This Week In CFCL History

Here’s a look at this week in CFCL history, covering the dates May 19 to May 25.

May 19, 1987	BALD EAGLES trade Bill Gullickson and Chico Walker to ACES TO WIN for Randy St. Claire and Candy Maldonado. A swap of Eagle pitching for Aces hitting. Gullickson and Maldonado were the principles in this deal, with St. Claire and Walker added in to even out the positions. This was in the pre-Ultra days of the CFCL, before teams had extensive Reserve Lists from which they could activate players to fill in holes on the active rosters. So unless you were swapping players who played the same position, each team usually had to toss in a scrub or two so each team had a valid 23-man roster at the deal’s completion. It’s one of the reasons trading was more difficult in those days, but also why 8 or 10 player deals were a lot more common then.
May 19, 1987	COPPERFIELDS trade Scott Sanderson to DEM REBELS for Bob Ojeda. The Copperfields get busy, completing three deals on this date in 1987. They were in 2nd place when the deals were made, 13 points behind the leading Penguins. This first deal was a swap of two starting pitchers. Neither one was setting the world on fire at the time of the trade – Sanderson had just 3 Wins with a 4.34 ERA for the Copperfields, while Ojeda had posted a 4.31 ERA and 2 Wins for the Rebels. To top it off, Ojeda had undergone elbow surgery just prior to the deal and was on the DL when the Copperfields acquired him. They didn’t replace him immediately, however. To be continued below… Sanderson put up some pretty crappy numbers (0 Wins, 5.51 ERA for the Rebels) before getting hurt and moved to the Reserve List late in June. He returned to Major League action a few weeks later, but it was in a middle relief role and he was never re-activated by the Rebels.
May 19, 1987	COPPERFIELDS trade Roger McDowell, Bruce Ruffin, and Mitch Webster to ACES TO WIN for Dwight Gooden, Shane Rawley, and Carmelo Martinez. The Copperfields’ biggest deal of the day. McDowell was due to come off the DL, but the Copperfields preferred to keep the player they called up to replace him, John Smiley. Gooden was on the DL at the time, but due to come off in a while. When he eventually returned (first week of June), the Copperfields activated him and reserved Bob Ojeda, whom they had left active despite being on the DL at the time they acquired him in the trade above. Gooden was stellar upon his return, winning 15 games with a 3.21 ERA. Rawley added another 13 Wins, which helped the Copperfields cruise to first place in the category. Carmelo Martinez was a washout for the Coppers, hitting just .167 before they waived him in June to make room for minor league call-up Shane Mack. The deal turned out well for the Aces as well. Webster hit a solid .285 with 13 homers and 23 SB after the trade, McDowell contributed 25 Saves, and Ruffin had a 3.96 ERA and 9 Wins.
May 19, 1987	COPPERFIELDS trade Luis Aguayo to PENGUINS for Tom Foley. Pretty inconsequential. Foley was on the DL at the time, but hadn’t been reserved by the Penguins. The Copperfields acquired him and used the roster spot to call up old favorite Jeff Stone from the Free Agent Pool. Stone stole a couple bases for the Coppers before getting injured. Aguayo provided the Penguins with decent power for a part time middle infielder, but his .203 batting average was a killer.
May 20, 1986	PENGUINS trade Scott Garrelts and Joe Orsulak to FRIARS for Tom Niedenfuer and Vince Coleman. Hmmm. Maybe a little father-son favoritism here, as Friar’s owner Fred trades super-speedster Vince Coleman to the Penguins, owned by his son Paul? Here are the post trade stats: Friars get Orsulak: .250 BA – 1 HR – 9 RBI – 18 SB Garrelts: 3.15 ERA – 1.25 RAT – 9 W – 10 SV Penguins get Coleman: .228 BA – 0 HR – 20 RBI – 95 SB Niedenfuer: 4.02 ERA – 1.41 RAT – 4 W – 8 SV Ignore the SB, and this deal is a lot closer than it might have seemed. And about those steals? Despite giving up Coleman, the Friars did not drop a single point in the category (maintaining their second place ranking in SB throughout the rest of the year). Meanwhile, Coleman’s 95 steals gained the Penguins only a point and a half.
