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December 5, 2005
Manager Change
DAYTON, OH. - Due to time
constraints, Kevin Smith has decided to resign from SPB-Now.
Taking the reigns of the Honolulu Sharks will be Mike Boling.
He has decided to rename the team the Kansas City T-Bones.
December 2, 2005
League Update
STROUDSBURG, PA. - Managers
,things have been pretty quite the last few weeks, so this is a good time to update everyone on events within the league.
First, we now have an e-mail address for Mike Cannon and it is:
mjcan922@verizon.net Please add Mike to your address books and let the trade offers fly his way.
Next, with the completion of the expansion drafts, re-alignment of the league divisions is in order. A tentative realignment has been created with the aim of placing those that live in the same geographical area within the same divisions. Here the what it looks like for next season:
AL Northeast
MacPherson
Hamrahi
Schilling
Wheeler
Rahn
Pearson
Swearingen
AL East
Spielmann
Cannon
Luciano
Mosner
Schubert
McElaney
Henning
NL Central
Plunkitt
Ryan
Smith
Turnbull
Robinson
Williams
Durfee
NL West
Ross
Hollingsworth
Lois
Felt
Korol
Applegate
Baxter
And lastly, don't forget that the rookie draft will be held on Saturday January 14, 2006. Make plans to join us in person for that event as we will be hosting the draft from the BWI Hampton Inn in Baltimore, MD.
November 7, 2005
Buskers sweep Pumas for SPB-Now 2004 Crown
DAYTON, OH. - Congratulations
to Chris Williams and the Bowling Green Buskers, completing a
4-game sweep of Jim Wheeler's Pocono Pumas, taking SPB-Now's
second seasonal crown. Box scores can be found on the left
with write ups due soon.
November 6, 2005
Expansion/Dispersal draft complete
STROUDSBURG, PA. - Thanks to
everyone for a very smooth running draft. The complete
rosters and draft results can be found in the DRAFT CENTRAL
section on the left. Now that all the rosters are complete,
full-scale trading can begin with these teams.
November 6, 2005...Updated!
Rookie draft date and venue set
STROUDSBURG, PA. - Mark your calendars for the SPB NOW 2005 Rookie Draft to be held in Baltimore on Saturday January 14, 2006. I realize that some of these names can move up or down the chart, but at least this gives everyone an idea of where people hope to be. We also need to hear from the newest manger, Don Rahn on his attendance.
My plan at this point is to begin to make the reservation for the conference room. The Hampton Inn at BWI looks best right now. Wow, 20 managers either in person or in the
chatroom!
Planning to attend in Baltimore: (Hampton Inn BWI???) Jim Wheeler John Turnbull Gary Plunkitt Rick Ryan Greg Henning Dave Schubert Marty Spielman Dave Mosner Augie Luciano Mike Cannon
Planning to attend in chatroom:
Joe Hamrahi
Terry Baxter
Hugh McElaney
Craig Korol
Larry Schilling
Don Swearingen
Scott Flet
Lou Ross
Steve M.
Rich Applegate
Planning to submit a draft list:
Richard Pearson
Ricardo Lois
Mike Durfee
Received no response:
Marc Hollingsworth
Chris Williams
Kevin Smith
Marc Robinson
Updated 6 November 2005:
I have reserved a meeting room at the Hampton,
Inn-BWI Airport. Here is the exact address of the hotel:
Hampton Inn Baltimore/Washington International Airport
829 Elkridge Landing Road • Linthicum, Maryland 21090
Phone: (410) 850-0600 • Fax: (410) 691-2119 Toll Free: 1 (800) HAMPTON (1-800-426-7866)
For those who will be flying into Baltimore, the hotel does offer a free shuttle bus to and from the airport. Also, the entire hotel and the meeting room, have wireless internet connections.
From the last count, it looks as thought we will have 10-15 managers at the hotel site and about that many in the chat room. If you are on the fence about attending in person, make the jump and plan to join us. It will be a great time!
