The Season 11 Champions were knocked out by Rails in the AL championships last season, but still are loaded with talent. Not since Charlie O. Finley ran the Athletics in the early 70s or since Al Davis was only partially insane has this type of talent resided in Oakland.

The Catfish Hunter of this A's squad is Einar Pena, who has garnered three consecutive Cy Young awards. He is the Jeff Hackman of the mound, with four 20-win seasons and 99 wins in just four major league campaigns. Given Pena's health, durability, and makeup, we could be looking at the standard bearer by which all future Plumpy pitchers are measured. He could easily top both the 300 win plateau and 3000 strikeouts by the age of 35!

With the loss of Atkinsson to the rival Minnesota squad, the starting rotation is still solid, but only Pena and to a lesser degree Sefcik have the stamina one looks for in a starter. Ruffin, Byrd, and Simmons will provide five or so good innings, but the bullpen will be used and abused in Oakland if they don't find an innings eater to take some pressure off. Of course Manny Chang is one of the elite closers in the game, and should anchor a very solid bullpen along with Allen Bryant.

Offensively Oakland remains solid, with power hitters Norm Hunter, Damaso Ramirez, Tony Ball, Ivan Ortiz, and SS phenom Mateo Bennett setting the pace. Jefferson and Musial also offer some solid offensive contributions.

If Oakland can fine one more horse starting pitcher to slot behind Pena and replace their loss of Atkinsson, they can once again compete for another World Series title in season 13. Just no crazy mustaches this time, fellas!

The reigning AL Champs are eager to make season 13 a magical season, when they finally capture that elusive 3rd World Series championship. And they quadrupled the Minnesota state debt load in a touch economy to make it happen, allocating a staggering $151 million toward player payroll. For that amount, they are hoping state heroes Prince and Bob Dylan will be able to play the National Anthem before every game as well (that would be an interesting duet, by the way!)

And if you are looking for a sign of their commitment, look no further than the signing of all-everything FA pitcher Adrain Adkinsson. The 38 year old Atkinsson was signed to a staggering 3 year, $70 million offer. Of course the three time Cy Young Award winner with over 200 career victories is showing no signs of slowing down, and adding him while taking his arm away from Oakland may keep Minnesota at the top of the heap in the AL yet again. The rest of the starting staff is strong while Orlando Campos and Brady Murphy anchor a strong bullpen.

Last season the Rails team was often mistaken for the Big Red Machine, with runs scored at a staggering pace. The names are familiar to opposing pitchers: Espinosa, Jung, Baez, Thompson, Rodriguez, Garcia. Add to that OBP giant Jeff Wood and there is no reason to believe that Minnesota won't challenge yet again for the AL championship and the World Series title.

TO WIS Powers that be:

I know the coach hiring process is one that is extremely hard to figure out, and the what if team has put a lot of effort toward improving it. That said, I would like to share what recently happened to me in the Plumply Rules league in my pursuit of a fielding instructor. Like always, I tried to lock up coaches early and avoid financial battles over elite coaches, settling for very good coaches. I value fielding, so my target was given a $1,500,000 plus offer. And I waited for him to sign. I went to bed last night assuming he was signing, as there were precious few coaches left. At the 11 PM cycle he told me he got a better offer. I'm coming off back surgery earlier this week, and have been crashing about nine or nine thirty due to meds, etc. I woke up this morning and find he has signed elsewhere at the 3 AM cycle. No chance to counter. No chance to try to get back in the game on the guy I'd led on almost the entire time. Okay, happened before. But what was left? The BEST fielding rating left among all the coaches at all levels was in the mid 50s! So I have a horrible fielding instructor, because there is absolutely no safety net for somebody poaching a coach at the last minute, and the sim does not generate an adequate number os 70 + rated fielding instructors to insure somebody doesn't get slammed. My concern is fairly minimal, except that I would not be surprised to see the penalty for this late night singing of my targeted fielding instructor will probably include: substandard fielding improvement from minor leaguers and young major leaguers, and more rapid decline of fielding ratings from my older veterans. I think this is way too big a penalty for someone who was on top of things, not blowing the coach hiring process off, and who invests time and money in this sim. Please work on fixing this so this type of thing doesn't happen to other players in the future. It simply isn't a fair or just aspect of the SIM.

Award Winners for the Worst Five Contracts of Season 11 Revisited


#1 CARLOS RIVERA

Carlos Rivera, the $19.6 million man (an updated version of Lee Majors' 'Six Million Dollar Man' after hyperinflation and without the bionic powers) remains a mainstay in the Trenton Titans lineup and there he shall likely remain until his astronomical contract expires after season 14.

