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2006 Recap

   Well, it's that time of the year for the annual CBA report and final analysis.  Most GM’s did a terrific job this year.  It wound up a great season with very close pennant races once again.  Competitive chases and races, the CBA went from opening day to fan appreciation, and some more.   3 of the 4 races were absolute thrillers.  We saw a few season records fall in the regular season, and again in the playoffs.  Individual and career records were broken and there were a few surprises along the way.  We saw the establishment of new franchise cities and addition of a couple of fine new GM’s.

      The Schmidt came down to a 1 game difference with Lake County besting runner up Stirling who made a late season charge, and 2 games over the faded Alamo City Flames who led most of the year.  In Dawson the perrenial battle between Longue Pointe and Belfast evolved again, but unlike in the past where Limoilou was at or near the top, they were replaced by the improved SD Surf team.  The Carter saw the former Neah Bay Whalers and Skokie dogfight all year only for Neah to win it in a 1 game end of season game 163 playoff.  As for the best division, the Parker has established itself as the strongest league with the World Champion Indiana Redbirds winning their division by 1 game over Brooklyn.  The two later met in a classic playoff series, after the Redbirds barely made it past wild card Ottawa otters in the second ever playoff series.

      The off season produced a lot of news and events.  There was trade talk and action abound as most every team wheeled and dealing.  Draft pick trades which 2 years ago were limited by our rules stimulated a trade frenzy as teams stocked up on the picks while others attempted to find a balance trading them for pieces to their team puzzle.  Several teams made news.  The trade season opened and by December 2^nd the winter hot stove coals heated to a warm glow when  acquired catcher Paul LoDuca, Jorge Sosa, and Keving Millar in a deal for Fred Garcia.  That deal could have said lots as Kilgore moved into 2006 off the heels of a terrific 2005 season which they barely missed a first ever playoff spot.  Looking to rebuild a bit acknowledging a possible dropoff in talent, that trade could be the one to move Kilgore back into contention as LoDuca had a stellar year in MLB.  After came a flurry of trades that saw names like Millwood, Wagner, Shawn Green,  Chris Young, Mussina, Bartolo Colon, Ordonez, Patterson, Horatio Ramirez, Benitez, Crawford, Bedard, Street, Ibanez, Gagne, Beltran, Edmonds and other CBA stars change uniform.  Many of those trades came about in draft pick deals where teams sought to build from the ground up.  

     Speaking of uniforms, 2006 will also be remembered for the addition to CBA of our uniform and logo gallery.  Many teams were given custom designed uniforms made to the specifications of our CBA GM’s.  The new uniforms set a standard of fantasy baseball realism that few leagues can match.  Each uniform designed to meet the personality and persona of the teams leadership and regional influences.  Many uniforms were reminiscent of uniforms of MLB past. Unique team logos, pennants,  and banners were also designed for use on our webpage and GM’s own uses.

As the website expanded and new sections, stats, historical notes, and features helped our league to become prominent on the internet.  Quite a few Strat fans have visited us and reacted favorably to our many team pages and designs. 

     The seasonal draft was a smooth one in which almost all the GM’s were timely and efficient in their selections.  As smooth as it went for some there were lots of diamonds in the draft and a few dogs.  The jury is still out on many of them.  Cooperstown made lots of noise having quite a few first and second round picks in their rebuild year.  Philly once a  CBA juggernaut also poised to build through their 2006 draft.  As hot as the first round seemed perhaps the later draft provided more impact for 2007.  A quick look back at the 2006 draft saw  the last of round 1 providing perhaps more impact than the top of the draft.  The last couple of picks of round 1 were Granderson(LWD), Papelbon (LLS), Betemit (SRS), and Murton (NWC now KWC).

  Lets look at the 2006 season team by team.  First lets start in Clemente with the toughest division in CBA the Parker division.  Home of the 2006 CBA World Champion Indiana Redbirds.

