Leit'em Roster Report Episode Three: Trade It Up Kane

AL: Hey all you Leitheads out there! Welcome to the third installment of the Leit’em Up Roster Report. I’m Al Leiter and I’m NOT joined here by my colleague Butthead, of Beavis and Butthead fame. Today's episode includes a few interesting moves that I'd like to-

(Butthead runs into studio sweating profusely)

BH: Umm...Al...

AL: GODDAMMIT BUTTHEAD, why don't you show up five minutes earlier or twenty minutes later?

BH: Uhuh...uhuh uhuh...I was like...amm...going for a walk. 

AL: Oh... *eye twitch*coughs*straightens papers*...oh, ok. That's...well...ahem...fine...so what's up? 

BH: Uhuh huhu uhuh, the producer asked me to give you this. *hands over paper*

(Al Leiter reads) 

AL: Ladies and gentlemen, this episode just became the most interesting one of the year. We have our first trade of the year, featuring a former Cy Young winner, as well as a landing pad for Edgar Martinez Jr.!

Traded
Traded SP Joel Pinero to the Darkpaws for SP Matt Morris

Added
3B Edgar Martinez
CF Jeffrey Hammonds

Dropped
CF Steve Finley
3B Adrian Beltre

AL: At first glance, the Darkpaws certainly thought that they were getting a good deal; Matt Morris has been quite solid for them (2-0 with 3 quality starts), but they would be sending him to the Green Sox for the infamous two time Cy Young Winner Joel Piniero (1-3, only 1 quality start) who has struggled with his new team. But this was a deal strictly to make cap room; not only do the Green Sox add the solid Morris to their rotation, but this gave them enough room to sign the sought after Edgar Martinez Jr., coming out of nowhere to win the sweepstakes for the new phenom. Another casualty to make cap room was centerfielder Steve Finley (1 HR, 6 RBI) who has largely had a disappointing season. He'll be replaced by Jeffrey Hammonds, a former Tycoon who has spent much of his career as a pinch hitter. We'll see what he can do with his first starting gig.

Going back to the Martinez question, this is a potentially game changing move. Tenbil Town has struggled this year putting men on base, which has been devastating for a home run hitting team like the Green Sox; so many of their homeruns have been solo shots, simply because nobody gets on base. Putting an on base 15 player right in the middle of the lineup might just change that. The three batters that will follow him in the lineup (Jorge Posada, J.D. Drew, and David Ortiz) have a combined total of 12 homeruns this year. The race for that third playoff spot is so tight now, I think this is a huge move for all of Division 2. 

Traded
Traded SP Matt Morris to Tenbil Town for SP Joel Piniero

Added
SP Mike Maroth

Dropped
SP Kerry Wood 04

AL: The Darkpaws were generally considered to be the leading team in the running for Edgar Martinez Jr. But a trade that seemed to be too good to be true resulted in them missing out on that opportunity. In order to make room for Piniero, the team dropped Kerry Wood 04 (0-3, 2 quality starts) and added rookie Mike Maroth to replace him. Its unclear is Piniero will return to Cy Young form with another new team; its also strange to see a former Zachrian now pitching for one of his country's biggest rivals. Nevertheless, analysts across the league are wary about this move for the Darkpaws; their pitching has been fine this year, the real problems have been with the offense. Does it make sense to cut two good pitchers for a potential has been? Time will tell. Possibly this is a move that will position the team for a complete rebuild heading into next season. 

Added
SP Kerry Wood 04
CF Kenny Lofton
3B Adrian Beltre

Dropped
SP Steve Trachsel
CF Grady Sizemore
3B Corey Koskie

AL: Mao watched these moves with a keen eye, and used the opportunity to keep good players from being unemployed for a very short time. First, Kerry Wood 04 was added; he has perhaps been the most tragic pitcher this season. Although he has an awful 0-3 record with the Darkpaws, he's actually pitched rather well and has had perhaps the lowest run support in the entire league. He will now beef up an already impressive Tycoon starting rotation as the number 2 between Randy Johnson and Brad Penny. To make room for Wood, former Darkpaw Steve Trachsel was dropped, not surviving his first season with the Tycoons. Furthermore thirdbaseman Corey Koskie (1 HR, 3 RBI) and CF Grady Sizemore (1 HR, 4 RBI) were also cut after very disappointing performances. The bottom of the Tycoon lineup has been a death trap of double plays and stranded base runners. To shake that up, Mao opted to pick up Adrian Beltre, recently dropped by Tenbil Town. Beltre, who has been very streaky, has 2 homeruns, 1 triple, 1 stolen base, and six RBIs so far this year. To replace Sizemore, Mao tapped the rookie Kenny Lofton an entirely unproven commodity. Similar to criticism of the Darkpaws, its unsure what this will do to wake up the struggling offense.

Well folks, certainly an exciting chain reaction from a simple trade. My personal opinion is that the Green Sox are the clear winners here, but we shall see! Until then..."We'll leave the LEIT on for you!"

