Understanding Trades in the Majors
Understanding the trades in the majors can be one of the most important parts of understanding the game. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as one might would hope.
First, it’s important to understanding the very beginning of how transactions in MLB operate. This occurs when amateurs sign their first contract and a lot regarding how things progress depends on certain factors regarding that first contract signing. For example, if an amateur is at least 19 years old then he is given three years in the minors and after that he has to moved on up to the roster. If however, the player is under the age of 19 then he is given an extra ‘inning’ in the minor leagues before he must be moved up to the 40-man roster.
It should be noted that not all minor league players make it to the 40-man roster. In fact it’s not uncommon at all for a minor league player to never make it to the 40-man roster at all. This is primarily due to the fact that there are not many vacancies on the 40-man roster. The players who do not make their way to the 40-man roster can become eligible for what is known as the Rule 5 Draft. This gives other organizations the opportunity to draft those players. If they do draft them; however, the organization must keep them in the majors throughout the entire season. On average, a little less than two dozen players make it in due to the Rule 5 Draft. Another alternative would be for those players who didn’t make it to the 40-man roster to become a free agent. In order for this to happen; however, the players must have at least six years of professional experience and their contracts must have expired.
The players who do eventually make the 40-man roster have three options. The player can be sent to the minors without penalty during any given year. It is important to note that a player doesn’t necessarily use up an option every time he gets sent back to the minors. Instead, an option covers the entire season. So, theoretically, a player could be bounded back to the minors multiple times during an entire season and all of those returns would be covered under only one option.
If, in the event an organization wants to send a player back to minors but that particular player does not have any options left then they would need to use waivers and that involves the process of outrighting. In this process, the player would be taken off the 40-man roster and put on waivers. This automatically gives all of the other teams a total of three days in which they can lay claim to the player. The teams with the worst records get priority over all of the other teams. If there should not be any team claim him then the player will be sent back to the minors. Of course, if the player in question has at least five years of experience in MLB then he can go free agency and that’s a whole different ball game, so to speak.
In the event that the original team wanted to pull him back in again, they would first have to purchase his contract.
Joe Kenny writes for the football and sports site http://footballtalk.org, visit today and have your say in the forums located at http://footballtalk.org/forums/
Tips on ESPN Fantasy Baseball
There are numerous ways to get involved with fantasy baseball and one of the most popular is ESPN fantasy baseball. Before you get started; however, there are several tips you should keep in mind in order to make your experience even better.
First, it is important to understand how ESPN fantasy baseball works. Really, it’s no different than any other type of fantasy baseball. The main idea behind it is for you as a team owner to draft professional players for your team. As the season goes on you will collect the real statistics generated by those players and receive fantasy points based on those numbers. In other words, when a real live player performs well in the real live world you gain more fantasy points. The more fantasy points you accumulate, the better chance you stand to become the winner among the rest of the teams. As the season unwinds, the team that manages to accumulate the most points will become the league winner.
With ESPN fantasy baseball you can have as many teams as you want. The glitch is that you’ll need to pay for each additional team. The first team is about $30; however, if you want to have multiple teams you can sign up for a multi-pack. If you at all think that you may want to sign up for more than one team, go ahead and do it all at once because there is a big savings advantage. For example, a five-pack costs only $69.96 as opposed to the $150 it would cost if you signed up for them separately.
Be aware that while this is fantasy football, ESPN takes the naming of the teams very seriously. This means that you cannot name your team something that would be considered objectionable. In other words, keep it clean; both the name of the team and the location. In addition, you’ll have the opportunity to post on your personal profile. Here you can put text as well as images; however, the same rules apply. If you place something that is considered to be inappropriate here you place yourself in the situation of having it censored and in the worst case scenario you might even have your team taken away.
Be aware there are various types of leagues and teams so make sure you understand the difference before joining. With ESPN there are public leagues as well as private leagues. Unlike other fantasy baseball groups, with ESPN fantasy baseball you don’t necessarily need an invitation to join a private league but you do need the league name and password. Public leagues, of course, are open to pretty much everyone.
