New York today shipped minor league OF James Fike and its fifth round pick in next year’s draft to Brooklyn for 1B prospect Derek Pesante.

Nate ran the sim. Too lazy to post a blog entry. So, here’s one for comments.

But, before we get to that (I’m saving it for the end of the column), the standings.

In the Platonic League, Pittsburgh remains 8.5 games ahead of Miami, as neither team played particularly well. But, Cairo and Stockholm used the opportunity to close the gap. Cairo is now just four games behind Miami and Stockholm is 6.5 back. Maryland and Ramapough Mountain appear headed the other direction this year.

In the Socratic League, Jersey City stopped the bleeding and won three of five. That kept the Skeeters eight games behind division-leading New York. Gainesville is 2.5 out of the wild card and Seattle just another game back. Marietta and Brooklyn bring up the rear.

In league news, Cairo’s Rafael “Cricket” Palermo and New York’s Alfonso Reyes took home Player of the Week honors.

Normally, this would be the section for injuries. But, I’m saving it for the end, so you get the game recaps instead.

On June 25, Gainesville led 7-3 with two outs in the ninth when Seattle rallied for four runs and another in the tenth to prevail 8-7. The Pilots used five singles and a bases loaded walk in the ninth to come back and strung together three more singles in the tenth to win. Marietta’s Tom Mathis had the year’s eighth best pitching performance when he shut down Brooklyn on two hits and a walk over eight innings of the Mammoths’ 7-0 win.

On June 26, Stockholm’s Horace Lawson clubbed two home runs, but in a losing effort as the 2006 World Champions fell to Cairo 6-5. New York also scored in the tenth inning to top Jersey City 4-3.

On June 27, Brooklyn sneaked by Marietta in a 3-2 victory. The game was tied with one out in the bottom of the ninth when Bomber George Marcano singled. He then broke for second, but scooted all the way to third on an error by Mammoth catcher Timothy King. (OK, he’s not really mammoth, as King is only 213 lbs, but you know what I’m saying.) He then scored on a sacrifice fly as the Bomber rallied to take two of three from Marietta.

On June 28, Marietta continued their domination of the interesting games this sim when they traveled to Miami and pulled out a 6-3 win in 13 innings. Two errors in the 13th by Miami rightfielder Richard Vuong were the deciding factor. Meanwhile, young Gainesville stud outfielder Daniel Rushing made a statement by driving in six runs in a 4-5 effort featuring a double and a home run. The Purple Porpoises prevailed over Ramapough Mountain 11-4.

On June 29, my confidence in my ability to assess talent took another hit as Seattle’s Claude “Two Shoes” Carruthers shut down his former Pittsburgh teammates in a 2-1 win. Man, am I regretting trading the now 11-1 pitcher. George “Pushum” Pullum also clubbed two home runs and drove in five for Cairo although Jersey City won the game 10-8. In all, seven home runs were bombed by the two teams.

Now, for the injuries. The boring injury, but with some impact, was to Maryland’s Charles Fordyce. The Poedamnedmonium front office will be frustrated in its attempts to trade the injured shortstop as he recovers over the next three weeks from his fractured hand.

The best injury ever though was sustained by New York’s Richard Kirby who is day to day with a concussion. Here’s the game’s description, verbatim, as I don’t need to add anything to it:

“R. Kirby was injured when he was attacked by a wild animal during a trip to the zoo.”

Anyone taking bets on the animal? I’m going with a slightly feral squirrel.

Anyway, league file is posted. Web pages will get updated sometime this weekend. We’re down to just a month before the trading deadline (a few weeks in the real world), so make those deadline deals!

Nate and I have been talking about how to handle free agent compensation when applied to contracts with option years. (See here for the current complete set of rules.) If the option is exercised and the contract is played out, no problem. Similarly, if the player chooses to void the last year of the contract, the game gives Type A/B/none ratings and the usual rules will apply.

But, what if the team declines the option, whether it’s a mutual option or team option? Do they still get free agent compensation?

After discussing it, Nate and I have decided that no compensation is available to a team that voids the option year of a contract and lets a player go to free agency. It feels wrong to award compensation to a team that could have kept a player, but chose not to do so. This rule also dovetails nicely with the historical MLB rule that a team had to offer arbitration to a player if they wanted the compensatory draft pick.

But, since we’re a quasi-democracy here, we thought we’d throw the idea out there to see if anyone objects. So, either post a comment or send us an email if you think this is a bad rule.

P.S. Nate and I are going to revisit the Rule 5 rules before the end of the year too, as neither of us was perfectly thrilled with the end result this year. So, if you have suggestions/complaints/praise relating to the existing Rule 5 rules, let us know that too.

