CFCL Draft 2011

Welcome to CFCL 2011, the 28th year in CFCL History (League Slogan: "We're Not Even Halfway There!")

There were some interesting milestones in this year's draft. For the first time in 27 years the Copperfields were not seated at the Draft Table with their Traditional three uber-large three ring binders or computer loaded with 1500gig of player information. But the league did get a bit of a morale boost when the former 11 time champion stopped by to present last year's champion (Ruffins) with their trophy. David also took a league photo of our motley crew that is currently on display at the CFCL Internet Headquarter front page.

Along those same lines, for the first time since 1992, Owner Emeritus Mahlan was not on the Executive Committee ballot. The election provided some excitement as Rich and Mike C. received strong support. Early on in the tallies Bob and Matt B garnered some votes, but out of nowhere, exploding down the stretch Tim joined the Executive Committee going away.

With the league picture being completed and the Executive Committee being elected, it was time for our 26 year tradition to continue with the Ruffin Privilege. I think most owners were anticipating Dave to throw out Joey Votto so we could all watch the Clowns sweat immediately as he tries to build his Cincinnati Red CFCL dynasty.

That's not the way it went down. Zigging when he was expected to zag, the Ruffins nominated Hanley Ramirez for .25 at 1:13pm. Dem Rebels picked up Ramirez at .49 when the Revenge didn't want to make Ramirez the first fifty cent player of the day.

The Revenge started the next stage of entertainment as they nominated Votto and the league got to see a showdown between rivals. It came down to the Clowns and Kenndoza Line slugging it out.

First we take a side trip, the Kenndoza Line couldn't draft in person due to the birth of their second child. [The league was stunned to find out the Line's second son was born TWO WEEKS prior to the draft!!] So somehow he convinced his brother, Jeff, to be the physical presence. Kenn still called the shots via sketchy cell phone communication, but Jeff's voice was the final word in the Draft Room. The owners immediately took a liking to Jeff and even offered that he come back in Kenn's place next year. It may have had something to do with the fact that when everyone was signing the 2011 Copperfield Ball, Jeff was asked to sign for Kenn and Jeff said "Kenn's writes like a little girl."

Back to the bidding. The Clowns and Line spiritedly swung back and forth at each other. "47", "48", "49", "50", "51" almost without hesitation. When the Line said ".52" the Clowns shook their head and said "Pass." And thus the divide between the Clowns and Line became even greater.

By the end of the second round five pitchers had been drafted for .30 or higher. As a point of comparison, the last two drafts combined only produced a grand total of four pitchers over .30. This was a source of great frustration for Rebel Management.

Also by the end of the second round the newest member of the CFCL, Stranger Danger, had made an impact. Usually new owners sit back and get a feel for the lay of the land or are intimidated. Not Scott. After two rounds the Danger had picked up five players spending a total of $1.35 or 80% of their Draft Day budget.

Notable this year was the Home Town Discount players. Last year seven of eleven players had their HTD exercised. This year only three as the bidding was much more interesting. When the bidding took place for Chad Billingsley, the Bulls held Topper Rights. The Danger were the last team standing in the bidding and had the opportunity to raise their final bid in an effort to dissuade the Bulls from using their Topper. Mission accomplished. The Danger jumped from .15 to .25 and the Bulls passed.

The Red Hots held the rights to Prince Fielder so the Bulls, taking a page from the Danger Book, increased their final bid from .34 to .41 in an attempt to pry Fielder away from the Red Hots. Bob would have none of it, using his .03 to grab Fielder at .38.

Dem Rebels followed suit by jumping their final bid from .12 to .14 for Ryan Dempster. The Red Hots passed.

But the goofiest move came during the bidding for Ubaldo Jimenez. The Kenndoza Line held Topper Rights. The bidding finished with the Clowns sitting at .27. While they were deciding what, if any , amount to increase their final bid - the Line announced they would not use their Topper, thus potentially saving the Clowns a few extra pennies. Who knows? It could have been the Line's way of offering an olive branch since they strong armed Votto away from the Clowns.

Red Hots (Fielder), DemRebels (Iannetta) and the Bulls (Montero) successfully exercised their HTD rights.

Second year team Twin Killers were the first team to complete their active roster at 5:42pm when they picked up Ryan Madson.

The Red Hots completed the Draft portion of the day at 6:52 when they bid on Ryan Spilbourghs.

The entire day took seven hours and 13 minutes (only six minutes longer than last year).

