CRL NEWS
February 7, 2015
“We were going to
win the game.”
-- Pete Carroll after Super Bowl XLIX
Oops.
I’m sure there has been a lot of consternation over Carroll’s call at the goal line with time running out (I don’t know, I don’t watch TV anymore – more on that in a bit) and what I’m thinking may have been told already, but …
Maybe Pete had a flashback to a play, and a result, nine years ago in the 2006 Rose Bowl. With a lead and a little over two minutes left in the game, Carroll elected to keep his best running back, Reggie Bush, on the sidelines and still called a running play on 4th-and-2 from the Texas 44. LenDale White didn’t make it and Texas took over with 2:09 left to play. One minute and 50 seconds later, Vince Young ran into the end zone and a confetti shower as the Longhorns took the national championship. Hook ‘em!
At least Pete knows how to make a championship game exciting.
Anyway, enough about football. We’re less than six weeks away from the draft, so it’s time to get out our initial pre-season communique.
Thanks to all for responding with their list of players they wanted to reserve the rights to between the players that ended last season linked. I’ve updated the rosters on the onroto stat site to reflect those players with rights retained. Remember, these players are not automatically kept, just the right to keep the players on Roster Freeze Day. If you elected to keep a player on reserves, and subsequently keep that player on Roster Freeze Day, you will owe a $5 activation fee into the prize pool.
While looking at teams’ rosters, you’ll notice I also updated all the contracts – S2 went to S1 and S1 went to O (Option). Those players you keep with a contract status or “O” will retain a contract status of “O” unless you decide to sign them to a Long-Term Contract (I’ll fix it then). Since it’s been four years since we had to deal with contracting players, here’s a refresher:
If you decide to contract a player, his new salary is his current salary plus $2.50 for each additional year you contract him. For example, if you have a player with a $5 salary and decide you want to sign him to a 3-year contract, his new salary is $10 ($5 + $2.50 for year two and $2.50 for year three). Additionally, you must pay a signing bonus of one-half the total value of the contract into the prize pool. Using the above example, the total value of the contract is $30 (three years X $10/year), so the signing bonus is $15. This signing bonus does not count against your $130 salary cap, but the new $10 salary does. Remember, if you contract a guy and he subsequently tanks, you cannot dump him during the season for any reason – you can only buy out his contract on the subsequent Roster Freeze Day. If you want to read the full rule, it is here: http://www.c-r-l.org/rules/crlconst.htm#XVI
On a side note, along with the CRL history project (which is in long-term hibernation), I also want to update the Constitution to reflect the rule changes we’ve made in recent years. I also want to strip out many of the wordy comments and make it just a presentation of the rules. Both initiatives have been tabled due to my new job. They will be re-undertaken at some undefined point in the future. Those of you who are not interested in that job may skip the next three paragraphs.
As some of you know, and some of you probably don’t, I am now an Assistant Manager at the Walmart in Kingsville, TX. I have not moved, so I have an hour commute each way. My schedule is supposed to be a rotating 4 days-on, 2 days-off, meaning it changes weekly. The shifts are supposed to be 8-6, 8-6, 12-10, 12-10, followed by two days off. Only problem is, the 8-6s are more like 8-8, 9, or 10 and the 12-10 is often changed to 10-8, 9 or 10. And about every third rotation, one of days off is eliminated because of the new crisis de juor. What that means is, because of the commute both ways, I often get home less than eight hours before I have to get up to go in the next day. Most nights I just go straight to bed without even eating – I’ve lost 30 pounds since I started this gig four months ago. And the salary sucks – I’m making what I made in 1998. But still, it pays the bills and I didn’t agree to do it for what I make now – I did it for the potential. Store managers make well into six figures. So I started close the bottom (at least I’m not pushing carts – although I have unloaded trucks) based on future potential.
As to what this means for making moves on Monday nights, I’m going to have to play that by ear. I still plan on getting them done every Monday, but we’ll have to see once the season starts. If I miss a Monday, I will still get the moves done that week, they may just be a day or two late. I know how to put moves in retroactively, so the standings will not be affected, although what you see on Tuesday mornings may be. I just don’t know yet. At least Black Friday and Christmas shopping (I was there for both) don’t fall during baseball season, but annual inventory and back-to-school (I’ve heard both are a bear) do.
