Maine Squeeze

My franchise has seen better days. Since inception in 1992 as part of the Reality Fantasy Sports empire, the Maine Squeeze—and its two farm clubs, the Augusta Wind (AAA) and Waterville Pinch (9V)—have been competitive. Sure, there have been some dark seasons recently, due to injury and a grad-school inspired slacker for a GM who failed the past few seasons to come up with a meaningful draft list. This year is only marginally better, so today’s draft may be more of the same. However, this franchise does have a title to its name and a great early rivalry with the Nome Alone, managed by the late Scott Seator. For the past decade, though, General League Baseball (GLB) has been owned by two teams—the Tennessee Big Orange (my nemesis) and the Buffalo Bobs. Each franchise has five titles to their credit in the past 11 seasons, as their meeting at the end of each year is now a tradition.

Still, I have hope. My April record has not been good recently (it seems I start 0-4 just about every year), but my squad is pretty sound. Introducing the franchise players for the 2007 Maine Squeeze:

• CM Aramis Ramirez, Chicago Cubs—after acquiring him in a trade, he was developed in my minors and is now a nice starter for the local pro club
• CM Adrian Gonzalez, San Diego—a draftee I saw on a minor-league vacation in 2001 has developed into a starter
• MM Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia—a former high draft pick who has been a mainstay as a middleman in the lineup
• MM B.J. Upton, Tampa Bay—One of my pre-pro draftees, as a few of us try to predict the college and high school stars who will be drafted high in the June draft for MLB
• MM Justin Upton, Arizona—His brother
• C Josh Bard, San Diego—Since trading away Ivan Rodriguez to Buffalo a decade ago, thinking I had a suitable replacement in Charles Johnson, I’ve struggled to fill this important catching position. This was the best of the ones I had on the roster. Not a franchise player, but I didn’t want to go into the draft with a clear need.
• OF Juan Pierre, Los Angeles Dodgers—One of my favorite draftees, he has had some up and down years, no more down than last year with the Cubs. C’mon 70 steal season …
• OF Alex Rios, Toronto—Another product of my farm system who, though fragile, is a going to be a perennial All-Star
• OF Magglio Ordonez, Detroit—I traded to get Mags from another rival, the Virginia Wolves, during his rookie campaign. Oft-injured and no longer a White Sox star, he still makes the franchise cut every year.
• SP Felix Hernandez, Seattle—My pride and joy, and the reason I didn’t wind up dropping out of this league while in grad school. King Felix is the key to my return to the World Series.
• SP Mark Mulder, St. Louis—Another acquisition from the Wolves, Mulder had to climb his way out of my farm system. He was the only one of my super-bluechip minor league pitchers from the 90s to make it long term (I finally gave up on Kerry Wood this offseason).
• SP Dan Haren, Oakland—Drafted for need in the middle of a recent draft. He sticks, but I’m sure I can draft a franchise replacement this year.
• SP Mark Beuhrle, Chicago White Sox—My favorite White Sox player, and another former Virginia guy (man, I trade with John a lot!)
• SP C.C. Sabathia, Cleveland—Product of the farm system, like Mulder and Wood, but can’t quite get to the superstar status I’m expecting. Maybe this year?
• SP Adam Loewen, Baltimore—I’m still waiting for this young pitcher to show up as a regular starter. He’s having a good spring and slated to be #3 in the Baltimore rotation. Finally.
• SP Andrew Miller, Detroit—Last year’s college pick is already back in the minors for this season, but he’s got a bullet and could be starting for me next year.
• RP Bobby Jenks, Chicago White Sox—My high-priced top draftee last year, one year removed from his great World Series run as a closer. I’m hoping he anchors this pitching staff as my main closer for years to come (good for Maine, good for Chicago).
• RP Jason Isringhausen, St. Louis—A converted starter, Iz has been my main closer for quite a while. Oft-injured, I’m not sure how many more years he’s got in him.
• RP Todd Jones, Detroit—Can you believe this guy is still pitching? Can you believe he actually merited franchise protection? I can’t, and I protected him. Out of the ashes of a decent career, Jones emerged as a top closer for a World Series caliber team. Couldn’t bring myself to cut him.

In Reality, we are allowed to protect 15 franchise players (essentially, a starting lineup of 9 hitters and six pitchers, although we’re not limited to that arrangement) and another 4 developmental players (guys who spent the entire 2006 season in the minor leagues). I’ve had some tough cuts in recent years, but I’ve had a lot of underachievement from the guys I kept. Gone are vets like Gary Sheffield and Frank Thomas.

Our 16th GLB draft gets underway at noon today. We have a free-for-all every round without a set draft order. Every team with a draft pick can place an initial claim on any player not already on a roster. If there are any players with more than one team in pursuit, they have to bid fake money—we each have around $4m each season—to try and sign the player. The winner gets the player, and the rest try for someone else not already on a roster (which now includes any players taken that round). Draftees all cost a token amount, so there is some forethought in setting limits to how much one spends in a bidding war. But it also means that every team has a shot at the best player in the draft in the first round. Thanks to the depth and range of interpretation in baseball, though, who that is … it’s debatable.

These are the new players I just added to the franchise group above:

1. C Chris Iannetta, Colorado—It is a contraction year, with two of our 20 franchises not re-upping and the commissioner deciding to just go with 18 teams instead of recruiting owners. Joe Mauer was available, but I wanted to avoid a bidding war. Iannetta plays in Coors and has some promise.
2. SP Zach Duke, Pittsburgh and SP Gil Meche, Kansas City. Well, at least I have depth at pitching. I was hoping for Orlando Hudson when I made a deal for an extra second, but he went in the first.
3. SP David Price, Vanderbilt. This is a guy who is likely to be a (if not the) top pick and college player of the year. It’s a stretch to select a pre-pro this high, but Evan Longoria went in the second!
4. MM Mark Grudzielanek, Kansas City. Not pleased about getting a dinged up veteran instead of a handful of young hitters, but I didn’t have the cash to bid on Kelly Johnson, and my other similar options went in the third.
5. OF Shane Victorino, Philadelphia. I needed some outfield depth, and he may get significant time this year. At the moment, he starts.
6. RP Derrick Turnbow, Milwaukee, and OF Reed Johnson, Toronto. Johnson is a top-o-the-order regular who might get me some runs, and Turnbow may be moved elsewhere to become a bona-fide closer again.
7. C Matt Wieters, Georgia Tech. Another potential college player of the year, and a catcher to boot. I have flirted with college catchers in the past, but never managed to keep them. I’m going to try to develop this guy.
8. No Selection
9. No Selection
10. MM Craig Biggio, Houston. Boy, do I wish this was the young catcher version. Alas, no.