** Commissioner's Corner - Part X- The CBA is Hot in 2014 **
(by Marc Wasserman, Commissioner of the Cyber Baseball Association {CBA} )

Market manipulations ... The CBA has seen the value of players and draft picks over the years correlate.  The balance of league economics is primarily demand and created from player usage minimums with the roster size helping to shape the Strat-o-matic trade market to a large extent.  Although year to year the demand changes for certain types or positions, the player/pick values largely should stay the around the same (we hope). 

Now I am not sure how it works in your own league but we have seen in our market, starting right-handed pitchers, age 22-28, who are consistently in the top 20 of each year by their card performance,  will appear around a first round pick.  In player value these pitchers can fetch middle of the lineup hitters, key players who come with all the variables, including slugging and OBA.   Usually these trades, to help balance player usage, will see a lesser pitcher come back with enough game appearances or innings . Depending on the teams involved however, sometimes either trade party will toss in a lesser player or the team trading the pitcher will toss back an insignificant player (hitter or pitcher) just to even up the deal.  Key hitters of an all star caliber can sometimes bring back 1st round picks, and a strong player or two as well, but generally the Right-handed starting pitchers get the most in value in our league.

The highest commodities in our league has been pretty much in line with other leagues who are linked to the StratAlliance which is:  5 tool middle men with players at SS, CF and C always have the most gains in return.  The type of rookies as defined by Baseball America or International players making their way into the majors for the first usually command a good value in CBA as our league allows the drafting of 1 non carded (pro) player per year (i.e. - that a pro team has signed these non-carded players and the CBA who drafts him, retains control when he gets a card).

Other high inning #2-4 starters can bring in higher picks or middle round picks in our draft.  We do see such pitchers then being trade to get more hitting.  In large part, because of our usage rules, and the need for everyday (get it done) players, we have lucky been able to reign in the beast so to say.  And by "the beast" I am referring to an outrageous trade market dominated by an astronomical cost for any pitching at all. (Wolfman's Note: it always seems there is never enough good starting pitchers to go around.)  By making all types of pitching worthy and accountable for as one plows through 162 games in our season along with roster size limitations, their is additionally a premium on the everyday batsmen too. This means that teams must let some of their good (or young) pitching go to compete or keep updated for usage with their hitters. 

Thus, the market becomes very interactive with teams comparing their needs and making deals but the prices have to stay within reach because of the common needs of all teams.  The big pitcher's prices have to come down in line because teams simply can not afford to pay away mega talent to meet league rules and regulations. This means the demand for these super pitcher will cool down since no one can pay their inflated price.  The end result of this trend then is pitching stays affordable and trade swaps become more balanced.  Which team will be willing to open so many holes, and sit back years to replenish what was traded away? And then what about the risk of injury?  Are there any leagues using injuries ?  I would love to get that going again in the CBA ....

The CBA usage rules promotes a very active trade market for us and the need for occassional player swaps, but what about  the over valuation of the league draft picks?  Could trading away all one's high draft picks during a pennant chase to go all out for it, be dangerous?  For a franchise it can be. Any franchise that is devoid of true talent takes too many years to rebuild.  CBA's plan has shown that a 3 year turnaround is possible.  The economics dictate this, so how can we prevent teams from cashing it all in, yet maintain our highly competitive atmosphere? 

For our current season our executive council thinks they have found a solution.  By maintaining a minimum number of 2 picks within the first three rounds, the CBA feels that we can slightly limit the affore mentioned team decimation, allowing trade market volatility to exist and prevent hoarding. 
What we've seen so far is that teams are a little more reluctant to move those front line picks.  Reliever- Closers have been centering in being taken just after round 3, with round 4 for the higher end pitchers, round 7 for the lesser.  The larger talent will demand a bigger pick, but we expect to see less multiple pick deals and more player for player deals if our initial analysis proves out.  The CBA does want to reduce the amount of pick deals to bring a player's value in line with the draft pick prices however.   The  CBA also wants to ensure a competitive balance with no dumping or reassigning of one team to another too.  Thus, it remains to be seen how the trade market fares as we come into main part of our trade season which starts in the second quarter of league play.  

