Roster Freeze and Getting Ready for Draft Day

Gentlemen! It's almost time to start your engines!! All the Roster Cuts have been submitted and below is a recap of how things stand. I have also posted an updated Roster to your right, so feel free to download a fresh copy. When you look over the roster, make sure I have your information right. I don't want to have to make a ton of changes Sunday morning - rather do it now and print everything off with the right information.

Big Names and Salaries Cut

As is the case every year, teams cut big salaries in an effort to free up some cap space so that they can say ".56" on Manny Ramirez. Here are some of the salaries that were chopped.




Ben Sheets .19
Chase Utley .53
Derrek Lee .41
Matt Diaz .16
Kevin Kouzmanoff .28
Trevor Hoffman .21
Aaron Rowand .24
Willie Taveras .27
Ian Snell .12 (Penalty of .05 paid by Bulls)
Carlos Zambrano .22
Casey Kotchman (Penalty of .28 paid by Revenge)
Ryan Church .18
Jake Peavy .42
Juan Pierre .15
Aramis Ramirez .42
Miguel Tejada .21
Casey Blake .24
Kelly Johnson .20
Rick Ankiel .20
Mike Cameron .18
Troy Glaus .17

Long Term Contracts


There also was some evidence that men were not afraid to make that long term commitment. Here are the long term deals that were signed.



Chase Headley - DoorMatts - 2 years at .13
Ubaldo Jimenez - DoorMatts - 2 years at .10
Joey Votto - DoorMatts - 2 years at .15
Ryan Braun - Moore Better - 3 years at .12
Chad Billingsley - Bulls - 2 years at .15
Conor Jackson - Bulls - 2 years at .15
Lastings Milledge - Bulls - 2 years at .12
Nate McLouth - Revenge - 3 years at .13
Mark Reynolds - Clowns - 2 years at .14
Prince Fielder - Copperfields - 2 years at .15

Taking a Hit

Two owners decided to lose money off their salary cap rather than carry the players on their roster.

The Revenge cut Casey Kotchman and have been penalized .14 from their 2.60
The Graging Bulls cut Ian Snell in the last year of his contract and have been penalized .05 from their 2.60

Cash In Their Pocket


Here is what each team has left to spend on draft day along with how many players they have left to acquire. Please make sure I have your numbers correct.


DoorMatts $1.20 left to spend on 12 players (10 cents per player)

Copperfields $1.97 left to spend on 11 players (17.9 per player)

Dem Rebels $1.37 left to spend on 11 players (12.45 cents per player)

Ruffins $1.46 left to spend on 14 players (10.42)

Clowns $1.84 left to spend on 14 players (16.72)

Kenndoza Line $1.66 left to spend on 11 players (15.09)

Moore Better $1.64 left to spend on 11 players (14.90 cents per player)

Graging Bulls $1.19 left to spend on 8 players (14.87)

Morkertzuma's Revenge $1.26 left to spend on 11 players (11.45)

Mo's Red Hots $1.83 left to spend on 18 players (10.16)



That should be about it. See you all Sunday. Remember let's be in place, ready to go at 7:30am. Any questions on directions, call me or zip me an e-mail.

Trade Winds Keep Blowing in the Snow

In the second block buster deal of the pre-season, the Rebels and Bulls finalized a deal that took more e-mails back and forth than you would imagine.

The Bulls trade Jeff Samardjia (sp?) plus the Ruffins 9th round pick and the Bulls 11th and 15th round picks to the Rebels for the Rebels 4th, 6th and 8th round picks.

Somehow all of this really, really mattered to the two teams involved.

And we're off!

The Ruffins and Bulls christened the 2009 season with the first trade of the year.

Bulls get the Ruffins' 9th and 14th round picks
Ruffins get Randy Johnson 6(10+) and Bulls 10th rounder.

The Darryl Strawberry Incident

As we approach Draft Day 2009 and prepare to kick off our 26th year, I thought it would be nice to celebrate our 25th Anniversary with a little trip down memory lane.

If you've spent any time in the History section of the CFCL Internet Headquarters, you'll know that we're rather fond of documenting our Draft Day "incidents". The very first incident that we we had actual documentation for was "The Darryl Strawberry Incident" from the 1992 Draft.

Here's the way I described the incident in the 1992 Draft History:

Kelly Barone nominated Darryl Strawberry at .05. There was a noticeable reaction from some owners at Kelly's "audacity". You see, it's kind of an unwritten tradition in the CFCL that players get nominated at the minimum (.01) and then bidding proceeds at penny increments for the most part.

OK, it's not the quickest way to run a draft, and no one was prevented from starting the bid at more then .01 or raising it a nickel at a time, it's just that it was surprising when it happens.

Well, the bidding continued to Dem Rebels, who jumped all the way to .08. The next owner up was Pat McGuire, a CFCL rookie, and he wasn't having any of this "penny or two at a time" crap. He shot the bid all the way to .25, which was still cheap for Strawberry. The reaction it caused in the other owners was astounding -- a stunned silence, a quick anonymous whistle, and then, in a random and inexplicable coincidence, Tom Clark and Dave Holian both turned and looked into the kitchen, as if asking "Where the hell did THAT bid come from?"

The sheer randomness and total spontaneity of the act of looking into the kitchen made it a funny moment. It became hilarious, and an instant CFCL classic, when two owners simultaneously and independently chose to do it at the same time.

The video clip below includes not only the incident itself and ensuing commentary, but the completion of the bidding on Strawberry, and the continuation of the McGuire insanity with the bidding on the next player, Shawon Dunston.

So, without further ado, the CFCL Archives presents... The Darryl Stawberry Incident:

Getting Ready for Draft Day 2009

Gentlemen -

I have just e-mailed you your Roster Cut Sheet along with various and sundry details of Draft Day 2009. Things are going to be pretty busy on my side of the table for the next two weeks, so I wanted to get the sheets out to you a little earlier than normal.

Most all the information should be included in the e-mail, but if you are feeling nostalgic for Draft Prep info of yore, I encourage you to look at the archives of the CFCL Front Office. I glanced over them earlier and a lot of the information still pertains to this year.

Keep in mind that once you e-mail me your Roster Sheet, your rosters are frozen! The sooner you send them back, the sooner I can begin working on them and getting you the critical information of whom was cut and kept. But the sooner you send them back to me, the earlier your roster is locked.

Good luck to all!