Week 11 NewsletterJune 23, 2009PHONY LEAGUE BASEBALL NEWSLETTERVol. 25, No. 11 PHONY LEAGUE BASEBALL ----------------------------------------------------------------------- One of the key tricks in the Phony League is playing someone out of position. I got several good years out of Mike Sweeney (before he got a bad back) when he qualified at Catcher, even though he was playing every day at first base (and killing the ball, I might add). I had kind of been looking for something like that since I’ve spent most of this season without a catcher, Kenji Johjima being slightly inferior to just taking the 0 for 7 penalty at the position. When I was talking to Julie earlier today about all the places that Ty Wigginton qualifies to play (1, 2, 3 and OF, and one appearance away from qualifying at SS to boot, if you care), I checked on a whim as to where recent Ghost Rider pickup Casey McGehee qualified, figuring I’d see 2d and 3d, as I expected. Was I the only person who didn’t know that McGehee played as a catcher for the Cubs’ farm system nearly half the season in 2007 and 2008? Sometimes, things work out. Whether that’s enough to get the Riders out of the abyss is an open question, but at least now we have a catcher….. In other news, politicians are corrupt, dogs like bones, and the Foxes have another in their long history of 18-point weeks. Nothing to see here, move along, folks. That squeal you hear is just the standings tightening up again on the top half and the cellar falling out for the bottom half.
TRANSACTIONS: A quiet week until Monday, and then busy, busy, busy. June 17: June 18: June 22: June 23: The last day to postmark or deliver a waiver claim for the players released in this newsletter is Monday, June 22, 2009. If a claim for one or more of those players is postmarked or delivered on or before that date and does not specify whether it is a waiver claim or a free agent claim, it will be considered a waiver claim. Announcements of all free agent and waiver acquisitions are subject to change if a late arriving letter or postcard is received from a team with a superior claim. REMINDER ABOUT FREE AGENT CLAIMS: When claiming a free agent, you must specify whether the player being released is in the lineup or not. The status of the released player is the status on the day before the claim goes into effect, which means in most cases it is the status on the day you send the claim. If the released player is not in the lineup on the day you send the claim, you can just note NIL, which, of course, means not in lineup. If the released player is in your lineup on the day you send the claim, you must report who will replace that player in your lineup. I do not care if you already reported a sub to your “checker.” You must also report the sub in the free agent claim. If it makes it easier to understand, when you make the claim just forget that you have a “checker” for your lineup and pretend that all your substitutions are reported to the person receiving the player claim. Then, report the substitution in the free agent claim.
Questions? E-mail Steve |