Perhaps the most entertaining part of the draft (after Joey Votto pulled on his Kenndoza Line jersey) was offered by the Twin Killers. They successfully got under the skin of nearly the whole league, one by one, in their dogged pursuit of bidding on quality players. They particularly pissed off Dem Rebels consistently with their bidding on Shaun Marcum and Wilton Lopez. It didn't seem to matter to the Killers that the Rebels provided transportation to and from the draft. See if that happens next year.

The general consensus among owners was that this was one of the more enjoyable drafts in recent years. Hopefully the in-season trades that take place will allow that feeling to contine through the whole season.

Trying Out For The Major Leagues

The call came via CareerBuilder.com and the radio. The Cubs had yet another position to fill. Mike Quade, Keith Moreland, Mark Riggins had all accepted their positions and now the Cubs needed someone to introduce them. Requirements? Pretty simple. Be a Cubs fan, answer a few questions and read from a script. Any monkey could do that, right? Well I set off to prove it.

Making the video, took seven takes. My youngest daughter Kristi Grace (named for Christy Mathewson and Mark Grace – did I mention I’m a baseball and Cubs fan?) did a great job but I didn’t realize the stack of papers on the floor was visible. The Lady Rebel filmed the final three attempts getting the cropping just right.

Perhaps the hardest part came next. I had to upload the video on Youtube (first time ever doing that) and submit the on-line application. A minute and thirty seconds worth of video took over thirty minutes to load. Am I doing this right? When I get the job I just need to read stuff, right? I don’t need to use a computer.

Youtube video uploaded successfully (I think) and application sent so it’s sit and wait until Friday to hear if I’m one of the semi-finalists.

Now we enter the Week of Emotional Turmoil.

First day and a half 0 views, did I upload it right? Why isn’t anyone looking at this?

Second day up to 18 views! Someone likes me! Then it goes to 35 views – hey maybe I have a chance and on Opening Day I will be saying “Here are your 2011 Chicago Cubs!” The mind wanders: The announcement is made, the press tour. Talking with Waddle and Silvy, John Williams, maybe a live appearance with Mark Suppelsa on the WGN TV News (boy will Kim be jealous!)

Wednesday it’s still at 35. Aw forget it. This was a pipedream.

Thursday was spent in quiet anticipation fully realizing the odds are stacked against me, but maybe just maybe the call will come tomorrow saying they want to hear more. Wait! What’s that? Views are now at 54? Who the hell wants to watch this? Not exactly the Ray Lankford Incident (274 views) but not bad for a guy sitting at a desk reading off a sheet of paper. I’m pretty sure Kim and the girls didn’t sit through the video 54 times (only nine or ten by their admission). Thursday night head off to bed wondering, will my phone ring? Will the silence be deafening?

And so Friday came and went. Not unlike Bob Hope during the Academy Awards, we celebrated Passover Friday night. No depression (yet) but I’m not chomping at the bit to see who they selected. My daughter Ally came home from school asking if the Cubs had called. I said "no, it looks like they wanted someone else." Her response? "What?! How could they not want you? Oh well, they don't know what they're missing." No, no depression at all. Just extreme pride.

So even though I won’t be sitting way up high behind home plate for Opening Day at Wrigley Field, that’s ok, that means I’ll be at Draft Day where I will attempt to open a can on my fellow owners.

Hall of Fame

Later today the voting results for Baseball’s Hall of Fame are announced. Rather than be like most brain dead talking heads and wait until the results are announced to complain, I will complain in advance of how the voting should go.

Every year we have to watch as professional sportswriters get to flex their muscle and ego by deciding who is worthy and who isn’t worthy of Hall of Fame enshrinement. I swear most of these idiots use their ballot as a shout out to a personal favorite, childhood hero or a player that gave good interviews. How else do you explain that in 2010 David Segui received a vote for the Hall? Ray Lankford dominated Segui in every statistical category except batting average, but he didn’t garner even one vote.

This year is interesting because we enter the MAJOR Steroid Decision Era. Mark McGwire has been eligble for five years, but this year we have a lot of names that have been linked (either officially or unofficially) with the use of steroids. Jeff Bagwell, Juan Gonzalez, Rafael Palmiero, Benito Santiago. Additionally Edgar Martinez is back on the ballot (second year of eligibility). The argument against him has been “Do Designated Hitters belong in the Hall?” Martinez was primarily a DH for nine of his eighteen seasons.

