FFTs and Goofs Swap Outfielders

The FFTs and SuperGoofs swapped Steven Souza for Eddie Rosario, outfielders so insignificant the players' mothers won't even take their calls.

Souza is the newest Goof. The soon to be 28-year old is taking his rf-2 and 17 homers to Disney World, where he will vie for a roster spot.

Rosario, who suffered the indignity of playing with the Inmates last year, goes to the FFTs. His lf/cf-3 will help the OF-deprived FFTs. Rosario is 25.

Wahoos Go Golfing

Sometimes We Trade Out Of Boredom

The Sidewinders traded David Peralta to the Warpigs for their 9th round pick, #143 overall.

Peralta, who had already been moved to the "Probable Cuts" list by the Snakes, missed much of 2016 with a wrist injury. If Peralta makes the Warpig roster, the Pigs will have 4 of the first 5 batters in the proposed batting order for the Diamondbacks. The main problem with that, of course, is that only 1 of those first 5 is any good, and it's the one the Pigs don't have.

Wahoos and Drillers make a Mama's Pizza Deal

The Wahoos reached out for a platoon catcher and landed Cameron Rupp. The Wahoos sent lefty reliever Tony Watson to the Drillers for Rupp in a straight up, 1-for-1 deal consummated at the Mama's Pizza gathering Wednesday night.

Rupp, the Dallas native and UT alum, pounded LHP last season to the tune of 324/361/632 and should fit in nicely on the 2017 NASOMA titlists.

Watson, who still has a noticeable tic when Adrian Beltre's name is mentioned, had a fine year as well, except for allowing way too many home runs. I wonder if he still has a BP HR at 6-2.

The Chief on this deal, "It's just one more guy we have to get sized for a ring. I seriously don't know why anyone else is even trying to build a contender for 2017. The guys I'm cutting could start for most of the other teams in the league."

Bees Make it a Gray Christmas

The Killer Bees today acquired Sonny Gray from the Tweeners. The Tweeners received the 18th overall pick in the 2017 Draft.

Gray, who had been one of the top starting pitchers in the league from 2013-2015, struggled mightily in 2016, including two trips to the disabled list. Unreported up until now is the fact that Gray spent the entire season stumping for Presidential candidate Vermin Supreme. Vermin is a registered Republic/Anarchist who wanted to assure that every American get a free pony and that we FINALLY do some time travel research. Gray seemed to be distracted by the killer weekly schedule of  stump speeches and photo-ops, just barely finding enough time to pitch. "We think he's past that now," said Beeboy. "The country has spoken, and Sonny has come to terms that this just wasn't the right time for his guy."

Pigs and Nads Swap Players

The Warpigs made their third trade of the day at the Winter Meetings today. They sent SP/RP Jaime Garcia and their own 3rd round pick to the Nads for Josh Harrison and a reserve pick.

Garcia, last year's 3rd overall pick after a great 2015, had a disappointing 2016 and has been since dealt to the Braves. He will have relief on his card, and could find his form again in Nadville. Said Garcia, "Going from the Warpigs to the Nads is fine by me, because I've always kinda preferred Nads. I can't get enough of them."

Harrison will turn 30 next summer, and his most telling stat is that his Batting Average, OnBase Percentage, and Slugging Percentage have ALL declined in each of the last three years. "It's hard to find that kind of consistency," said the Pigman at JayHay's presser. "Add to that the fact that he can no longer play multiple positions, and you've got a guy that fits in perfectly on our team. We're lucky to have him."

Another Dead Cuban Gets Traded

After Jose Fernandez was obtained by the Wahoos, the Warpigs felt the need to get their own dead Cuban, so they traded their 6th round pick (#95) to the Rhinos for Fidel Castro.

(Editor's note - Please note the error on the previous announcement. The Castro traded was Starlin, not Fidel. My bad.)

The Skyscrapers Make First Deal

It didn't take the Skyscrapers long to jump into the Winter Meetings with their first trade.

The newest team in NASOMA liked their roster but had concerns about their up-the-middle defense. They quickly targeted the guys they wanted, and just like that, a deal was done.

The Skyscrapers received Jason Kipnis and Andrelton Simmons from the Warpigs for Ozzie Albies, J.P. Crawford, Mitch Moreland, and Carlos Rodon.

Kipnis, a 2b-2, and Simmons, a ss-1, immediately make the Skyscrapers a force with a legitimate chance to repeat those 100 wins. Kipnis hit .275/.343/.469, leading the Indians AND Warpigs to the World Series. Simmons, considered the best defensive shortstop in baseball, also helps with the bat, showing improvement every year. The 27-year old hit a career high .281 last season.