May 20, 2004	PICTS trade Brad Ausmus to DEM REBELS for Jeff Suppan. A fairly middling trade between two middle-of-the-pack teams – the Rebels were in 6th, the Picts in 7th at the time of the trade. The Rebels were limping along with Tyler Greene and Corky Miller behind the plate, so saw Ausmus as an upgrade there, while the Picts were pulling in only 22 points in the pitching categories so needed help there. Post-trade stats: Ausmus: .297 OBP – 85 TB – 24 RS – 20 RBI – 1 SB Suppan: 4.31 ERA – 1.41 RAT – 1.62 K:BB – 11 QS – 0 HoSv
May 21, 2001	RUFFINS trade Rueben Rivera to HARD HATS for Eric Gagne. The Ruffins would trade Gagne to the Lambchops just a week or so later. Rivera went on to put up fair stats for the Hats after this deal: 7 HR, 22 RBI, and 4 SB.
May 21-27, 2002	Shawn Green of DEM REBELS has perhaps the greatest single week in CFCL history. On May 20, was hitting .231 with 3 HR and 21 RBI for the Rebels, but then began a week-long tear that is likely among the best the Roto game has ever seen. Here’s the way I noted it in the weekly Roster Change report:  By the time the week was over, Green was up to .282 with 13 HR and 39 RBI, which was a little closer to what the Rebels were expecting for the .39 they were paying him.
May 23, 1988	COPPERFIELDS trade Mike Aldrete, Floyd Youmans, and Buddy Bell (RL) to RUFFINS for Mike Marshall and Mark Grant. Mike Marshall was the main component here. The Copperfields had acquired Youmans just a week earlier, but package him with Aldrete and an injured Bell to pick up Marshall. Grant was a throw-in whom the Coppers immediately waived in order to activate Steve Bedrosian. Marshall hit .274 with 14 HR and 56 RBI for the Copperfields the rest of the way. Aldrete fizzled for the Ruffins (.269, 3 HR) and Bell came off the DL, but contributed just 7 HR and 37 RBI. Youmans made only seven starts for the Ruffins before missing the rest of the season with an injury, but was outstanding in those seven games (3 W, 1.85 ERA). Something I noticed when looking back at this one … both Marshall and Aldrete were on D contracts, which meant they had both been acquired in the 1988 Draft. Marshall was an established slugger at the time, though he was coming off a slightly down year (16 HR and 72 RBI in 1987) and the Ruffins were able to get him for just .05 in the auction. Aldrete, however, had just one full season under his belt in which he hit 9 homers and drove in 51 runs … though he did sport a .325 BA. Whether it was the promise of that batting average or something else, Aldrete went for .14 in the auction – almost three times as much as Marshall. And of course, if the Copperfields bid .14, someone else must have bid .13. I wondered if this could have been the case of Bill Mazeroski striking again, so checked my copy of his 1988 magazine and sure enough:  As I suspected, very likely another case of Hyper-Inflation resulting from Pre-Draft Obsession, although a minor one.
May 23, 2002	PICTS trade Ken Griffey Jr. and their 7th round Rotation Draft pick in 2003 to HARD HATS for Kaz Ishii, Kyle Ainsworth, and their 1st round Rotation Draft pick in 2003. The Picts were absolutely floundering at the time of this deal – in last place and a whopping 20.5 points behind the 11th place Six Packs – so it made sense to begin rebuilding by acquiring a couple promising rookies. Aisnworth didn’t contribute much for the Picts in 2002, but Ishii recorded 10 Wins although he had an ERA over 5.00 after the trade. When roster freeze time came in 2003, the Picts kept Ainsworth and cut Ishii. Griffey, meanwhile, didn’t exactly set the world ablaze for the Hard Hats, hitting just .263 with 7 HR and 20 RBIs after the trade. Here’s how the draft picks turned out: The Picts selected Scott Sullivan with the Hats’ first rounder, who put up decent stats in middle relief. In the 7th round, the Hats used the Picts’ pick to select minor leaguer Brendan Harris.