The Redbirds were known in 2005 as the Houston Aeros who after an a few losing seasons and and a productive expansion draft, were able to acquire more impressive talent via trade.  Houston A few shrewd Bob Fidler signature touches and moves put the once hapless Indiana team into the first division and eventually evolved into a mighty CBA team for the ages.  Incoming were Jose Reyes (.319ba, 19sb in 141 AB), Placido (playoff MVP) Polanco (.303 ba), Tony Clark (29 HR), Isringhausen (15 sv), Garland (14 wins), Washburn (8 wins +1 in playoffs), to go along with other career year performances by key Redbirds. They reached the coveted 100 win plateau best in CBA.   Hitting a league leading 281 HRs, the Rebirds could score runs, and pitch some too.  Indiana batted a CBA high .290.  For good measure they led CBA with 48 triples.  The offense was the story with league highs in OBA (.360) and slugging (.502).  An .861 run production rate was almost .091 better than league average.  They produced runs at a far far better average than the average team did.  They walked a lot (2^nd place) and thus scored a lot as guys like Pujols (52, 146, .320, .412oba) A-Rod (58, 141, .311, 16sb, 3 GSHR),  Batting champ Jason Bay (37, 119, .346) actually led the Redbirds with a 1.146 Total avg!  Leadoff hitter Grady Sizemore (30, 89, .316, 16sb), Trot Nixon (21 Hr), did terrific damage to opposing pitchers.  8 players hit above .290.  

    The Birds fielded their positions well too with a .740 X rating % with the league average being .716 in 2006.   Despite the offensive prowess, the lone weak spot may have been the bullpen who despite 40 saves did allow 40% of their runners already on base to score a figure they must improve if they are to repeat with the 99 win Brooklyn Superbas breathing down their neck.

Indiana matched in 2006 against their rival Parker team Brooklyn in a classic 6 game series which was punctuated by a 36-3  record setting game in game 3 of their series in rd 2.  Indiana eventually went on to defeat Neah Bay in the World Series.  Pitcher Roy Oswalt won 19 games losing only 9 finished with a 5.71 era.  When your ace compiles that many wins is shows how strong that offense was and how clutch the defense was too.  They only allowed 3 clutch hits and sucked up 19 clutch outs in big spots.  Both figures in the leagues top 3. Those lead to wins and that’s just what Indiana ordered in 2006 en route to the trophy.

   The Brooklyn Superbas had a quite a year again 2006.  Though some predicted Brooklyn would fall behind Indy and Ottawa, the Superbas put together a different look for this season.  One based on defense and pitching.  Sure the trademark BSP offense was there but not like in seasons past. 

CBA history argues that Brooklyn could be perhaps the top offense team in CBA’s  10 year existence.  The Superbas are in the top of most statistical offensive categories.  Brooklyn has led the league in runs scored several times.  They always seem to field powerful slugging teams marked by high on base totals and tons of runs scored.  In fact Brooklyn places 5 teams in CBA’s alltime top 10 in runs scored.  Brooklyn has a lifetime .563 win pct and Brooklyn’s career batting average now stands at .287 highest among teams who have played 5 years (Belfast at .288 needs a few more seasons)  and Brooklyn leads all CBA with 2,472 to runner up Philly’s 2256 and difference of 216 HR.  Brooklyn owns the all time HR mark hitting 351 back in 2000.

  Things have worked well in Brooklyn as a perennial contender winning 1 championship back in ’04 but the 1 component that Brooklyn was never known for was pitching.  Brooklyn has alos given up the most HR in CBA history with 2,009.  The House of Pain has been friendly with the offenses.  Often Brooklyn has relied on platoon players to fit certain roles.  Players have responded.  Brian Daubach’s 41 Hrs in 01, Henry Rodriguez 44 Hr in 99, Polonia’s .363 batting avg in ’99, Payton hitting .387 and of course future Hall of famers CBA’s all time destructive duo of Todd Helton and Sluggin Sammy Sosa who have dominated the Parker for years together.  Helton  is currently CBA’s 2^nd leading hitter all time and owns or is near to many top 10 offense career stats records incuding hits, OBA, runs, doubles, HR, RBI’s.  Sosa the same except he is CBA’s all time HR King.  Sosa likely has finished his career in CBA and will retire a Superba at the top.  2006 his swan song and the 2006 playoffs maybe one of his finest moments when on possibly his last CBA at bat ever helped win game 5 against the Redbirds in that great Clemente championship series.  A fitting tribute indeed but not enough as Brooklyn lost in 6 to the eventual champs.  That was the story of ’06, just not enough, but not by much.  The playoffs were a microcosm of the BSP season.

