This Week In CFCL History

Here’s a look at this week in CFCL history, covering the dates May 26 to June 1.

May 26, 1992	LAMBCHOPS trade Billy Hatcher (RL) and Tim Wallach (RL) to DA PAUL MEISTERS for Willie McGee and M Wohlers (RL). The Lambchops were in second place at the time of this trade, just half a point out of first, while the Meisters languished in last, 12 points behind their nearest competitor.  The Lambchops were next-to-last in the Stolen Bases category and third-to-last in Saves, hence the interest in McGee and Wohlers. Wohlers was injured at the time, but due to return soon.  The duo performed decently for the Lambchops, but not well enough to keep them from dropping to 5th by the season’s end. Post trade stats:  McGee: .304 BA – 1 HR – 25 RBI – 10 SB Wohlers: 2.55 ERA – 1.19 RATIO – 1 W – 4 Sv
May 26, 2000	STONES trade Randy Johnson (.41), Craig Biggio (.47), Hanley Frias (.10), and Chris Stynes (.10) to COPPERFIELDS for Brad Penny (.05), Rafael Belliard (.10), Chip Ambres (minors), and Austin Kearns (minors). The Copperfields package a set of solid but unspectacular keepers to obtain a couple future Hall of Famers, with salaries to fit. Frias and Stynes were throw-ins, and were waived a couple days later.  Johnson and Biggio helped the Copperfields capture the 2000 championship, producing the following post-trade:  Biggio: .264 BA – 7 HR – 19 RBI – 4 SB Johnson: 3.22 ERA – 1.25 RATIO – 12 W – 0 Sv
May 27, 1997	SIX PACKS trade Raul Mondesi, Eric Young, and their 9th round Rotation Draft pick in 1998 to RUFFINS for Ugueth Urbina and Jose Guillen. The Ruffins were tied for first and ready to make a move, so sent 10-cent closer Urbina and rookie slugger prospect Guillen to the Six Packs for some offensive help in the person of non-keepers Mondesi (final contract year) and Young (.35 salary).  The new Ruffins certainly produced, and helped the Ruffins finish in first in the HR, RBI and SB categories:  Mondesi: .326 BA – 20 HR – 57 RBI – 22 SB Young: .258 BA – 6 HR – 46 RBI – 34 SB  The Ruffins fell short, however, and finished the 1997 season in second place.  Urbina and Guillen proved to be worthy keepers for the Six Packs, putting up the following stats in 2008:  Guillen: .267 BA – 14 HR – 84 RBI – 3 SB Urbina: 1.30 ERA – 1.01 RATIO – 6 W – 34 Sv  They were of little help the Six Packs, though, who finished 1998 in last place.
May 27, 2001	SIX PACKS trade Jeff Kent (.40), and Chris Brock to MAULERS for Geoff Blum and Randy Johnson (.46). Brock and Blum are clear position-balancing throw-ins in this swap of a 40-cent hitter for 46-cent pitcher. Based on their stats the rest of the season, it looks like a pretty even swap:  Johnson: 2.21 ERA – 1.02 RATIO – 16 W – 0 Sv Kent: .312 BA – 14 HR – 68 RBI – 7 SB  Johnson helped the Six Packs rise from 5th place to 2nd by the end of the season, as they picked up 19 points in the pitching categories alone.  And while Kent didn’t help the Maulers much (they actually lost two points in the offensive categories, for a total of 7 hitting points by the end of the year), they didn’t miss the Big Unit at all, as they gained 6 pitching points after the trade and rose from 12th to 10th in the overall standings.
May 28, 2001	RUFFINS trade Travis Lee, Eric Gagne, and Keith Ginter to LAMBCHOPS for Edgar Renteria, Al Leiter, and Shawon Dunston. Renteria (.31 salary) and Leiter (final contract year) were non-keepers, which made them expendable for the 10th place Lambchops.  Renteria and Leiter put up respectable stats after the trade and helped the Ruffins climb a couple places in the standings:  Renteria: .264 BA – 6 HR – 43 RBI – 14 SB Leiter: 3.07 ERA – 1.20 RATIO – 9 W – 0 Sv  The Ruffins had acquired Gagne in trade a week earlier, and he was the real jewel in this deal. After the deal, he compiled a 4.50 ERA and 5 Wins for the Lambchops in a combination of starts, middle relief, and mop-up duty.   By the end of 2001, Gagne had completed three seasons in the majors. Despite career stats of a 4.61 ERA, 1.38 RATIO, 11 Wins and 0 Saves, the Lambchops kept Gagne going into the 2002 season and were rewarded with a truly stellar season: 1.97 ERA, 0.86 RATIO, 4 Wins, and 52 -- 52! -- Saves, helping lead the Lambchps to their first CFCL championship in 2002. Nice call, Eric!