October 27, 2005
New manager on board
STROUDSBURG, PA. - Please welcome
Don Rahn into the league. Don will rename the Lafayette Lions, the Niskayuna Warriors.
Don's e-mail is : donrahn@nycap.rr.com
October 1, 2005
SPB-Now 2005.....under construction
STROUDSBURG, PA. - Upon
completion of the 2004 post-season, we will be undergoing an
exciting expansion, adding 4 new teams to SPB-Now, along with 8
new managers, including 5 SPB newcomers! The following
managers will not be returning to SPB-Now. We thank them for
their time and efforts:
Stan Skawinski - Brooklyn Giants
Greg Stillwagon - Bay City Rollers
John Cusack - Palos Hills Pit Vipers
Colby Whetstone - Huntsville Hardballers
Introductions are now in order for the
8 new SPB-Now managers, along with their team names and ballparks:
Gary Plunkitt - Frankfort Frogs
- U.S. Cellular Field
Dave Mosner - Mobtown Rounders - Shea Stadium
Dave Schubert - Habana Industriales - Marlins Park
Augie Luciano - Mudcats - RFK Stadium
Lou Ross - Seattle Totems - Bank One Ballpark
Hugh McElaney - Worcester Grays - PNC Park
Joe Hamrahi - South Fork Survivors - Safeco Field
Mike Cannon - The Cannons - Coors Field (Subject to change)
With the filling of all the empty manger slots, we are now ready to begin the process of the dispersal/expansion draft. A draft date will be set shortly after the regular season ends. And
who are eligible players? First, any player on the rosters of the former teams of Huntsville, Bay City, Palos Hills, Brooklyn AND all those players not on any current SPB NOW rosters from the MLB rosters of Tampa, Florida, Colorado, and Arizona. All eligible players meeting the above requirements will be drafted by these 8 new teams.
NO PLAYERS that currently belong on the roster of an existing SPB NOW team will be lost in this dispersal/expansion draft!!!!!!!!
The draft order will follow a serpentine pattern throughout all rounds of the draft. For example 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and then 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1. And here is the dispersal/expansion draft order, selected by random:
1. Joe Hamrahi - South Fork Survivors
2. Mike Cannons - The Cannons
3. Dave Mosner - Mobtown Rounders
4. Hugh McElaney - Worchester Greys
5. Dave Schubert - Habana Industriales
6. Lou Ross - Seattle Totems
7. Augie Liciano - Perry Hall Mudcats
8. Gary Plunkitt - Frankfort Frogs
The dispersal/expansion draft will be handled via e-mail picks. Ideally, I would like to see 4 picks per week night and 8 picks on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Each team will have a specific time window in which to make a pick and no team will be passed over until that time window has expired. We will release the exact schedule once the player list has been completed.
Next, some have asked about their positions in the rookie draft. The 8 new teams will be assigned randomly for each round of the rookie draft the positions of 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 22, and 24. Picks 3, 5, 7, and 9 represent the new expansion teams. Picks 6, 8, 22, and 24 represent the picks earned this past season by the disbanding teams. Once the post season has been completed, I will release the rookie draft order.
I will immediately begin to accept trades on an "unofficial and unannounced basis". Again, once the post season has been completed, trades will be announced. Please remember that all parties involved in the trade(s) must e-mail their concurrence with the details of the trade. Since the rookie draft order has not yet been released, I would advise against making deals involving draft pocks until each of you learns their position in the draft.
October 1, 2005
SPB-Now 2004 Overusage and Use or lose players
DAYTON, OH. - Now that the 2004
regular season has come to an end, it is time to announce the
official overusage and use or lose penalties. Click the
appropriate link for OVERUSAGE
/ USE
OR LOSE.
