******************************************** * The 2002 Cuppie Baseball League Abstract * * by Rob Iracane * ******************************************** Final Standings: Rank Team Name R RBI OBP SLG W SV ERA WHIP TOTAL --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Team Turducken (Rob) 7 5 6 6 7 6 3 6 46 2 Lollygaggers (Vince) 2 7 2 5 6 8 7 8 45 3 Big Ern McCrackin (Eric) 6 6 8 7 2 5 6 4 44 4 Team Repeat (Noel) 8 8 7 8 1 4 2 5 43 5 The Hoodfellaz (Derik) 1 3 1 1 8 2 8 7 31 6 Pile of BS (Brian) 5 2 5 4 5 1 5 2 29 7 The Sociopaths (Dave) 3 4 4 2 3 7 1 3 27 8 NumeroUNO (Tom) 4 1 3 3 4 3 4 1 23 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rank Team Name R RBI OBP SLG W SV ERA WHIP --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Team Turducken (Rob) 850 808 .376 .498 91 143 3.60 1.20 2 Lollygaggers (Vince) 770 826 .358 .485 83 177 3.22 1.15 3 Big Ern McCrackin (Eric) 819 820 .391 .512 77 119 3.51 1.23 4 Team Repeat (Noel) 918 958 .380 .537 62 114 3.68 1.22 5 The Hoodfellaz (Derik) 766 741 .345 .441 95 81 3.00 1.19 6 Pile of BS (Brian) 817 740 .369 .474 81 47 3.54 1.26 7 The Sociopaths (Dave) 771 745 .364 .456 78 167 3.71 1.24 8 NumeroUNO (Tom) 796 728 .360 .473 79 105 3.57 1.32 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- League MVP: Barry Bonds, who singlehandedly kept Blankenstein in the race. Draft Steals: Garret Anderson, Round 16, The Hoodfellaz Mike Williams, Round 17, Big Ern McCrackin Eddie Guardado, Round 20, Lollygaggers Stupid Drops: Eddie Guardado, Lollygaggers, April 1 (for Doug Mientkiewicz) Garret Anderson, The Hoodfellaz, April 13 (for Shea Hillenbrand) Fred McGriff, Team Turducken, April 13 (for Frank Menenchino) Pennant-winning Adds: Vicente Padilla, Team Turducken, April 16 (for Frank Menenchino) Odalis Perez, Team Turducken, April 21 (for Jason Varitek) Torii Hunter, Team Turducken, April 22 (for Sean Casey) Junior Spivey, Team Turducken, April 26 (for Dan Wilson) Trades: Aug 14 Kim, Byung-Hyun (RP-Ari) Williams, Mike (RP-Pit) from NumeroUNO Floyd, Cliff (LF, RF, DH-Bos) Padilla, Vicente (RP, SP-Phi) from Team Turducken Jul 31 Pettitte, Andy (SP-NYY) from The Hoodfellaz Hunter, Torii (CF-Min) from Team Turducken May 16 DeJean, Mike (RP-Mil) Durham, Ray (2B, DH-Oak) from NumeroUNO Lofton, Kenny (CF-SF) from The Sociopaths Apr 25 Sheffield, Gary (LF, RF-Atl) from NumeroUNO Williams, Mike (RP-Pit) from Big Ern McCrackin Apr 18 Kim, Byung-Hyun (RP-Ari) from Team Turducken Drew, J.D. (RF, CF-StL) from NumeroUNO Major Contributors: Team Turducken Team Repeat The Hoodfellaz Lollygaggers ------------------------------------------------------------------------- C M. Piazza P. LoDuca J. Posada J. Varitek 1B T. Helton J. Thome J. Bagwell R. Sexson 2B J. Spivey A. Soriano B. Boone J. Kent 3B E. Hinske A. Pujols S. Hillenbrand T. Zeile SS D. Jeter M. Tejada J. Hernandez N. Garciaparra OF J. Edmonds S. Sosa B. Abreu M. Ordonez OF L. Berkman B. Williams T. Salmon A. Jones OF T. Hunter M. Ramirez P. Wilson P. Burrell Util C. Floyd P. Konerko M. Lowell A. Dunn SP M. Mulder R. Clemens R. Johnson P. Martinez SP O. Perez A. Leiter T. Glavine C. Schilling SP J. Washburn C. Sabathia R. Halladay K. Ishii SP V. Padilla J. Schmidt D. Lowe J. Smoltz RP K. Sasaki A. Benitez D. Graves R. Nen RP E. Guardado J. Isringhausen U. Urbina B. Koch RP B. Wagner J. Mesa K. Foulke J. Jimenez NumeroUNO Pile of BS The Sociopaths Big Ern McCrackin ------------------------------------------------------------------------- C J. Kendall R. Fick J. Kendall I. Rodriguez 1B R. Klesko C. Delgado M. Sweeney J. Giambi 2B R. Alomar L. Castillo R. Durham J. Vidro 3B S. Rolen C. Jones T. Glaus E. Chavez SS A. Rodriguez J. Rollins R. Aurilia C. Guillen OF I. Suzuki V. Guerrero B. Giles G. Sheffield OF G. Sheffield S. Green L. Gonzalez C. Beltran OF L. Walker S. Stewart G. Anderson B. Bonds Util R. Mondesi T. Batista F. Thomas J. Olerud SP B. Colon J. Pineiro B. Zito F. Garcia SP M. Morris M. Buehrle D. Wells T. Hudson SP W. Miller R. Ortiz M. Mussina K. Wood SP J. Burkett G. Maddux T. Percival R. Oswalt RP B. Kim T. Hoffman M. Rivera B. Wickman RP M. Williams H. Irabu J. Acevedo A. Alfonseca RP R. Hernandez G. Lloyd M. DeJean E. Gagne