Easily the best, most productive player this ignomious dishonor was bestowed upon, Rivera was an MVP contender in Season 11 and has averaged 32 homers and 121 RBIs over the last two seasons. He provides a more than adequate 1B bat, and virtually any Plumpyville team without cleanup batters named Todd Ford or Jeff Hackman would be glad to plug him into their respective lineups. But the fact remains, garnering his services requires showering him with big, giant barrelfulls of cold, hard cash. Cash in a volume copious enough to cripple a team from properly addressing other on the field needs.

Solid as he is, Rivera remains the albotross around the Titan's neck and when not planted on the first base bag can be most easily located by visiting your local trading block.


#2 O.T. TITAN

Titan, the beneficiary of a $7.6 two-year deal well after he should have been shipped off to the glue farm, rewarded Submariner GM Bill Howell with a 6.53 ERA/1.82 WHIP season 11 before having his option declined for season 12 (perhaps the contract wasn't as onerous as perceived at first glance) and can currently be found shuffleboarding at the Sunnydale Old Folks Home for Retired Meatballers.


#3 DARREN MACK

Mack, an $8.8mil/season southpaw starter, ended up bouncing back and having a pretty nice Season 11 for the once-mighty Montgomery Burns. But he followed up his 12-6, 1.30 WHIP, 3.54 ERA season 11 with a much less impressive 8-10, 1.63 WHIP, 5.65 ERA season 12 which happened to coincide with Montgomery's only losing season in franchise history.

Two days ago, long-time Burns' GM ttjax was able to unload Mack to the pitching-starved New York Godfathers for Lorenzo Rojas and Fausto Rincon, a pair of ML/AAA tweeners who may offer little help on the field but certainly offer big help on the balance sheet.


#4 HARRY GUERRERO

Guerrero, nlmiller's most notable charity case, received a long-term $18.5 million contract in season 7. When a dollar value is assigned per ML victory accrued, the mathematician calculating the figure has a close encounter of the infinity kind. Guerrero never won a major league ball game, though he did end his big league career with a whopping 15.88 ERA to go with a 3.00 WHIP and a handful of losses.

Guerrero's big contact eventually expired, and he is currently toiling where in AA for minimum wage.


#5 JOSIAS FERNANDEZ

Fernandez, a once-effective major league utility infielder, cashed in his chips after one last bloated contract. He ended his career hacking at meatballs in Oakland's minor league system, a shell of his former self, after collecting $11.2 million dollars from the Richmond Tyrants in return for a grand total of 70 ML at bats and a.186/.293/.357 big league output.

Late word out of Montgomery is that the Burns and slugger Todd Ford are on the verge of signing a four year contract extension. Ford is entering the final year of his contract in Plumpy season 13. While the final agreement has not yet been signed, insiders are saying that the total deal is expected to be in the four year/$35 million range.

Late last year, a team executive told this reporter that Montgomery, coming off their first losing season in team history, would decide whether to rebuild or reload in season 13 based on the team's ability to sign the much-coveted Ford. Based on this news, look for Burns to lock up former Cy Young winner Sandy Mieske to a long-term contract, and expect Montgomery to be buyers on the trade market for starting and relief pitching to try to push the young and intimidating Jacksonville Alcoholics club.

Upon hearing of the possible long-term deal with Ford, catcher Steve Cannon said, "Time to declare prohibition in the NL South!" Stay tuned for more details.

So there was some degree of surprise at Philadelphia's world series win in Season 12, so I went back quickly to consider some fast facts from Plumpy Rules World Series past.

If not an upset, Philadelphia's win at least classifies as going against the grain in Plumpy for the following reasons:

Philly is an NL team, only the third NL franchise to win the Plumpy World Series (Oklahoma City in season 1, Montgomery in seasons 7 & 9 are the others). The AL leads 8-4.

Philly is the first team under 100 wins to capture the crown since Oklahoma City won in season 1! They are the first team with under 90 wins to capture a world series crown.

Amazingly, ten straight seasons saw a 100 win team capture the world series, and many of the World Series included 2 100 win teams.

The are the lowest seed to win a World Series since season 1, when Oklahoma City won as a 5 seed.