     Brooklyn relied on pitching a defense for the first time. Solid starting pitching, the games best closer, and a tremendous defense were the theme.  It fell apart in the playoffs as Brooklyn amassed a 6.64 era and allowed a .305 ba.  Most of those coming in 1 game.  BSP did get a shutout from Brad Penny and some nice Bartolo Colon work.  In the end the offense just didn’t comne through as they had done so many times in the past, just 1 piece shy.  The regular season saw IRP  with 100 wins and  BSP 99,  it was that close.  Brooklyn turned an amazing 190 DP’s more than 41 than they hit into.  Scored 10+ runs 25 times but allowed Opponents only 14.  BSP tossed 15 shutouts a CBA record amazing considering playing at Coors.  The defense helped greatly with that.

They destroyed righties at a .634 clip but struggled close to .500 against lefties. Won most of their 1 runs games, and were 13-5 in the extras.  The defense and pitching held the games close while the offense churned the runs out.  Brooklyn pitchers allowed opponents a .271 BA despite Coors whereas in the past they frequently allowed .290 or even over .300.  The key was defense.  An amazing .799 X rating perhaps the best in CBAs 10 year history.  That means 80% of all  rolls for a fielding rating were converted to outs.  League average was about 71%.  League low Philly’s 64%.  That translates into ERA and wins.  BSP had a 4.39 era their best ever all in Coors.  With a team batting average of .289 and 252 HRs BSP had quite a solid team. 

11 players had double digit HRs.  Vernon Wells (38 116 .309)  led BSP in HR followed by Ryan Howard (28 69 .337) in only 294 At bats.  Helton (19 73 .332 .432oba)  put up another big year moving up to the 2 hole in the order.  Payton (25 86 .319) played a flawless defense with no errors as did Vernon Wells.  Both should win gold gloves for OF play.  Additionally Payton was a great bat at the tail end of the lineup.  Mid season acquisition Miguel Cabrera (35 114 .337) acquired from Stirling for a #2, Milledge and Nick Swisher provided much need pop in his short stay.  But the pitchers were strong too.  Mariano saved 30 and won 9, Halladay went 13-2 with a 3.05 era.  Colon (15-9 4.42), Willis went 18-5 with a 3.42 era perhaps BSP’s best pitcher season ever for ERA from a rotational starter.  Estes (3-8 6.67) was awful but despite a miserable record converted 3 of those wins into shutouts to lead CBA, inexplicable. In the end it just wasn’t enough to beat Indy.  Next year looks a whole lot brighter as strong pitching returns and some tremendous bats return.  BSP will look forward to Halladay fronting a staff that includes Brad Penny, Mike Mussina, Dontrelle Willist, and Mariano Rivera.

As if two teams with 99+ wins teams in the Parker weren't enough, the Ottawa Otters came up as the second playoff team in the wildcard.  The Otters strong again in '06 after barely missing the playoffs in '05, posed perhaps the biggest threat to the Redbirds Championship season. After making the 1st round and facing Indy, they took the Birds all the way to 7 games.  Game one Ottawa posted a 14-11 win after starting off with 6 first inning runs.  Ortiz again superior as he was all season long.  They shattered Oswalt for 12 runs in 6 innings.  The series was tightly played it went until game 7 when Oswalt exacted his revenge in the final win.  Details are on the website.

Ottawa struggled a bit with Indy (7-16) during the regular season but stepped it up in the playoffs behind Jack Jung's managing.  It was Ottawas first playoff appearance since their 2001 championship season.  Ottawa also had some trouble with BSP (10-13), but cleaned up against rival Bryan Texas, and Cooperstown.  The Otters offense was very potent hitting a team record 241 HR and posting a .276 BA.  The highlight was favored MVP candidate David Ortiz who slammed 63 HR!  His 149 RBI and .329 Batting avg made him a legitimate triple crown candidate and the CBA's dynamic duo of Ortiz and Vlad the Impaler Guerrero (43 125 .324) were unstoppable all year. Cliff 'Count' Floyd pitched in 32 HR and 94 Ribbies.  Ottawa by far led CBA with an amazing 13 clutch hits. 

Other unsung heroes included the last original Otter Omar Vizquel a 4th rd draft pick in '97 and his .285 BA, 20 SB.  Viz made only 3 errors in 139 games (.996 fielding %) all year leading Ottawa to a high .731 X Rating %.  By comparison reserve Chris Woodward made 8 errors in only 33 games.  Ottawa used the Hit and run to their advantage leading CBA with 71 attempts, and moving runners along 43 times, 12 of them for big basehits. 

