Hunter Renfroe to the Rhinos

The Warpigs traded Hunter Renfroe and pick 52 to the Rhinos for picks 27 and 91.

Ships Passing in the Night

The Warpigs traded John Lackey to the FFTs for Adam Wainwright.

The Warpigs and FFTs just can't settle on which of these aging batting practice hurlers they want on their team. Throw in the fact that both are likely to be cuts anyway, and it begs the question: "Why?"

"Wainwright has a chance to make our team as a pinch hitter and pinch bunter off the bench," said the Pigman. "At least that's something. That Lackey guy... I just don't like his name."

Hey, You Guys Remind Me Of...

While watching the Patriots toying with their playoff opponents, it got me to thinking which of the Big 4 franchises are the most like the 16 NASOMA teams. And the result was this:

Dallas FFTs - Los Angeles Dodgers (of course) - There was a time several years ago when the Dodgers were regularly either the champs or competing for the title. Then they went quiet for a long while, but they're still a team to be reckoned with almost every year. Or as the FFTs might say, "Oh well certainly to that too as I will but also but you just do not screw up like I can." [That quote is an actual FFT text.]

Tulsa DVs - Tampa Bay Lightning - The Lightning and DVs both won one title, although no one remembers anything about either one. Also, neither team was heard from before their win. Or since.

Oklahoma Drillers - Detroit Pistons - Both won a couple of titles during a short, dominant period. Since then, they both start every season with high hopes before tanking for better draft position.

Disney Super Goofs - Detroit Lions - Matt Millen is the GM for both. Rumor has it the Lions were pretty good a long, long time ago. They were called the Oilers then.

Waco Inmates - Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals - Next year is always their year. Always. And it totally doesn't matter that they have no rings... next year is The Year of the Inmate!

Nashville Killer Bees - Dallas Mavericks - They won their one title. They've sucked balls ever since.

Stanley Sidewinders - New England Patriots - Completely and totally dominant right now. They perform on a different level than everybody else. Plus, their balls are deflated.

Belldale Rhinos - Colorado Rockies - All the promise. All the great, young prospects. All the empty shelf space waiting on trophies. At least the Rockies lost to the Red Sox in their one trip to the World Series. The Rhinos lost to the effin DVs. Oh, the indignity.

Mansfield Mavs - Orlando Magic - Both made the finals twice. Got swept both times. Okay, okay, I'm exaggerating. lol. The Magic won a game one of those years.

Chicago Nads - Cleveland Browns - Not the old Browns team that moved to Baltimore... the expansion Browns. The one now. The one that drafted Johnny Manziel. The one that had only ten men on the field fifteen times this year.

South Grand Prairie Wahoos - Indiana Pacers - The Pacers dominated the old ABA, but has had almost no success in the NBA. I'm not sure if that tells you more about the ABA or the NBA. The Wahoos have won 3 times in their other league. None in NASOMA. I'm not sure if that...

Hooterville Warpigs - New York Yankees - They've won the most titles, giving everyone one more reason to hate them even when the Pigstripes aren't good enough to win.

Logan County Tweeners - San Diego Chargers - The Chargers' overall W/L record for their franchise is within 3 games of being exactly .500. That sounds pretty Tweener.

Waxahachie Fungoes - San Antonio Spurs - They have won multiple times. They're always in contention. They often have the best players in the league. And when they beat you, it makes a fella say, "What the fuck?!?"

Mansfield Buckeyes - Montreal Canadiens - Once dominant, but it was awhile ago. In fact, the last time the Canadiens won, Bill Clinton had just been elected to his first term in the West Wing. The last time the Buckeyes won, Matt Santos had just been elected to his first term in "The West Wing."

Brantford Boll Weevils - Vegas Golden Knights - Not enough evidence to know how good they'll be. Plus, to write their team name, I still have to look it up to get it right.

New Ballpark Numbers

Here are the new ballpark numbers. Your current ballpark is listed on the roster page. You can, of course, take the new numbers of your park or keep the old. If you keep the old, you have the additional option of adding or subtracting 1 or 2 points from each number. We will proclaim our choices at the draft.

