Giants Send Clement to Senators

The MBL Champion San Francisco Giants today have sent P Matt Clement to the Washington Senators in exchange for RF Aubrey Huff and the Senators' 3rd round pick in next month's draft.

Clement was originally drafted by the Giants in 2000, and has been the #4 starter the last 3 seasons. The emergence (and game 4 WS starter) Noah Lowry and late 2005 pitching acquisitions JoshTowers, Aaron Small and Kelly Downs allowed SF to move Clement and find a full time RF. With rookie Matt Cain locked up with the #1 pick on the winning side of the Bay, picking last in the 2nd round would not have brought a starting OF, and certainly not one with Huff's potential upside. Huff will play both RF and 3rd base for the G-Men this season. Clement is penciled in as the Sens #4 starter. He leaves SF 37-26 over six seasons with two WS rings.

Not many more changes will be seen in SF before the draft. The Champs added some power with Huff and pitching with Cain, now just will look to the draft to add some platoon and positions players. When asked could his team repeat, and make it 3 out of the last 4 MBL WS titles, a ruffled Nick Folupopups (Giants owner) crooned, "You bet your Buchanan we can win it all again. It's gonna be tough, though. The Yanks can hit. The A's can pitch. Thank God the Red Sox still suck!"

Astros, Mariners Owners Meet in Seattle

Seattle Mariners owner Jack Buchanan hosted Houston Astros owner Rich Polin at Qwest Field yesterday for the Seattle Seahawks playoff game against the Washington Redskins. The pair, both lifelong Redskins fans, despite their hatred of anything Washington in the Molson Baseball League, enjoyed tailgating together and were able to squeeze in some league business between plays.

"The Redskins went about as far as they could," Polin said between sips of Harp after the game, "and Qwest Field is a great place to see a game."

Polin refused to answer questions about why he was wearing a Washington Nationals hat.

Neither owner said he expects to be favored in the Capital Division next season despite having appeared in the Stan Musial League Division Championship Series last season. Instead, the Florida Marlins are the early favorites heading into 2006.

Molson League Announces Partial Schedule

The Molson Baseball League tonight announced a few 2006 regular season dates as part of a public relations campaign advertising the creation of a radically revamped schedule. Unlike prior seasons, 2006 will feature a balanced home-and-home schedule against all opponents, a few scheduled doubleheaders, and mid-season interleague play.

"In the past, teams would, for example, play six home games against a division opponent while playing 12 on the road. This season, every team will play nine home games against each division opponent," the Commissioner said.

The first scheduled doubleheader in at least five seasons will take place on Patriots Day, April 17th, in Boston where the Red Sox will host the Atlanta Braves. Most teams will have one scheduled doubleheader in 2006.

The 2006 schedule also, for the first time, will not include teams playing every other team in the MBL. Instead, each division will be paired with a division from the other league, similar to the National Football League schedule.

"We used to play a six game series against every team in the other league for a total of 60 extraleague games. This season, teams will play six games--three home and three on the road--against each of the five teams in their partner division, and the 30 games saved will be used to boost games within each league. Last year, each team played opponents from the other division within the same league once; now, it will be a true home-and-home contest."

The 2006 season will get off to a fast start March 5th with Rivalry Weekend. Every team will play on the 5th with the highlights being the Boston Red Sox at the New York Yankees, the Chicago White Sox against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Florida Marlins at the Washington Nationals, the Oakland Athletics at the San Francisco Giants, and the Seattle Mariners at the Houston Astros.

"This season, rather than frontloading interleague play, the Molson League will see the National and American Leagues faceoff for three weeks in May and two weeks prior to the All-Star break."

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays will make their home debut on March 5th against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Minnesota Twins will open their home season on March 12th against the New York Yankees.

Rest assured MBL fans, the San Francisco Giants and Seattle Mariners will pick up their rivalry the week of June 25th before taking the 2007 season off under the new rotation.

"The most significant change this season will be the greater number of three-game series. Under the old schedule, each team had one week--the first--featuring two three-game series. Because of the focus on balancing home dates, all interleague weeks will follow that three-and-three format, and each team will also have one three-and-three schedule against each division opponent. In short, the 2006 season will include nine three-and-three weeks per team."

The League hopes to release the final 2006 regular season schedule in about a week. The regular season will conclude the week of September 9th before moving into the playoffs.

MBL Publishes First League Encyclopedia

For those of you that installed Diamond Mind Baseball Encyclopedia as part of version 9, I have posted a file online containing the final regular season statistics from the 2002-2005 Molson Baseball League seasons. The file itself is almost 10 MB, so plan accordingly. The Encyclopedia will allow you to run career leader reports, career register reports, and several other neat things.

