Wrapping Up 2011

The Ruffin captured The Copperfield Ball for the second year in a row and all that's left is handing out the awards. To that end, the ballots have been e-mailed. Here are some things we have to work on now.

Please vote for each category and get your ballots back as soon as possible. I need each owner to submit their votes. Last year there were some categories that literally came down to the final voter.

Once we have the ballots back we can then officially have our banquet. We'll do it again at Home Run Inn in Darien on 75th street. Please let me know your availability for Friday, Saturday or Sunday afternoons/evenings. So far only one owner has mentioned any possible availability.

I also need everyone to let me know their intentions of returning next year or not. As a courtesy to the league, if you know you're not returning, letting us know early is best. The league will have to consider a replacement owner(s) and with Winter Waivers looming a few months from now, having an owner in place to that is paramount.

That gets us to Winter Waivers. Certainly you don't have to submit your cuts until, as it turns out, 3pm on New Year's Day (the first Sunday in January). This is just an early reminder in case you want to start thinking about who your keepers are. I would encourage each of you to visit the Constitution and read (or re-read) the rules of Winter Waivers so you have a clear understanding on how it works.

A new roster (without expiring contract players and "S" contract players) has also been posted at the link on your right.

So to wrap up. Two very important items at this point. VOTE! And let me know if you're coming back for CFCL 2012 (We're Not Even Halfway There!)

Ruffins Repeat in 2011

Congratulations to the 2011 CFCL Champion - David's Ruffins! In an amazing final week of the season the Ruffins came out of seemingly no where to capture their second consecutive title and fourth overall.

Kenndoza Line gave a valiant effort but came up just short. And the Revenge, oh the Revenge. They captured the final money slot after leading for most of the year. Interestingly the Revenge fell behind the Line, into third, by losing a point to the Bulls in ERA on the final night. The Revenge didn't pitch on Wednesday. Stephen Strasbourg of the Bulls did and posted six scoreless innings, which was enough to push the Bulls past the Revenge in ERA and drop the Revenge to third.

As recently as September 22nd (SIX DAYS AGO, FOLKS!) the top four in the standings looked like this:

Revenge 76

Kenndoza Line 74.5

DoorMatts 71

Ruffins 67

Somehow, some way the Ruffins made up nine points in six days. We have had some amazing finishes in CFCL history, but this ranks right up there as the best.

Securing the Sweet Spot (trademark - Candy Colored Clowns) are the DoorMatts. They will have the use of the full compliment of the Home Team Discount budget. Here's a look at the HTD.

DoorMatts .06

Garrett Jones

Dan Uggla

Shane Victorino

Luke Gregerson

Josh Johnson

Carlos Marmol

Mo's Red Hots .05

Ryan Braun

Stephen Drew

Bronson Arroyo

Dem Rebels .04

Brian Wilson

Graging Bulls

No eligible players

Candy Colored Clowns

No eligible players

Twin Killers .02

Sergie Romo

Stranger Danger

No eligible players

Some other housekeeping notes:

- The 2011 Final Roster has been posted to the link on the right. Shortly I will be cleaning the roster of all 11(!) and S contracts, so make sure you download the end of year version soon.

- I have yet to hear any feedback on availability for the CFCL Banquet. Usually we like to make sure that the CFCL Champion is available, but I'm sure Dave won't be flying in to accept his trophy and money. So we'll revert to a majority rules decision.

- I will work on putting together the CFCL Awards Ballot as quickly as possible. If you have someone on your team that you feel deserves consideration for a specific award, please e-mail me. Keep in mind - THIS IS NOT THE ALL-STAR GAME! A player from each team does not need to be represented in each category. So whomever you submit for consideration, please make sure they are worthy of the award.

Once again, congratulations to the Ruffins! Looks like they are focused on surpassing the Copperfields for most championships in the shortest time possible.

CFCL Miscellaneous

An updated Roster Excel spreadsheet has finally been posted to the link on your right. I apologize for the delay (delinquency) in having it updated recently.

Since we are officially half way through September, that means two things.

1) The Cubs are officially eliminated from the Division Race and,

2) It's time to start preparing for the CFCL Banquet.

Traditionally we have met some time in fall (or winter, depending on our schedules) at the Home Run Inn in Darien. To keep things easy, we'll keep that as our location unless someone has major objections.

I will be putting together the ballot for the CFCL Awards. While I will try to do as comprehensive of a job as possible, I always welcome any suggestions from you. If there is someone on your team (or in the NL) that you feel needs to be on the ballot, please feel free to e-mail me to make sure that that player is included.

I will also need some feedback from each of you as to which dates your are available for attending the banquet. I would assume our out of town owners won't be attending, so the remaining eight, please let me know if you plan on attending and, if so, which dates work best for you. We'll work on a "majority rules" basis, showing no favoritism, though we typically like to the the current year's champion in attendance. The Ruffins thumbed their nose at that preference last year, and believe you me that was noted in their permanent file.

Usually we focus on either a Saturday or Sunday afternoon or evening but as I mentioned we can let majority rule.

E-mail me if you have any questions about the Post-Season Process.

Free Agent Bidding Reminder

Just a quick reminder that this Sunday (August 28th) is your last chance to pick up a player via FAAB and keep them going into next year should you so choose. Everyone acquired starting on September 4th will be assigned a contract of "S" which means they are immediately released at the end of the season.

Happy spending.

Getting caught up with trades

To make things official and for a complete archived record, there were two deadline trades made.

The Clowns added to their prospect rich roster by acquiring Zach Wheeler (.02 Mx) and Jonathan Singleton (.05 Mx) from the Revenge in exchange for flavor of the month Ryan Vogelsong (.05 13+) and Francisco Cordero (.17 12+). The hope here was that this deal could hold of the active and hard charging Ruffins.

Not to be deterred, the Ruffins swung this deal with the Rebels. They acquired Hiroki Kuroda (.31 13+) and Eli Whiteside (.05 13+) for Rubby DeLaRosa who must have been in Dr. Andrews admitting office at the time of the deal.

Rebels and Danger Work a Buster

Jealous that earlier in the day the Ruffins had cornered the market on all available Drews, the Rebels shored up their pitching staff by acquiring Chris Carpenter (.31 13+) and Chris Narveson (.05 13+) from the Danger in exchange for Hanley Ramirez (.49 13+).

Weeks Won't Keep Ruffins Down

Despite having traded Neil Walker minutes before Rickie Weeks forgot how to run to first, the Ruffins are undeterred and made a move to shore up their 2B slot.

The Ruffins traded Ricky Nolasco (.12 13+), Zach Braddock (.06 13+) and their 4th and 14th picks to the Bulls in exchange for Kelly Johnson (.20 12+), the lame duck Colby Rasmus (.04 X) and the Bulls 9th round pick.