May 29, 2006	STONES trade Ryan Freel, Eric Patterson, and their 13th round Rotation Draft pick in 2007 to DEM REBELS for Brian Giles, Chris Duffy, and Steve Kline. "The Stones have gone down faster than a one-legged hooker on roller blades skating through gravel!” Thus did the 2006 Stones assess their performance as of mid-March in a CFCL Forums post announcing their intention to begin dumping.  Oddly enough, the first trade they made after the announcement doesn’t look like a dump at all, as they traded a keepable Ryan Freel (.16), a minor leaguer, and a draft pick to the last place Dem Rebels, and acquired Brian Giles and his .38 salary and change.  Duffy was a non-factor, as the Stones immediately released him. Here’s what Giles and Kline gave the Stones:  Giles: .360 OBP - 162 TB – 56 RS – 51 RBI – 6 SB Kline: 3.86 ERA – 1.50 RATIO – 1.50 K:BB – 0 QS – 13 HoSv  The Rebels did a little bit better on this one. Patterson never panned out, however Freel provided a .398 OPB, 63 TB, 20 RS, 8 RBI, and 9 SB between the time of the trade and July 14. That’s when the Rebels flipped Freel to Kenndoza Line for someone named Matt Kemp…
May 29, 2006	STONES trade Billy Wagner, and Jae Wong Seo to RUFFINS for Cole Hamels, Rick White, and their 4th round Rotation Draft pick in 2007. Ok, that’s a little more in line with what you’d expect to see from a team that’s just announced their intention to dump. Made the same day as the trade above, this one had the Stones acquiring the promising Cole Hamels. Rick White was a toss-in who was cut a couple days later.  Hamels blossomed for the Stones in 2007, putting together a season line of 3.39 ERA – 1.12 RATIO – 4.12 K:BB – 16 QS – 0 HoSv.  Even better, the Stones used the Ruffins’ 4th round Rotation Draft pick to select Yovani Gallardo, who compiled a 3.67 ERA – 1.27 RATIO – 2.73 K:BB – 11 QS – 0 HoSv line for the Stones in 2007.  How did things turn out for the Ruffins? Seo was a bust, but Wagner put up very solid stats after the deal:  Wagner: 3.11 ERA – 1.19 RATIO – 3.18 K:BB – 0 QS – 22 HoSv  Wagner helped the Ruffins move from 11th to 3rd in the HoSv category and was a key contributor as the Ruffins captured the 2006 title.  For more Stone Dumpin’ fun, see the deal with the Go-Go below…
May 30, 1995	DOORMATTS trade Andy Benes (RL) to DA PAUL MEISTERS for Steve Finley. The DoorMatts and Meisters were in 5th and 6th place respectively when they made this deal, but it was still early in the 1995 season, which was less than a month old due to the player strike.  A straight-up swap of hitting for pitching, the DoorMatts came out the big winners here, though neither team competed for a money spot in 1995:  Finley: .300 BA – 7 HR – 33 RBI – 28 SB Benes: 4.67 ERA – 1.49 RATIO – 11 W – 0 Sv
May 31, 2000	STONES trade Jay Bell, Barry Larkin, Ugueth Urbina, Dennis Cook, and their 16th and 17th round Rotation Draft picks in 2001 to GO-GO for Moises Alou, Mickey Morandini, Eric Cammack, Jorge Toca, and their 1st and 2nd round Rotation Draft picks in 2001. 2000 was the first season in the CFCL for both the Stones and the Go-Go, and by the end of May they were in very different spots – The Go-Go were in 3rd place, just 4 points out of second, while the Stones were dropping like a – pardon the expression – rock, having lost 20 points in the three previous weeks. Given their respective positions, it made total sense for the Stones to begin rebuilding and the Go-Go to begin acquiring high-priced non-keepers.   The Go-Go accomplished their mission, picking up two of the day’s top offensive short stops in Bell (.20) and Larkin (.29) in what looks like a steal for the Go-Go. Let’s look at what they gave the Stones:  Cammack and Toca were a couple of middling prospects and ended up totaling 33 games played in their eventual major league careers. Morandini had a salary of just .04, which would have been a decent price for a keeper, but he never made it to the 2002 season, retiring after the 2001 season.  Meanwhile, the Go-Go got decent stats from Bell and Larkin (whose season was cut short by injury). Looks like a win for the Go-Go, right?  Well, we haven’t accounted for Moises Alou, who provided more production for the Stones all by himself than Larkin & Bell combined gave the Go-Go:  Bell & Larkin: 287 BA – 13 HR – 67 RBI – 21 SB Alou: .361 BA – 24 HR – 96 RBI – 3 SB  Not only that, with a salary of only .03, Alou gave the Stones an incredible keeper for the 2001 season during which he hit .331 with 27 HR and 108 RBI.  But wait, it gets better… With the Go-Go’s 1st and 2nd round Rotation Draft picks in 2001, the Stones selected Jason Schmidt and Paul Byrd, who combined for 19 Wins in 2001.  When it came time for the Go-Go to use the 16th and 17th round picks the Stones had traded them, they selected Wilken Ruan and Carlos Urquiola. No, I’ve never heard of them either…(Ruan hit .231 in 33 lifetime at-bats, Urquiola never made it to the majors and was out of professional baseball by 2002 – unless you count his 2005 season with Parma of the Italian League).  Just goes to show, you can’t judge a dump trade at the time the dump is taken…
May 31, 2003	HARD HATS trade Derrick Lee and Joey Eischen to RESERVOIR DOGS for Kris Benson and Bobby Basham. It seemed like such a harmless little trade at the time. The third place Hard Hats, who had offense to spare but were last in Quality Starts, shipped slugger Derrick Lee to the fifth place Reservoir Dogs for starter Kris Benson, with a minor league pitcher and middle reliever as throw-ins.  There was no clue at the time that this deal would set in motion a series of events that threatened the very future of the CFCL.  Stay tuned…