Pittsburgh Wannabes

In Pittsburgh, Brett Stewart and Jolbert Veras are on the trade block. Stewart, who had suitors even after the non-waiver trade deadline, hit .332/51/152. He plays a position where it is easy to find talent, but he does play it very well. He’s got two years left on his contract at a rate of 5.4 million per season. Veras has 120 career homeruns, with 40 coming just from season 12. He also wound up hitting .318 and driving in 94 runs. His contract runs until Season 15 and escalates each season (he’s due 4.9, 5, and 5.5 million over the next 3 seasons), but is still club friendly for an offensive catcher.

Pat Hernandez and Rob Pote will likely both be available on the free agent market. Hernandez, Pittsburgh’s lefty ace this past season, sports a lifetime 129-112 record with a 4.04 ERA. Hernandez has thrown 200+ innings 9 times while going on the disabled list only once early in his career largely as a preventative measure. He may draw interest from many teams simply as an innings eater. Pote, another lefty, sports a lifetime 119-92 record. However, he has had a little worse luck with the injury bug. He’s spending the offseason recovering from elbow surgery but expects to be back at some point early in the regular season. Question is will a team sign him? There are strong indications out of the Wannabes’ front office that his option will be declined, and many teams are not eager to grab an injury prone older pitcher. He will have to take a bargain rate to catch on somewhere.

Philadelphia Regulators

Philly is looking for pitching, specifically another starter (1 or 2 type) and bullpen help. Also on the wish, is an upgrade in LF. J.P. Hernandez, Vicente Lee, Bronson Bell, Cesar Polanco, Dwight Johnson, and Eduardo Renteria are names coming up in conversations across the league. There is a good chance all are available for the right price, but Lee, Bell, and Hernandez have some of the most easily moveable contracts right now. Rumor has it that top prospect Santiago Perez, Felipe Moreno, and Benji Vasquez and many other position players at the AAA level are also available.

Jacksonville Alcoholics

Rolando Guerrero, Jamie Rodgers, Zeus Thurman, Antonio Whang, and Jamie Rodgers are all position players available at the Major League level. Tomas Martinez and Adrian Nixon are available pitchers from the ML roster as is John Li at (HiA). It is no secret that Jacksonville is targeting starting pitching or a leadoff CF. Late in the season, Jacksonville scouts could be seen regularly at Montreal games scouting their Major League pitchers. Jacksonville also took looks at Chicago’s Oswaldo Escobar and Tacoma’s Sid Nelson.

Montgomery Burns

Norman Boyd, the 21 year old LoA Cy Young Award winner is on the block. Boyd, a tall lefty out of Highland Community College in Kansas has 3 pitches (a 4 seam, change, and forkball) that scouts salivate over. It also appears that hitters have had a hard time with Boyd as evidenced by the 198 Ks as compared with a paltry 41 walks this past season alone.

Kevin Chang will be allowed to walk on into free agency, as will Barney McMillan. As for the rest of the roster? Monty Burns is sticking to their “no one is expendable policy…except Todd Ford” policy. Rival GMs hope Todd Ford will realize one day soon just how sweet the open market can be. “Should he decide to test the market, Burns will undoubtedly have to move him. Normally, with a good player, the [compensation] picks are enough. Not Ford though.”

Burns has signaled an interest in dealing Andruw Henderson, Ariel Sosa, and Orval Throneberry. Rival GMs say that they’ve heard Sandy Mieskie’s name out there, but doubt he’ll move unless Burns’ demands are met exactly.

Tampa Bay Pirates

The Tampa Bay front office might be awfully quiet this offseason. Most of their resources will go towards tracking their younger guys in the winter leagues. If Tampa Bay does any buying, it will be for a Left handed bat to go in the middle of the order or a leadoff hitter.

Sources indicate that management would listen to offers on any of these players: Jed Hennessey, Carlos Rios, Steven Hiljus, Desi Nunez, Kiki Campos, Ivan Rivas, and Ellie Anderson.

Tampa Bay loves the defense Kimera Pressley provides, but don’t be surprised if he gets traded for a younger shortstop.

Catcher Mike Ball (S) is blocked in AAA and Tampa Bay is willing to move him. The switch hitting catcher has not hit lower than .310 at any stop in the minor league system. In addition to Ball, any AAA position player not named Crash Cloud is available.

Tacoma Chicken Dance

Hearing that Sid Nelson isn’t likely to give Tacoma a home town discount and will test the market. His current contract is 5.8 million and he will be 31 in season 13 (just like Oswaldo Escobar). Nelson, like Escobar, sports a lifetime .340+ on base percentage (Escobar .341, Nelson .348), is left handed, and has great defense (nod goes to Escobar). Nelson has great speed, as he has amassed over 40 steals the last 5 seasons (3 seasons with over 60). The difference? Nelson is on the free agent market now and Escobar has to be traded for.

