Rhodes (PYT) and Vladimir Nunez (QUI) are all now low-unlimited pitchers (666x). The relaxed low-unlimited criteria for "catcher only" players passed, and that added five more low-unlimited players: Bobby Estalella (WIL), Mike Redmond (PIO), Henry Blanco (LEG) and free agents Koyie Hill and Yadier Molina. Finally, those of you that have asked about the 555x and 575x coding, 555x means the player appeared in the MLB2004 Season, but did not qualify for the ISBL2005 season, so you won't have these players to use. They're shown only so you know that you still own their rights for the time being. As for 575x, those are 555x players who, if released by their present club, would go into the Junior Draft. ISBL ENCYCLOPEDIA (2001-2004) The ISBL Encyclopedia, encompassing the 2001 through 2004 seasons, is now online for your perusal and enjoyment. You can find the encyclopedia HERE. 2005 PRELIMINARY ROSTERS/TRANSACTIONS/UNCARDEDS If you want to take a look at your preliminary roster (and those of other teams) as it stands entering the coming preseason, you can find it HERE. Please note that the unlimited/ineligible information is based on stats found online, and may be subject to change if they differ from what ultimately is on the DMB disk. Also, please contact stats@isbl.com if you find any errors. Transactions made since the release of the disk can be found HERE. And a list of uncarded players can be found HERE. 2005 CALENDAR Looking for the 2005 ISBL schedule? You can find it HERE. Again, if something looks goofy, please contact stats@isbl.com. 2005 FINANCES The finances for the 2005 season (both what you have to play with preseason and what you'll have after Feb. 1) can be found HERE. These numbers may be subject to change, based on how the voting goes, as you'll see in the ballot below. Questions? stats@isbl.com. The lottery took place on Saturday, with the Sluggers, Legends, Nomads and Beavers in attendance. The pick order for the Draft was determined as follows (with picks reversing for the second round):
The draft will consist of two rounds, with the selection order reversed for the second round. The draft will be conducted after the conclusion of the ISBL2005 Auction. Teams selecting Jr. Draft players must have a 40-man roster spot available for each player selected (although these players will NOT count toward the "18 batter/14 pitcher" minimums), and must have $200k in salary available to pay to to each player. Junior Draft players are not eligible to play in the regular season or playoffs, but are eligible for Cup play. Should a drafted player not achieve eligibility for the ISBL2006 season, the teams loses the rights to that player at the conclusion of the ISBL2005 season. Players eligible for the 2005 Junior Draft are those that appeared in the MLB2004 season who
Players who previously qualified as low unlimiteds in ISBL may be among those in the draft; however, teams who currently hold those players' rights may elect to keep them as uncarded players for ISBL2005, provided they pay that player's salary. The players eligible for the 2005 Junior Draft include:
Additionally, batters Matt Diaz (GRI), Joe Thurston (FOR) and Tony Torcato (BAN) and pitcher Joe Dawley (CYC) will be eligible for the Junior Draft should their respective owners elect not to retain their rights as uncarded players (they're the 575x players).
We got 27 responses (no ballot from Moose/Axemen), and here's how it came out: QUESTION 1 - PARTICIPATION IN 2004 ISBL SEASON Will you be participating in the 2005 ISBL Season? By answering YES, you agree to make the time available to meet all league obligations and commitments, making arrangements and playing games in a timely manner, without repeated tardiness or prompting from the league office. NOTE: If your answer is NO, you need not complete the rest of the ballot, as your votes will not be counted. We got 27 "yes" responses. The other, you know about. QUESTION 2 - GAUGING INTEREST IN PLATOON LIMITS Do you think something needs to be done to curb lefty-bashing? That is, do you think limits should be imposed on usage vs. left-handed pitchers (or against both sides, for that matter)? NOTE: This is NOT an action item. We merely want to see who thinks this is a problem and would like to see something done about it. We got 13 "yes" responses and 14 "no" responses on this. Three of the "yes" responses came from Micah, Troy and Tim, so this probably isn't the last of the league office's grumbling on this. YES (13): NES, NOM, WIL, BAN, GRI, ORA, PYT, NOI, FOR, CYC, RAC, CAR, MEA NO (14): GIA, SID, FIN, PIO, LEG, QUI, DIR, CRO, PRA, UND, BUL, WOL, SLU, BEA QUESTION 3 - RELAXING UNLIMITED REQUIREMENT FOR CATCHERS Are you in favor of allowing any player rated ONLY at catcher (with no secondary defensive rating at another position) to be deemed unlimited IF that player has at least 450 PAs; and/or an overall OPS of .700 or below, with no greater than a .725 OPS against either LHP or RHP? RATIONALE: This would reduce the strain on teams in what perennially has been a trouble position. That, and catchers are