September 29, 2005
SPB-Now divisional playoffs set
STROUDSBURG, PA. - Pocono has defeated Bay City 2 games to none for the divisional championship. We are now ready to begin the next phase of the playoffs. Once Chris W. has built the post season
skeds, he will send out the disk and the playoff can begin.
The Buskers will be facing the Silver Sox with the Silver Sox holding the home field advantage.
The Pumas will be facing the Colt45's with the Colt45's holding the home field advantage.
September 27, 2005
SPB-Now expansion and new managers
DAYTON, OH. - With the
expansion/dispersal draft set for mid-October, the new managers
and managers that will not be returning will be announced at one
time in the very near future. Thank you for you patience. We
are still looking for 1 more manager to join the ranks if anyone
knows of anyone who may be interested.
September 27, 2005
SPB-Now season extended due to playoff
DAYTON, OH. - A 3-game playoff
between the NL East Pocono Pumas and the Bay City Rollers will
begin shortly. I will post the end of season stats once that
series is complete, since this series is still a part of the
regular season. Congratulations goes out to the other
divisional winners: AL East: Oneida Silver Sox, AL
West: Bowling Green Buskers, NL West: Atlanta
Colt45's.
September 23, 2005
SPB-Now uncarded player status
DAYTON, OH. - Click HERE
to see if you have any of your uncarded players from last year eligible
to be carded for this season. There are a few
surprises that wont make the rookie draft, like the Bay City
Roller's Ryan Langerhans.
September 19, 2005
SPB-Now to set for expansion
DAYTON, OH. - Upon the
completion of the 2004 season, SPB-Now will undergo an exciting
metamorphosis, as the league plans on expanding to 28 teams,
matching the 2-less than actual teams that all of the other
regular SPB leagues have. This change will mean the end of
the X-player and X-teams. A expansion/dispersion draft will
be conducted in mid-October, consisting of the four expansion
managers, along with the new managers that will be taking over for
teams whose managers will not be returning. The players in
the dispersion/expansion draft will consist of most of the rosters
from Arizona, Colorado, Florida, and Tampa Bay, to include true
rookies from those four teams, along with the rosters of those
teams whose managers will not be returning. X-Players that transferred
during the past season who are on current SPB-Now rosters of
managers who are staying will be allowed to stay on those teams
and will not be available for the expansion/dispersion
draft. Stay tuned for more information and the list of new
managers, which will all be posted at seasons end.
August 6, 2005
League Update
STROUDSBURG, PA. - With just 2 months remaining in the season we have several tight races in progress. But in addition to playing your teams games and sending out your manager profiles, everyone needs to be paying attention to both Overuse and Under use Penalties.
As for Under use, all players must be used for either 50% of their at bats, 50% of their games or reach 50% on the Player Percentage Meter found in the upper right hand corner of each player screen. Players who do not reach the 50% criteria will become free agents and added to the rookies in the next rookie draft.
As for Overuse, please consult the league constitution for specifics on batters and pitchers usage. Overuse penalties are designed replicate actual Major League Baseball by limiting overuse by the better players and the impact of significant overuse penalties will be rather severe as it will alter your team's first round draft position as well as your Phase II draft position. Please take this into consideration as you build your teams remaining manager profiles. A word to the wise, "Use your subs liberally".
One note regarding batter usage. Effective immediately, we are suspending the rules regarding batting limits for same side batters. The reason for this is that with the 25 man rosters, plus all of the other batting limits, it is unlikely that any manger can use a player who has outstanding stats on one side of the plate in an unrealistic manner. This was not always the case, as prior to the 25 man active rosters, some players could be used unrealistically.
And finally, it is time to start planning the location of the next rookie draft. I would like to have the draft on Saturday January 21, 2006 which is over the 3 day ML King Holiday Weekend. I am looking for anyone who wishes to volunteer to host the draft. Let me know if anyone is interested and we can go from there
June 30, 2005
New manager for Extreme
STROUDSBURG, PA. - Please welcome
Marty Spielmann as the new manager of the East Coast Extreme. Marty is a friend of Greg Henning and will be taking over the Extreme immediately.
