New Addition to the CFCL

As was mentioned in a previous post, the off-season for most fantasy leagues is fraught with many different things.  There could be rule changes, the CFCL has post season awards (still to be completed for 2013), owners leave and ultimately, hopefully, new owners arrive.  It became official on Monday, November 4th, 2013 that the 45th team in CFCL history came to be.

Pat Chesnut and Matt Barriball joined forces, passed a rigorous application and voting process to be accepted as new owners to the CFCL.  They immediately set about the task of naming their franchise.  They narrowed it down to two possibilities, hired professional Team Naming Consultants and were unanimously told to go with:

Hey Patta Matta Swing

The name harkens us all back to our Little League days, standing in position on the field (firstbase for me) and chirping at the batter.  While the name could be cumbersome at the draft "Hey Patta Matta Swing bids .07 on Schierholtz."  "Hey Patta Matta Swing acquires Jay Bruce." etc., the team will, in casual conversation, be known as The Swing - still a nice reference to the greatest game around.

More will be learned about our new owners as they will be featured in an upcoming exclusive interview with The Monroe Doctrine.  Additionally, they are hard at work putting together their Owner Profile.

But for now we would simply like to welcome Pat and Matt to the CFCL.

Best Waiver Claim

Also in 1985 we created the Best Waiver Claim Award.  CFCL (and all fantasy owners, honestly) try to build a winning team by drafting well, making astute trades, picking up talented free agents during the season and keeping a sharp eye out for who other teams cut.  When a team cuts a player during the season, that player is on our "waiver wire".  All teams have an oppportunity to scoop up waived players (our system uses the standings in reverse to decide which claiming teams have priority).

After a while the CFCL, due to constraints of the stat service we used, did away with the in-season waiver.  But starting in 2003 we began a thing called Winter Waivers.  Mainly it was an opportunity to do some management and tweaking of our rosters during the off-season.  There is nothing better that making some roster moves in early January.  The following list includes the winners of Best Waiver Claim and Best Winter Waiver Claim.

1985		Dem Rebels
1986		Bald Eagles
1987		Paul's Penguins
1988		Twin Picks
1989		Bald Eagles
1990		Lambchops
1991		Six Packs
1992		Twin Picks
1999		Roger Cedeno (W)		DoorMatts
2000		Jeffery Hammonds (W)		Dem Rebels
2001		Mike Williams (W)		Nick's Picts
2002		Mike Williams (W)		Matt's Hard Hats
2003		Winter: Edgar Renteria		Picts
		Season: Chris Reitsma		David's Copperfields
2004		Winter: Jim Thome		Picts
		Season: Rheal Cormier		Picts
2005		Winter: Aaron Harang		Dem Rebels
		Season: Roberto Hernandez		Sludge Sundae

2006		Winter: Freddy Sanchez		Kenndoza Line
		Season: Matt Capps		Nick's Picts
2007		Winter: Manny Corpas		David's Copperfields
		Season: Rudy Seanez		David's Copperfields
2008		Winter: Lance Berkman		Nick's Picts

2009      Winter:  Skip Schumacher            David's Copperfields
2010      Winter:  Casey McGehee              Dem Rebels
2011      Winter:  Ben Francisco                 Red Hots
              Winter:  Alfonso Soriano              Graging Bulls
2012      Winter:  Kenley Jansen                Candy Colored Clowns

Most Productive Farm System

In 1985 we added an award to recognize the team that dug deep and planned for the future by picking quality minor leaguers.  In the beginning (1985, 1986, etc) we were allowed to select three minor leaguers.  Many teams in the CFCL, still trying to figure out how to pick major league talent, would look at the Chicago Tribune and see who was in the Cubs minor league system.  That's no doubt  how guys like Don Schultze, Dan Rohn and Dave Owen were selected.  Not surprisingly the owners that selected those players did not win the award.

Then in 1992 we moved to Ultra and added reserve lists, 12 initially and then our current 17.  This afforded owners to really dig deep into the minor leagues and even Japan to snatch up all the young talent available.

The Most Productive Farm System Award goes to the team who ACTIVATES the most productive players from the minors during the current baseball season.  So, for example, let's look at 2009.  The Rebels won the award with Cameron Maybin, Andrew McCutchen and Mat Latos.  The Rebels didn't select McCutchen.  They traded for him while he was still in the minors.  When McCutchen went to the show in Pittsburgh, he was part of the Rebels team and therefore the Rebels got credit for him coming from their minor league system.