Ottawa's pitching didnt hold up, else they may have made a run at the Parker title.  A team 4.85 era was simply too high, and the team WHIP was close to +200.  What the offense giveth the pitching tooketh despite solid defense.  Perhaps without that D, Ottawa would have done much worse.  The future looks bright with the Ottawa policy of non trade.  The Otters will continue to build with more young talent to go along with future stars such as Rickie Weeks, Casey Kotchmann, Conor Jackson, and others.

   The Bryan Bashers started 2006 by changing their name from Kilgore to Bryan.  Their record changed as well.  The 2005 86-76 record and near playoff shot became a disastrous 65-97 record in '06, one of the largest falls in CBA history.  In a rebuild mode the Bashers season was best summed up as a patient year while awaiting the team to blossom.  Bryan's offense was barely able to muster and offense as evidenced by a .251 Batting average, .324 oba and .419 slg pct, significantly below the league average.  Nearly .30 pts below average in run production.  No speed to talk about evidenced by only 54sb at a 61% success rate lowest in CBA.  The Bashers made a117 errors and the Defensive X rating (.683) was .31 below league avg so the pitching got little help too.  Despite 11 shutouts, the staff completed just 7 games relying heavily on the bullpen. The pen only allowed 26% of inherited runners to score in a positive note. The pitching wasn't too bad allowing 4.51 earned runs per game.  With better defense that could have been lower, but that offense well you get the picture. 

    Basher highlites were few, but there was some individual seasons of note.  Bobby "Bang" Crosby hit .322 with 14 HR in a platoon role and Johnny Gomes hit 26 taters in a platoon role as well.  The offensive regulars were otherwise just that, offensive.  The pitchers had their numbers with All Star Dustin Hermanson notching 25 more saves and a 3.06 era. Set up man Luis Ayala was brilliant in 82 games with a 2.74era despite no decisions in the won-lost.  He walked only 12 in 98 innings.  Linebrink, Kenny Rogers, and Wasdin had under 4 eras, and team MVP Chris Carpenter went 14-13  4.02era.  1 surprise saw Bruce Chen (remember him?) winning 9 games.  Maybe in another division, Bryan could have added another 15 wins because of the good pitching.   Despite the tough year, Bryan did not finish last in the Parker.  That distinction went to....

      The Cooperstown IronHorses.  Cooperstown is still in a rebuild mode so not too much to report just yet.  Theres a good nucleus developing here with players such as  Chris Young (7-7 4.94era 117K), Peralta (24 65 .306), Michael Young (26 77 .323), Raul Ibanez (21 92 .301), Dan Johnson, and Jeremy Hermida.  Cooperstown did the league in 1 catagory.  The most Young's on roster with 3. (Mike, Chris, Dmitri).  The offense wasn't too bad hitting .268 with 8 guys in double digits for HR. 3 of the players had 20 or more.  It was the pitching and too high 5.29 team era that was the Iron Horses undoing.  Retiring Rad Bradke led the team with only 10 wins.  The late Cory Lidle (4-16 4.96), Hoaratio Ramirez (9-17 5.21), and Jeff Francis (6-19 6.82) were all in the rotation and are Ronson lighter fluid of the year award candidates.  Francisco Cordero did save 19 games with a .304 era in a bright note, and Jesse Crain mustered 9 sv in mostly a set up role.  2007 could be another tough year for C-Town as they will struggle to overtake Bryan, Ottawa who are also improving.  It will be a long way before CTown can surpass BSP or IRP.  Its unfortunate they are in the same division in '07 but look out in 08 as this team is on the rise and will undoubtedly add more talent in this years draft.

The Schmidt division race was a classic.  At first glance the team records weren’t striking.  With Parker hosting such gaudy numbers, the Schmidt looked the weaker division.  In the end it proved true came playoff time when Lake County dropped their games to Brooklyn in Rd 1.  But there was a strong possibility that a Schmidt division team could make noise in the playoffs and maybe win.  Past seasons saw Rich Schneider’s Senators team predecessor KC A’s under his guidance advance all the way to the World Series vs Brooklyn with the 4^th seed.  In 2001 Jack Jung’s Ottawa team finished barely above .500 but advanced and WON the World Series.