Bitchfight of the Year: Vince and Dave Vince: According to ESPN's Page 2, the Mets--fourth place in the division, closer to the last-place Phillies than even the Wild Card-leading Diamondbacks and rumored to be entering fire-sale mode any time now--have better odds (13:1) of winning the World Series than the (15:1) Athletics--only 3.5 games back in the Wild Card race and with the best (home-grown, not bought-and-paid-for with dirty wholly-owned-subsidy-network money) pitching staff in the bigs. Now, I'm not saying either one of these teams is going to win the Series, but wouldn't you think that anyone with half a brain would realize that the A's have a better shot at it, and then place a bet accordingly? And where can I find these people who are placing futures bets on the Mets so that I can bilk them out of their money? Really, I think I deserve it more than them. Dave: I think those odds were made at the beginning of the season because I remember hearing them on sports radio. I doubt the updated odds would look like that. The oddsmakers thought the mets would be good because of all their additions and that the A's would be bad because they lost Giambi. Don't worry though. None of the odds matter. My dirty money Yankees are not losing this year. Go bet on that. Vince: Those are allegedly the "Updated Odds." When they were updated and whose line that is is unknown; however, according to vegas.com (http://www.vegas.com/gaming/futures/worldseries.html) updated today, the Metropolitans stand at 8:1 whilst the Athletics are 10:1. On a completely unrelated note, is Brandon Knight paying Mike Mussina some sort of royalty fee for using his delivery? Same staredown, same leg kick, same arm angle, everything. Dave: You pay pretty close attention to the Yankees for a Yankee-hater. Don't worry about Brandon Knight. He won't be around long. Vince: I watch a lot of baseball. The Yankees are on TV a disproportionate amount of the time (except for those of you caught in the middle of a bitter cable network pissing contest). So it stands to reason that I watch a whole bunch of Yankees games. Big deal. Rob: Me-OW! Vince: For somebody the YES network calls the "top closer ever" that guy sure blows a whole hell of a lot of saves. How long before the Yankees trade for Trevor Hoffman? Dave: Maybe if Hoffman ever wins a World Series MVP they'll look into it. until then, Mo can blow all the regular season saves he wants. I think he blows 6 or 7 every year. Sometimes that happens when you come in before the 9th inning as frequently as he does. You usually have to get somebody else out of trouble. Sometimes you can't. Hell, even if he blows postseason saves at the rate he's going (2 in 25 postseason opportunities; one due to his bad throw to second and Brosius' decision not to turn a sure thing 5-5-3 double play) he's still the best postseason relief pitcher of all time, and a definite first ballot hall-of-famer. Trevor Hoffman blew every save opportunity he ever had in the World Series. And he's the reason the Padres got swept in 1998. Vince: Rivera isn't the "Top Closer Ever." And it's too bad that he can't do a better job of working out of other people's jams. Because that Yankees bullpen is pretty rough. They're going to give up their fair share of runs, especially once Karsay and Stanton's arms fall off. That means more innings for Mariano, more blown saves, and more tough luck losses. It's too bad, too. When you spend $140 million on a team, it really should be damn near flawless. Dave: Everything you've said agrees with all of the anti-Yankee rhetoric over the past 5 years or so. Congratulations: you're officially a Yankee Hater. Your George Steinbrenner and Derek Jeter VooDoo pin-cushions will be mailed to your home shortly. But you know that the Yankees will, as usual, be on top of the American League (at least) when the season is over despite all the complaints and clever comments by those who wish to detract from their accomplishments. And comparing them to any other team in baseball, they are "damn near flawless." Remember, they don't have to be perfect, just good enough to beat everybody else. And they are. Vince: Why is it that anytime