Jeff "Shark" Samardzija throws no-hitter for Wichita!

 
 
 

Wanted to recognize Bandit ace Jeff Samardzija for throwing a no-hitter against the powerful Boston Bobcats! 

Early peak into next year's cards!

The Ratings Preview is out!  If you haven't seen it yet, here are links for the preview info..

To view the PDF version of the 2015 Range Ratings Preview, click here
To download the XLS spreadsheet form of the 2015 Range Ratings Preview, click here



Spoiler alert for Michigan's Kevin Kiermaier - he's pretty good defensively



Another webgem by the Mammoth Kiermaier

'Tis the season....

Philly's Eric Hosmer gets
into the Holiday spirt

to finish up your games!  106 games remain to be played this year.

There is exactly ONE month left in the season, be sure to mix in your games with all of your other holiday festivities.

Looks like a terrific homestretch with fierce battles in all three divisions.   Good luck to everyone with the rest of the season!

Must be pitching in Hohokam Stadium



New home for PJ!

PJ is starting a new job after Thanksgiving with one of the most iconic minor league teams in the entire country.  He will be an Account Executive for Tampa Bay's AA affiliate, the Montgomery Biscuits! That may be a little far for a league field trip, but I will be scouting it out while we help him move in down there.  Rest assured that the KC Butchers organization will help ensure he can make it back up here for Draft Weekend 2016!




Monterrey ace David Price is showing
support for his boss by rocking the
Biscuit uniform!

Riverwalk Stadium, located on the Alabama River, features
a live railroad track along the left field wall

No Cheeseheads down there, only Biscuitheads

Click here for the website of the Montgomery Biscuits
Review for Riverwalk Stadium





Road Trip Addition

Who could forget the EPIC moment when Dave and Pat went on the field to try and catch TShirts shot from a cannon?  I say EPIC, as in "Epic Fail"......

On the road with the Friendship League!

We are all back from an excellent time in the thriving town of Fort Wayne, Indiana!  Happy to report that much fun was had by all who could go, and we hope to have established a new tradition of an annual League Road Trip.  The stories will be told for a while, the early morning action at Firesetter's, I mean Firekeeper's Casino, the mandatory moonshine shots, the circuitous route from the Dash In to the Hoppy Gnome, the magical repeat appearances all night by a stranger in a Derek Jeter shirt, the less-than-successful efforts of Pat and Dave to snare even a single cannon-propelled t-shirt during our on-field promotion, and much much more.  Big thanks to PJ for hooking us up with tickets AND the on-field stuff! 




FIRST ever league games played in a moving vehicle!  And first games played across states lines!

Jonny TinCap welcomes the Friendship League to scenic Fort Wayne



Those team index cards don't just appear on draft day, they made
an appearance in "The Fort" as well!

First stop of our pub crawl - JK O'Donnell's "TV less" Irish Pub. 
And yes, league games played here as well! 

Happy Strat-O-Matic players at the Hoppy Gnome,
by far the cream of the Fort Wayne's crop for the bar scene

Pat and Randy take a break from a hotly contested
Kansas City vs Wichita battle!

A happy crew after another TinCaps home victory!

Which of these is NOT a current Friendship League member?

Game on, at the Dash-In bar/coffee shop/general hipster joint!

Cheers!

Great seats for the game!

Will try to add some more pictures and hopefully videos as others can pass them on.  Thanks to all who went and made it such a fun time!  We will try to do a better job scheduling this next time so more can attend, end of summer is so busy for many and was a shame that some just couldn't make this event.  Looking forward to Friendship League 'On the Road 2016'!

Blockbuster Trade Announced

Las Vegas - The Las Vega$ Fremonts announced a major mid-season trade today sending 'Monts fixture Jonny Gomes to Philadelphia for outfielder Carlos Beltran. Gomes is hitting .310 this season in a part-time role and impressed Phog scouts going 5 for 8 against them earlier this season.

Beltran is hitting a brisk .171 in 2014 but looks to have a career renaissance in 2015.

Gomes, the Fremont's third round pick in the 2012 draft, finishes the Las Vegas chapter of his career with a .247 average, 16 home runs and a 1.7 WAR.

In his press conference, Gomes expressed his gratitude to the Las Vegas fans and his excitement to join the Phog in their playoff push. 