If you subscribe to the theory that a player is Hall Worthy if he was a dominant player at his position, then if you believe the Martinez was dominant as a DH, he’s in. As long as DH is a legal position on a baseball team, that position has to be considered for election. It’s like the argument in football that punters should never be elected. Ray Guy was THE PUNTER of his and everyone’s generation. He changed the game by winning field position battles. He is deserving of enshrinement. The fact that he was a punter doesn’t matter. If he shouldn’t be considered then football should have a rule that on fourth down the offensive team is not allowed to punt or kick the ball, they have to go for a first down or touchdown. As long as punters are necessary players in the game, that position should be open for election.

The challenge for many of us in our arguments with each other as to who should be in and who shouldn’t is technology. Nowadays the guys up for election are guys that we watched during our young adulthood. With the Internet, ESPN, MLB Channel, etc. we are able to see all their errors and strikeouts in addition to their homeruns and gravity defying catches. These guys are more human to us than Frank Robinson, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays.

Additionally, with no clear cut criteria as to what makes a player electable, it makes for greater and more illogical arguments. There seems to be the standard that if a player hits 500 homeruns or a pitcher wins 300 games, they are automatically in. But if a pitcher takes 23 years to win 300 games, that somehow lessens their attraction. But it could also speak volumes that they were good enough to stick around 23 years.

For what it’s worth, here’s my ballot.

Bert Blyleven – 278 Wins, 3700 Strikeouts, 3.31 ERA, 1.198 WHIP, averaged over seven innings per start;
Lee Smith – 478 Saves, at one point the All-Time Saves Leader
Roberto Alomar – begrudgingly, still can’t stand him for spitting on an umpire but he was the gold standard for second basemen
Tim Raines – the most feared leadoff hitter this side of Rickey Henderson. 808 stolen bases, .294 batting average, .385 OBP.

I don’t have a perfect system for saying yes or no, but anyone who moved the playing field to their advantage unfairly I say no. So if someone used steroids, they’re out. It may not have been illegal by baseball rules, but it moved the balance of the competition to their favor. More importantly, while a batter using steroids may have been facing a pitcher using steroids, the simple use of the drugs screwed with the history of the game. So while Palmiero may have faced Clemens, the stats Palmiero accrued (and Clemens for that matter) indirectly affected the career numbers of Lou Gehrig, Hank Aaron, Walter Johnson and Sandy Koufax.

The Grizzled Old Bear

Heading into the off season the Cubs had some glaring holes they needed to fill. They needed a manager, firstbaseman, left handed power, middle relief, but perhaps no bigger hole to fill than the one that opened yesterday when Ron Santo passed away.

The Cubs are now charged with finding a new wingman for Pat Hughes. For twenty-one years Ron groaned, cheered and banged the desk in response to the success and failure happening below him on the field. To say he was the Cubs radio analyst wasn’t truly accurate. He was more the Everyfan that was allowed to enter the broadcast booth. He couldn’t describe a play or analyze a game situation, certainly not in recent years. But the one thing that Santo had like no other was his passion and excitement for his beloved Cubbies.

When the news broke that he died I was surprised even though he had unbelievable health issues to deal with. I am surprised that I am as sad as I am at the news as well. He frustrated me on the radio with his constant comments about Hughes’ tuna stained sweaters or repeating what Hughes said seconds after Hughes said it or trying to analyze a recent play by saying “Let me look at the replay.” But he also captivated me in a way with his expressions while a play was in progress.

I had even mentioned to my cousin Matt that I thought this was going to be Ron’s last season (2010) because his health seemed to be failing, but to his (Ron’s) credit he never complained or made a big deal of his condition.

So now the Cubs need a broadcaster. Given how Ricketts has screwed up the entertainment tax for renovating Wrigley and, depending on your opinion, how he handled the Quade/Sandberg issue, Ricketts will screw up Santo’s replacement. I can only imagine that Ricketts has Dave Otto on speed dial.

There are a lot of candidates out there, some available and some currently under contract with other organizations. Since Bob Dernier is on the coaching staff, I don’t see him moving to the booth, but Dernier’s teammate Keith Moreland would be an excellent choice.

Rick Sutcliffe would be the pinnacle but he may not be available. Bringing back Mark Grace would be a good move also, but in an interview today it sounded like, while he’s open to returning to the Cubs, he’s only interested in the TV side of analysis.

There’s no reason to believe the Cubs will make the right decision, I can only hope they won’t submit us to a season long give and take of Pat offering Dave every palindrome he can think of.