GM moustache, when we talked to him, said “Kyle Adkins is available for free. That isn’t off the record, write that down. No, don’t just write it down…underline it, bold it, and italicize it!” Adkins has 19.5 million due to him over the next four years. The lefty had a rough first year in Tacoma, but another year in that park (or another pitcher friendly park) may do him a lot of good. Potential landing spots: staying in Tacoma, Portland, Omaha. Longshots: Oakland, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, New York (Godfathers).

Ronn Gagne, on the other hand, was a terrific story in Season 12. Asked to start consistently for the first time in his 5 year major league career, Gagne rose to the challenge. He started 23 games and held opponents to a .224 opponent average and a 3.88 ERA. He is signed through Season 14 at a very team friendly deal of 2.8 million per season.

Vince Sewell is available. The AAA second baseman is good defensively and has put up high averages at every stop in the minor league ranks. Also hearing that Alex Lockwood is another prospect that isn’t as untouchable as other GMs once thought. However, that doesn’t mean he will come at a bargain price either. Derrick Velandia and Bernie Cruz will hit the market. Both are good defenders at their positions, SS and 3B respectively, but lack solid offensive production.

Trenton Titans

Unnamed sources in Trenton confirm that the Titans managements would be listening to offers for Dennis Barkley and Lonny Griffin. Barkley, who is due 8.75 million next season, finished season 12 hitting .299/31/66. Barkley has clubbed 213 home runs in his career, but never really quite got adjusted to Trenton after the move from Baltimore. He is a good candidate to be moved to a contender wiling to put him middle to lower part of the order down if the price is right. Griffin, also due 8.75 million next season, hit .310/22/82. Most scouts say Griffin will likely stay in the AL, if dealt at all.

Montreal Expositions

With a slew of slick fielding shortstops waiting in the wings, Rick Larkin has become expendable in Montreal. Larkin is coming off a season 12 campaign in which he hit .256/14/65 while stealing 37 bases. While he did not get on base quite as much as his first season in Montreal, he did still manage to score 82 runs. Bill Clifton was just what Montreal needed in season 11, but he got rocked in season 12. Odds are Montreal will let the 229 save reliever walk unless they hear of a trade and sign type opportunity.

Oakland Hammers

Adrian Adkinsson and Rey Maxwell aren't going to be resigned and will be heading to free agency. Adkinsson can simply be described as the next bidding war, even at age 38. Maxwell also knows how to earn his paycheck. This Right Fielder has hit 217 home runs while hitting .289 lifetime.

Chicago Fatties

A hot name right now in the rumor mill is Centerfielder Oswaldo Escobar. The soon to be 31 year old Escobar has racked up 7 of the last 9 Gold Gloves, including Season 12. He makes a lot of sense for a lot of teams simply for his defense, but Escobar also provides the presence of a lefty bat with a friendly contract. Escobar will be entering the final year of a four year contract that has paid him $5.8 million annually.

New York Godfathers

Trenidad Espinosa rebounded amiably after being let go by Louisville in Season 11. Espinosa finished season 12 by hitting .285 15/43 out in Right Field. Staff ace Johnny Pride is available. Pride is coming off an 11-15 season. Sam Witt saw action last year as a back end of the rotation guy for the Godfathers. The lifetime 28-53 pitcher may have a hard time finding work above the AAA level. Johnny Pride is a soon to be 29 year old lefty who offered the Godfathers 200+ innings last year, a feat he has accomplished 4 times in his career. Pride will be looking to catch on wherever someone will pay him. More than likely he will try to get New York to resign him, but realizes his best bet is with a rebuilding club to warm a spot until other prospects are ready to take over.

Portland Killer Whales

“No one will be resigned” is apparently the mantra of the Killer Whales these days. All potential free agents include Patrick Rigby, Pedro Diaz, Stephen McDowell, and Reagan Robinson . Fernando Garces is the highest profile Killer Whale to go to the market. Garces is not willing to resign with Portland and the front office could not be happier. “Even if he would want to resign him, we wouldn’t” stated one source with knowledge of the situation. “The youth movement in Portland will go on.” Portland has been signaling interest in trading Trot Hughes, Francisco Fernandez, and Rey Van Hekken.