You should also know that when you first create your team it will be defaulted as an independent team. You can choose to keep your team as independent or not; the choice is up to you. If you stay independent; however, you won’t get to specify your draft day.
By understanding more about the inner workings of ESPN fantasy baseball you’ll be better prepared to get your team in line for the season victory.
Joe Kenny writes for the soccer forum http://footballtalk.org/. Visit the UK football forum today at http://footballtalk.org/forums/ and join in the discussions!
Dice Sports Games That Are Fun; The Baseball Game
This is the third installment in a world of incredibly fun sports games played with dice. In the first installment I taught you how to play the college version of Dice Football. Then in the second you learned the Pro Football dice game. Now it is Dice Baseball, which is the first dice game that I ever invented. Just as in my football games you will need two dice, notebook paper and a pen or pencil to play dice baseball.
You will recall that in the college football game you got your box score set up so that you can begin the game and just take turns for four quarters. In the baseball game you will have to make a box score sheet that has nine boxes split in half. These two halves represent the home team and the visitors. Remember that in baseball the home team always bats last and should be on the bottom of the two box halves.
As in real baseball each team rolls for nine innings. The exception of course is the home team. If the home team is winning after the visitor has finished his half of the ninth, then there is no need for the home boys to roll the ninth. Just like in real baseball the game is over and the dice can hit the showers.
Batting is pretty simple. Each team gets to start their half of an inning by rolling the dice once. If the two die total an even number then they can roll again. That is because even dice totals equal one single. An even dice total will be one of the following combinations; 1+3=4, 1+5=6, 2+4=6, 2+6=8, 3+5=8, 4+6=10. If the next roll yields an even number then there has been another hit. Now in baseball terms this means that there are, two men on base. The rolling player now gets a third roll. As you can see where this is going, another even number means that the bases are loaded. A fourth consecutive even dice result will bring home the first run and each consecutive roll will continue to bring home runners until the roller finally rolls an odd dice total.
Any odd dice total represents the end of an inning. Thus, if a player rolls an odd number on his first roll, then that inning is over. The odd dice totals are as follows; 1+2=3, 1+4=5, 1+6=7, 2+3=5, 2+5=7, 3+4=7, 3+6=9, 4+5=9, 5+6=11. A really cool thing to do during this game is to see if you can get a no-hit game. You can do this by simply putting a dot in the innings that a player rolls an odd number. You can start this on their initial first inning roll. Each consecutive inning thereafter that the player continues to perform a first odd roll continues the no-hitter up until the player finally rolls an even number. If they fail to roll at least one even number in nine innings that means you pitched a no-hitter. Time to call Cooperstown!
So where are the homeruns? I bet you are glad that I asked. Any time a player rolls a double-dice roll, he has hit a Homerun! That is all that it takes; doubles aka, two of a kind. Better yet, if there are any men on base then they score with the homerun. Yes, with the bases loaded a homerun is a grand slam.
This is an example of how the baseball game can be played. Let us say the visitors roll a 2+3 on his initial first inning roll. The visitors inning is considered over and with no hits. The home team rolls a 4+6 (10) on the first roll. That represents a base hit or one man on base. The home player then rolls a 3+5 (8) thus getting a second man on base. Then he rolls a 1+4 (5). The inning is over. End result of the first inning is 0 to 0.
The visitor starts his second inning with a pair of threes (3+3). Boom, he hit a homerun. He then rolls a 2+5 (7), which means the inning is over. The visitor has scored a run in their half of the second and leads the game, 1 to 0. The home team starts with a 2+4 (6) single. Then on the next roll the home player rolls a pair of fours (4+4). The home player has hit a two run homerun since there was a man already on base. The next roll is a 3+4 (7) out and that ends the second inning with the home team ahead, 2-1.
Now for the rest of the game neither team scores again until the ninth inning when the visitor strings together six consecutive even numbers before rolling the inevitable odd number. That means the visitor scored three runs and now leads the game, 4-2. Then the home team follows with three consecutive rolls of doubles (homeruns); which means they won the game, 5-4. What a comeback!