It's not perfect and maybe more credit should have gone to the Ruffins, but in truth minor leaguers are traded so frequently and multiple times over it would be near impossible to track the origin of each player.

Here is the list of all the Most Productive Farm System Winners:

1985		Fred's Friars		VColeman
1986		David's Copperfields		BBonds, JGonzalez
1987		Bald Eagles		R Palmiero, J Magrane
1988		David's Copperfields		R Alomar, R Gant
1989		David's Copperfields		G Jefferies, Dw Smith, E Anthony
1990		Eric's Lambchops		D Deshields, T Ziele, S Avery
1991		Bald Eagles		W Chamberlain, A Cedeno
1992		Clark's Kents		D Nied, M Piazza
1993		Dem Rebels		J Burnitz, P Martinez, R Klesko, J Lopez
1994		David's Ruffins		C Floyd, B Hunter, JR Phillips
1995		David's Ruffins		B Pulsipher, B Barber, R Bottalico
1996		David's Ruffins		A Jones, S Rolen, B Wagner, Al Benes
1997		Dem Rebels		L Hernandez, B Keischnick, P Reese
1998		David's Ruffins		A Boone, D Gibson, A Ramirez, K Wood, M Clement, S Elarton
1999		David's Ruffins David's Copperfields		M Clement, D Gibson, O Dotel, C Hermanson, D Ward, P Bergeron, L Berkman R Belliard, B Chen, B Petrick, J Ramirez
2000		David's Copperfields		Lance Berkman, Ben Petrick, Brad Penny
2001		Matt's Hard Hats		Josh Beckett, Jimmy Rollins, Bud Smith
2002		Matt's Hard Hats David's Ruffins		Josh Beckett, Jacob Peavy, Kurt Ainsworth, Peter Bergeron Bobby Hill, Jack Cust, Sean Burroughs, Juan Cruz
2003		DoorMatts		Dontrelle Willis
2004		Ruffins		David Wright, John Buck, Todd Linden, Scott Hairston
2005		Kenndoza Line		Ryan Howard, Rickey Weeks, JD Closser, Luke Hudson
2006		David's Ruffins		Angel Guzman, Cole Hamels, Carlos Quentin, Jeremy Hermida
2007		Graging Bulls		Troy Tulowitzki, Justin Upton
2008		Candy Colored Clowns		JR Towles, Jay Bruce, Chris Perez, Blake DeWitt, Chris Volstad

2009     Dem Rebels                    Cameron Maybin, Andrew McCutchen, Mat Latos
2010     Candy Colored                Buster Posey, Starlin Castro, Yonder Alonso
             Clowns
2011     Kenndoza Line                Danny Espinosa, Craig Kimbrell, Jordan Lyles, Jerry Sands
2012     Graging Bulls                  Bryce Harper

Award for Best Pitching

The final award to be recognized that originated in 1984 is Best Pitching.  Pretty self-explanatory, like Best Offense.  This award is not voted on, it's simply a mathematical fact.  The team that acquired the most points in the pitching categories has the Best Pitching.  In 1984 we used Wins, Saves, ERA and WHiP as our categories.  When we changed our offensive stat categories we also modified our pitching categories.  We changed them (and still use) Quality Starts, Saves+Holds, ERA, WHiP and K/BB.  Here are the past winners.

1984		Fred's Friars		36 points
1985		Mudville Sluggers		37 points
1986		Paul's Penguins		35.5 points
1987		Bald Eagles		37 points
1988		Bald Eagles David's Copperfields		37 points
1989		Dem Rebels		37 points
1990		Twin Picks		35 points
1991		Bald Eagles		36 points
1992		David's Copperfields David's Ruffins		34 points
1993		David's Copperfields		37 points
1994		Da Paul Meisters		33.5 points
1995		David's Copperfields		37 points
1996		Dem Rebels		34 points
1997		David's Copperfields		40 points
1998		David's Copperfields		32 points
1999		Six Packs		34 points
2000		David's Copperfields		43.5 points
2001		David's Copperfields		44 points
2002		Eric's Lambchops		38 points
2003		Eric's Lambchops		57 points
2004		Steve's Stones		55.5 points
2005		David's Ruffins		53.5 points
2006		David's Ruffins		52 points
2007		David's Ruffins Kenndoza Line		44 points
2008		Mo's Red Hots		48 points

2009     DoorMatts                      43 points
2010     DoorMatts                      40 points
2011     DoorMatts                      42 points
2012     Candy Colored Clowns  43 points

Award for Best Offense

Sticking with our 1984 awards, one of the two that we haven't highlighted yet is Best Offense.  Unlike the recent posts about Steal of the Year and Best Free Agent Acquisition, this is simply a numerical calculation.  There is no voting involved.  The team that earns the most points with their offense is winner of Best Offense.

