Fanmail from a Flounder?

I got a note from the Dapper Capper this morning about one of the players he sent to us in the Edmonds deal back in March:

“Did you know that Mohr-on is the HR leader for Colorado? Is that more unbelievable than the fact that no one on the Rockies have more than 16 HRs? Maybe it’s time to rethink the strategy of buying Rockies at the draft.”

The Doc speculated that Coors has actually turned into a pitchers’ park.

Meanwhile, his box score line was classic Mohr-on: 4AB, 1RB, 1RBI, 3K. He’s hitting .225, but he’s going to finish with about 20 homers. Was he worth $5? We had a similar situation with Marquis Grissom when he was in LA, having bought him for $4 and he hit 20 homers while batting .220. We threw him back, and he proceeded to have 2 pretty decent seasons for the Giants.

Looking back on the trade, which was Chad Tracy and Mohr-on for Edmonds, I’d say it was a push, maybe slightly in favor of us. Tracy has 19 homers and Mohr-on 16. Meanwhile Edmonds is having a good year, but it was clear that 2004 was a career year for him. The deal did leave us with too much money at a highly inflated draft.

We also heard from The Elder Barry this morning, in a message entitled “Why Ties are Bad:

There are no ties in Major League baseball and there should be no ties in BABI baseball either.

According to the Washington Post, "Reliever Luis Ayala has tendinitis in his right elbow, and an MRI confirmed the there was no further damage. He is listed as day-to-day." Ayala has 7 wins for the Leaguers since they traded an open spot for him.

SOUR GRAPES ... If the Bat Out of Hell had had an injured player when Greg was looking to move Ayala, his 7 wins would have me in 4th place right now and only 2.5 points out of first. Something this capricious and arbitrary shouldn't be a factor in determining the winner of our league.

I don’t have an opinion about this yet. But having read the intro to Barry's latest mystery novel, I do think his writing is hilarious.

Here are the standings after Thursday’s play:

Pecklers 67.0 (+.5)
Cappers 67.0 (+2.0)
Any 9 65.0 (E)
300 Pounders 62.5 (-1.5)
Busch Leaguers 61.5 (-.5)
Bats 61.0 (E)
Lickers 58.0 (-2.0)

The Cappers are making a move in the lower echelons of hitting. Their 24 RBI’s are leading BABI this week, and they have picked up a couple of BA points, though they are still in a virtual tie with the Lickers and Hobo. Rumor has it that George thinks the Leaguers have it in the bag, and that he’s playing for 2nd place. He might be right. And he might not be right.

Any 9 picked up a couple of saves yesterday, moving a little closer to the pack. I suspect that they will pass the Cappers and the Lickers, but it will be close. These are critical points for Any 9 if they are going to get to the magic 70 point threshhold. Also, the Bums and the Pecklers are fighting them for BA points. Ken probably is also targeting the Cappers and the Pecklers for a couple of WHIP points.

The Busch Leaguers have now dropped to 11th in wins, but they have good upside there. On a day to day basis wins can be a function of whether you had starters going that day. The Bats, with 8 starters, have one going almost every day, but the other contenders have between 4 and 6 starters. It is clear that the Leaguers are going to need more than those extra saves points, and they will have to come from pitching, because the Leaguers have virtually no upside in hitting any more.

The Lickers are on the verge of falling out of contention. They are only 3 points ahead of Hobo. We appologize to Hobo if they are insulted that we don’t include them in the race, but they sold out, so we can’t take them seriously. On the other hand, 3 weeks ago we weren’t taking the Pounders seriously either, so you never know. Hobo is a major spoiler in several categories, and they will get some notice here during the next month.

And as for the Pecklers, we got a win and a save from our Mets combo (Martinez and Looper). We’re building up that saves lead. A closer for a starter trade looks inevitable. We’re on the Cappers’ tail in ratio. Any day that could result in a 2 point swing between the league leaders.