Sunday, October 29, 2006

More Signings!

Seattle brought back reliever Mark Deschamp today, signing the 33-year old to a 3 year deal that will pay the righty $5.25 million per year. Deschamp appeared in 98 games last year for Walla Walla and Seattle, posting a 5-5 record with 4 saves and a 2.80 ERA.

Walla Walla picked up a pair of hurlers, signing both to two-year deals for $1.2 million per year. The first is Elton Molina, who spent the last three years with Walla Walla. Last year, he appeared in 67 games, posting a 4.27 ERA.

The other pitcher signed by Walla Walla is closer Tom Porter. Tom has been pitching with Houston for the last two years where he picked up 29 saves over that time period. Tom has three championships under his belt with Stockholm/Florida.

Denver resigned C Jose Quesada to a two year deal. Quesada, who will earn $3.5 million per year, has been Denver's regular catcher for the last three seasons. Last year he hit .246 with 11 home runs and 57 RBI. Quesada was an Adams League All-Star in 2006.

RF Christopher Hartsell has returned home to South Bay, the franchise that he has been with since the league started. He returns for one year with a $500,000 contract. Hartsell has been a Zotti-League All-Star for the past four years and has four Cecil Cups to his credit. Last year, Hartsell hit .300 with 9 home runs and 65 RBI.

Lastly, MR James Manning returns to Brooklyn, after spending a year in the River Cities minor league system. Manning signs a deal worth $350,000 for one season.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

LOOGY wanted

I'm looking to pick up a decent (at least 2.5 star) lefty reliever to complete my bullpen. If you have a spare LOOGY that's available, cheap, let me know.

While I'm at it, I could use a AAAA-class SP if you have one of them, too.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Sim's done... next sim Wednesday night

I actually had the sim done on Thursday night, but I then had FTP issues to resolve with Yahoo!.

Signings:

It's been a New York day, with the Gothams picking up three players.

The first to sign was closer Joel Callas, who comes to New York for three years at $4.8m per year. Callas travelled a lot last year, starting in Danville, making a brief stopover in Seattle before finishing the year in Walla Walla. Between it all, he saved 21 games while posting a blistering 1.51 ERA and earning his first All-Star game selection.

CF Zachary Whipkey comes to the Big Apple signing a two year deal for $2.8m per year. Whipkey missed most of the 2008 season with Denver with a ruptured disc. In 2007, however, he hit .251 with 26 home runs and 91 RBI. In addition, he swiped 41 bases.

Veteran 3B JC Veloz lands in New York with a new one year deal worth $600,000. Veloz has spent his entire career with Houston, hitting .274 with 73 home runs and 420 RBI over the last seven years. Veloz has three All-Star selections, a Slick Fielder Award and two Cecil Cups to his credit.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Next sim, Thursday night.

Free Agent Signings:

LF John Redman has found a new home. South Bay picked up the right-handed slugger by signing him to a four year deal worth $8.25m per year. Redman has played for New York for the last two and a half years. Last year, he hit .307 (the highest average of his career) while slugging 30 home runs and driving in 97 runs. Redman is one of the few players (maybe the only one?) to have been an All-Star all seven years of the league's existence.

Walla Walla brought back C Augustus Ruiz, signing him to a two year contract at $4m per year. Ruiz has been Walla Walla's regular catcher for the past three seasons. Last year, he hit .239 with 14 homers and 71 RBIs. He is also a two time All Star and has three Slick Fielder trophies in his display case at home.

Denver picked up a pair of relievers for their bullpen. The first is right-hander Alex Pedroza, who played for River Cities last year. Pedroza pitched in 82 games last year, producing a 3.81 ERA. Pedroza will earn $2.4m per year for the next three years.

The other reliever is southpaw Antione Donato. Donato appeared in 76 games last year for New York, as well as in the All-Star game (for the third time in his career). He won five and lost two while producing a 3.25 ERA. Donato will earn $1.2m per year for the next two years.

Next sim -- Thursday, Oct 19.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Sim Done!

Finally!