As you look through the previous winners you will see some increase and decrease in the winning point totals.  That comes from a couple of sources.  First, the number of teams in the league has shifted from six to ten to twelve and back again.  So if we have twelve teams in the league there are 12 points available in each offensive category.  Additionally we started the league with four offensive categories (batting average, home runs, RBI and stolen bases).  Eventually we switched to what we felt were categories that were more representative of what it took to put together a complete, solid team.  So we changed our categories to Total Bases, On Base Percentage, Runs, RBI and Stolen Bases.  With five categories instead of four, there are more offensive points in play as well.

Here are the past winners of Best Offense.

1984		David's Copperfields		38 points
1985		David's Copperfields		34 points
1986		David's Copperfields		35 points
1987		David's Copperfields		38 points
1988		David's Copperfields		36 points
1989		David's Copperfields		37 points
1990		Eric's Lambchops		35 points
1991		Eric's Lambchops		35 points
1992		David's Copperfields		38 points
1993		David's Copperfields Clark's Kents		35 points
1994		Eric's Lambchops		30 points
1995		David's Ruffins		36 points
1996		Dem Rebels		39 points
1997		David's Ruffins David's Copperfields		34 points
1998		David's Ruffins		36 points
1999		David's Copperfields		37 points
2000		David's Copperfields		45 points
2001		David's Copperfields		44 points
2002		Eric's Lambchops		43 points
2003		Reservoir Dogs		58 points
2004		David's Copperfields		55 points
2005		David's Copperfields		57 points
		Reservoir Dogs
2006		David's Ruffins		59 points
2007		Davids Copperfields		50 points
2008		Steve's Stones		54 points

2009     Graging Bulls                 47 points
2010     David's Ruffins               48 points
2011     Morkertzuma's Revenge   45 points
2012     Dem Rebels                     44.5 points

Best Free Agent Acquisition

In continuing our look at the CFCL Post Season Awards we come to Best Free Agent Acquisition. This award was also established back in our inaugural season and had a lot to do with the fact that all Original 6 owners were Cub fans. 1984 was magical beyond the fact that the CFCL was born. That was the year that the Cubs finally made the post-season for the first time since 1945.

A common thread among CFCL owners and real life GMs life Dallas Green is that we are constantly trying to improve our team during the season. One way for a CFCL owner to do that is by acquiring a National League player that isn't currently on a CFCL roster. That can come about a couple of ways. One is that the player was never selected at the draft or in the reserve rounds. It's also possible that the player became available when they were traded from the American League to the National League.

As we have gone to great lengths to point out, the CFCL is very deep in talent with our owners. A lot of guys know a lot of stuff. Even with all that knowledge, we miss things. We don't anticipate who the next break out star will be who is languishing on the bench as of Draft Day. We realize Giancarlo Stanton (Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg) is supposed to be the Rookie of the Year but we miss the Chris Coghlan's of the world. Here is a list of past winners and the team that chose them.

As you look at the list some guys seem obvious. Rick Sutcliffe is famous for joining the Cubs mid-season and going 16-1. He wasn't available at the draft so that's why he could be picked up during the season. Some other guys (Tom Browning, Tom Glavine, David Cone, Gene Garber) were either not the player they eventually came to be OR were available in all their glory on Draft Day but weren't needed. Remember the CFCL didn't start out playing with 17 man reserve lists from the beginning. If we had seven CFCL teams and only needed nine pitchers (total of 63), that left A LOT of talent out there just waiting to be scooped up.