If the score ends in a tie after nine innings then just keep playing one inning at a time until someone finally wins. That is what baseball calls, extra-innings. In the next article I will attempt to teach you about the college basketball dice games. Till then, keep on rolling.
John DeJong is the lead creative designer for NotMeUSA. He has been writing humorous advertisements for over twenty-five years. All of the funny t-shirts, pill bottles, and gag spray bottles were created by him.You can view these by visiting him at http://www.notmeusa.com.
Real Shortstops Don’t Chew Their Gloves
Growing up with an older brother (Garland) and two order cousins (Earle and Harvey) who lived across the garden from us meant that I often was assigned to the more inconsequential roles in games and sports. For example, all us neighbor kids played baseball in a clearing in our orchard; actually, the clearing was the infield, and any ball hit out of the infield went into the orchard. I was stationed to the right of 2nd base where a pear tree grew about 10 feet behind the bag. I positioned myself securely behind the trunk, placed my teeth firmly into the thumb of my baseball glove, and prayed “Dear God, don’t let the ball come to me”. I kid you not; I still have that glove, complete with the tooth marks of a seven-year-old.
If I ever ventured forth from the safely of that spot in the crotch of that comforting old pear tree, I have no memory of it. I think I played out several seasons in that position, which might partially explain why later, when I went out for high school baseball, I was less than awesome. I tried to play shortstop like a normal person, but when you’re used to a pear tree shielding you from hard ground balls and line drives, it’s hard to get accustomed to standing out in the open. I tried hard, too, not to bite my glove, but the taste of leather seemed so soothing that it was a temptation I found difficult to resist.
My baseball career came to a crashing halt when I was playing for the 8th grade team at E.V. Cain Elementary School. It was a pop fly to the infield, and the 2nd baseman and I both called for the ball, then collided, allowing the ball to drop untouched by human hands, in turn allowing the winning run to score. The incident itself was common enough, but when really teed off my coach was that I apparently had the thumb of my glove in my mouth while I was looking up at the ball.
“Shinn, I can’t believe you had your glove in your mouth! If you need to suck your thumb, find someplace else to do it. A baseball field is not the place.”
I suppose that’s why I took up the trombone. Nobody yells at you when you have a mouthpiece in or around your mouth, and I didn’t have to worry about line drives or collisions with other band members. Besides, my big brother Garland played the trombone, and he helped me get started. Tommy Dorsey was big in those days, and he played a piece titled “Tromboneology” that Garland was learning, and that intrigued me, too, with its’ clever and jazzy moves. I visualized myself up on the bandstand, adoring fans staring at me in starry-eyed adulation, playing the great swing tunes of the day. I improvised deftly through the multi-faceted chord changes of Cherokee, and then suavely broke into the smoothest version of Stardust you could imagine. The crowd went wild. I could hardly finish my solo before the thunderous applause drowned out the band.
My fantasy-dream was rudely interrupted by the annoyed voice of Mr. Newcomb, my 8th grade band director.
“Shinn, what in the world are you doing? The rest of us are playing “Stars And Stripes Forever.” Would you care to join us?”
The rest of my trombone career went somewhat better. In high school I worked my way up to 3rd chair, sitting behind Sybil McKenna, the excellent fat first chair, and Ola Lee Murchison, the 6′6″ skinny multi-talented athlete and 2nd chair (who went on to play football for that new expansion team, the Dallas Cowboys), and ahead of a friend named Gary, who wasn’t much in music but later saved me from flunking chemistry by cramming me full of formulas the night before the final. Even if we hadn’t sat in that order, you could always tell who the best trombonists were, as the eyeballs of the rest of us would be titled toward them seeing what position their slides were in. Trombonists can’t turn their heads without moving their slides, so eyeballs had to swivel dramatically to the left or right, depending upon where the superior trombonists were sitting. But since we sat in the order of our ability, all eyeballs of the entire section were leaning left, toward the first and second chairs. I was the closest to the only two trombonists who could read music, so I would watch Ola’s slide, Gary would watch my slide, and so on down the line. Our director once suggested that we would save on eyestrain if we learned to read the notes ourselves, an idea that had not occurred to us until then. I worked on that some, but found Ola’s hand a more direct route to the correct note. Nevertheless, between note reading and eyes-left-to-Ola’s-slide-reading, I did pretty well in high school band. Well enough, in fact, that by my senior year I was selected as the third most likely band member to succeed. A buddy named Mike, a wonderful tenor sax player, was chosen as most likely to succeed, followed by Ola. And while we certainly appreciated the selections at the time, they turned out to be fairly inaccurate. Neither Mike nor Ola nor I play our instruments much anymore, but a kid who nobody noticed and played oboe; the only oboe in our band; now plays with the Portland Symphony. Funny how things change as time goes by.
