CRL News

February 11, 2013

Snowstorms in the Northeast, the PGA’s West-coast swing, post-Super Bowl not-a-damn-thing on TV season … it can only mean one thing – Spring Training must be right around the corner.

Sure enough, in today’s company newsletter (via email every workday), our “host” said camp opens tomorrow. Of course, that’s the Yankee camp, being the fan that he is. And while I don’t give a rat’s ass about the Yankees, it also means everybody else should be cranking up over the next few days.

Been really busy lately and haven’t felt very chatty, so this is going to be short – just a couple of important dates. Besides, it’s a scratch draft, so no trades, roster freezes, farm keepers, or ownership/name changes to report (that I’m aware of).

We did have two votes:

Dropping the buy-in this year to $250, since stats are free this season – pass. (Remember, $50 of that will still go into the CRL 25^th anniversary shindig that Bill’s committee is working on – and Bill might have even forgotten he volunteered to head.)

Keeping Ratio as defined per nine innings and adding HBP to the “baserunners allowed” part of the equation – pass.

For the record, the votes were 6-2 on the money, and 8-0 on WHIP. So, even though not everyone voted, we still had a majority on both since we are down to 11 teams.

Now, dates to put on your calendar:

Fri, March 15 – pre-season money deadline – have your initial $250 to Glenn. His address is 8561 LaSalle St. #53, Cypress, CA 90630

Fri March 29 – Draft Day. Draft is at 10 am in some meeting room at Harrah’s. I didn’t get confirmation on the room, but it will be on the same hallway – just follow the noise and look for the cheap card on the door that says, rather redundantly, “CRL League.”

I don’t know when everyone else gets in, but I land midafternoon Thursday – so no golf for me. If someone wants to take the lead on this, be my guest. Hopefully, by next year, things will be back to some sense of normalcy and I’ll get to bring my sticks again.

I do like the new (well, the last two years anyway) group dinner – complete with all the cheap wine we can drink – at Battista’s Thursday night. Again, way too much stuff going on right now to deal with it, but if someone else wants to find out about making a reservation for us, let me know and I’ll get you a count. Everyone please let me know by email if you want to go to dinner (including guests) and I’ll pass the count along.

Hope none of you have late afternoon flights home on Friday. Scratch draft = long draft.

<soapbox> Remember, no outside food or drink. Anything consumed on site must be purchased at Harrah’s – you can buy from any bar/restaurant in the hotel, just don’t bring other stuff in. The meeting facilities and catering are no longer run by Harrah’s – Caesar’s has taken over. Talking to Glenn last fall, they don’t seem to be as friendly as former staff. The contract specifically states that anyone caught with outside food/drink must pay for catering. If you bring something in, and we get caught, you’re paying. </soapbox>

One last thing I’ll close with. At the draft, I’m going to ask for a favor – it may end up pointless, but it may end up being extremely important. Let me start out with my assumption that we may find the new stat service lacking. Since I have not used them during the season, I have no basis for that assumption other than what I’ve seen poking around in there a couple of times late last year. They may turn out to be great. They may suck. My guess is, they will probably be somewhere in between. We’re committed to them this year because free is good. But I would like other options once our season-long trial runs out. I’m going to ask for a couple of volunteers to buy a Baseball Weekly, do a Google search, check out other sites, call them and ask questions. I’d like options for next year if my gut feeling is correct.

This could be interesting – no favorite team any more (in fact, no “real” baseball in the state of Texas) and no cheap keepers. I may have to just look at these guys as impassionately as I look at stuff at work – Brent crude or WTI? Home Depot or Lowes (both on our buy list)? MSFT or ORCL? Time to apply the concept of P/E ratios to ballplayers, see what’s undervalued, and add some diversification to the No Pepper portfolio. (There will be no concentrated positions in Astros this year and, sorry Mr. Fraser, we may have to limit our exposure to Brewers also.)

I’ve got a little over six weeks to adapt the Three Rules (in advance - know what to buy, know when to sell, know where to put the proceeds) to roto.

See ya in Vegas!

Jim