May 24, 2005	SPLINTERS trade Pedro Martinez, Ray Durham, and Brad Ausmus to RESERVOIR DOGS for Chad Cordero, Johnny Estrada, and their 3rd round Rotation Draft pick in 2006. A deal between a last place team (Splinters) and a first place team (Dogs), and this is one that truly paid off for both teams involved. The salaries carried by Martinez (.44) and Durham (.23) made them eminently dumpable for the Splinters, and the Dogs spent the rest of the season trying to juggle the two of them and a number of other high-priced acquisitions in and out of their lineup in order to stay under the in-season salary cap. Ausmus was included largely because his .04 salary allowed the Dogs some cap flexibility while providing fairly reliable offense. Martinez and Durham, meanwhile, certainly paid off: Durham: .348 OBP - 168 TB – 50 RS – 52 RBI – 5 SB Martinez: 2.69 ERA – 1.04 RAT – 3.86 K:BB – 17 QS – 0 HoSv It wasn’t enough for the Dogs, though, as they eventually finished second to the Copperfields. In Cordero, the Splinters got a cheap (.06) closer, who not only produced immediately after the trade (2.11 ERA, 37 Saves), but also afterward. The Splinters signed him to a 2-year contract prior to 2006, and Cordero delivered 66 Saves over the life of the contract. Estrada had a great 2006 as well, delivering a .328 OBP, 184 TB, 43 RS, and 71 RBI as a four-cent catcher. The Splinters selected utility infielder Eric Bruntlett with the Dogs’ 3rd rounder in 2006. The Splinters continued their rebuilding in another deal a couple days later. See below…
May 25, 1993	LAMBCHOPS trade Todd Zeile, Pedro Astacio, and Greg Swindell to DA PAUL MEISTERS for Kevin Mitchell, Rheal Cormier, and Mike Kelly (RL). A huge misstep for the Lambchops. At the time of the trade, they were in 4th place while the Meisters languished in 7th. By the end of the season, they had exchanged places in the standings, and this trade was likely a big reason. Here’s what happened after the deal: Meisters get Zeile: .291 BA – 16 HR – 84 RBI – 2 SB Astacio: 3.25 ERA – 1.17 RAT – 14 W – 0 SV Swindell: 3.59 ERA – 1.34 RAT – 7 W – 0 SV Lambchops get Mitchell: .327 – 13 HR – 37 RBI – 1 SB Cormier: 4.71 ERA – 1.41 RAT – 5 W – 0 SV Kelly: did not play Kelly was a hotshot power/speed prospect, but never panned out in the majors.
May 25, 2005	SPLINTERS trade Cliff Floyd, Shawn Green, and Mike Koplove to HOT SLUDGE SUNDAE for Jose Reyes, Armando Benitez, and their 4th round Rotation Draft pick in 2006. The second rebuilding trade of the week for the Splinters. Once agan, they pick up a cheap closer (Benitez, .12 – injured at the time of the trade) and an inexpensive hitter at a low-offense position (Reyes, .10). The Sundae were in 10th place at the time of the trade, but within hailing distance of a money spot. Although Koplove turned out to be a non-factor, the Sundae got good production from Floyd & Green, but it wasn’t enough to pull them up. Having only risen to 9th place by early July, the Sundae pulled the plug and dealt Green to the 7th place Rebels and traded Floyd to the second place Copperfields a couple weeks later. Things turned out much better for the Splinters. Reyes scored 74 Runs and drove in 41, in addition to stealing 51 bases after the deal. When Benitez returned from his injury, he contributed 15 Saves. In fact, by the time the season was over, the Splinters had not only acquired a solid foundation for 2006, but had gone from last place to 7th, picking up 18 points in the standings. Benitez and Reyes both produced for the Splinters the following year as well: 2006 Stats: Reyes - .354 OBP – 315 TB – 122 RS – 81 RBI – 64 SB Benitez – 3.52 ERA – 1.57 RAT – 1.48 K:BB – 0 QS – 17 HoSv The Splinters used the Sundae’s 4th round pick in 2006 to select reserve catcher JD Closser.