Q Is For Quality

Hey! Look at that! I was right! Can I say that again (it doesn’t happen often.) I was right! The Cubs selected Mike Quade (Monroe Doctrine, “Who Will Bring the Scorecard to Home plate?”, September 20). OK, so maybe I didn’t predict it in as much as I said he was my dark horse favorite. Still I think the Cubs made the right decision.

Considering they are not going out on the free agent market to nail down a front-line starter, first baseman or outfielder, the Cubs needed someone that could work with the youngsters (Castro, Colvin, Cashner, etc). Both Sandberg and Quade had worked with these guys in the minor leagues so it’s obvious they would be the favorites. Eric Wedge worked with young ballplayers in Cleveland and was successful, but Quade and Ryno had worked with THESE guys.

When I first heard ESPN1000 break the news I had mixed feelings. I was happy that Quade was named (certainly over Melvin) but had some residual sadness that Sandberg wasn’t. After further reflection it wasn’t because I wanted Sandberg to manage the Cubs right now, it’s because by not being named means he’s most likely leaving the organization.

At some point I would love Sandberg to be the Cubs manager, but not now. The idiot arguments I’ve seen posted on Cubs.com is that Sandberg should be named because he’s a Hall of Famer and he’s managed in the minors. How did the Hall of Fame credentials work out for Ted Williams? Being a HOFer doesn’t necessarily help. In fact it can hurt. I would imagine most, if not all, HOFers have natural ability and talent. When you have natural ability it’s often difficult to teach someone that ability. Since it comes naturally to the HOFer, most likely what they want to say is “just do it”. Or, “I can’t explain it, here watch.” Someone like Quade (or LaRussa, or Lasorda or Francona) weren’t great players, but they understood the game and knew how to work hard to get the most from their ability.

When I think of Sandberg I keep thinking of two guys, and maybe that’s my hang-up. I think of the guy out at second base that could turn the double play flawlessly and be reluctant to give a post-game interview. And then I think of the guy who went to the minors to do what he was asked, changed his persona, started communicating and even had a penchant for getting thrown out of games. I’m sure Sandberg has a good baseball mind, but I just get the feeling that he had his eye on the seat in the corner of the third base dugout at Clark and Addison and said “How do I get there?”

Somehow four years was determined as the magical number and he felt he knew all he needed to know to be qualified for the job.

From what I’ve heard listening to Quade and others talk about him, he isn’t afraid to make changes and hold players, young and old, accountable for their actions. What? A Cubs manager holding players accountable? Has there ever been such a thing?

I cannot wait for Opening Day 2011. I know the Cubs and Quade will struggle from time to time, maybe a lot depending on the roster. But I think we finally have a guy in charge that focuses on the basics and will demand what he expects from his players.

With all the great attributes Quade brings to the job he also gives us a hell of a trivia question. When was the last time a city had two major sports franchises managed/coached by guys whose last name starts with “Q”?

Mother Mary Comfort Me

Twenty-seven years, more than half the years he’s spent on earth. Eleven CFCL Championships, including a three-peat. Twenty-two money finishes while competing against 39 different owners. Talk about fantasy numbers! The Copperfield Dynasty came to a quiet end with the completion of the 2010 baseball season.

The CFCL (Cub Fan Club League) could easily stand for Championships For Copperfields League. Starting on that fateful day in 1983 standing in Kroc’s and Brentano’s on Lake Street, when David showed Rich the original Rotisserie League Book (and beginning an estimated 9900 day journey to play Fantasy Baseball’s version of The Lone Ranger and Tonto; Sandberg and Dernier; Penn & Teller; no wait, here it is – Holmes and Watson), the CFCL has stood apart from any other fantasy baseball league due to the class, dignity and ethics that David uses in his everyday life.

And it’s that class, dignity and ethics that have caused the Copperfields to shut the doors rather than put things on cruise control. There is always a chance for a return, as with any former owner – aside from the vile, despicable scum from our past - but for now the Copperfields are riding into baseball’s sunset. Pending league approval we are hoping to have David take on the role of Former Owner Emeritus so that he can help maintain the League History and we can come to him and say “When we put in "X" the Constitution, what in the hell were we thinking?”

Let’s take a little stroll down Memory Lane to identify some of the things that make the CFCL stand apart from any other league, shall we?

Video tapes of ENTIRE drafts during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s (these tapes are for sale in the lobby on your way out). Clips of those videos have been sprinkled throughout Weekly Reports, Monroe Doctrines, Message Boards and the League Webpage.

