CRL News
January 17, 2008
Before I begin, I’d like to issue this prepared statement:
No, Mike Wallace has not called me. I want to make it perfectly clear to everyone that my name was NOT included in the Mitchell Report. There is nothing to either confirm or deny. I will not take question on this matter.
Of course, last time I checked, Scotch was not a banned
substance.
I realize this must come as a shock to all of you, getting a
pre-Super Bowl update, but there’s a lot of information that needs to get out,
some timelines that need to be compressed and rosters to be cleaned up.
Not to mention that everybody needs to make reservations.
Silly me, I forgot my manners. (That means I’m
inserting this paragraph during the editing process – it’s just that I found
the first two informational nuggets too important to bury the lead.)
Congratulations to Weve and Vern on their first CRL championship!
(Now back to our regularly scheduled program.)
That’s right, I said everybody. Our first piece of
news is that we will have a full contingent in Vegas this year! Otis has
joined Terry in the ranks of the retired, and I guess he needs to get out of
the house because he will be joining us in Vegas this year.
Now the even bigger piece of news – and this one will impact
everybody (yes, that means you). Steve Spencer will be joining us in
Vegas also. That’s right, Spence has come out of roto-retirement and is
taking on an expansion team. His still un-named team will be team (lucky)
number 13. That means there will be an expansion draft, which is why our
timelines are compressed and why I need things from all of you.
The general rules of expansion are this:
Rosters are frozen during the expansion process (meaning no
trades). Each team gets to protect seven players. Spence then has
to opportunity, but not the obligation, to pick no more than one player from
each of the existing 12 teams (salaries and contracts are fully transferable).
Then each existing team that lost a player gets to protect one additional
player. Following that, Spence again has the opportunity, but not the
obligation, to pick one additional player from each existing team. Spence
can pick no more than one player from each team per round and no team may lose
more than two players. He does not have to take a player from each
team. If he takes a player from a team’s reserve list, Spence is
responsible for any subsequent activation fees.
One thing that is impacting the timeline for all of this is
my schedule. I will be on vacation and out of state from Feb 2 through
Feb 10. Then I turn right around and get on a plane on Feb 11 for a
meeting in
Before I get to the dates, I need to point out that I’ve
already updated the contracts. That means players who were O or L1 have already
been removed from rosters. All
players under long-term contracts have already had the years remaining on their
contracts reduced by one. S2 players have become S1 players and players
designated with and O in the contract column are the ones that need the
determination option or contract.
The next month or so will be busy, so I’ve selected Monday
nights as the general night stuff is due. Preferred communication is by
email and the deadline is 10 p.m. Central Time. Unless otherwise noted,
all dates below are Monday nights:
Jan 28, 2008 – The date by which each team must select which
linked players they want the option of keeping. This is where you look at
two players that were tied together at the end of last season (say, Wily Mo
Pena and Eric Patterson for me) and decide which you want to keep.
Keeping them on Jan 28 does not mean you have to keep them on Roster Freeze
Day, it just means you have the option of keeping them. If you keep a
player on your reserve list and subsequently keep him on roster Freeze Day, you
will owe the $5 activation fee to the pool. A list of all linked players
is at the bottom of this newsletter. Since I’ve already updated the
contracts (meaning L1 and O players have already been dropped from your
roster), you may have some guys that were linked at the end of last season that
are no longer linked.
Feb 13, 2008 (Wednesday) – Your list of the seven players
you are protecting from expansion is due to me. Trading is frozen.
Feb 18, 2008 – Spencer’s first-round expansion picks due.
Feb 25, 2008 – Each owner that had a player selected by
Spencer in the first round of expansion must submit me their additional
protected player.
Mar 3, 2008 – Spencer’s additional expansion picks
due. Trading embargo lifted at this point. Now that Spencer has a
team, everyone is free to trade until Roster Freeze Day.
Here are the other important dates to add to your calendars:
Mar 1, 2008 (Saturday) – Each team’s initial payment of $250
is due to Glenn. His address is:
Mar 27, 2008 (Thursday) – Roster Freeze Day. I’m asking for this on a Thursday because it will give everyone a weekend to study before getting on a plane to Vegas. I’ll have rosters updated on the All-Star Stats site by the following day (Friday). Remember, on Roster Freeze Day, you must tell me who you are keeping, what guys you want to put under contract (for the rules governing Long-Term Contracts, go here), which contracts you want to buy out, and which farm players you are keeping. Remember, you may have up to three farm players on your roster, but you may not draft more than two in any given year. For each farm player you keep, you owe the pool $5. The maximum number of players each team may keep is:
Team 12 – 11
Team 3 – 12
Team 2 – 13
Team 10 – 14
Everyone else – 15
Apr 4, 2008 (Friday) – Draft Day. The draft starts at
10 am, Vegas time. The location is the same as last year, Parlor C at
Harrah’s – it’s the one with the windows by the pool.
Sorry for this disclaimer and sorry about the caps but …DO
NOT BRING OUTSIDE FOOD OR DRINKS INTO THE DRAFT ROOM. There is a
stipulation in the contract that all food or drinks must be purchased at
Harrah’s. Unions are strong in Vegas and most of the people that work for
the casinos are in the union. The staff that attends to the meeting rooms
will complain if they see you eating something you didn’t get from Harrah’s
because they see it as money out of their pocket. The hotel and casino
will already get enough of our money, don’t add to it with a $500 Big Mac.
One final thing, please look at the CRL address page (http://www.c-r-l.org/ownerinfo/CRLADS.htm) and let me know of anything that needs to be changed.
Talk to you all in about 10 days.
Here’s the list of the linked players I talked about in my
note for Jan 28 above:
Tm 1
None
Tm 2
Brendan Ryan/Adam Kennedy
Kevin Correia/Salomon Torres
Tm 3
Nate McLouth/Chris Duffy
Tm 4
None
Tm 5
Russ Springer/Jason Schmidt
Tm 6
Yovani Gallardo/Angel Guzman
Tom Gordon/Freddy Garcia
Tm 7
Angel Pagan/Christian Guzman
Micah Owings/John Patterson
Wandy Rodriguez/Clay Hensley
Buddy Carlyle/Homer Bailey
Tm 8
None
Tm 9
Josh Phelps/Ryan Doumit
Wily Mo Pena/Eric Patterson
Ubaldo Jimenez/Shawn Hill
Tm 10
Manny Corpas/Randy Wolf
Tm 11
Ian Stewart/Chad
Bill Bray/Chris Carpenter
Carlos Marmol/Ricky Nolasco
Kyle Kendrick/Henry Owens
Tim
JD Durbin/Josh Johnson
Tm 12
Mike Fontenot/Orlando
Cody Ross/Scott Rolen