CRL News

March 23, 2014

“The towels were so thick at that hotel I could hardly pack my suitcase.”

­  Yogi Berra

 

Well gang, with the Dodgers and D-backs playing down under this weekend, the season has officially started.

 

Wow, how time flies.

 

Anyway, now that the draft is less than two weeks away, time for some updates.

 

Correction to last newsletter – Ken has not relocated to Reno.  He has relocated to West shore of Lake Tahoe.  Ken works in Reno.

·         On a related note, please take some time to visit the CRL owner info page (http://www.c-r-l.org/ownerinfo/CRLADS.htm ) and let me know if anything has changed for you.  Yes, I know I need to delete Scott.

·         I’ll get to updating this when I can, but it will probably be after the draft.

 

On a related note, sorry to see Scott go, but he has his reasons.  We are playing with 10 teams this year because there is no time for an expansion draft.  We may want to consider one for next year.

 

Because of Scott’s departure, I had to renumber the teams.  Because Weve (Steve Torrens) is an original member of the league, he and Vern are the new Team 8.  As a result of the renumbering, Marcus and Matt are now Team 10.  My slot, Team 9, remained unchanged.

·         The way I see it, I’m the one doing the work, so I want to keep the coveted #9 slot

o   Lot of ties to real baseball – players per team, innings in a game, homers Jedd Gyorko will hit in April, steals by EY Jr. in the first week …

 

I will need a new league accountant.  Scott had been doing the job of double-checking me on Monday moves.  Since he is not here any longer, I need help.

·         Glenn is league treasurer, which means he keeps the money – so he is out.

o   I need a volunteer to take over this duty

o   Requirements:

§  You must have Microsoft Excel on your computer

§  You must have Microsoft Money (or something similar) on your computer

§  You must be able to designate an hour a week (or so) to this task on Tuesday or Wednesday (every week)

·         Basically, I send Glenn and (formerly) Scott  a spreadsheet with the week’s moves

·         I also send them the current balances for each team (from Money)

o   Each team is a “checking” account.

o   Since I’m doing this late on Monday night, I can make a mistake

§  I work a lot of hours and often have a cocktail (or two) when inputting moves

o   I need a second set of eyes to balance.

 

Back in December, when we had to choose between the guys on our active rosters verses guys on reserve rosters (that were tied together), Terry accidentally sent me his “delete” list instead of his “keep” list.

·         Back then, I updated his roster showing him “keeping” Ross, Motte and de la Rosa

o   He actually wanted to keep Ramirez, Slowey and Broxton

§  I fixed this today.

 

Another thought (we need to discuss this at the draft) – since we now only have 10 teams, we should only pay the top four spots.

·         Currently, we pay:

o   1st – 50%

o   2nd – 25%

o   3rd – 15%

o   4th – 7%

o   5th – 3% or $130, whichever is greater

·         With only 10 teams in the mix, I don’t think it makes a lot of sense to pay the top 50% - this isn’t the NBA.

·         The “3% or $130, whichever is greater” has only happened once in CRL history – the strike year.

o   I had to adjust payouts for the top four teams to accommodate for the shortened season and meet the $130 minimum

·         With only 10 teams, this will come into play

o   Less overall money will be spent

§  Typically, 3% is barely above $130

§  “Winnings” will need to be pared due to total pool value

·         Adjusting to only paying four places means 4th place gets 10% and nobody gets chopped

o   Alternately, we could do:

§  1st – 50%

§  2nd – 35%

§  3rd – 10%

§  4th – 5 %(or $130, whichever is greater)

·         We use $130 because that’s how much a team “costs.”

Chew on this and let me know.  We will discuss it pre-draft.

 

CRL accounting:

 

I goofed.  I should have charged everyone $300 this year for initial buy-in because $50 was supposed to go to cover the cost of the 25th anniversary party.  But I put $250 in the last newsletter, so that’s what most people paid.  I’m telling you this because most of you will have a bill at the end of April.

·         We do have expenses for the league as a whole.

o   Stat fees - $99 or $10 per team, based on current league makeup

o   Draft room - $500 or $50 per team

·         I realize that’s only $60 per team, but I’m hitting everyone’s account for $70 in case either of the above fees increase.

o   This give us a cushion

o   Glenn has already paid onroto (stat service) for this year

o   He will have to pay for next year’s draft room sometime in the next couple of months (Harrah’s requires payment almost a year in advance to secure a room.)

