Who says you can’t come back home.  One of the key Starting Pitchers in the runs of the Brooklyn Bombers to the World Series Championships in 2002 and 2004 is back where he belongs in the Yellow and Green of Brooklyn as Seattle trades SP Trevor Canela back to Brooklyn for AAA SP Robert Bearden. 

Canela had 16 wins in each of the 2002 and 2003 seasons with an ERA around 4.30 both seasons.  He is not expected to get back to those levels, but he is hoping to be a solid #5 starter to compliment the top of rotation.  In his career Trevor is 50-43 with a 4.19 ERA.  Last season, Canela was 1-3 with a 5.14 ERA splitting time in the rotation and bullpen for Seattle.  He should be a good fill-in until SP Willie Carter comes back from the DL in a couple of months.

In return, Seattle gets AAA SP Robert Bearden.  There were high hopes for Bearden as a Bomber prospect, but he never lived up to those hopes.  “There is still potential there,” said Brooklyn GM Jeremy Goldman, “I hope he realizes that potential with the Pilots.”

Brooklyn (AP) – The era of the marsupial has begun in Brooklyn.  With the signing of Perry ‘The Platypus’ Hodgin people all across Brooklyn were yelling “he has feet like a duck but he’s furry.”

The Bombers have announced new egg promotion (did you know that the Platypus is the only mammal that lays eggs) and have introduced a new venom dog that ‘packs a bite’ (did you know that the Platypus is venomous).  They are also creating a creating a authentic Tasmanian stream in the OF bleachers of the Drop Zone stadium so that the Platypus can feel right at home (OK I think you get the point right now).

The Bombers were surprised that Hodgin was available on the FA market.  “He is one of the best all around players in the game,” commented GM Jeremy Goldman.  “The opportunity to get a player of his magnitude to complement the rest of the lineup, well, you can’t put a price on that.”  There are the skeptics out there that believe that Brooklyn overpaid for Hodgin’s services, but his agent Scott Boras is not one of them.  “He is one of the top 10 players in the game, and has two World Series championships under his belt, and is hungry for more.”  Boras made that comment as he was stuffing his cut of the contract into his suitcase and getting on a plane to the Bahamas.

The Lifetime .292 hitter who has 160 career HR and 623 RBI in his 7 year career for Sylva and Pittsburgh, will take his place in the middle of the Bomber lineup to compliment newcomer to the league 1B Gary Moeller and new acquisitions RF David White and LF Carroll Pinon.  This new look lineup should have more pop than last season, and with the pitching that is returning from last season.  Could the Bombers win 100 games for the first time in franchise history?  It would seem automatic, but only this season will tell.

In a move that many are calling reactionary, the Brooklyn Bombers and Stockholm Sluggers exchanged players today that address both of their weaknesses.

Heading to the frozen capital of Sweden is the former #2 SP for the Bombers Freddie ‘Krueger’ Mendes and 1B prospect Eddy Acevedo.  Both are expected to make a huge splash in the majors for the Sluggers and fill two holes that needed to be filled.  There is also $5M heading to Stockholm, but we are not sure how much that ends up being with the current exchange rate.

In return, the Bombers are going to strengthen their OF with Carroll ‘Burnett’ Pinon who spent last year manning 1B for the Sluggers.  He should feel more comfortable moving back to his native OF position, most likely in LF next season.  When asked about the move Pinon commented, “Hell yeah I am excited, when [Stockholm GM] Michael pulled me into his office and told me I would be playing 1B, I said I would do anything to help the team win, but really I knew that it was not for me.  I can’t wait to get back in the outfield this season and produce for the Bombers and get them back to the World Series.”

In addition, there are 2 prospects heading to Brooklyn in the form of Swedish AA SP Benedikt Salo and S A CF Clifford Harrison along with Stockholm’s 2nd Round pick in the 2008 draft.

“We are really excited at this deal for the present and the future,” said Brooklyn GM Jeremy Goldman, “Our team is much better now, and once we get the final piece of the puzzle in place we should get back to the World Series.”  It had been noticed by many an owner in the OEL that there were less than a few prospects worth trading for in the minors from Brooklyn.  “It was pretty pathetic,” Nate Wooley, Marietta GM quipped.  “They would come to us asking for a trade and have no one worth trading for.  There was really nothing any of us could do about that.”