Ok, the decision has been made to break up the Brooklyn Bombers.  With their unbelievably bad showing in the 2006 Season it is time to break it down and start over.  It was a good run with 3 straight World Series appearances, and 2 Championships, but you have to hit bottom before you can reach the top again.  Everyone is up for trade (except Conn, he has a No Trade Clause in his contract).  You might think you are out of the playoff run, but adding a pitcher like Brandon Millette or and infielder like Pedro Sequeiros or 2-time MVP Miyatarou “Mr. Miyagi” Takenao or All-Star 1B Antonio Alicea could put you right back in the hunt.  Make me an offer and we can wheel and/or deal.  They are going, going, gone so get to me as soon as you can for the deal of the century!!!!

Another sim has come and gone and the wild card is beginning to define itself.

Like a ghost Miami is establishing itself as the dominant wild card team in the Platonic League.  They’re five and one half game up on Cairo and eight and one half games behind Pittsburgh.

In the SL New York sits on top still while Jersey City loses another three games in the chase and remains two and one half up on Gainesville for the wild card.  Still could go any which way, though.

Only one minor injury this sim as Seattle lost Ralph Batz for a week with a blister.  Not a big deal and following the injury holocaust of earlier this year we should be happy and move on.

Next sim is Friday by Mack!  Remember to get your lower level teams ready to go!

Well, the Amateur Draft has been held, which means that the start of the Short-Season A and Rookie Leagues is around the corner. Those leagues start on June 25 (begin with Friday’s sim), so make sure to set your pitching staffs and line-ups in those leagues.

In the Platonic League, Pittsburgh survived yet another injury and extended its lead over second-place Miami to 6.5 games. Meanwhile, Cairo has pulled into a third-place tie with Stockholm and both sit eight full games behind Miami and 14.5 back of Pittsburgh. Maryland is fifth and Ramapough Mountain has used a nine-game losing streak to claim a lead in the race for the first pick in the 2007 draft.

In the Socratic League, New York has ridden a 12 game winning streak into first place. Jersey City, meanwhile, is in the midst of a nine-game losing streak. The Knights therefore lead the Skeeters by four full games. Gainesville has bounced back from a losing streak and the unfortunate loss of ace Hernando Desilva to win seven in a row and sits in third place, four games out of the wild card berth. Brooklyn and Seattle are tied for fourth another 3.5 games back and Marietta sits in last place.

In league news, Miyatarou “The Flyi” Takenao saw his hitting streak snapped at 28 games on June 15 against the red-hot New York Knights. Pittsburgh’s Danilo “Spike” Henriquez and New York’s Juan “Beans” Favela won Player of the Week honors. The agent for Brooklyn’s Willie “Jimmy” Carter has also started circulating trade rumors, apparently unhappy with the almost $8 million he is earning for his 4-6, 6.27 ERA start to the year.

In injury news, Pittsburgh lost outfielder Perry Hodgin for three weeks to a bruised cheekbone suffered on a defensive play. Jersey City’s Stephen Hawn and New York’s Sammie Ward also suffered day-to-day injuries.

On to the game action …

On June 15, Cairo won on a ninth-inning, bases loaded single by Berny Gonzales to top Maryland 7-6. The game featured four hits a home run, and 4 RBI from George “Pushum” Pullum. Meanwhile, Marietta scored five runs in the eighth and ninth inning to beat Seattle 8-5. Ramapough Mountain and Pittsburgh went 12 innings before the Pisces prevailed 12-7.

On June 16, Ramapough Mountain and Pittsburgh again played extra frames before Pittsburgh scored in the 11th to notch a 6-5 win. Cairo got eight stellar innings from Davis Oppenheimer (five hits, 1 ER, 1 walk, 12 Ks) in a 10-1 win over Maryland. New York rode 7.1 innings of four hit ball from Abe Nix to a 6-1 win over cross-town rival Brooklyn.

On June 17, Cairo sent Stockholm reliever Timothy Williams to an 0-7 record by scoring twice in the tenth and winning 6-4. Gainesville rookie Harold Deutsch threw 7.1 innings of one-run ball to beat Seattle 4-1. New York won the first game of its showdown series with Jersey City 8-4.

On June 18, New York took a sloppy game two of the big series with Jersey City by a 4-1 margin in a game featuring two errors by each squad. Miami’s Ronald Veit scored three times and drover in four to back James Pilla’s strong start in a 8-2 win over Ramapough Mountain. Stockholm’s Chad Kinlaw gave up just three hits in eight innings of the Sluggers’ 6-1 thrashing of Cairo.

