| |
by Randall Mussman
5.
Kenny makes an ill-fated trip to the French Quarter – the night before the draft
Over the years, there’s been one constant about draft day in the HCBB – and that constant is that the draft is part of what, for every owner, is a long, long day. Some owners have compared drafting to partaking in a marathon, with twelve hour days being the norm for teams to put together the rosters they hope will bring them into championship contention during the season. With that in mind, it’s been crucial for HCBB owners to be at their sharpest when the big day arrives each season – and it’s for that reason that Suicide Squeeze owner Kenny Creel’s trip to the French Quarter the night before the HCBB Draft would be a decision he wouldn’t just immediately regret – but that he would end up regretting all season as he watched his team perform. While he undoubtedly enjoyed himself in his annual return to the Crescent City, Creel showed up for the draft hung over from his night of revelry, and it looked for most of the day that
The French Quarter on Friday night was a bad choice for Suicide Squeeze owner Kenny Creel in 2010.
survival was the only thing on his mind – a tactic that would manifest itself in his draft. In an attempt to conserve his energy, Creel decided to spend early and often, rostering three of the first nine and five of the first thirty players while spending a whopping $172 – all on offense -- $100 of which would go towards two players, Chase Utley ($52) and Miguel Cabrera ($48). The problem was, though, that the Squeeze pitching staff would be left to be put together on the cheap – not a great idea for an owner who just wanted his nightmarish day to end. By the time the draft had been completed, Creel would be the “proud” owner of a $40 pitching staff – and $32 of that was tied up in three players he’d had under contract before the draft even started. A sub-par season by Jonathan Broxton didn’t help the Squeeze’s chances – but neither did eight one dollar pitchers, most of which looked to have been chosen by the "no one else wants him so I can put my head back down on the table” strategy. This left Creel’s squad with one of the league’s worst pitching staffs and would be a major contributing factor to his team’s 13th place finish.
4.
Clueless??? trades for Seth Smith – and signs him to a contract for 2011
 If you look up the word “journeyman” in the dictionary, you’ll find the following definition: any experienced, competent but routine worker or performer . In baseball terms, the players who carry the journeyman label are exactly that – players who are run-of-the-mill, average performers who are easily replaceable by both their real-life teams and their fantasy owners, and who are largely roster-fillers. It’s likely that, when his major league career comes to an end, that Colorado outfielder Seth Smith will carry that journeyman tag – and it’ll be well-deserved. Over his four year major league career, the twenty-eight year old Smith has never had more than 398 plate appearances in a single season. He’s also never hit 20 homers, driven in more than 55 runs, nor scored more than 61 runs in a year. Smith has been little more than fourth outfielder for the Rockies, and his lack of a prospect’s pedigree and better options in the Colorado system
Journeyman is a great album by Eric Clapton. Journeyman can also be used to describe bench-warmer Seth Smith.
suggests that he’ll never amount to a whole lot more than that – which makes him a useful major league part, but a terrible fantasy option in a league where every day at-bats for starters are vital for teams hoping to contend. Those facts make it even harder to fathom why, as a disappointing season for his team drew to a close, owner Mike Tate and his rebuilding Clueless??? squad decided to target Smith as a player to build around in 2011. It’s likely that Tate didn’t have his dictionary handy – but he also must not have had Smith’s numbers handy either when he pulled the trigger on his trade. If he’d looked at the latter after his deal was completed, he’d have seen Smith’s putrid .155 batting average over the last two months and only 3 home runs and 7 RBI. He’d also have seen that Smith was still relegated to a 4 th outfielder role even after the trade of Brad Hawpe. With his situation only slightly better than dismal, Smith looks to be an albatross for the Clueless??? squad even before the 2011 season kicks off.
3.
Half Cajun has the title in their grasp – and lets it slip away
 The 2010 season looked like one of vindication for Half Cajun and their own Adam Caveney, as the 6th year franchise looked poised to take home their first ever HCBB Championship. Caveney’s squad was lightly-regarded entering the season, but a series of smart draft day decisions that followed a mostly-successful off-season of wheeling and dealing had left Half Cajun in firm possession of 1st place as the summer waned. But cracks began to show up in the armor of the HCBB’s leading contender down the stretch, and Caveney began to tinker with his roster in an attempt to hold onto his increasingly tenuous grasp on the lead. But no matter what Caveney tried to do down the stretch, everything the frustrated owner tried seemed to backfire as Half Cajun would blow a double-digit lead in the season’s final month. Multiple trades with contenders and non-contenders alike did nothing to stop his team’s slide as
The three-headed monster of Cunningham, Betemit and Bonifacio did nothing to help Half Cajun down the stretch.
