The final spring training sim is behind us, players.  The grass is mown, the chalk lines are laid, and the threat of chillblains is hanging over at least half the teams in the league.  “When are we getting some domes?” cry the players in their doubleknits.

Final spring standings report:

Jersey City and Pittsburgh set the pace at 16-8 each.

Gainesville provided the highest level of futility with a 7-17 record in the warm up season.

Standing out was Sarasota’s Doyle Walker who posted a perfect spring:

AVG: 1.000

OBP: 1.000

SLG: 2.000

OPS: 3.000

It was in one at bat, true, but give the kid his props.

Four injuries in the final sim, a few minor, one major, and disastrous.

Brooklyn lost Gibby for a day to the flu.

Maryland lost Wilson for 1-2 weeks with a tender elbow.

Cairo lost Gladney for 2-3 months with a torn muscle.

Worst: Maryland lost closer Oldenburg for 13 MONTHS with a torn rotator cuff.  Ouch.

Time to get those final rosters ready, my friends.  We start playing these things for real on Friday.  Mack has that sim so don’t be late.

The file is on it’s way up now.  Give it about 20 minutes and get busy.

In a classic end-of-Spring Training deal to address pitching needs, Jersey City has traded for SP James Pilla and MR Calvin Washington from Miami. In return, the Masters get prized OF prospect Naizen Sato and Jersey City’s 4th round pick in the next draft.

Acquiring Pilla gives Jersey City a solid 4th starter to go with Valles, Silas and Rosado as well as someone who is under team control for several more years. Washington should fill in the bullpen depth that the Skeeters have been lacking.

The current rules are listed here.

Last “year”, Nate and I posted a proposal on how to deal with options in regards to free agent compensation. Basically, if the player declined the option, free agent compensation would be available. If the team declined the option, no free agent compensation. No one objected to the proposal.

But, possibly related to the fact I am an idiot, we never made the proposed rule official and didn’t apply it when coming up with this year’s list of players requiring free agent compensation. If we’d made the rule official and applied it, the only affected player would have been Randy McGinn.

Well, prompted by an owner’s inquiry, we’re now making the following rule official:

13. No free agent compensation is due to a team if the player becomes a free agent by virtue of the team declining a team or mutual option. Free agent compensation will be due if the player becomes a free agent by virtue of the player declining a player or mutual option.

McGinn’s getting grandfathered in, so if someone signs him before the end of April, they have to give Jeremy a draft pick.

Yes, dear readers, it’s another Spring Training sim.  We’re now sitting at March 23.  It’s just one small, short, infinitesimal week to the opening of the regular season.  The games don’t count now but they will shortly.  The excitement is building!

Six injuries this sim.  Prepare for flinching!

Gainesville: Salerno: 4 weeks.

Cairo: Acosta: 1-2 weeks.

Ramapaugh Mountain: Pfeffer: 1-2 weeks

Ramapaugh Mountain: Martinez: 1 week

Brooklyn: Flynn: 2 weeks

Pittsburgh: Dominguez: 3-4 weeks

Not bad, though four were injured while pitching.  Urgh.

One FA signing of note with LF Peters signing with Stockholm.

The next sim is Wednesday by Mack!  He’ll take us to the end of spring training and I get the opener on Friday!  The file is on it’s way up now.  Give it a few and go to town.

We’re halfway through the injury minefield that is Spring Training. But, more on that in a minute. Interestingly, two major playoff contenders for 2007, Miami and Gainesville, are in last place in their respective leagues. Meanwhile, four teams are 8-5 with three more at 7-6 and three others at 6-7. Suffice to say, these standings aren’t really telling us a lot about the teams.

Here’s the injury list for this sim:

Marietta loses MR Eddie Pineda for 1-2 weeks due to a strained back.
Cairo loses UT Jermaine Shaefer for 6 days to a jammed finger.
Seattle loses MR Andrew Ferrero for 1-2 weeks to a damaged meinscus.
Gainesville loses IF Amando “Huggenkiss” Guercio for one week to back spasms
Ramapough Mountain loses CL Lloyd Reardon for four weeks to a strained bicep.
Brooklyn loses OF John Douglass for two weeks to a sore knee.

No major transactions of note.

League file is posted. Nate’s got the third of four Spring Training sims on Monday. Have a good weekend, everyone.

We all dread them.  We all fear them.  We all know they happen.  The terrible Spring Training Injuries!

Several of us, including me, took the hit this sim.

Marietta 2B Andrew Shackleford is out for four weeks

Ramapough Mountain C Nathan Sanchez is out for two days

Pittsburgh SP Richard Ro is out for 1-2 weeks

Gainesville 3B Francisco Moncayo is out for 1-2 weeks

They’re going to happen, people.  You can’t keep them home in swaddling clothes all the livelong day.