I would like to thank Joe Samocha for providing the databases for 2002, 2003, and 2004. Joe has also given me the old draft matrices which I have now published for your use. Look at the right panel for those links, too, if you dare.

In order to use the Encyclopedia file, right click on the link in this article or at its permanent home on the right panel and download it to your computer. You then must:

1. Create a new encyclopedia, and then
2. Restore the data from your downloaded copy of the MBL2002-2005 Encyclopedia.

If anyone has any other final databases, please let me know. I had to convert the version 8 seasons to version 9 before I could post them, but I now know how to do it. Note that the year is the Molson Baseball League year, e.g. one year after the Major League Baseball stats upon which those player ratings are based.

I hope you enjoy the Encyclopedia file. It took me some time to build it, so please let me know whether it was time well spent.

Happy New Year!

The Commissioner

Mariners, Yankees Open 2006 with Trade

The Stan Musial League champion Seattle Mariners began retooling for the 2006 season this evening by trading outfielder Wily Mo Pena to the New York Yankees for pitcher Jason Marquis. Pena, 23, was a platoon centerfielder for the Mariners last season, posting a promising .285 batting average with 26 home runs in 95 games.

Marquis, 26, went 8-13 with a 4.26 ERA for New York last season. Marquis is expected to contend for a rotation spot next month, but could wind up adding organizational depth at Tacoma.

"I'm surprised by the deal, but happy to be heading to a contender," Marquis told the New York Times. "Seattle is known for its pitching, so I'm really curious to see where I'll fit in."

Honus Wagner League Gold Glovers Announced

Cubs Lead with Three Winners

The 2005 Honus Wagner League Gold Glove Award winners were announced this morning from the League office in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Chicago Cubs, since relocated to Minneapolis, took home the most hardware as pitcher Aaron Harang, catcher A.J. Pierzynski, and outfielder Geoff Jenkins each won Gold Gloves.

The remaining Gold Glove winners: firstbaseman Todd Helton, New York; secondbaseman Placido Polanco, Boston; thirdbaseman Corey Koskie, Oakland; shortstop Cesar Izturis, Arizona; and outfielders Juan Pierre, Oakland, and Sammy Sosa, Cleveland.

Eaton Edges Harden for Cy Young Award

Dodgers Hurler Won 20 Games

Los Angeles's Adam Eaton, the Molson Baseball League's only 20-game winner last season, was rewarded for his effort with the 2005 Stan Musial League Cy Young Award. Eaton finished the year with a 20-5 record and a 4.68 earned run average. Seattle's Rich Harden (16-9, 3.18 ERA) finished second in balloting, trailing Eaton by one vote.

Eaton's Cy Young Award gives Los Angeles a sweep in the major annual Stan Musial League awards. Thirdbaseman Adrian Beltre won the Most Valuable Player Award earlier today.

Beltre Edges Bonds for Musial League MVP

Dodgers Thirdbaseman Wins by One Vote

Adrian Beltre, who surprised many by leading the Stan Musial League with 150 runs batted in, won that league's 2005 Most Valuable Player Award, narrowly edging perennial contender Barry Bonds of the now Washington Nationals. Beltre led the Musial League in hits (207), was fourth in batting average (.325), fifth in slugging percentage (.592), tied for seventh in runs scored (114), and second in home runs (47).

Bonds's relationship with the public probably directly led to Beltre's win. Bonds outperformed Beltre in many offensive categories last season.

"You guys have finally beaten me," a dejected Bonds said on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial this morning. "You guys in the media have been gunning for me for a while, and you've won. I've had it."

Bonds would not elaborate on whether his statement meant he would not return to the Nationals for their inaugural season at RFK Stadium.

Tejada Overcomes Controversy, Wins MVP

Voters Ignore Doping Allegations

San Francisco Giants shortstop Miguel Tejada easily won the 2005 Honus Wagner League Most Valuable Player Award, outdistancing teammate Mark Loretta by a two-to-one margin in leaguewide voting. Tejada, who was recently fingered by teammate Brian Fuentes for having provided a performance-enhancing substance, finished third in the league in batting average (.346), second in hits (239), first in RBI (149), third in runs scored (128), tenth in home runs (32), fourth in doubles (51), and ninth in slugging percentage (.564).

"I am glad the voters ignored those baseless accusations," Tejada said while leaving a Bay Area gymnasium with personal trainer Victor Conte. "This award means more to me than the World Series."