Albies and Crawford are both uncarded, but the young middle infielders should both get a shot to play in the majors in 2017. Moreland has moved on to Fenway Park, and should pepper the Pesky Pole when not showing off his gold glove at 1b. Rodon hopes to surrender a few of those Moreland homers when not surrendering homers to Mitch's new teammates... and old teammates... and other American Leaguers... and maybe a few National Leaguers.

A New Rule to Consider

Strat-O-Matic has introduced a new Defensive Shift Rule. Please read up on it and discuss. We will need to vote on this new rule at our Draft. It will be employed as a NASOMA rule unless it receives 11 "No" votes at the Draft.

Team Names

On the computer game next year, how about we make a slight change from the past. Instead of all the teams being listed by our first names, why don't we go with our team's location? Or at least our imagined location. It won't change much, except those game stories that say things like, "Garth jumped all over Phillip."

Here are some suggestions. Feel free to suggest an alternative for your team.

Mansfield Buckeyes
Midlothian Mavs
Oklahoma Drillers
New York Skyscrapers

Stanley Sidewinders
Logan County Tweeners
Nashville Killer Bees
Disney SuperGoofs

Waco Inmates
Waxahachie Fungoes
Chicago Nads
Belldale Rhinos

Hooterville Warpigs
South Grand Prairie Wahoos
Dallas FFTs
Tulsa DVs

Welcome Skyscrapers!

Meet the new owner, Robert Emrich.

With the resignation of the Zapper, a new owner was needed to take over that franchise. In comes Robert Emrich and the Skyscrapers. Robert becomes our first new member since 2008 when the SuperGoofs came into the league.

Robert is a Grand Prairie resident, having moved here from New York a year and a half ago with his wife and two sons, ages 7 and 3. He has played Strat for 20 years and has been in two FTF leagues in NYC. He's still part of one of those.

Up until this past September, he worked for milb.com, mostly writing about Minor League Baseball.

Some of us are getting together next Wednesday night (12/14) around 6:30 at the Mama's Pizza in Mansfield to meet Robert. Join us if you can.

3 Days of Sweet Sneak Peek Tweets from SOM

Strat tweeted out some sneak peek defensive ratings over the last three days. They are listed below. A complete list of defensive rating will be released next week.

Daniel Murphy, 2b/1b/3b-4
BCrawford, ss-1
RSchimpf, 3b-3, 2b/lf-4
Aledmys Diaz,  ss-3, 2b-4
McCutchen, cf-3(!)
Galvis, ss-1
Asdrubal, ss-3
Villar, ss/3b/2b-3,
Yelich, lf-1, cf-2
J.Turner, 3b-2, 1b-4
Story, ss-3
Votto, 1b-3(!)
J.Baez, 2b-1, ss/3b-2, 1b-4
Markakis, rf-2, 1b-4
Goldschmidt, 1b-1
Encarnacion, 1b-3
Odor, 2b-4(!)
Forsythe, 2b-2
Nellie Cruz, rf-5(!)
K.Davis, lf-3
Gregorius, ss-1
Buxton, cf-2
A.Simmons, ss-1
Orlando, rf/cf-2
Gattis, c-4(-2)
Miggy, 1b-3, 3b-5
Lindor, ss-1
Tim Anderson, ss-3
Xander, ss-3
C.Davis, 1b-1
Adam Jones, cf-2
Pedroia, 2b-1
Eaton, rf-1, lf-3, cf-4
Kipnis, 2b-2
JD Martinez, rf-4
CCorrea, ss-2
Hosmer, 1b-2
Trout, cf-1
Healy, 3b-3
Kepler, rf-2, cf-3, 1b-4
SCastro, 2b/ss-3
KMarte, ss-4
Longoria, 3b-2
Moreland, 1b-1
Donaldson, 3b-2
Lamb, 3b-4
Swanson, ss-2
Fowler, cf-3
Duvall, lf-2, rf/3b/1b-4
Blackmon, cf-3
CSeager, ss-3
DGordon, 2b-2
Gennett, 2b-3
Cespedes, lf-2, cf-4
Cesar Hernandez, 2b-3, ss-4
JHarrison, 2b-2, rf-4
YMolina, c-2(-3), 1b-4
HRenfroe, rf-3
MMargot, cf/rf-2
Panik, 2b-1
TTurner, cf-3, ss/2b-4
Segura, 2b-1, ss-3
Zobrist, 2b-3, lf/rf -3(0), ss-4
KBryant, 3b-3, lf-3(-1), rf/1b-4, ss-5
Betts, rf-1(-3)
WMyers, 1b-2, rf-3, lf-4, 3b-5
Semien, ss-3
Desmond, cf/lf-3(-3)
Altuve, 2b-2, ss-4
Dozier, 2b-2
Gary Sanchez, c-3(-3)