already limited in some respects by the need for periodic rest due to tiring. NOTE: This measure lost by a single vote last year. This one passed pretty easily, by a 21-6 margin. YES (21): NES, GIA, WIL, BAN, SID, GRI, FIN, ORA, LEG, QUI, PYT, DIR, NOI, PRA, CYC, BUL, RAC, WOL, CAR, BEA, MEA NO (6): NOM, PIO, CRO, FOR, UND, SLU QUESTION 4 - EARLY RELEASE OF DIAMOND CUP WINNINGS Are you in favor of releasing monies won in the previous season's Diamond Cup in December, concurrent with the release of the first ISBL disk, rather than on Feb. 1? RATIONALE: This would give every team some additional money with which to deal during the preseason, prior to the roster freeze, and provide additional incentive for performance in the Diamond Cup. This proved to be a winning proposal, passing 23-4. YES (23): Everyone but ... NO (4): PIO, NOI, UND, WOL QUESTION 5 - AMENDING THE LOCKBOX RULE Are you in favor of amending the lockbox rule, whereby $500k of the lockbox money would be released into your general coffers immediately following the start of the season (though after the auction/junior draft), and the other $500k would remain locked until after the passing of the final trade deadline? RATIONALE: This would ensure that every team would have some additional money with which to deal after the start of the season, without the restriction of it being solely for free-agent purchases, while at the same time ensuring that every team would have funds available to purchase said free agents after the trade deadline, thereby avoiding situations where a team might finish the season with a reduced roster. ADDITIONAL NOTE: "Yes" means you want to see the rule change detailed above. "No" means you want to keep the lockbox rule as is. Think this one confused some people (maybe not, but after I sent out that explanatory e-mail, we only got one more "no" vote), but it still managed to pass by a 19-7 margin. YES (19): NES, NOM, GIA, WIL, BAN, GRI, FIN, ORA, QUI, CRO, PRA, FOR, UND, CYC, RAC, WOL, SLU, BEA, MEA NO (7): SID, PIO, LEG, PYT, DIR, NOI, BUL ABSTAINED (1): CAR (he stated that he didn't care either way on it) QUESTION 6 - SINGLE TRADE DEADLINE Are you in favor of eliminating the two-tier trade deadline and establishing the end of Week 17 as the sole trade deadline? RATIONALE: This would simplify the trade deadline to a single standard, in response to numerous complaints last year about the inability to deal with the other circuit after the All-Star break and the inherent confusion that came with that. Figured this would be popular. Passed 25-2. YES (25): Everyone but ... NO (2): FOR, SLU QUESTION 7 - SENIOR CIRCUIT BATTER OF THE YEAR Who's your pick for Senior Circuit Batter of the Year? Please consider only those stats that player accumulated in the Senior Circuit. There was a noticable shift in the voting after the BALCO testimony leak, but not enough to keep Barry Bonds of the Finns from adding to his trophy case. Albert Pujols of the Meat Possums picked up the remainder, including 9 of the last 14 votes cast. Bonds (16): NES, NOM, GIA, WIL, BAN, GRI, FIN, PIO, ORA, QUI, PYT, NOI, FOR, UND, WOL, SLU Pujols (11): SID, LEG, DIR, CRO, PRA, CYC, BUL, RAC, CAR, BEA, MEA QUESTION 8 - SENIOR CIRCUIT PITCHER OF THE YEAR Who's your pick for Senior Circuit Pitcher of the Year? Please consider only those stats that player accumulated in the Senior Circuit. Pedro Martinez of the Willows got 14 of the first 16 votes cast to lock this honor down early, though some other names got some late support. P.Martinez (19): NOM, GIA, WIL, BAN, SID, GRI, FIN, PIO, ORA, LEG, QUI, PYT, DIR, NOI, UND, RAC, WOL, SLU, MEA Zito (5): NES, PRA, FOR, CYC, BUL Ru.Ortiz (2): CRO, BEA Clement (1): CAR QUESTION 9 - JUNIOR CIRCUIT BATTER OF THE YEAR Who's your pick for Junior Circuit Batter of the Year? Please consider only those stats that player accumulated in the Senior Circuit. When we did this voting last year, there was a tie-break rule that said the player to get their last vote first would be the winner. Of course, last year we also didn't allow you to vote for your own guys (which wasn't the case this year), so it's not fair to use last year's criteria here. Thus, we have a tie. Carlos Delgado of the Dirt Dogs and Jim Thome of the Sidewinders share the honor, thanks to a late run of support for Thome. C.Delgado (11): GIA, GRI, FIN, QUI, PYT, DIR, CRO, PRA, CYC, BUL, CAR Thome (11): NES, NOM, PIO, ORA, NOI, FOR, UND, RAC, SLU, BEA, MEA Pr. Wilson (1): WIL B.Boone (1): SID Furcal (1): LEG Dunn (1): WOL ABSTAINED (1): BAN QUESTION 10 - JUNIOR CIRCUIT PITCHER OF THE YEAR Who's your pick for Junior Circuit Pitcher of the Year? Please consider only those stats that player accumulated in the Senior Circuit. Brandon Webb of the Sidewinders grabbed this honor, but Tim Hudson gave him a run for his money until near the end. Webb (16): NES, GIA, SID, GRI, FIN, LEG, PYT, DIR, NOI, CRO, PRA, CYC, CAR, SLU, BEA, MEA T.Hudson (8): NOM, WIL, PIO, ORA, FOR, UND, BUL, RAC Loaiza (1): QUI Glavine (1): WOL ABSTAINED (1): BAN |
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