[USML Announce] Re: Fwd: Jason Grey: Minor League Report:Billy Butler, The Hit Machine .:.

Richard Robbins RERobbins at iTinker.net
Fri Jun 9 12:11:34 EDT 2006


I think that the rules have been very effective at moderating the highly concentrated deals.  The cap, floor and asterisk rules provide meaningful limits.  The bidding rule that makes it essentially impossible to unilaterally create an asterisk player works too.  We have four teams in the running with trades going beyond pure magic bean types.  By making it really tough for one team to get all of the high value players that a non-contender has top offer it seems reasonable to expect a greater number of deals in which the non-contending team attempts to harvest its current value.  By disbursing value throughout the league we tend to keep a more level playing field.  We've eliminated the bulk of the huge deals we used to see.  When major league teams are out of the running, they dump salary and take prospects for the future.  Of course, we can always fine tune our rules.  Is the floor to low or the cap too high?  Should we limit the total number of unbalanced trades that a team can engage in?  All are reasonable questions.
-----Original Message-----
From: "Blocker, Mark B." <mblocker at Sidley.com>
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 11:44:13 
To:"USML Announcements" <announce at usml.net>
Subject: RE: [USML Announce] Re: Fwd: Jason Grey: Minor League Report:
	Billy Butler, The Hit Machine .:.

Amen to everything Brother Klein says.  However, I for one would like to revisit the "legislation" issue in the off-season to determine how we might moderate some of the prospect swapping without preventing people from some amount of prospecting.  My recollection is often faulty, but my memory is that we put rules in place to permit some prospecting, but I am not sure we ever envisioned it would be done to the current, high levels.  In fact, my understanding is that one of the purposes of COPS is to come up with a proposal on behalf of those owners who share Andy's sentiment.

  -- Mark B.


-----Original Message-----
From: announce-bounces at usml.net [mailto:announce-bounces at usml.net] On Behalf Of Andy Klein
Sent: Friday, June 09, 2006 9:21 AM
To: USML Announcements
Subject: [USML Announce] Re: Fwd: Jason Grey: Minor League Report: Billy Butler, The Hit Machine .:.

Quoting Jason Grey, Brad wrote:
 
<<
Butler's great pro stats need to be taken in the proper context, as he has played at three excellent hitters parks, but there is no mistaking his natural talent.  ... He's a bona fide middle-of-the-order power hitter that may be only a season or two away in an organization starved for hitting talent. ...
<<
 
This reply is by way of explanation.  It is not meant to pick on Brad.  Seriously.
 
Every year, the so-called experts fill their books and columns with breathless comments about 20-year old A or AA players.   One year it's Nick Johnson.  The next it's Carlos Pena.  Now it's Billy Butler.  In our league, these hyped players get picked in the reserve rounds and then swapped for huge amounts of major league talent.  Of course, none of the prospects ever help  the team on the receiving end -- unless, of course, that team can turn around a find a taker for huge amounts of major league talent the next year.  
 
Now, I've given up on my efforts to "legislate" against this kind of silliness.  A lot of the league finds prospecting fun, which I respect.  But it seems fair game to provide the market with information by shining the bright light of failure on the "magic beans" that stumble and become yesterday's news to the Jason Greys of the world.  
 
So ... C.O.P.S. will continue its public service announcements in an effort to bring truth and justice to the USML.  For now, however, I am back to fending off the Brats for the final money slot.  Go Craig Hansen!!!
 
-Andy

Sidley Austin LLP mail server made the following annotations on 06/09/06, 11:44:19:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IRS Circular 230 Disclosure: To comply with certain U.S. Treasury regulations, we inform you
that, unless expressly stated otherwise, any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this
communication, including attachments, was not intended or written to be used, and cannot be
used, by any taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding any penalties that may be imposed on such 
taxpayer by the Internal Revenue Service.  In addition, if any such tax advice is used or referred
to by other parties in promoting, marketing or recommending any partnership or other entity,
investment plan or arrangement, then (i) the advice should be construed as written in connection
with the promotion or marketing by others of the transaction(s) or matter(s) addressed in this
communication and (ii) the taxpayer should seek advice based on the taxpayer's particular
circumstances from an independent tax advisor.

****************************************************************************************************
This e-mail is sent by a law firm and may contain information that is privileged or confidential.
If you are not the intended recipient, please delete the e-mail and any attachments and notify us
immediately.

****************************************************************************************************

_______________________________________________
announce mailing list
announce at usml.net
http://lists.usml.net/mailman/listinfo/announce



More information about the Announce mailing list