This trade, and the above comments by GM Goldman, seem to signal that Brooklyn could be making a big splash in the FA market.  The rumors going around are that Perry ‘The Platypus’ Hodgin could sign with the Bombers as early as today.  If that happens, there will be a completely new OF hitting the field in 2008 than started the season in 2007.  Both this trade and possible FA signing will mean a totally revamped lineup including HR hitters: Hodgin, White, Pinon and Moeller to knock in the table setters: Martinez (who will be back from the DL) and Takeano.  This lineup may not be as good as the one that Gainesville claims they will have next season, but one thing is for sure, it will be much better than the 2007 version that finished close to 130 runs below the 5th ranked team in the Socratic League, and with their top-notch rotation with their league low 3.34 ERA and 599 runs allowed last season a return to the World Series would be more than just a probability it would be a definite.

Finally, the first trade near the trade deadline has been completed as the Brooklyn Bombers and the Cairo Leveemen have swapped players.  Helping Cairo rebuild its farm system and giving the Bombers some OF power.  The swap sends 3 prospects to Cairo and the OF bat of RF David White to Brooklyn. 

The first place Bombers have not been living up to their name as they have been struggling to hit the long bomb.   With only 55 HR this season they have managed to hit the second lowest total of any team in the Over Educated League.   Opposing pitchers have been heard laughing on their way into The Drop Zone knowing that they are not going to be hit around.  White has 17 HR (just 38 less than the entire Bomber team) 48 RBI and even 25 SB with only 3 CS.

Heading to Cairo is the young first baseman Robert Ramsey who has already seen time at the ML level and will be the next great 1B for the Leveemen.  He should find his way into the starting lineup relatively soon.  Catcher Sixto Marciano and former first round draft pick RF Don Perkins will also be part of the rebuilding effort in Cairo. 

To complete the trade the Bombers are also getting $4M in cash from the war chest that Cairo has accumulated and a 4th round pick in the 2008 draft.

The rumors had been circulating the New York burrow for weeks now that management was in talks to get Tory ‘Tornado’ Chavez from the Leveemen, but when talks broke down last week, the idea was floated to make White a Bomber.  After some back and forth the package was completed just in time for the commissioner to come back to work his vacation of a few months.  The rumor is that he has some sort of virus effecting his downloads, but inside sources tell us that he really just needed some time off and would make up any old excuse to get it.

With just over one week until the trade deadline we will see if this move sparks any others in the Socratic League as they try to keep pace with the Bombers as time is running out to load up for the playoff run.

So I had a long flight from London to Atlanta and I decided to do some elementary Statistical analysis on how many runs teams score and allow and their W’s and L’s with those runs.  Here is some of what I found:

• Brooklyn has 5 wins when only scoring 2 runs…the rest of the league has 6 combined (Ramapough Mountain has 2 of those)
• Pittsburgh needs the most runs to win they have 23 W’s when they score 7 or more runs (they only have 5 wins when scoring less than 6 runs) – Miami is second with 18 wins in this category
• Brooklyn needs the least amount of runs to win as they have 12 wins when they have scored 3 or less runs (second highest is Marietta and Ramapough Mountain with 5 each)
• Cairo only has 6 games when they have scored 7 or more runs, they are 4-2 in those games (the second fewest is Brooklyn with 7 games – all wins)
• Gainesville and Pittsburgh both have 4 wins when giving up more than 7 runs, the most in the league
• No one has won a game in which they only scored 1 run (no 1-0 games this season)
• Probably the oddest team is Stockholm who is 7-1 when giving up 4 or 5 runs (most teams have losing or close to .500 record in that group

Ok that is just a glance that kept me busy for a few hours on the plane ride.  I will look through it further and see if anything else is of interest.

As we get further into the season it is becoming more apparent that the Brooklyn Bombers OF is not that good.  It is a remnant of my old scouts inability to scout.  I need a big bat for my OF, and am willing to pay for it.  The younger the better, the longer the contract the better, the cheaper the better.  If you have what I need, I am willing to trade top draft picks and top prospects (that are not on the ML roster).  First Born Children are also up for grabs.  Get in while you can and start re-building today with my farm system.

Add one more player available, this from the 2002 and 2004 World Champion Brooklyn Bombers.  I am adding 1B Eddy Acevedo to the mix of players that can be traded for. He has been making a quick rise through my system and is seemingly ML ready right now. If you want to talk about a trade just e-mail me soon as I am sure he will be moving quickly.

E-mail – mailto: jgoldman99@yahoo.com; AIM – jsg3c

FYI, I live in London now so I am 5 hours ahead on the east coast and 8 hours ahead on the west coast.

Cairo gets the 2B that it needs in the form of 2005 SL Comeback Player of the Year Pedro ‘I’m gonna need a new nickname’ Sequeiros from the underachieving Brooklyn Bombers. In return, the Bombers get soon to be ML ready 3B Carlos Villarreal, which ups the number of Honduran players in the organization to 4.

If anyone wants another bat in the OF, you can have Abalo for just about nothing. Shoot me an e-mail if you want him.

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!!!!