One signing: Walla Walla picks up CF Jerry DeHaven (formerly of South Bay) for $5,000,000 per year for two years. Dehaven hit .267 last year with 6 home runs and 40 RBI in limited duty.

Last round of the Amateur Draft and Days 7-8 of Free Agency tomorrow night.

Zev

My Weekend

Question: What do you get when you cross the Atlantic with the Titanic?
Answer: Halfway.

It's been a heck of a weekend. My oldest son became a Bar Mitzvah this past weekend during the Succos holiday. We invited cousins of ours from Baltimore to come up for the weekend and celebrate with us. In the end, we were expecting a full house over the weekend, with over thirty friends and relatives coming to eat and stay with us. Needless to say, it was going to be a tight squeeze in our sukkah for us and the guests.

One group of family members, however, didn't make it. We were waiting for them on Friday afternoon, but they didn't show. It was getting late on Friday, and there was still no sign of them. Finally, about five minutes before Shabbos was about to start, we got a call from them. They ran into a lot of traffic on the way up. There were in Staten Island and there was no way that they were going to be able to get to Brooklyn before Shabbos started. Fortunately, they had family in Staten Island and were able to stay by them for the holiday. At least they were OK... we were all really worried about them.

Well, the Bar Mitzvah boy did fine. He read from the Torah beautifully and we all had a good time. We had a kiddush in our sukkah for the guests and the people who pray in our shul. Since the sukkah was only 12 x 16 (which is actually quite big as far as personal sukkahs go), it was quite crowded. But nonetheless, everyone had a good time.

After the holiday was over (Sunday night), the Baltimore/Staten Island contingent finally made it in. They finally made it in about 11:00 pm on Sunday night (while we were still cleaning up from the chaos of the weekend). Since I hadn't seen this set of cousins (and my aunt, who was with them) for a few years, we spent a few hours out in the sukkah talking and eating.

On Monday, we took the kids (along with my cousins, my sister and their kids) to Sesame Place. You'd be surprised how much fun a thirteen year old can have there - I was afraid he'd be bored to tears. After the day, we all stopped off at a kosher resturaunt in Philadelphia. Once there, however, my car died and would not start again. So, there I was, stranded with my wife and kids, in a city over 100 miles from home (a city, I might add, that I had only been to once before in my life) where I did not know a soul. Fortuantely, AAA came to the rescue. After a bit of a wait, they took us back to Brooklyn (to a local repair shop). We finally got back home at about midnight last night.

The end result of all this, however, is that there was no sim this past weekend. We'll try to do this tonight.

Zev

Wednesday, October 4, 2006

Dirt Cheap to Good Homes

Two consistent contributors have become expendable for me and are available at rock bottom prices. Neither has any significant future expense associated with them.

Lefthanded reliever Everette Brister. 2.5 stars. Lifetime 4.10 ERA and posted a 3.41 mark last year. Record of 50-17 with 43 saves. Original Seattle Monarch. $2 million dollar contract that expires at the end of the year. And, you can never have enough lefthanded pitching.

Righthanded reliever Adam Beall. Has only 1 star rating, but he had that last year and posted a 2.90 ERA for me. Career 3.85 ERA. His contract is cheap ($1 million for two more years).

I also could easily move third baseman Elias Viers, although not quite at "dirt cheap" prices. 2.5 stars. Lifetime .308 hitter, with .708 OPS. $350,000 contract this year. I only count seven third basemen (not prospects) with ratings of 3* or higher, so Viers should be good enough to start in the league. Although Zev claims to be looking for a third baseman, he apparently has some kind of Viers-phobia. But, if someone wants to trade their third baseman to Zev and pick up Viers pretty cheaply ...

I also, once again, will float the name of Boris Harris. He's put up four straight years of sub-4.00 ERAs in AAA Tacoma, but he's not going to crack my rotation in the majors this year or any time soon. He really is essentially free (i.e., very low round draft pick or minimal prospect) to any interested teams, especially ones that want to give him a shot in the majors.

Feel free to contact me with any offers.

Tuesday, October 3, 2006