someone says something negative--or even less than gushing with praise--about the New York Americans, they're immediately accused of being a "Yankee-hater" or having some sort of horrible bias. But you know what? I don't hate the Yanks. They are an amazingly well-run franchise that does a great job of maximizing their resources. Top to bottom--Staten Island to the South Bronx--the organization is single-minded in its pursuit of greatness. Their players play hard and they play for the team. They're wonderful. No, I don't hate the Yankees. I just hate their ignorant, myopic, arrogant, insecure fans. (note: I do *not* have a problem with well-informed, big-picture-seeing, arrogant, confident Yankees fans) Dave: "Athletics--only 3.5 games back in the Wild Card race and with the best (home-grown, not bought-and-paid-for with dirty wholly-owned-subsidy-network money) pitching staff in the bigs." "When you spend $140 million on a team, it really should be damn near flawless." How could I have confused you with someone who hates the Yankees? Especially when you show no evidence of being fixated on the cheif complaint of anyone who feels that way. I don't care whether you hate the Yankees or not (even if you say all the same things I hear from known Yankee haters). That doesn't affect my evaluation of your statements. And I don't care which segment of Yankee fans have your approval. Pardon me for responding to you and not realizing this message board was your personal soap box. Vince: You got me. I hate the Yankees. Whatever. Does that change anything? Does that somehow prevent me from seeing the statistical evidence that makes Mariano Rivera the "Top Closer Ever?" Does that make the Yankee bullpen any less overworked or overrated? Does that make their payroll magically come back into the same orbit as the rest of the league? Does that somehow elevate the YES network to some level of objective respectability? If I'm wrong, please refute me. Prove to me why I'm stupid for thinking the things that I do, and I'll love it. But you just can't dismiss out-of-hand every statement that makes your Yankees out to be anything less than gods walking among us. Do yourself a favor: Turn off that "Yankeeography: Bob Meacham" that you've been watching, look around and realize that there's this whole great world of baseball outside of the South Bronx. Even on days when the Yankees are playing at home. Dave: I never mentioned the YES Network (that was you). I formed my views on Mo before YES existed. I never said the bullpen wasn't overworked or overrated (except Mo, who I now feel is underrated due to career reg. season stats). I said they're supposedly overworked every year, & every year they're great in postseason. And that's before Karsay who, in the long run, will save them innings as he's better than Witasik & Wohlers. You accuse me of bias because you think I accused you of bias, but I didn't. I just said you say things I hear from Yankee haters, even though you informed me you're not one (which is irrelevant anyway). I disagreed with you & told you why. None of this is news. I don't know why you didn't understand or why you're such a condescending fuck. Can we end this now or do you need the final word? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Last Updated: September 30, 2002 Rob Iracane ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- League ID#: 1025 Password: balz Season: Full Season Draft Type: Live Draft Time: Wednesday, March 27 5:00 PM PT Draft Status: postdraft Maximum Number of Teams: 8 Maximum Players on a Team: 23 Player Universe: All baseball Maximum Moves: No maximum Maximum Trades: No maximum Scoring Type: Rotisserie League Waiver Time: 2 days Last Trade Date: Wednesday, August 14 Trade Reject Time: 2 days Maximum Games: 162 Maximum Innings: 1250 Retroactive Stats: No Roster Changes: Daily Starting Positions: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF, Util, SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P, P, DL Statistical Categories (Batters): Runs Runs Batted In On-base Percentage Slugging Percentage Statistical Categories (Pitchers): Wins Saves Earned Run Average (Walks + Hits)/ Innings Pitched