The person responsible for this suit, however, remains at-large. 

Vegas Hits 45 Game Mark

Las Vegas - The Las Vega$ Fremonts hit the Friendship League's 40 game deadline this week-end losing an inglorious five straight games to Boston. With a 20-25 record the Fremonts are likely to be sellers at the trading deadline with marketable properties that would help playoff contending clubs; two decent bull pen arms, a 2e5 second baseman, lefty mashing & 17 speed outfielders and so on.

Fremont management has recalled their trade consultant from retirement to aid with negotiations.

Resemblance here to a league owner was not lost

Toronto loaded with All-Stars!

 

Always interesting to see what teams are looking strong for next year.  Judging by the All-Star rosters, Toronto is the clear front-runner for next year's title!  The Thunder own a Kansas-City-Royal-ballot-stuffing load of SEVEN players on this year's AL All-Star Team!  Monterrey is next with five, and Boston and Minnesota have four each.  Maine, Michigan, Springfield, and Wichita all have three.  Philly is the only team with just two.  Kansas City, Las Vegas, and Pittsburgh each have the one 'token' player on the roster.  Russell Martin is not in the Friendship League currently, but will be a high draft pick in 2016 for sure. 

Your Fort Wayne roll is NOTHING compared to the Slow Roll

Springfield which is currently sitting in the Wild Card spot (WOW, I might actually finally for once make the playoffs?) scoffs at a bar/bicycle roll through the urban mecca known as Fort Wayne because THIS is how I roll. 

Look, there I am....next to the tree!

Does Dan Gilbert tweet about your Fort Wayne trip?

More on Pat Venditte

Real newspaper headline...

Venditte Scounting Report

Las Vegas - The Las Vegas Fremont Scouting and Analytics department developed the simulation below showing what will happen when switch pitcher Pat Verditte is inserted into a game against a switch hitter.

Jake McGee is really good at converting saves

Slow Roll

So you don't have a bike to enjoy the Slow Roll?

Steal/borrow a children's bike

Photos from Draft Weekend!

Big thanks to all for a great time and another successful Draft Weekend!!   Special thanks to Dave for hooking us up at the hotel and getting us the very sweet suite that we enjoyed both days!  We saw the birth of the Springfield Isotopes, the first appearance of wine at the Draft, the first Salmon-flavored beer, MSU beating #2 Virginia, and numerous other amazing things.  Great times, wish all the best of luck for a fun and exciting season!!!

2014 Simulation Results!

Strat-O-Matic's high-tech workers generating
lineups and processing games for the simulation

Click away to see how the full-season simulation went.  Agree or disagree with HAL's usage of your players...


Link to stats and reports

Link to WebBuilder view

Fitting morning for the Phog protection list

Revealed with the Phog Lamps

Anibal Sanchez            
Clay Buchholz
David Robertson
Derek Holland
Drew Smyly          
Scott Kazmir
Carlos Santana
Matt Wieters
Coco Crisp
Dustin Ackley
Eric Hosmer
Evan Longoria
Jose Iglesias - NC
Josh Reddick
Michael Brantley
Prince Fielder

Lost in The Pea Soup

Andrew Albers - NC
Casey Fien
Dane De La Rosa - NC
Scott Feldman
Jesse Chavez
Tom Wilhelmsen
Will Smith - NC
David Dejesus
Jhonny Peralta
Nick Franklin

NL

Matt Garza

Mammoths Announce Protection List

                                                     

 

Potential 2015 Mammoth
Chris Archer
John Lackey
Aaron Loup
Andrew Miller
Jake Peavy
Bryan Shaw
Chris Tillman
Jered Weaver
Elvis Andrus
Adam Jones
Howie Kendrick
Jed Lowrie
Manny Machado
Jose Molina
Brandon Moss
Daniel Nava

NL

Zack Greinke

Released

Jerry Blevins
Neal Cotts
Jessie Crain
Jason Frasor
Joel Peralta
J.P. Arencibia
Franklin Gutierrez
David Lough
Justin Morneau
Wilkin Ramirez
Geovany Soto


Mammoths are now open for trading...   