In our band building were a series of small practice rooms, with little windows in each door so that you could look in to see if the room was occupied. All sorts of wild and wonderful things went on in those little rooms, including the conjugation of Latin verbs to the tune of the 1st three notes of Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C# Minor. “Vini, vidi, vinos” we would sing in unison, and then laugh so hard we thought we would throw up. Mr. Walker, the bachelor choir leader, never thought it was funny, however, and we often found ourselves ejected from the practice rooms. It was a wonderful learning aid for Latin, however, and the “B” that I got from Miss Estes owed a great deal to those musical conjugations.
Duane Shinn is the author of the popular free 101-week online e-mail newsletter titled “Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions – Intelligent Piano Lessons For Adults Only!” available at http://www.playpiano.com with over 84,400 current subscribers.
The New MLB Drug Testing Policy
If you’ve been following the news lately, no doubt you’ve heard about the new MLB drug testing policy. While you may have heard about the policy you might not understand the specific implications of the policy and how it may affect your favorite players and teams.
The new policy was brought about by threat of legislation from Congress. Under the policy tougher penalties for steroid use are implemented. Under the new policy the players are to be tested during their spring training along with at least one additional test during the regular season as well as being subject to random testing throughout the regular season.
Under the previous policy, penalties were much less severe. For example, for a first offense a player would be subject to a 10-day suspension and then 30 days for a second offense. A third offense would rate a 60 day suspension. The new policy calls for a 50 game suspension for the first offense and a 100 game offense for the second offense. For a third offense the player will receive a lifetime ban. Additionally, after the first offense the player will be subjected to amphetamines testing as well as steroid testing. This is the first time the problem of amphetamine use will have been addressed by a policy with MLB. Under the old policy a player could not receive a lifetime ban until he had been hit with at least a fifth offense.
Under the previous policy testing was also conducted on a much less frequent basis. Testing was conducted at the beginning of spring training with no additional testing through the regular season other than random testing. Under this policy, it was quite possible for a player to only be tested once from the beginning of spring training throughout the regular season.
The policy stipulated that players who tested positive for steroid the year prior to the new policy taking affect would be treated as first time offenders under the new policy if they should test positive again.
It should be noted that in the event a player is banned for life after a third offense under the new policy, a player can apply for permission to return to the game two years after receiving the ban. An independent arbitrator can be assigned for the purpose of reviewing the Commissioner’s decision in this instance.
The policy also takes a stab at possession of illegal steroid use in addition to use of illegal steroids. Players convicted for the possession of illegal steroids are subject to a 60-80 game suspension for the first offense and 120 games to one year for a second offense. A lifetime ban is on the table for a third offense. Players who are convicted of steroid distribution face tougher suspensions for the first offense and are subject to a lifetime ban after the first offense.
Penalties for amphetamine use are slightly less severe than for steroid use. Mandatory follow-up testing is dictated for the first offense with a 25 game suspension for the second offense. An 80 game suspension will be given for the third positive test and at the fourth offense the penalty is left up to the Commissioner, which could include a lifetime ban.
Joe Kenny writes for the soccer forum http://footballtalk.org/. Visit the UK football forum today at http://footballtalk.org/forums/ and join in the discussions!