To give you an example, tonight (as I write this – although I don’t know yet if I’ll get it posted tonight or tomorrow) is the first of my two days off this rotation. I typically don’t do a damn thing on the first day but relax and catch up on newspapers, emails, sleep, etc. On day 2, I do chores – yard, cleaning, bills, laundry, grocery shopping, etc. Day 2 also means a couple of hours doing work stuff – scheduling matrices, drafting employee evaluations and discipline memos – that I don’t have time to do at the store. My TV is rarely on. I pay way too much damned money to the cable company for a service I never get to use. I had to get this newsletter out this weekend, because my next full off rotation will involve getting my taxes ready to send to my CPA.
Anyway, back to our regularly-scheduled program.
Some notes:
Draft Day is Friday, March 20 at Harrah’s. Glenn has not informed me of the room yet, so look for it in a future update. I also do not know who has Friday night flights, so I cannot determine the starting time yet. Those of you flying out on Friday night, please let me know so I can determine an appropriate starting time.
I have not heard yet if a speaker phone will be required this year. That will also factor into the paragraph above.
As to money, Teams 3, 7, 8 and 10 had balances left over from last year of $130, $120, $50 and $148, respectively. In addition, teams 3, 6 and 10 left winnings in the account to pay for this year. As of right now, here is what I show for each team:
Account Balances
As of 2/7/2015
Bank and Cash Accounts
League Expenses 378.20
Team 01 0.00
Team 02 0.00
Team 03 730.00
Team 04 0.00
Team 05 0.00
Team 06 300.00
Team 07 120.00
Team 08 50.00
Team 09 0.00
Team 10 648.00
Total Bank and Cash Accounts 2,226.20
Note: The “League Expenses” account looks fat because I have not yet received notice from Glenn as to whether he has paid the remainder of our charge for the draft room. He already paid the $250 deposit, and that has been deducted, but I don’t know about the remainder.
When you look at the balances above, remember that you must have, at minimum, $250 in your account to start the season. If you don’t, please send Glenn a check by March 7 to prepare for the upcoming season. His address is:
Glenn Cekala
8561 LaSalle St # 53
Cypress, CA 90630
Drafting order will be:
9 / 1 / 8 / 4 / 7 / 5 / 6 / 3 / 2 / 10
Minor League Draft order is:
5 / 7 / 4 / 8 / 1 / 9/ 6 / 3 / 2 / 10
Keepers:
Money teams (2, 3, 6, 10) may keep seven players on Roster Freeze Day. Everyone else can keep 10. Minor leaguers do not count against your keeper number, but, if you decide to keep them on your roster, you will have to pay $5 into the prize pool to protect them.
Since we are drafting well before Opening Day, we will not have Opening Day rosters. We will draft from the latest rosters we have (based on the stat service) of players that have not been sent down yet (and that will add time to the draft as net-connected owners search to see if somebody is still up). This will obviously result in a bunch of moves the first Monday night of the season, but it will also mean you may have Farm players you want to keep that have not been sent down yet. Looking back at past notes, we’ve been split on how we handle this. But I think the fairest way is to designate farm keepers as farm keepers – that means, if you save a guy on your farm roster, he is still on your farm roster – even if he hasn’t been sent down yet. That means you can still draft your full complement of 23 players, excluding your farm guy. Precedent has shown that owners have scoured the available talent to glean somebody who might get one homer, steal or win to add to their totals before activating the farm stud that made the OD roster.
As to positional eligibility, remember, it’s based on 20-games, most games in 2014 – not what position a player is projected to have this year. A player can only be slotted at a position where he played 20 games. If he did not play 20 games at any position, he may only be slotted at the position where he appeared most. For minor leaguers, they may only be slotted at the position they played most.
Also remember that off-season trades may be completed until the roster-freeze deadline and positional restrictions do not apply in the off-season.
Now some dates (remember, all deadlines are 10 p.m., Central Time):
Saturday, March 7 – Make sure Glenn has your money,
Sunday, March 8 – Roster Freeze Day (and trading deadline).
NOTE – I know this is early, but I want to give everyone a weekend to prepare. Looking at the calendar, that is the night before my last off-rotation prior to vacation. (BTW, did I mention that Wal-Mart vacations may only be taken during a Wal-Mart (Sat-Fri) week? Guess I’ll call in for Sat and Sun the 21st and 22nd, because I can’t get back from Vegas on a Friday night).
Friday, March 20 – Draft Day.
See ya in Vegas.
Jim