2005 Season

Transactions by Team

	FA Acquis.	Promote/ Demote	Position Shift	Trades
Senators	15	42	13	0
Bombers	10	41	1	1
Irates	15	39	2	0
Skipjacks	11	36	0	0
Chiefs	13	34	3	1
Wahoos	15	31	3	0
Redbirds	13	30	3	0
Reds	25	29	1	1
Tigers	12	28	0	0
Tribe	18	28	2	0
Blues	13	25	2	0
Cubs	9	22	0	1

Looks like Leona Helmsley, err, Skipper gets the micro-manager award, leading the pack in movement between majors and minors, as well as position shifts.

While Alfred E. Neumann, aka Shamu, takes home the “What, me worry?” honors.

And how about little Jimmy almost lapping the field with 25 free agent acquisitions. Me thinks someone wants badly to make this the year of the Redbirds and cash in on a bet with BT.

Trade Recap

Heavy in closers, it was time for the Chiefs to make a trade. It came down to Jarrod Washburn or Carlos Silva. Since that day in early May Mr. Washburn has averaged a pitiful 5.2 points/game, while Senor Silva has been cruising along at almost 14 per game. Not only did the Chiefs miss out on Silva’s points, we missed on saddling Baron von Itchenstein with Brandon Lyon’s shredded right elbow. Sorry Brother Mouse.

Grab Bag

Drafting pitchers who’s last name begins with an ‘M’- good (Martinez, Marquis, Maddux, Mulder), unless the M is followed by an ilton. Very bad.

It was fascinating how long Neifi Perez sat on the FA heap piling up solid points while noone was able to pull the trigger on him. Neifi-freaking-Perez.

Skipper, looks like you may need some Gagne insurance. That policy is spelled Brazoban. Make an offer.

No justice. A couple of weeks ago Sports Weekly’s front page story was in regard to someone hitting for the Triple Crown, focusing on Pujols and Tejada. Not a single mention was made of Derek Lee, who at the time was leading in all 3 Triple Crown categories (and continues to). I’m not saying Lee will keep up his torrid pace, or that he’s even remotely in the same category as the other two, but come on, give the guy at least a crumb.

What the hell is happening with Todd Helton? 5 HRs and 25 RBIs with a .259 BA at the 1/3 pole is pathetic. He trails such rotisserie stalwarts as Dmitri Young and Daryl Ward in the 1^st Base rankings.

Clint Barmes, meet your neighbors in the All-Injury wing of the HOF, Marty Cordova, who missed games in ’02 after burning his face by lying in a tanning bed too long, and Glenallen Hill, who sustained cuts and scrapes on his feet, knees and arm during a violent nightmare about spiders.

Go Big Red, Go Chiefs, and go do something Yankees, anything.

Screech & BT

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SKIP’S BLIPS

**	Magpie will think twice before picking on Underbelly as the official league “backstop,” given the Tribe’s 432.0 outburst last week to narrow the gap with the 11th-place Reds to 64.5 points. Just because the Tribe has been woefully underperforming during the early part of the year -- thanks mostly to bad luck and bad health -- doesn’t mean that U-Bob is taking matters lying down. Magpie’s little jab in last week’s issue of the Curbside Chronicles appears to be just the motivation that the Tribe needed to get the squad moving.
**	Last year at this time, the Wahoos were leading the pack (those were the days, eh, Possum?) with 3962 points, more than 300 points ahead of the leading pace being set by the Redbirds this season. The Wahoos enjoyed a 210-point lead over the Skipjacks at this stage last year, whereas this year the 2nd-place Skipjacks are only 14.5 points off the pace. Also of interest, the gap between the 1st place team and the Tribe (herein the “FTT Gap”) was a whopping 1279 points last year through ten weeks of play, whereas this year the FTT Gap is a much less embarrassing total of only 608.5 points. In other words, the Tribe is still a very bad team, but less bad than last season, for whatever that’s worth.
**	After the top three teams, there is a huge logjam involving the next seven. The gaps between the 4th place Chiefs (3465.0) and the 10th place Cubs* (3175.5) is a mere 290 points, which could be made up in a matter of a couple of stellar weeks. If anybody’s thinking about making a prediction about finishing in the Upper Division, other than the top three teams, I wouldn’t. Anything can happen, and probably will.
**	When did Derrek Lee turn into a Triple Crown threat? Holy moly. The guy is batting in the .370s, and is right at or near the top of the leaderboard in home runs and runs batted in. Give Stretch credit for spotting them gem amidst the coal slurry and slag. And where would the Blues be without Derrek, other than deeper in the league bowels.
**	I am amazed that Pedro is having the kind of year that he is having, currently our league’s Cy Young of the year with 292.5 points, playing for a very mediocre Mets team. The guy loves the limelight, and the guy can flat out pitch.
	That’s it for this week.

Skipper

TOP 15 HITTERS/PITCHERS THRU JUNE 12, 2005

HITTERS
1.	Derrek Lee	334
2.	Bobby Abreu	310
3.	Miguel Tejada	308
4.	Alex Rodriguez	300
5.	Brian Roberts	298
6.	Albert Pujols	281
7.	Jeff Kent	270
8.	David Ortiz	262
9.	Mark Teixeira	259
10.	Pat Burrell	254
(T)	Alfonso Soriano	254
12.	Carlos Lee	253
13.	Carlos Delgado	246
(T)	Michael Young	246
15.	Luis Gonzalez	243

PITCHERS
1.	Pedro Martinez	293
2.	Roy Halladay	267
3.	Johan Santana	258
4.	Roger Clemens	253
5.	Dontrelle Willis	241
6.	Mark Buehrle	237
7.	Brett Meyers	236
8.	Scott Shields	234
9.	Kenny Rogers	231
(T)	Chad Cordero	231
11.	Jake Peavey	220
12.	Roy Oswalt	219
13.	B.J. Ryan	216
14.	Livan Hernandez	215
15.	John Garland	210

STANDINGS THRU WEEK 10, JUNE 12, 2005

Upper Division
1.	Redbirds	3652.5
2.	Skipjacks	3638.0
3.	Irates	3531.0
4.	Chiefs	3465.0
5.	Senators	3392.5
6.	Tigers	3329.5
Lower Division
7.	Bombers	3321.5
8.	Blues	3289.0
9.	Wahoos	3226.0
10.	Cubs*	3175.5
11.	Reds	3108.5
12.	Tribe	3044.0

POINT TOTALS FOR WEEK 10, THRU JUNE 12, 2005

1.	Senators	436.0
2.	Tribe	432.0
3.	Chiefs	399.5
4.	Cubs*	350.0
5.	Wahoos	348.5
6.	Redbirds	340.5
7.	Skipjacks	335.5
8.	Tigers	315.0
9.	Reds	304.5
10.	Bombers	290.0
11.	Blues	289.5
12.	Irates	271.5