Hall of Fame Poll

There are two polls on the left side of Big Innings. Please take a minute to make your selections for MLB's Hall of Fame. I included all of the returning nominees and the best candidates of the new ones. You may select multiple players.

An announcement of the newest HOFers will happen Wednesday. Our poll is open until that afternoon.

2017 DV Yearbook

The DVs have updated his team yearbook. I have linked it to the home page of our website. It's pretty cool. Check it out.

Ratings Guide Available January 19th

This was posted by SOM today...

Hi folks, I know many of you have been patiently waiting on this update, which we do appreciate. 2017 Ratings Guide orders will begin tomorrow, January 19th. Ratings Download orders will be available immediately, while Ratings Book orders will start shipping early next week. If anyone is ordering to pick up a Ratings Book here in Glen Head, please call us in advance to confirm availability.

Checkmate

The Sidewinders clinched the 2018 NASOMA title today - a record for the earliest in the calendar year to win the Higdon.

The Snakes, who had wrapped up the 2018 AWD title about three years ago, went ahead and won the Higdon as well, with the clincher being another trade with the Wahoos.

Edwin Encarnacion

Roberto Osuna

David Dahl (on ground)

The Sidewinders sent reserve picks in 2018, 2019, and 2020, a 2nd round pick in 2019, a 1st round pick in 2020, and the rights to injured, uncarded minor leaguer David Dahl to the Wahoos. In return, the Sidewinders received reliever Roberto Osuna, Edwin Encarnacion, and pick 78.

"If I've learned anything," commented the Snakeman, "I've learned that there's always someone willing to give you their best players if you pile up enough shit to give in return. I mean, hell, I didn't give up a single damn thing from this year."

"To be honest," continued the Snakeman, "I was kinda irritated having only 7 of the best 8 relievers in the league. Now I have all of the top 8, which means I will not only win my third straight Higdon, but I can also get the plaque engraved for 2017 and 2018 in one trip. It's really just a time-saver for me."

Congratulations, Sidewinders, on the back-to-back-to-back titles.

Nads and Wahoos Trade

The Wahoos traded pick 94 to the Nads for a reserve pick in 2019.

Where are the Cards?

Official announcement from Strat (I started to link the video, but it's a realllly bad video)...

1. First day for Pre-Orders.......January 24th
2. Last day to Pre-Order for Opening Day pick-up orders......February 14th
3. Opening Day at SOM........February 16th
4. Shipping of orders begins...........February 20th

Good News for the Inmates

We heard earlier that long time Inmate star Rafael Palmeiro was making a comeback. Then there was news his batting cage sessions were smokin' and that he was hammering the ball. Here's proof:

Rafael Palmeiro: The comeback is real!

Duffy to the Pigs

The Warpigs traded Kyle Barraclough and Matt Bowman to the Buckeyes for lefty starter Danny Duffy.

The two RH relievers give some depth to the Buckeye staff, which now has 5 relievers. The rotation is now down to just two full-time pitchers (Gio and Ervin), so there's still some work to be done.

For the Warpigs, Duffy will slide into that 4-5 slot of the rotation with Odorizzi and possibly Lackey and/or Pineda. The bullpen takes a hit with the RH side down to just three guys (Cishek, Raisel, and Carl Edwards).

First Trade of 2018

The Fungoes traded their 6th round pick in 2019 to the Mavs for Jonathan Lucroy.

Lucroy joins Sal Perez to give the Fungoes almost 900 at bats at catcher. And where Perez gives the Fungi homer chances, Lucroy gives them walks. Together, they make a formidable backstop.

The Mavs, on the other hand, will be busy during the 2019 draft, having now picked up an extra 1st, 5th, and 6th.

Merry Christmas!

Manuel Margot Moves to Mansfield

All Manuel Margot, the young leadoff hitter for the Padres, wanted for Christmas was a team that wanted him. Enter the Buckeyes, who obtained the center fielder and pick 151 from the Weevils for pick 111.
Interestingly, when I chose this picture to accompany the post, the automatic title for it when I clicked save photo was "cut."

