CRL NEWS
March
3, 2024
"He walked two guys in a row on eight pitches. I didn't know
what to say to him, we need to get [Jorge] Posada out. I said, 'Dan, you have
to get him out fast.' And he said, 'Why?' I said, 'Because I have to take a
shit.' He started laughing. The catcher started laughing. I knew I had him
right there. He said three or less pitches. I said make it two or less. And the
SOB threw a sinker for a double play. Probably my greatest mound visit ever."
~
Brent Strom, Arizona pitching coach on a conversation he had with Dan Reichert
while working as the pitching coach in KC.
Gang,
I have updated the Onroto website with the results of breaking the links
between tied players and released the players you no longer have rights
to. I have also rolled over the
contracts (S2 became S1, etc.) so that players who played out their option have
been released. Players that now have a
contract specification of “O” are those entering their option year. Option players can be left off your roster
completely, kept this season at the same salary but are gone after that, or
signed to a long-term contract. For a refresher
on contracts, go here: CRL
CONSTITUTION (c-r-l.org)
A reminder on important dates:
March 15 – If you haven’t paid yet (or don’t have sufficient
credit from last year) your payment for your initial buy-in is due to
Glenn. His address is:
Glenn Cekala
614 Mangrove Thicket
Blvd.
Ponte Vedra, FL 32081
March 29 – Roster
Freeze Day. You must send me the list of the players you are
keeping. Teams 7, 2, 5 and 10 get to keep seven
players. Everyone else gets to keep 10. You must also
include any minor leaguers you are keeping (does not count against your keeper
limit – remember, you can only draft 2 and you can only have 3 on your roster)
and any long-term contracts you are signing.
April 5 – Draft Day. We
will be at Harrah’s as always. Glenn informs me that we have Studio
1, but Harrah’s has the right to move us to another room if the need arises.
Now some updates on items I brought up
in the last newsletter:
When I inquired of the stat service
about Ohtani only being listed as a pitcher, they replied that he was on both
our available hitter and pitcher lists. So I checked and he was on both. Funny thing is, myself and at least one other
team owner did not find him on the hitter list until I sent the email. Associated with this, thanks to several of
you who reminded me that we voted on Ohtani as two players (a hitter and a
pitcher) at last year’s draft.
The early two-game series in Korea
between the Dodgers and Padres will have no impact. The stats will only count if you keep a
player on your roster or draft one.
That does bring up another issue,
however. I do not know if LA and SD will
have expanded OD rosters for these games, or if they will be playing with Spring
Training rosters. The way we have always
played it, if a player is on the roster on Opening Day, he is eligible to be
drafted. He is also ineligible to be
drafted in the minor-league draft. I
have inquired of the stat service as to whether they can provide OD rosters
(March 20 for LA/SD and March 28 for everyone else) but have not heard back as
of yet. The last few years, Hutch has volunteered
to do this. If he agrees, great. But I don’t want to volunteer him. I’m also thinking that, with so many of our
owners now retired, could have someone else volunteer to do this? All I’m asking is that someone say they will
do it and send me the OD rosters for the two dates so I can forward them to
everyone.
Some other info I have received since
our last communication:
So far, only one West Coast team has
replied that they will work with my 9pm CDT (7pm PDT) deadline. for roster
moves. I need to hear from the rest of
you on out west to see if this works, otherwise, I won’t be putting in moves
until Tuesday night with a retroactive date.
One owner did have an interesting
idea, move the transaction deadline from Monday to Thursday or Friday. As I
thought about this idea, I was intrigued for two reasons:
Moves to replace drafted DL players
would go into effect immediately (once I get home and put them in
retroactively) and teams would be able to make one final set of transactions
prior to the final weekend of the season. It would also work with my new days off. But since it is such a major change, I say
the vote has to be 100%. The reason I say
it must be 100% is that, after 34 years of Monday moves, everyone is ingrained
with that deadline. I have no idea if
any of you out there have prescheduled activities for either of those nights
which would preclude getting moves in.
Let me know with a simple yes or no if moving the transaction night
would work. I’m not going to do it
simply because it’s easier on me, it must be agreed to by everyone. We will, of course, discuss it
pre-draft. On a related note, see the
next paragraph.
Another owner had an idea for shortening
the time it takes us to have our pre-draft discussion every year. He suggested putting any proposals or suggestions
you may have into the league message board on the website at least a week
before the draft. You can also email
your suggestion and reasoning so that I can forward it to everyone. Reason for this is so multiple owners of the
same team can figure out beforehand which way they want to go on the topic to
shorten the overall discussion time. We
would still bring it up and debate it as always, but giving people time to
think about it before hand could cut the entire discussion/vote time in half.
Some other news and notes:
Marcus says the Big Steak in Vegas
will be Wednesday at Ruth Chris inside Harrah’s at 6:30pm. Let him know if
interested so he can make the reservation.
Ken says the alternative, sushi at a
location TBD, will include himself and Dawn, Farabee and Weve. Again, if interested, let him know.
I am still on the fence.
Finally, Glenn chimed in with this
note which will be very important to some of you. Southwest Airlines discontinued their drink
coupons during the pandemic. But the
program has resumed – but apparently, you have to ask. If you are a Rapid Rewards member, you can
call them and they will immediately send you a digital coupon which will appear
on your boarding pass and be good for 90 days.
So happy flying (and drinking) and see
everybody in Vegas!
Jim