Back to 1984 - Big Alric's Four of Ten Wins Championship!

[BC Manager]

One for BigAlric.

[BC Manager]

And one for YF.

Did anyone not get an offer that was on their Christmas list?

[YountFan]

Back at ya BC

[BC Manager]

Declined YF. But thanks.

[BC Manager]

Matthews and Cey are both going to be dropped before it turns to 2006 in the East, unless someone makes me a deal.

I guess no one's around.

[BC Manager]

Barker's also going cheap if anyone will make an offer. I don't want to drop him with the season he's having. Give me something for next year and he could be yours.

[BC Manager]

LONDON, ONTARIO (CP) - Long suffering fans of the London/Toronto franchise are shaking their heads today. While their team was completing a 3-game sweep of the division leading Tens, GM B.C. Manager was completing the paperwork to dump two of the teams leading veterans.

Most outrageous to the fans was the unceremonious dump of third bagger, Ron Cey, who singlehandedly won game 2 of the series for the Tecumsehs with his 3-Home Run performance. The move was made to make room for rookie Nick Esasky. Fans and media alike question whether Esasky and Denny Walling, who remains on the roster, will even make the team in 1985.

Asked for comment, Cey seemed bitter and bewildered, “It’s not often you see the management of a franchise give up on a season before the players do.” Gary “Sarge” Matthews had no comment as he was cleaning out his locker.

Also sent packing was reliever Sammy Stewart who had anchored the team’s bullpen all season, and Greg Walker, who had been a nice surprise but was hampered with a shoulder injury. With the roster and cap space available, London obtained veteran hurler Joaquin Andujar, reliever Andy McGaffigan and outfielder Carmen Castillo. It is expected that Andujar will fill the void to be created by Len Barker, who has announced he will be retiring at the end of the year. Barker has been the ace of the rotation this season.

Earlier in the day, London completed a trade sending journeymen relievers Jeff Parrett and Tom Hume to the Bay State Breakers for submarine reliever Kent Tekulve, who has had an off year. The bullpen looks to be solid next season with Tekulve, McGaffigan and Steve Bedrosian, signed earlier in the week.

It’s been a roller-coaster season for the Tecumseh’s. After much hype and optimism coming out of spring training, the team stumbled out of the gate, going 16-26 in their first 43 games. Highly touted rookie Don Mattingly fizzled early on, and became relegated to a late-inning replacement role. Veteran Reggie Jackson appeared to have lost his home run swing as did Jesse Barfield. Both were unconditionally released. A flurry of transactions followed that eventually brought players who would help the team, such as Cey, Walker, Johnny Grubb and Marty Barrett. The team has gone 58-48 since that intitial 43 game stretch. This was largely due to strong pitching performances from Barker, Danny Cox and Pete Falcone. Dave Stieb has also rounded into form in the second half of the season. After giving up over 5 runs a game in the first quarter of the season, London now leads the league in ERA. It’s believed an 8-13 stretch last week was what convinced the GM to make the moves for next season.

Some of the criticism of Manager is that he did not acquire more for the assets he gave by making trades. Rumours out of the front office were that offers were made to other clubs but they did not respond. A source stated, “everyone thinks the other GM’s were at a party our’s was not invited to”.

Asked whether the players still believe they can make a late run at a playoff spot this season, All-Star, Robin Yount stated, ‘all we can do is continue doing what we’ve been doing since May, and that’s win ballgames”. That may be harder after last night.

[YountFan]

There is a GREAT race in the West with the Fatboy and Beulahs ties with 15 to play and the Breakers only two games off the pace. Looks like this is a race for both the division and the wild card.

Four of Ten and the BFD's each have 5 games lead in the Central and East. But with all te head-to-head action anything could happen.

[albert2b]

[b:ee21ba0e5f]MVP - Pedro Guerrero, BRE[/b:ee21ba0e5f] - One of only two players to place in the top 10 in Avg, HR and RBI. Very tough to pick one winner this year because of the many terrific seasons had by various hitters throughout the league, but being the best hitter on the best team helped Pedro's cause. Dave Parker (the only other player in the top 10 in all the triple crown categories), Mike Schmidt, George Brett and Cal Ripken were also strongly considered.

[b:ee21ba0e5f]CY YOUNG - Rick Reuschel, BRE[/b:ee21ba0e5f] - Tied a league record with 26 wins. Also led the league in ERA (for SPs) and IP. "Big Daddy's" consistency throughout the season set him apart from the others. A 12-4 2nd half of the season (following a 14-6 1st half) catapulted him as the clear favorite to win the award. No one else was really close in the voting, but Nolan Ryan ended up wth 20 wins and a league record 304 Ks. It's a testament to the year Reuschel had to win the award despite Ryan's dominant season.

[b:ee21ba0e5f]ROOKIE OF THE YEAR - Bill Doran, MAN[/b:ee21ba0e5f] - Doran prevents a sweep of the postseason awards by the Breakers with a .278, 27 HR, 93 RBI, 25 SB season. The mid-season ROY continued his terrific year in the 2nd half by turning up the power with 19 post All-Star break homers. Willie McGee and Mark Langston were the runner ups. McGee hit a stellar .332 and tied for the league lead in hits with 222. Langston was the Ten's most consistent SP all year and went 16-12 overall and placed 4th overall with 224 Ks.

[BC Manager]

1-4. Express
1-4. Murphs
1-4. Hakers
1-4. Mango Men

5. Canucks
6. Home
7. Tecumsehs
8. Beulahs

9-12. BFDs
9-12. Fatboys
9-12. Ten
9-12. Breakers

Maybe I'll wait til after the playoffs to start the 85 thread. But feel free to post the rookies, YF.