3 February 2005

Vol. X Winter 7

 ISBL HOME    ENCYCLOPEDIA    DISKS    PAST GAZETTES    AUCTION SITE    E-MAIL 

  2005 TRANSACTIONS    2005 CALENDAR    2005 FINANCES  

AUCTION TIME! Vladimir Guerrero & Curt Schilling head a stellar lineup of free agents available in the 2005 ISBL Auction, which begins on Tuesday, Feb. 15, with the posting of the first set of 30 players. All told, 640 players will be available in the auction, with almost a 50/50 split between batters (317) & pitchers (323). Other players of note in this year's pool include Alex Rodriguez, Pedro Martinez, Gary Sheffield, Andruw Jones & Zach Greinke.

GET YOURSELF SIGNED UP FOR THE AUCTION

Click on the AUCTION SITE link above and get signed up for the 2005 ISBL Auction. Follow the simple registration steps to get on board. You can change your password once you have done the initial registration. Please use your team nickname as your user name (i.e. Raccoons), and use your ISBL e-mail address as your e-mail address (i.e. orangecrush@isbl.com).

NOTE ON TRADES & MONEY

Please remember that you have already paid the salaries of those players that you kept at the deadline, and that any trades you make here on out do not relieve you of their salaries for 2005. In other words, if you trade a $6m player for a $600k player, you don't get money back unless you ask for it in the trade. Buyer beware ... 

DISK, FINANCES & TRANSACTIONS UPDATED THRU FEB. 1

The links above will take you to the appropriate pages to find all this. The Feb.1 disk has been fully corrected to account for earlier omissions. 

2005 GAZETTE TEAM LINKS ARE IN PLAY

Click on the team names to the left and right (or the league logos, for that matter) and you can find current rosters (as of the most recent disk release), even if you don't have access to the disk. Ah, the ISBL, dedicated to finding new ways to lower work productivity ...

NEW OWNER INFO

After a one-year absence, Seattle again has a baseball team -- thanks to a British benefactor. Shaun Gratton of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, took ownership of the Lexington Legends on Wednesday and has moved the club to Seattle, where they will be known as the Navigators. 

Shaun can be reached via e-mail at navigators@isbl.com or AOL IM at Naush The Pihy. I figured out what it means, but I'm not telling you.

The Manchester Moose now have a new owner and a new home after the team's proposed move to Ajax was scrubbed. The Halifax Explosion are the newest member of the American League, helmed by owner Rod McGlashing.

Rod can be contacted via e-mail at explosion@isbl.com. Rod's AOL IM is Beaver Fighter

Both teams are open for business and fielding trade offers. 

NEW LOGOS FOR 2005

If you've surfed the ISBL site of late, you may have noticed that a few teams have a new look for the coming season. That's the registrar with too much time on his hands. If you think you might like something new for 2005, buzz him and -- time willing -- he might cook up something for you. (Hey, at least it's an excuse to hone my Photoshop skills.)

CONTRACT CODING (revised post-deadline)

The coding seems to confuse a lot of owners, so here's a quick index of the codes.

x : Contract Year 

• When this number reaches 4, the player's minimum salary becomes $1m. 

• When it reaches 6, the player's minimum salary jumps to $5m. 

Players showing a single digit are restricted to 110% of their MLB2004 PA (plate appearances) or BF (batters faced) in ISBL2005 play.

999x : High-unlimited player

• Batters with at least 500 PA

• Batters rated defensively at CATCHER ONLY with at least 450 PA

• Pitchers with at least 700 BF or 162 IP (innings pitched)

These players have no restriction on usage in ISBL2005 play.

666x : Low-unlimited player

• Batters with no better than a .650 OPS (on-base-plus-slugging) and no better than a .700 OPS against either LHP or RHP

• Batters rated defensively at CATCHER ONLY with no better than a .700 OPS and no better than a .725 OPS against either LHP or RHP

• Pitchers with an opposing OPS of .900 or greater

These players have no restriction on usage in ISBL2005 play.

777x : Junior Draft-eligible player

• Players with fewer than 30 PA or 10 IP who do not qualify as low-unlimiteds, but who have never amassed those numbers in a single season

These players are ineligible for the ISBL2005 regular season, but can be used in the ISBL2005 Diamond Cup. Their rights are secured in a special draft exclusive to Junior Circuit teams, at a salary of $200k each. They can only be traded to other Junior Circuit teams. Any undrafted 777x player is deleted from the disk. If a drafted player does not qualify for the ISBL2006 regular season, the team that drafted him loses his rights.

555x : Ineligible player

• Players with fewer than 30 PA or 10 IP who do not qualify as low-unlimiteds or as Junior Draft-eligible

These players are ineligible for the ISBL2005 regular season, but can be used in the 2005 Diamond Cup, provided that they accumulated stats in the MLB2004 season. (i.e. Richie Weeks is ineligible for the Cup, but the rest of the 555x players are eligible.) Their rights are retained by their owner (who has already paid their ISBL2005 salary), but are lost if they do not qualify for the ISBL2006 regular season. These players are allowed to be traded to other teams, regardless of circuit affiliation.