Norfolk Needlefish

When asked for rumors, most GMs smile and lawyer up on you. That isn’t GM Sordie’s style. “Runner-up for Fireman of the Year, Chris Sauveur , is going to retire from baseball, get a sex change operation, change his name to Christina, and dance in a French cabaret review.” Scouts in some circles had said they thought he had already done that at the deadline in Season 10 when Saveuer was slotted as the Philadelphia closer and proceeded to have a 2.39 WHIP and an ERA just under 8 . Sordie is also telling anyone that will listen that Gary Clayton and Juan Sosa are looking to be dealt. Rick Neill just had a great season but he’s stated that he’s looking for one last good deal, so he’ll explore Free Agency.

San Juan Elephant Seals

Signed through 15 at a rate of 5.4 million a year, Ricardo Johnson is rumored to be available. Johnson isn't too sexy of a player in the eyes of most GMs, but some see his value. Johnson offers little power, but does offer great speed and a great eye. Last season, his on base percentage was low by his standards at .355 in comparison to his lifetime mark of .371. Also, don't be surprised if the San Juan front office fields offers for anyone over the age of 25.

Vancouver is led offensively by young CF richard Truman, who hit over .330 for the year, scored over 100 runs, while clubbing 19 HRs. 3B Joseph Gonzalez is the only real power threat having clubbed 36 HRs and 101 RBI while hitting .275. 2B Rafael Espinosa leads the team in runs scored with 117. The team is not any threat on the basepaths, with 9 SBs from Espinosa accounting for 100 % of the team's SB total! Vancouver's offense is pedestrian at best.

Pitching wise, Cody Young has been the rock of the staff over the past decade, and continues to provide a very reliable pitcher who will have to step up over the next few weeks if Vancouver is going to make a run. Louis Bailey and Billy Sanders are also solid, and Vancouver boasted five double digit winners on their starting staff this year.

The strength of the team is their bullpen, led by Jalel Priest, Jumbo Abercrombie, and Sam Allen. Priest's numbers are worthy of Cy Young consideration this season, with 7 wins and 33 saves to go along with a 1.18 WHIP and an ERA barely over 2. These pitchers will have to step up and perform if Vancouver is going to succeed.

Meanwhile, Philadelpia's offense is very impressive, led by 1B and MVP candidate Omar Alvarez, who hit 55 HRs and 140 RBI and an OPS of 1.102. And he is not alone. 3B Dan Percival contributed 44 HRs and 109 RBI, 2B Vicente Lee hit 34 HRs with 100 RBI, as well as 30 HRs and 84 RBI from Bronson Bell. The Philadelphia offense is extremely strong and will pose a bit challenge for Vancouver.

Bret Dawkins paces the starting staff in Phlly, with 15 wins, a whip of 1.02, and an ERA under 3.00. Geoffery McNamara is also a phenomenal SP who will anchor the playoff staff. Santos and Ma are also solid contributors. The only advantage for Vancouver will be the bullpen, where Philly has a real piecemeal effort.

Prediction: Philadelphia 3-1

#3 Seed Chicago (91-71) vs. #6 Seed Salt Lake City

Chicago has the premier offense in the National League, and led all of Plumpy in HRs this season. The are paced by probable NL MVP Jeff Hackman, who clubbed 70 HRs, knocked in 175, and logged an OPS of 1.225. 2B Mark Spehr added 52 HRs, C Alejandro Romano clubbed over 40, while OFs Richardson & Perez both topped the 30 plateau. For those keeping score at home, the cubs lineup boasts 6 starters out of 8 who hit over 30 HRs, while Neal and O'Malley, the other two starters, each hit over 20, with Neal adding over 100 RBI.

The Cubs pitching is paced by 22 game winner and Cy Young candidate Aaron Hinske. Chipper Anderson and Oscar Christman provide three solid starters who should be very effective in the playoffs. The biggest weakness and probable achilles heal for the Cubbies is their bullpen by committee, which is filled with decent arms, but lacks shut down arms who will slam the door in close games. The Cubs will need their powerful bats and top three starters to give their bullpen large leads which they can hold.

Salt Lake City made a surprise run to the World Series last season. They hit a full 120 HRs less than the Cubs this season, and lack the dominate offense they will face in Chicago. Ewell Coles and Moises Bravo provide the power for Salt Lake, with each hitting over 30 HRs and 100 RBI.

But pitching wise, the top starters for Salt Lake are simply dominate: Tom Booker and Anthony Stanley and Carlos Olivo. All have outstanding ratings, ERAs, and ratios and are a stronger trio than Chicago will be able to bring to the pitching rubber. Salt Lake also has a legitimate front line closer in Doug Caruso, who as a 23 year old posted 40 saves.

In the end, the home field advantage and the superior offense will win this battle for the Cubs, 3-1.