1984		Rick Sutcliffe		Fred's Friars
1985		Tom Browning		Dem Rebels
1986		Gene Garber		Bald Eagles
1987		Greg Dunne		David's Copperfields
1988		David Cone		Bald Eagles
1989		Mark Langston		Six Packs
1990		Hal Morris		David's Copperfields
1991		Tom Glavine		Mr. Paul's Swordfish
1992		Moises Alou		David's Ruffins
1993		Kirk Rueter		David's Copperfields
1994		John Hudek		David's Copperfields
1995		Mark Whiten		David's Copperfields
1996		Jermaine Dye		David's Ruffins
1997		Rich Loiselle		DoorMatts
1998		Kerry Ligtenberg		Eric's Lambchops
1999		Todd Ritchie		DoorMatts
2000		Jeff D'Amico		David's Copperfields
2001		Vinnie Castilla		Steve's Stones
2002		Scott Stewart		David's Copperfields
2003		Scott Podsednick		Dem Rebels
2004		Milton Bradley		Steve's Stones
2005		Randy Winn		Reservoir Dogs
2006		Brandon Phillips		David's Ruffins
2007		Brad Hennessey		David's Ruffins
2008		CC Sabathia		Mo's Red Hots

2009     Chris Coghlan           Revenge
2010     John Axford              DoorMatts
2011     Antonio Bastardo      DoorMatts
2012     Jason Grilli                Beatniks

Steal of the Year

During the off-season, one of the traditions of the CFCL is to recognize various accomplishments from the recent season.  We send out an Awards Ballot so the owners can vote for MVP, Cy Young, GM of the Year, etc. 

Some awards have been added to the ballot over time and others have been around since the start of the league back in 1984.

One award that's been around since the beginning is the Steal of the Year.  The CFCL's draft is an auction draft.  So every year the owners are charged with trying to identify which players they want to add to their team and then (more importantly) figuring out how much they are willing to spend on the players.  Most players, when you head into the draft, you can accurately guess the range of cost they will fall in to.  Walking in to the draft, for example, you could say "Clayton Kershaw is available and he's probably going to go for .35-.45."  Most of the time you'd be right.  Sometimes there are surprises both high and low.

We don't really know who the great steals are until the end of the year when you can compare a players production vs. his cost.

Here is the description of our Steal of the Year Award from othe CFCL Headquarters:

Steal of the Year

Since our inaugural season of 1984, this award is given to that player whom the CFCL owners feel was the biggest bargain in the Draft that year. With so many writers publishing player values these days, it would be a simple task to just subtract each player's salary from his calculated value at the end of the season. However, this is about perceived value as much as anything, and it's a lot more fun to ponder the candidates than it would be to determine the winner with a calculator.

 

The key word there is "perceived".  We don't have any hard and fast rules for our owners to follow in voting for any of the awards.  We try to offer some parameters for consideration, but how much weight to assess to the variables is up to each owner.  For example, for SOTY, is production more important than price?  Does it matter what position the player plays?  That's all for the owners to decide and we get wide-ranging opinions in the voting.  But this is all meant to be fun and part of an end of the year celebration so we don't take things too seriously.

 

Here is a list of all the previous SOTY winners and the team that drafted them as well as their salary.  As you can see, most winners had extremely low salaries.

 

Steal Of The Year

1984		Charlie Lea		Fred's Friars		.01
1985		John Tudor		Mudville Sluggers		.08
1986		Bob Ojeda		David's Ruffins		.01
1987		Chris James		Dem Rebels		.01
1988		Randy Myers		Twin Picks		.10
1989		Mike Bielecki		David's Copperfields		.01
1990		Norm Charlton		Bald Eagles		.02
1991		Mike Morgan		Six Packs		.01
1992		Eric Karros		Six Packs		.01
1993		Mark Whiten		David's Ruffins		.01
1994		John Franco		Da Paul Meisters		.07
1995		Vinnie Castilla		David's Copperfields		.01
1996		Henry Rodriguez		FlatFeet		.04
1997		Jeff Kent		Six Packs		.09
1998		Greg Vaughn		Steve's Slackers		.09
1999		Scott Williamson		Six Packs		.04
2000		Ryan Dempster		Dem Rebels		.02
2001		Albert Pujols		DoorMatts		.03
2002		Dave Roberts		Lambchops		.01
2003		Javy Lopez		Lambchops		.06
2004		Adrian Beltre		Reservoir Dogs		.12
2005		Todd Jones		DoorMatts		.01
2006		Freddy Sanchez		Lambchops		.03
2007		Kevin Gregg		Lambchops		.02
2008		Ryan Ludwick		Mo's Red Hots		.01

2009    Matt Cain                  David's Ruffins               .10
2010     Angel Pagan             Twin Killers                    .01
2011     Lance Berkman        David's Ruffins               .14
2012     Adam LaRoche        Dem Rebels                     .05