The absolute integrity and objectivity that the Co-Commissioner used to interpret rules, make rulings and deal with the daily strife. Too many times I hear stories from other fantasy owners who complain that their Commissioners are always making rulings that benefit the Commissioners teams/needs. David always looked at the bigger picture and understood the league was bigger than any one team. Many a time I would receive an e-mail wherein he would point out a question that had been brought to his attention. He would not include the owner or team that was involved so as to not cloud my judgment and let emotions take over (“Kenn’s involved? Ah, screw ‘im!”) I was always able to render my opinion without worrying about whom I was ruling for or against. Made my job a lot easier.

As League Secretary, David consistently stayed up late the night before the draft putting together the Draft Sheets, Free Agent List, Reserve List Sheets, bringing the pretzels and licorice and all the video and audio equipment to the detriment of being able to fully prepare for the draft as an owner – not that eleven titles and an 81% In the Money Finish are any evidence that the Copperfields were working at a disadvantage.

Not only was he a world class owner and GM, he was League Secretary, Co-Commissioner, Statistician and Historian beyond compare. He brought the CFCL into the Computer Era. Prior to computerizing things, he would – by hand – enter each team’s stats on a WEEKLY BASIS (!) once the weekly statistics were printed in the USA Today. Then he would add each column of stats, log it and continue on until he had computed the team’s HR, RBI, Runs, BA, ERA, WHIP, Wins and Saves. He would then do that for the other five to seven teams in the league. When the standings were complete he would type (we were using typewriters back then folks) and copy the standings and stats and mail them to each team. Needless to say, women were not a part of the Copperfield way of life before computers came along. (Is it any wonder that he and Michelle found each other only after David started using computers to calculate the standings? I think not.)

Once computers became available, he designed programs to do the calculations more quickly, but he still had to manually enter each player’s statistics each week. Herculean effort doesn’t come close to describing this kind of dedication.

He has assured us that he is not sitting in Hattiesburg, MS waiting to make a decision during Spring Training. The last few years have been hard on the Copperfield front office. The way some owners were conducting themselves was difficult to witness as to the effect it was having on the league he gave birth to. But as always David understood the league was bigger than any one team and that the league would handle things, which it did. Moreover it ended up coming down to time. Time needed to continue running a successful, competitive franchise vs. time needed to invest in his family and their activities. Not surprisingly he rightfully chose his family. When David does anything he does it all out. We’ve seen that in his running the league for 27 years. He does that with his wife and children. Finally the soccer games, scout camping trips, church groups, choir concerts and special time with Michelle won out.

The CFCL will be poorer for the absence of the Copperfield team, but is richer for the strong foundation David has built to allow the league to continue with the solid core of owners that currently comprise the league.

So What Have We Learned?

The 2010 Baseball and Fantasy season is about to end and it would make sense to reflect. OK, so what have we learned?

We’ve learned that you can make seven trades sending out 21 players and run to a title. You can also make one trade, trading one single player and vie for the title before ending up fighting for second place.

We’ve learned that you can manage a baseball team in a major market making statements like “Look, what more can I do? I’ve tried everything.” And keep your job.

We have always known that every team wins 60 and loses 60. We’ve learned that the Cubs have worked hard to go 12-25 with the other 37 (five games left to play).

We’ve learned that if you want to win the CFCL Championship, the trend is it’s best to live out of state (Ruffins ’06, Kenndoza ’07, Kenndoza ’09, Ruffins ’10).

We’ve learned that relocation is not the only thing keeping Dem Rebels from taking home the Copperfield Trophy.

We’ve learned that Alfonso Soriano is capable of being productive outside of the leadoff spot. A lesson learned waaaay too late.

We’ve learned that small payrolls (Minnesota, Cincinnati, San Diego) can win if there is a team concept in place.

We’ve learned that brothers who cheer for different Chicago teams can work together to thoroughly trounce their cousin.

We’ve learned we still don’t know what to expect from Zambrano. He’s still one stupid fielding error away from another meltdown.

We’ve learned that a Non-Big Name, Career Minor League Manager can breathe new life into a sleepwalking franchise.

We’ve learned that the Revenge, by acquiring Mat Latos (.02), Fernando Martinez (.05), Tommy Hanson (.02), Dexter Fowler (.02), Andrew McCutchen (.05), Matt Cain (.10) and Freddie Freeman (.05) have a plan for 2011.

We’ve learned that the Monroe Doctrine has some awesome, loyal readers. Thanks to the Ruffins, Revenge, Fezboy and DoorMatts for consistently tuning in.

We’ve learned that we still have to wait ‘til next year.