On June 19, New York finished off the sweep with a 7-6 beatdown of Jersey City in 13 innings. Alfonso Reyes drove in Teo Sancho with a two-out bases loaded infield single. The inning had been allowed to continue a batter earlier when Juan Favel struck out but reached first on a passed ball that got by veteran reserve catcher Marcus Navarro. Maryland used a strong start by Lewis McGurk to stop the Pisces nine-game winning streak by a final score of 5-3. Miami scored seven times in the first inning and cruised past Ramapough Mountain 11-2. Finally, Stockholm’s Stephen Guthrie went the distance but lost 2-1 as the 2006 World Champions could only muster five hits.

Next sim is Wednesday by Nate. League file is uploaded. Web pages will hopefully be up tonight, but I may not be able to get it done after I get home. Good luck everyone.

The 2006 Amateur Draft is in the books. The pressure lands on centerfielder Dave MacBean, who now must justify his status as the first pick in the draft. The first three rounds played out as follows:

Round 1
Round 1, Pick 1 – Ramapough Mountain Indians: CF D. MacBean
Round 1, Pick 2 – Pittsburgh Pisces: 3B M. Holmes
Round 1, Pick 3 – Maryland Poedamnedmonium: 1B N. Aoki
Round 1, Pick 4 – Gainesville Purple Porpoises: LF T. Yoshida
Round 1, Pick 5 – Ramapough Mountain Indians: RF B. Morton
Round 1, Pick 6 – Miami Masters of Their Domain: C K. West
Round 1, Pick 7 – Ramapough Mountain Indians: C V. Salustiano
Round 1, Pick 8 – Brooklyn Bombers: RF D. Perkins
Round 1, Pick 9 – Marietta Mammoths: CF T. Roberts
Round 1, Pick 10 – Seattle Pilots: 3B M. Vázquez
Round 1, Pick 11 – Pittsburgh Pisces: RF J. Cruz
Round 1, Pick 12 – Marietta Mammoths: SS A. Evensen

Round 2
Round 2, Pick 1 – Ramapough Mountain Indians: CF F. Rangel
Round 2, Pick 2 – Seattle Pilots: MR M. Quinn
Round 2, Pick 3 – Cairo Leveemen: MR K. Watanabe
Round 2, Pick 4 – Marietta Mammoths: 2B O. Cardona
Round 2, Pick 5 – Jersey City Skeeters: C C. Gómez
Round 2, Pick 6 – Cairo Leveemen: 2B L. Kent
Round 2, Pick 7 – Seattle Pilots: 3B M. Adams
Round 2, Pick 8 – Pittsburgh Pisces: 1B R. Valéncia
Round 2, Pick 9 – Pittsburgh Pisces: 2B K. Johannessen
Round 2, Pick 10 – New York Knights: MR I. Matos
Round 2, Pick 11 – Gainesville Purple Porpoises: LF S. Butler
Round 2, Pick 12 – Gainesville Purple Porpoises: CF J. Wu

Round 3
Round 3, Pick 1 – Ramapough Mountain Indians: CL J. Moody
Round 3, Pick 2 – Seattle Pilots: LF L. López
Round 3, Pick 3 – New York Knights: 3B B. Fenton
Round 3, Pick 4 – Brooklyn Bombers: 2B G. Spencer
Round 3, Pick 5 – Cairo Leveemen: C P. Autrey
Round 3, Pick 6 – Pittsburgh Pisces: RF A. Torres
Round 3, Pick 7 – Marietta Mammoths: 1B J. Muñóz
Round 3, Pick 8 – Marietta Mammoths: 3B J. Pérez
Round 3, Pick 9 – Marietta Mammoths: CF T. Asai
Round 3, Pick 10 – Pittsburgh Pisces: CL A. Reichel
Round 3, Pick 11 – Maryland Poedamnedmonium: MR T. Crow
Round 3, Pick 12 – Gainesville Purple Porpoises: 3B S. Adams

For the remainder of the draft, wait until I get the rest of the sim run, the league file posted, and the update sent out. However, I wanted a different thread so people could comment on their draft picks, if they like.

The 2006 World Champion Stockholm Sluggers have announced the acquisition of veteran reliever Edward Adams from division rivals Maryland, team spokeswoman Gudrun Schyman announced today.

Rumored to be on the trading block for hours, Stockholm snapped up Adams, who will be joining Lyman Grimm, Timothy Williams, and a host of other strong arms in the Stockholm bullpen. Coming to Sweden with Adams is prospect starter Bill Delvalle, who will be assigned to AAA Södermalm.

In return for the two, Stockholm gave up 2B prospect Thad Nix, AAA starter Tom Ambler, and a 2nd round pick in next season’s draft.

Right, I’m keeping this short as I’ve got stuff to do.

Sim’s done.  In the SL New York and Jersey City are 1 game apart in the top slots.  In the PL it’s Pitt and Miami slugging it out.

Next sim is Monday by Mack.  That’ll also feature the draft so get those lists set up in the game!