Half Cajun desperately tried to plug developing holes in the team’s lineup during the most crucial time of the season. Typical of the team’s struggles would be Caveney’s desperate gambles in the final three weeks, as a trio of free-agent pick-ups – Aaron Cunningham, Wilson Betemit, Emilio Bonifacio – were plugged into two spots in the team’s offense to try and stop the leader’s slide. The results of those moves? A miserable .114 average, 1 HR, and 3 RBI from the threesome on the Cajun roster – and a devastating fall into third place over the last weekend of the season in the tightest race in the HCBB’s history that would leave Half Cajun only 1.5 points from a title that had seemed assured only weeks before.
2. Prolonging the Magic trade of Jose Bautista to Clueless??? for Chris Volstad
 In a season where he did a number of things right en route to a tie for his team’s best finish ever in 2nd place, arguably the best move Prolonging The Magic owner Jeff Romero made was drafting Toronto outfielder Jose Bautista late in the reserve round of the draft. Bautista immediately paid dividends for his fantasy squad, catching fire after a slow April to hit 12 home runs in May while establishing himself as one of the American League’s breakout players. Looking for starting pitching help – and believing his offense to be strong enough where Bautista wouldn’t be irreplaceable, Romero shopped the slugger – but to little avail. With no other offers on the table, Romero decided to take whatever he could get for Bautista, finally deciding on Miami starting pitcher Chris Volstad from Clueless??? owner Mike Tate in a one-for-one swap. It would be a decision that Romero and the Magic would be kicking themselves over almost
Jose Bautista proved to be no flash in the pan - trading him for Chris Volstad was an idea that went up in flames.
immediately – as Bautista would prove to be no flash in the pan, and the Magic would suddenly find themselves in an offensive predicament after an freak injury would sideline slugging first baseman Kendry Morales for the season. The irony would be when a short time later Bautista would be headed back to the Magic as one piece of a multi-player swap with a rebuilding Clueless??? squad. The end result of the Magic’s initial trade would be doubly bad: not only would Romero lose the opportunity to turn the $1 Bautista into a keeper for his own dump trade to bolster his team down the stretch – potentially crucial in a race that would be decided by only a half-point – but the Magic also would lose the ability to keep Bautista themselves in 2011. Considering the weakness of the position and Bautista’s 54 HR in 2010 – that would be a major loss for Romero’s squad that would be the rest of the HCBB’s gain.
1T.
Time to Run trades away Aubrey Huff to the Butt Pirates for Kenshin Kawakami;
1T.
Time to Run trades away Jared Weaver to Suicide Squeeze for Derrek Lee
 While the 2010 season would largely be a successful one for Time to Run – the team would hang around the fringes of the money race all season, despite being an afterthought going into the season – two April trades made the same week by owner Bobby Hudgins and adviser Craig Bazely would ultimately sink the franchise’s chances of breaking its league-record money finish drought. As Hudgins worked the trade wires during the last week of April, the intent of his maneuvering was to upgrade his offense while not damaging his pitching staff – but on both counts, the pair of trades that Time to Run ended up making would fail miserably. While the acquisition of Jared Weaver at a bargain price of $15 was a great draft day move for Hudgins and Bazely, shipping him to Suicide Squeeze for Derrek Lee would be a miscalculation, as Weaver would end up posting a Cy Young caliber season while Lee would be a major disappointment
Trading for Kenshin Kawakami and Derrek Lee was a double-whammy.
for his new owners. Lee certainly would certainly be a major downgrade from Huff, posting lower numbers in every statistical category – but the hit in production that Time to Run would take offensively would be nothing compared to the disastrous trade-off the team would take pitching-wise. Instead of Weaver’s stellar production, TTR would end up with Kawakami, who would win a whopping one game on the season, post an ERA well over 5.00, and end up getting shipped back to the minors at one point. The huge double-downgrade would be a double-whammy that TTR would spend all season trying but never able to recover from.
|
|