Otherwise things went as expected.  Current Spring Training winners are Maryland in the PL at 5-2 tied with Cairo.  In the SL it’s Marietta, bravely suffering through its loss at 6-1 for best overall record.

Next sim is Friday by Mack.  He’ll take us to March 16 and the halfway point of the spring.  The file is on its way up now.  Give it about 20 minutes and go download it.

First of all, we have hit Spring Training! That means you can call up any players on your 40-man roster and play them in Spring Training without accruing major league service time. (We think we’ve fixed the problem last year because we will have the last Spring Training sim end on March 30, allowing players to be demoted without accruing the one day of major league service time that happened last year when we simmed up to the first day of the regular season.)

Second, new scouting reports! Wheee! Find out who spent the offseason working on a new pitch or exercising and who just ate Krispy Kremes. I’ve noticed a guy or two on my team who clearly did not follow the offseason conditioning program.

Third, free agent prices have fallen again with the arrival of Spring Training. Come on, everyone. These guys have child support and alimony payments to make, not mention the exorbitant upkeep required for a posse today.

Fourth, there were a pitiful few signings. Ramapough Mountain added reliever Robert Taylor. Stockholm got former stud starter Brandon Millette for a measly half-million. Maryland signed a roster’s worth of minor league free agents. Miami inked some team personnel to extensions. I found a reliever in Puerto Rico somehow named “Pete Campbell.” Good times.

The league file is up and posted. Since we’re at the start of a new year, I updated player photos and included them in the file, so it will be a little bigger than normal. Since it’s also been a while, I’ll try to get the online league pages updated tonight too.

Nate’s got the first week of Spring Training games, up to March 9, on Wednesday.

The Pittsburgh Pisces today announced that they were shipping intellectually-challenged starting pitcher David “Captain” Kirklin to the Cairo Leveemen. The Leveemen also acquired AAA outfielder Rudolph James, who holds the unique distinction of being selected twice in the now-defunct Rule 5 draft. In exchange, middle reliever Douglas Isabell returned to the Pisces, accompanied by minor league catcher Karl Urick.

“David’s a very, very hard worker,” explained Pisces Owner/GM Mack Shultz, “but he’s not the brightest guy around. I mean, I’d rank him only at about a 13 on a 1-100 scale. Let’s put it this way. We told him to go work on his sliders in the offseason and he spent the entire month of December working at a White Castle.”

It’s a stunning fall from grace for Kirklin, who is still the second-rated pitching prospect in the game and who had been proclaimed a future ace when he was acquired from Brooklyn in a high profile 2005 trade. Kirklin won 11 games for Pittsburgh last year as a 21-year-old rookie, but the 4.95 ERA disappointed the Pisces front office, whose expectations were much higher.

James bounced around between Jersey City, Pittsburgh, and Pittsburgh’s AAA affiliate Imperial Guards last season. His development has been slowed after being drafted in the Rule 5 drafts in both the 2003-04 and 2005-06 offseasons. But, he’s a plus defender and baserunner who has also showed promise as a hitter. But, he’s no match for a Sicilian, especially when death is on the line, with just a “15″ intelligence score.

Isabell returns to Pittsburgh after a frustrating few months in Cairo. The young fireballer featured a 2.54 ERA in Pittsburgh before the deadline deal that sent him to Cairo, but struggled with a 5.33 mark after the deal. Hard to tell now whether that was just bad luck (BABIP of .231 in the first half and .371 in the second half) or a dip in talent.

Urick, meanwhile, dominated A-ball last year, posting a .927 OPS and 40.8 VORP. He’s got a strong arm behind the plate and is reputed to have a good eye at the batter’s box. Pittsburgh did not make any immediate announcements about what level they planned to have him start the season at.

Right, then.

Some minor league extensions.  Some coaches signed.

Literally, that’s it.  Oy.

Mack’s up on Monday.  He’ll take us to 3/2/07 and the start of spring training.  Maybe we can all get together and watch the chalk lines blow away or something.  File’s on its way.  Give it 20 minutes or something.

In a relatively unexciting trade of replacement-level (or marginally better) talent intended to stock the Indians’ roster, the Pittsburgh Pisces have agreed to trade the following players to Ramapough Mountain in exchange for an eighth round pick.

ML IF John Avelar
AAA SP H. Stone
AAA SP A. Zorilla
AAA OF S. Donaldson
AAA OF J. Xiquena
AAA UT A. Moya

It’s all part of the Pittsburgh Pisces’ commitment to environmentally sound recycling policies, as well as a Good Neighbor initiative. We’re just warm, fuzzy people here.