Series 7 Part 3

AXN 1, MEL 2 F

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
AXN	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
MEL	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0

W – Groom (1-1)            L - Nunez (0-1)                S - Koch (2)

This game featured two of the most veteran aces in the league, but it certainly didn't look like it at first. Both pitchers ran into trouble early, although blood was only spilled in the top of the first when Mike Cameron knocked in his sixth RBI of the year. What followed through the early and middle innings were continued shaky performances with both teams getting hits in every single inning. There were also quite a few baserunning mistakes with Marauder outfielder Melvin Mora being tested multiple times, and throwing out three of four baserunners. Both Jamie Moyer and Barry Zito earned their third quality starts of the year. Dr. Vindaloo's team managed only managed to squeeze out a single run despite having the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the sixth. Thus began a battle of the bullpen, with the Darkpaws turning to Vladimir Nunez and the Marauders going to Buddy Groom. Nunez was the first to stumble, allowing two hits in the eighth. Satoru Komiyama came in relief, but could not prevent a Frank Thomas RBI single. That proved to be the game winner, with Marauder closer Billy Koch making his third appearance of the year and slamming the door on his second save of the year. Vindaloo, while not ecstatic over such a narrow win, was glad to split the series with the Darkpaws. "Hopefully the Spartans put the Cardinals in their place," he said, "and we just do our business next week against the Bombers. And then we'll be in third place!" 
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LIN 4, MAX 1 F

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
LIN	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	1
MAX	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0

W – Beckett (2-0)            L - Halladay (0-2)                S - Nen (2)

Two veteran starters faced off in a game that could have an impact down the stretch: while the JELLY QUEEN is desperately trying to rack up wins during a soft part of the schedule, the Bombers are trying to put together a rally in the second half of the season that could in theory propel them out of the basement of Division 2 and into the playoffs. Always constant Lindsyan ace Josh Beckett was decent, but by no means dominating, working in and out of trouble most of the evening. However he was only tagged for a run once, when a series of doubles led to a score off the bat of Bengie “Don’t Make Fun of My Speed” Molina. But for most of the evening, most of the Maxion batters fared very poorly with runners in scoring position. On the flip side, Maxion starter Roy Halladay had one of his better starts of the year, but still is not pitching as well as he did in years past. The JELLY QUEEN DREAM TEAM rallied for runs in the fourth and fifth; Halladay surrendered a third run when Manny Ramirez hit his second homer of the year off of the first pitch in the top of the 8th. Perhaps Ramirez’s performance was the most encouraging sign for the Lindsyans, as the slumping left fielder went 3-4 and was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. Mention should also be made of Brian Roberts, who went 4-5 with two doubles, notched an RBI in the top of the ninth, and ran the bases very effectively throughout the game. The Lindsyan bullpen continued their season long strong performance with Aquilino Lopez earning the hold in the eighth, and Robb Nen earning his second save of the year in the ninth. Although the JELLY QUEEN DREAM TEAM cannot be happy with splitting a series with the lowly Bombers, they definitely averted a major disaster with a win here. They will look to get back on track and pick up some wins next week against the struggling Darkpaws. As for the Bombers, they have already labelled their next series against the Marauders as “must win.” A sweep of Dr. Vindaloo’s team would effectively take them out of last place for the first time this year. 
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STL 0, BOB 4  F

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
STL	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BOB	1	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0

W - Burkett (3-0)           L - Ankiel (1-1)

John Kruk has always said that the Cardinals are a wildly inconsistent team, and that you never know which one will show up. Well, we got a very bad one tonight. The offense could barely string together anything remotely close to an offensive threat, consistently shooting themselves in the foot throughout the whole evening. That is not to take away from the performance of John Burkett, however; the Bobian veteran of four seasons is perhaps having his best year yet, tied for the league lead in both wins and quality starts. He shined very brightly through six innings of excellent work, surrendering only three hits and two walks. The Cardinals starter, on the other hand, found himself under siege the entire evening from the Bobian bats. Ankiel did well to work out of several jams throughout the night, but not well enough to prevent an efficient four run performance from the Spartans: Ichiro manufactured a run in the first thanks to excellent baserunning in the first; Marcus Giles and Mike Lowell both capitalized on Ankiel losing control in the third with bases loaded walks; Juan Pierre singled in the final score in the fifth. The Spartans throughout the rest of the game, but the Cardinals bullpen in the form of Dave Veres and Jason Isringhausen 03 managed to keep the deficit at 4 runs. But there was really no hope for the already hopeless Cardinals office after Rollie Fingers made his third appearance of the year, absolutely ravaging the Cardinals lineup for three innings and racking up an astounding seven strikeouts. A very impressive performance from the Spartans after a long break; they will now travel to St. Louis where someone's streak will be broken. The Bobians will seek their 10th straight wins while St. Louis will try to make it seven straight series without being swept.