Justin Upton Joins the Champs

The Sidewinders obtained Justin Upton from the Mavs today. The leftfielder was a costly acquisition, as the Snakeman gave up Michael Brantley, Starling Marte, and Matt Moore. "We've reached the point where winning the AWD isn't enough - we know that's going to happen," said the Snakeman. "We can only have a successful season if we win it all. And Upton will help us do that."

How do you want your eggs?

Odorizzi.

The Mavs traded Jake Odorizzi to the Warpigs for a 5th round pick in the 2019 Draft. Jake comes back to Hooterville after three years in Midlothian. "I was going to be the #6 guy for the Mavs," said Odorizzi, "but I'll be #4 for the Pigs, so yeah, I'm excited about going home. I guess. Whatever. It's a business." Warpig management was equally excited because it means John Lackey slides down to the probable cuts list.

The Francisco Deal

The Warpigs traded Francisco Cervelli to the FFTs for Francisco Liriano. Both players were already on the probable cut lists for each team, and both are still long shots to make it. But the Francisco thing was kinda fun.

SOM Sneak Peek Tweets - Day Two

Day 2 Tweets...

T.Beckham ss-3, 2b/3b-4
A.Benintendi LF-2(-2), CF-3
J.Abreu 1b-3
L.Chisenhall RF-3, 1b/LF/CF-4
I.Kinsler 2b-1
M.Gonzalez 1b-2, 2b/3b/ss/LF-3, RF-4
L.Cain cf-1
J.Upton LF-3(0)
M.Kepler RF-2, CF-3
D.Gregorius ss-1
M.Olson 1b-2e8
R.Cano 2b-2e11
C.Dickerson LF-4
C.Gomez CF-3(-2)
T.Tulowitzki ss-3e21
J.Martinez RF-4
F.Freeman 1b-2, 3b-5
W.Contreras c-3(-2), 1b/3b/LF/RF-4
S.Gennett 2b-3, 3b-4, LF/RF-5
T.Story ss-2e14
C.Seager ss-2e14
G.Stanton RF-2(-3)
O.Arcia ss-1
Y.Cespedes LF-3(-3)
R.Hoskins 1b/LF-4
A.McCutchen CF/RF-3
T.Pham LF-2(-1), CF/RF-3
W.Myers 1b-3e9
B.Posey c-1(-3), 1b-2
A.Rendon 3b-1

SOM Sneak Peek Tweets - Day 1

Today and tomorrow, Strat-O-Matic will release a defensive rating for 1 player from each ML team. The ratings come out Thursday. Here's what they released today (in order alphabetically by AL team, then by NL team):

J.Schoop 2b-2, ss-4
R.Devers 3b-4e41
A.Engel CF-1
J.Ramirez 3b-2, 2b-2
M.Mahtook of-3e4
A.Bregman 3b-2, ss-2, 2b-4
W.Merrifield 2b-2, 1b/3b/LF/RF-3 (16 runner)
M.Trout CF-2 (yikes!)
M.Sano 3b-4e14, 1b-5
A.Judge rf-2(-3)
M.Chapman 3b-1
J.Segura ss-4e23
E.Longoria 3b-1
J.Gallo 1b/3b/LF-3
J.Donaldson 3b-2, ss-4
A.Pollock CF-1 (16 runner)
O.Albies 2b-2e8
K.Bryant 3b-3, 1b/OF-4
E.Suarez 3b-2, ss-4
C.Blackmon cf-3e4
C.Bellinger 1b-2, LF-3, CF/RF-4
M.Ozuna LF-2(-3), CF-3
R.Braun LF-3e4
M.Conforto LF/RF-3, CF-4
C.Hernandez 2b-2, ss-4
J.Bell 1b-5e12
Y.Molina c-2(-3), 1b-4
J.Pirela LF-3, 1b/2b/3b/RF-4
D.Span CF-4e3
T.Turner ss-2e14 (17 runner) (not a ss-3 as previously reported)