Please insure that you send your July manager profiles against the Extreme to Marty at
martyspiel@yahoo.com and update your league
address books accordingly.
April 23, 2005
Tejada makes early MVP push
 DAYTON, OH. -
Speedway Sparkplugs slugger Miguel Tejada is taking the early lead
in the MVP race from the likes of Adrian Beltre and Barry
Bonds. Matt Morris of the Silver Sox has started the season
8-0 with a 2.65 ERA, and is the early Cy Young leader.
April 23, 2005
2004 May stats now posted
DAYTON, OH. - The stats and
Power Rankings for the May 2004 play are now
posted. The division leaders are starting to rise to the top
of the Power Rankings, but Kevin Smith's Sharks skyrocket 10 spots
out of the cellar and are only 3 games back!
May 1, 2005
New manager in the fold!
STROUDSBURG, PA. - We are thrilled to have
Stan Skawinski as the newest manager to the league and he will immediately be taking over the Brooklyn Giant franchise. If you have not played your home games against the Giants, please wait until you receive a manager profile from Stan.
If you are scheduled to play at Brooklyn, please re-send your manager profile to Stan. Stan can be reached at
mudville@att.net
April 30, 2005
First SPB-Now No-Hitter!
DAYTON, OH. - The Colorado
Grizzles have the distinction of tossing the first SPB-Now
no-hitter. It was a combined effort from Carlos Hernandez
and Braden Looper. The boxscore is located in
the SPB-NOW links section under superlative boxscores.
April 30, 2005
Franchise available
DAYTON, OH. - The Brooklyn
Giants franchise is available for new ownership. If you know
of anyone who is interested in taking over this team, please
contact myself or Jim Wheeler. Thanks!
January 16, 2005
Venue for 2005 Draft?
STROUDSBURG, PA. - know some of you are looking at this saying "Next Year? We haven't even finished this year's draft". You are correct but there is no time like the present to make plans for the next draft. What I am thinking is seeing if there would be enough interest to schedule the 2005 rookie draft in a warm weather climate where air travel is fairly easy. Next, I would like to think about renting a small conference room at a local hotel and host the draft there. Hampton Inns are pretty nice, affordable, and in nearly every city. I attended a draft years ago in Chicago for a league using this format and it was a blast to get 20-22 managers together in one room. We could make this the social event of the season!
Anyway, we have managers in both Atlanta and my favorite state of Alabama and I know the weather is pretty good at this time of the year. Both Atlanta and Birmingham (via Southwest) are pretty easy to fly into. We also have an SPB manager in Las Vegas, if that would be a good spot.
So if this is something that you think you could attend, let me know and we can begin planning. We would need at least 15 manager commitments to make it worthwhile and I would plan for this same weekend 1/15/06, as Monday is a Federal Holiday.
Think about it?
Jim
January 16, 2005
Team name change
DAYTON, OH - Colby Whetstone
has changed his team name from the Burns Flat Bombers to
the Huntsville Hardballers.
January 13, 2005
Pre-Draft day musings
STROUDSBURG, PA. - Click
HERE
for information concerning the draft day proceedings on 15 Jan
05.
January 9, 2005
Uncarded player call for protected rosters
STROUDSBURG, PA. - Managers,
As I mentioned earlier this week, uncarded players (players without any real life stats) will be maintained by Greg Henning and John Turnbull offline on the web page. Aside from not appearing on your teams roster, they will be handled just like any other player. If you wish to protect any of these players from the Phase 2 draft, you must include them on your teams protected roster.
Since we originally overlooked these players when putting together the new season disk I will allow any manager who wants to add any uncarded player to their protected list to do so. However, if you add an uncarded player, you must remove a currently protected player to make room on your roster. Deadline for adding any uncarded players will be Wednesday January 12, 2005.