This years Schmidt was a battle between any one of 4 teams Alamo(SW Sun Lizards), Stirling, Carolina, or Lake County.  The entire year saw the lead change hands numerous times.  Early on in April Philly and Alamo battled back and forth with Lake County while Stirling, Carolina, stayed just between 1 and 3 games difference.  The race then saw Alamo and Lake County take over in May with Lake County dominating the top spot much through May.  Then Alamo got hot and the other teams ran into trouble against Parker.  As the others faded a bit Alamo phattened up on Philly Phantastics pitching and their so-so month was good enough to move them ahead in the standings for a long while all the way until September. Carolina suffered losing series to Alamo which separated them from the top by a few and Stirling swept in mid May to help tighten things under Alamo.  This month of games where no one team stood out was the story of the division.  Just the fact that Alamo had won series at key times while the others struggled knocking each other off was enough to keep the division very tight all year.  The rivalries between Schmidt teams was very intense.  Mostly because the Parker seemed likely early on to secure both wildcards.    So the 4 Schmidts had to battle for number 1 with no one having a clear advantage. Stirling actually gained some ground as the season wore on after making a trade with Longue Pointe returning Jason Kendall and a #1  and Nick Swisher, #2 BSP and Lastings Milledge  essentially trading Cabrera and an injured Jason Varitek.  Eventually Lake County surpassed Alamo whose usage neglection caused his regulars to be benched, while David Jones Lake County Leopards fully rested team got red hot in September.  They swept easily past rival Alamo, swept in Parker against both Brooklyn and Indiana!   September 6^th game the 2^nd in the series saw Tom Glavine defeat Indiana and the Leopards leap into 1^st place a lead they kept through September.

The Leopards late run was in jeopardy when Bryan took 2 and then a three game Philly sweep set them straight temporarily. Cooperstown swept them and Stirling with a few wins against Carolina and Ottawa made their move.  Stirling had a chance to tie for first with the others knocking each other off but true to form the Carolina Copperheads returned the favor by knocking the RedSox of Stirling Canada out in game 162.  The Schmidt winner was Lake County ahead by 1 over Stirling, and 2 over Alamo.  Carolina finished 6 games behind. 

The Lake County Leopards home page documents their winning history. Originally named the Villanova Wildcats by then GM Joey Santangelo, they transferred ownership the CBA future Hall of Famer Dino Barnabe of Quebec.  They were called the St Foy Frenchies and through the draft  and shrewd trades built the franchise into one of CBA’s all time winners.  Mike Rescigno held the line for a couple of seasons before our David Dean took it over.   Dean did a good job wresting the division in 2006 from his peers using what tools he had available. The Leopards won another 85 games in ’06 and look for more as they added some strong pitching by acquiring Brad Penny to their thin staff for ’07. Always with strong offense, Lake County was able to move Manny Ramirez with the re-emergence of Barry Bonds into CBA for 2007.

Carlos Delgado (43 123 .322) had an MVP type year for LLS.  If offensive value to a team meant anything in consideration for that CBA award, then Delgado was the man.  With Manny Ramirez (34 105 .282) under .300, and not driving HR or runs as he had, there was added pressure on the offense in this year without Bonds.  Delgado filled the bill and carried the Leopards on his back. 

The Leopards relied on speed a lot.  Willie Taveras (1 54 .268 27sb, 23 sac), Jim3 Rollins (11 62 .279) set the table for big Carlos.  Using lots of sacrifices and steals despite lowly On base percentages.  It make s what Delgado did that much more MVP like.  The table setters had about a .320 an base percentage.   If Lake had another bat to protect Carlos, they might have surpassed that win total by more. Pitching was mediocre.  Glavine (15-7 4.02) won 15 and Vasquez (16-10 3.93 202K) 16 games.  Beyond that was a disaster with Lowe and Marquis having ERAs above 5.50.  Marquis (11-16 6.02) is a Ronson Lighter fluid award candidate.

The bullpen was a sham with the saves leader only 11 saves.  The set up men did far worse with ERAs over 4 and a half.  Eric Hinske the DH was the lowest full time regular at DH in offensive production with .577 total avg and a 3.30 run created average. 

Stirling Red Sox didn’t expect to be in the race at all in ’06, but with the state of the division they were a player nonetheless.  The finished 1 out despite trading top hitter Cabrera. Andruuwew Jones and Ronnie Belliard (22 67 .322) led the way with career seasons.  Andruuw was 2^nd in CBA with 61 HRs and a whopping 141 RBI. His only weakness 102 Ks and relatively few walks 49.  Eric Chavez (37 119 .276).  Paul Konerko cracked 41 Hr and had 100 RBI.   The offense was there.  Surprisingly the pitching wasn’t.  Preseason consensus was that the Red Sox pitching would carry them behind guys like Zito (10-11 5.67),  Arroyo (11-12 5.47) and Buehrle (16-11 4.90).