We are seeing some new blood rise to the top of CBA's standings this year. Some perennially sub .500  teams  have shot to the top of the standings all of a sudden.  To fuel the manager's passions and excitement for our new season, I am posting the relevant primary statistics, and hard to find stats of our league.   A run through the SOM computer report writer gives great statistics that can be posted to your league lists that are quite interesting.  Such feedback shows which players are enjoying Relief holds, Quality starts, 1st baseman assists, definitively OF arms and assists.  Or what about who has Grand slams, GW RBI, or what ever you feel like toggling on.  Write ups newspaper style and generic newsflashs are strongly reporting the CBA  league experience with  the focus being on these rising teams.  Our newsreel descriptions of the teams is stirring interest and keeping the experience of our league lively from week to week. 

Note: The new lineup system has been slow to catch on with our members.  Right now, about 1 in 6 are used with the extended lineups.  Quite a few are using the PH (pinch hitting) / PR (pinch running) pecking order.... We're getting around a 80% average CM return rate with managerial changes each week.  Several teams have been using multiple CM's to match up vs. their individual opponents each block...

To conclude: We'd love to hear some of your stories and thoughts from around your leagues.  Feel free to e-mail me at marc.wass@ultimatestratbaseball.com with any information about your leagues you would like to share in our next issue.

Around the StratAlliance...

Not all leagues employ professional webmasters with pro designs.  However within the Strat Alliance, we acknowledge these works of art, but the best leagues don't often show their best faces on the web.  If you look around, and  ask, or just visit the various SOM baseball websites you will discover many great little stories and ideas .  Why not make your leagues better with such new insights by visiting your community friends?   It can be a fun thing to do on the web for sure.

The NASBL inducted Greg Maddux, a two-time Cy Young Award winner for the Georgia Roadkill, who is 4th all time with 167 NASBL wins and in the top 20 all time in career ERA, strikeouts, innings, shutouts, and complete games.  His 23-win season for the Roadkill in 2001 is the 3rd highest single-season total ever as of this writing, and his 2.62 ERA in 1998 was the 18th best ever for an NASBL starter.   http://www.nasbl.com/  ...  

The Richmonds Strat-o-matic Baseball League (RSBL) standings show Pat Manuel leading their NL League and Tim Turner leading their AL League at the quarter point. http://www.rsbl.org/ ...

The OTSL league has a very nice website.  The Old Time Strat League is a "continuous" retro league that began with the 1960 season.  I believe they're currently playing through the 1967 season...

The Capital Baseball  League or CBL has been around since 1975.  Looks like their Rogues and Husky's are moving towards big seasons.  They keep their website simple and current.  Scrolling down their long front page will bring about all sorts of league goodies.  You will find contributions by league members that range from result highlights to rantings about the Mets decision to 'rest' the hot hitting Lagares.  Matt Beagel is in that league and the Ultimate Strat Baseball Newsletter loves his Youtube videos  http://www.capitalbaseballleague.com/cbl.htm#mav-world ...  

Here's an 8 team Philly-NJ based league that admired Kirby Puckett (KPSL)  http://www.kpslonline.com/news.html    

One of the finer Strat leagues we've heard about is the GUSSOMO League.  A few well respected GM's including their Commish, Jeff Fleischmann. Take a peek at their slick website at: http://www.gussomo.com ... A well run and organized league that just keeps going on and on.  A look through their stats section could give some insight into your player performances.  They use a 25 man retention roster from season to season with a maximum of 35 players during the year. Games spread out over 6 blocks...  (Wolfman's note - see interview with 2013 Gussomo Champion, Ralph Polumbo, click here to view his page.)