 

I also hit everyone’s account for the $50 we agreed on for the 25th anniversary shindig (more on this in a bit).

 

Here is what I show for balances:

 

Account Balances

 

As of 3/23/2014

 

Bank and Cash Accounts

League Expenses             887.20

Party Account    1,050.00

Team 01               130.00

Team 02               135.00

Team 03               380.00

Team 04               390.00

Team 05               130.00

Team 06               278.00

Team 07               180.00

Team 08               200.00

Team 09               185.00

Team 10               380.00

Total Bank and Cash Accounts    4,325.20

 

So, don’t be surprised if you have a bill due at the end of April.

 

BTW, Otis and Hutch have already covered the cost of the speakerphone for the draft – that’s why the “league expenses” account looks a little fat. Glenn will have to cut a check to Harrah’s to cover that expense.

 

Now back to the CRL 25th anniversary party.

 

Can you really believe it’s been 25 years?

 

We voted on this at the draft a couple of years ago and it passed.  (Here’s the more on this in a bit part.)

 

All of us (at least the ones that paid for flights and hotels) will be there.  That’s 16 team owners.  We also have 4 (maybe 2) guests – little d (who most of you know) is scheduled to participate – along with his friend Paul.  But d’s wife broke her kneecap, so he may not be there – we don’t know just yet (and if d is not there, Paul is not there).

 

Anyway, after much hard work, Bill has secured a private room at Fogo de Chao Brazilian steakhouse (360 E. Flamingo Rd.) for our Silver Anniversary soirée.  Here’s the skinny:

·         There is actually no cost for the room

·         We must spend a minimum of $1,500

o   Shouldn’t be a problem with 16 owners plus 2-to-4 guests (depending on d and Paul)

·         Here’s what Bill figured per owner:

o   World-class meal

o   4 drinks

o   Tax

o   Gratuity

o   AV connection so we can have a slideshow running of the past 25 years.

·         His estimate is that (based on 16 owners and 4 guests) the tab will be about $2,400.

o   With only 2 guests it will be less

·         We set aside $50/team each of the past two years to help defray this cost

o   Obviously, we are down a team this year so we only have $1050 instead of $1100.

·         Bill has a “surprise” for each team owner – the cost for this is $100 total.

o   That leaves $950 to go towards the tab.

·         Basically, whatever the tab is, we take $950 off and then divide it somehow

o   With only 10 teams now, it’s probably going to be around $70 per owner

§  Sorry, this is about $5 more than we thought, but we were counting on 11 teams

§  Guests would pay more

§  If you order a bottle of wine, that’s on you

o   If each owner pays $70,

§  That’s $1,120 towards the tab.  Then we throw in the $950 from the account and we have a total of $2,070.

·         Guests pay the difference.

·         Depending on the actual tab, the cost/owner could change – we need to do what’s fair for owners and guests.

 

On a related note, and in honor of the CRL’s 25th anniversary, Steve and Karen Farabee have decided to reprise their “Host and Hostess with the mostest” role.

·         In the tradition of the first draft (remember the “Love Palace” with the round bed and mirrors on the ceiling?), they are sponsoring a happy hour at their suite in the Cosmopolitan starting about 5 (no, they don’t know the room number yet) before the dinner at Fogo de Chao.  Not only that, but they are also paying for a 15-passenger van (think, my bachelor party) to take us from his suite to the restaurant on Thursday night.

o   Let us know if you plan to attend.

o   We need cell phone numbers – see my earlier note about the CRL owner info page.

§  You will need to call someone to find out what suite number once Steve checks in (or we’ll need to call you).

 

Draft order – 4/8/1/2/7/9/5/6/10/3

 

ML Draft Order – 7/2/1/8/4/9/5/6/10/3

 

Timeline:

·         Friday, March 28 – Roster Freeze Day – make sure you have me your list of protected players by 10 pm CDT.

o   Teams that finished in the money (3, 10, 6, 5, 9) get to protect 7 players.  Everybody else gets to protect 10.

·         Saturday, March 29 – I will update rosters on the stat service (ontoto.com)

·         Thursday, April 3, 5 pm – Happy hour at the Farabee’s suite

·         Thursdsy, April 3, 7pm – CRL 25th anniversary dinner at Fogo de Chao

·         Friday, April 4, 9am – draft.

 

See ya in Vegas.

 

Jim