In all future seasons, any uncarded players who will be protected will be submitted with the protected rosters.
Jim
January 5, 2005
Phase 2 cut list now posted
DAYTON, OH. - Managers....the
phase 2 player list is posted on the left side in the DRAFT
CENTRAL section under Phase 2 cuts. Each team will select 3
consecutive players, with no team losing more than 5
players. The Phase 2 draft will start immediately after the
phase 1 draft is complete.
January 4, 2005
More Information concerning draft process
STROUDSBURG, PA. - Click HERE
for an important memo from Commissioner Wheeler concerning the
upcoming draft.
January 3, 2005
New Manager on board
STROUDSBURG, PA. - An SPB Welcome
goes out to Joe Hamrahi, who will be taking the reigns of the
Ritchie County Royals. Thanks goes out to Joe for stepping
to the plate so quickly to take over this team. He will be
receiving a supplemental 1st round draft pick (#25) in
compensation for not being able to revert his team's draft picks
to their original pre-penalty position. His Phase 2 position
will, however, go back to its original #13 spot. His team
name will now become the East Coast Extreme. Thanks to everyone for their
patience, and understanding!
January 2, 2005
Draft Day Procedures
STROUDSBURG, PA. - Just a reminder that the Phase I rookie draft will begin at 11 AM EST on Saturday January 15, 2005. That should be 10 AM CST, 9 AM MST, and 8 AM PST. So far there will be three (3) of us in attendance at Draft Central here in the Pocono's, myself, John Turnbull, and Craig Korol. I have also received one managers draft list, so that leaves 20 of you participating via the SPB chat Room.
It would be a good idea, especially for those who have never participated in a SPB draft, to try to log onto the chat room and make sure all functions as expected. You can link to the chat room by going to the SPB web page and clicking on the auditorium link on the left or use this address:
http://pub29.bravenet.com/chat/show.php/2463166541
If you are not going to participate either in person or by the chat room, then you will need to submit a draft list to the league office no later than Wednesday January 12, 2005.
With so many managers participating, we are going to have to set a limit on the time that each manager may use to make his pick. We want to finish the P1 draft in one day and we have a lot of players to pick, so each manager will have a three (3) minute time limit per pick. Some of you older SPB managers may remember the old egg timer used at some of the earliest drafts...it's back!!! If you can't make your pick within the allotted time, you will lose your spot and the next manager will make his pick.
That's all for now.
Jim
December 22, 2004
Call for protected players
STROUDSBURG, PA. - Managers,With so many mangers new tot he SPB Phase II draft process, I am going to call for the protected player rosters a little earlier than usual. All teams must submit their protected player list to the league office no later than Sunday January 2, 2005.
Teams may protect the following numbers of player on their roster. Players acquired during the Phase I draft are exempt from being picked and will not need to be protected. Once the all protected player lists have been received, a pre-draft disk will be assembled, with the unprotected players 'farmed" on each teams roster.
19 Players:
Burns Flat Bombers
Carolina Crush
Pocono Pumas
Watertown Arrows
Brooklyn Giants
Houma Devil Dogs
18 Players:
San Juan Stars
Waldo Peppers
Michigan Tigers
Speedway Sparkplugs
Latrobe 33's
Oneida Silver Stars
Lafayette Lions
Dayton Dynamo
Honolulu Sharks
Colorado Grizzlies
Ritchie County Royals
Rip City Highlanders
17 Players:
Troy Haymakers
Bay City Rollers
Dodge City Marshall's
Atlanta Colt 45's
Palos Hills Pit Vipers
Bowling Green Buskers
Remember, if you plan on protected an X-player, the cost is the reduction of two (2) spots on your protected roster. So if Pocono protects an X-Player, rather than protecting 19 players, they would be limited to protecting 17 players. Those X-players who are not being protected will be deleted from the disk, only to return to the league if they become a member of a non-X team.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Jim
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