2015 Bandit
Brett Oberholtzer (P)
Danny Salazar (P)
Joe Smith (P)
Kelvin Herrera (P)
Sean Doolittle (P)
Wei-Yin Chen (P)
Salvador Perez(C)
Aaron Hicks (CF)
Alex Gordon (LF)
Alexis Rios(RF)
Austin Jackson(CF)
Brett Lawrie (3B)
Erick Aybar (SS)
Kole Calhoun (RF)
Mike Napoli (1B)
Trevor Plouffe (3B)


Released
Brad Peacock (P)
Andy Pettitte (NC)
Ernesto Frieri (P)
Jared Burton(P)
Louis Coleman (P)
Ubaldo Jimenez (P)
Josmil Pinto(C)
Eric Sogard (2B)
Moises Sierra (OF)
Munenori Kawasaki (2B)


NL -- Doug Fister

Kansas City Butchers announce their 2015 Protected List!

Kept

Alex Cobb

Corey Kluber

KC's Jurickson Profar continues his off-season training,
we look forward to his contributions for the 2017 season

Kevin Gausman

Hank Conger 

Jurickson Profar  (no card) 

Craig Gentry

Jason Kipnis

Josh Hamilton

Matt Dominguez

Xander Bogaerts

Yoenis Cespedes

Nick Swisher

Tommy Milone

Junichi Tazawa

Charlie Furbush

Zach McAllister

 

Cut

Joaquin Benoit

Ryan Doumit

Mike Pelfrey

Mark Trumbo

Pedro Flormon 

Raul Ibanez  

Josh Willingham

David Phelps

Kevin Corriea

Mike Carp 

Aaron Crow

 

 

NL Protected List 

Mark Trumbo

Loggers Announce Protection List

2015 Protections
Mitch "Find me some" More Land
"The old" Billy "Barue" Butler
Alex "Corn Chowder" Avila
Ben "Zobrilla" Zobrist
Anthony (use Scooby Voice) GOSE?!
Asdrubal "Ass-Double-Dribble" Cabrera
Omar "Enriquo Pallazzo" Infante
Michael "Jason" Bourn "Supremacy"
Avisail "Little Miggy" Garcia
Jose "Joey Bats" Bautista
Sonny, Sonny, Sonny Gray
Jose Quintana (end of Jaws....Quint?  No.....)
Jeremy "little gust of wind, Holmes" Guthrie
Michael "Pinata" Pineda
Nick "Tepid" Tepesh
"He went to" Jarrod Parker (no card)
NL: Cliff "Clavin" Lee

Cut like a fart in the breeze:
Jason "Mike, Mike, Mike, what day is it?!" Hammel
Samuel "DeStinko" Deduno
Nate "But you're a free man" Freiman
Sergio Santos "Claus"
Jarred "Loan Co-signer" Cosart
Ryan "15 pieces of Flair" Flaherty

Stan, Chotchkie's Manager: We need to talk about your flair.
Joanna: Really? I... I have fifteen pieces on. I, also...
Stan, Chotchkie's Manager: Well, okay. Fifteen is the minimum, okay?
Joanna: Okay.
Stan, Chotchkie's Manager: Now, you know it's up to you whether or not you want to just do the bare minimum. Or... well, like Brian, for example, has thirty seven pieces of flair, okay. And a terrific smile.
Joanna: Okay. So you... you want me to wear more?
Stan, Chotchkie's Manager: Look. Joanna.
Joanna: Yeah.
Stan, Chotchkie's Manager: People can get a cheeseburger anywhere, okay? They come to Chotchkie's for the atmosphere and the attitude. Okay? That's what the flair's about. It's about fun.
Joanna: Yeah. Okay. So more then, yeah?
Stan, Chotchkie's Manager: Look, we want you to express yourself, okay? Now if you feel that the bare minimum is enough, then okay. But some people choose to wear more and we encourage that, okay? You do want to express yourself, don't you?
Joanna: Yeah, yeah.
Stan, Chotchkie's Manager: Okay. Great. Great. That's all I ask.
LOGGERMANIA!!!

Boston Bobcats Protection List

 

 

 

 

J. Masterson
T. Hunter
F. Rodney
G. Holland
C. Wilson
D. Keuchel
P. Hughes
J. Vargas
D. Viciedo
S. Drew
Y. Gomes
D. Murphy
D. Ortiz
E. Encarnacion
B. Dozier
L. Cain

NL
D. Span

Cut

A. Presley
K. Johnson
R. Ross
J. Hellickson
A. Dunn
A. Soriano