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Benchwarmer News

3/15/23

  • Orphan teams are now eligible for trades. If you've tried to request a trade with an orphan team or if you're a foster owner running an orphan team and haven't been able to trade, that should all be open now.

3/13/23

3/10/23

3/7/23

  • Payment information is NOT yet set up for 2023, so no need to pay yet - that's coming soon.

2/28/23

2/21/23

Did You Know? You have until the end of July to submit contract extensions

2/8/23

2/2/23

  • Redistribution Draft deadline is Sunday night. You can check the lists for all your teams to see if you have any errors.
  • I still could use some foster owners to do the draft lists for orphan teams. Let me know if you are willing to do that.
    • I missed these messages to take fosters - Mike Quinn, Bill Munger, Craig Burke - I am travelling on Thursday, so I should be able set you up with some orphans very late Thursday night or on Friday morning.

1/27/23

  • I've had delays in some setup tasks and won't be ready to process the Redistribution Draft on time - so I'm going to push back the first deadline to Sunday, Feb. 5 at Midnight Pacific
  • If anyone is interested in becoming a foster owner for one or more of our orphan teams, please let me know your interest and how many teams you could do. Primarily I'm looking for someone to be able to get them through the Redistribution Draft until someone adopts them permanently.

1/23/23

  • Sorry - much later than planned - the transaction order is now final for the Redistribution Draft

1/18/23

  • After some feedback and consideration, I'm striking the new rule that would allow for salaries above the minimum for players coming from Japan and other foreign leagues (and restoring normal calculations for former-MLB players who return). Above all, BWB salaries are not predictive - they are based on MLB performance - so we'll keep it that way right now.

1/15/23

  • Results of carryover choices posted.  View the Transactions page to see the cuts in your league.
  • 125 New players added to the game based on the 40-man rosters for MLB teams
    • This is the only player addition until after Opening Day
    • To find them - In the filter/search area of the player lists, look for the "New in 2023" menu - See the list of new players
  • The 2023 Redistribution Draft is now open.  You'll 2 weeks to make your first selections.  Deadline is Sunday 1/29/23 at Midnight Pacific (will show on the web as 1/30/23 3 AM EST)
  • Visit your team roster to see the link to begin making your picks.
  • For more information, see the rules regarding the Redistribution Draft
  • There are 2 weeks to do your list for Round 1, but you should consider building for all 5 rounds - or at least as much as you can, because if any of your listed picks/alternates are gone by your turn in the order, we'll pull up picks from Round 2 and beyond to make sure you get 3 selections.
    • After Jan 29, we post the results of only Round 1 only - any drafted players will be removed from the remainder of your lists.
    • You'll have almost 2 weeks to redo draft lists (if you choose), then we post the results of only Round 2 (again removing drafted players from your rounds 3-5)
    • Then one more week for an optional redo of your draft lists, and we post the results of Rounds 3-5
  • The season calendar of deadlines is not yet updated for 2023, but the deadlines for the Redistribution Draft are:
    • Sunday evening 1/29 Midnight PST - First submission - we post results for Round 1
    • Sun night 2/12 Midnight PST - Adjust your lists for Rounds 2-5 - we post results for Round 2
    • Sun night 2/19 Midnight PST - Adjust your lists for Rounds 3-5 - we post results for the remaining 3 rounds
  • Any players on your Prospect Roster have been moved back to your 40-man roster.  You can begin to move players to prospect status again after the Redistribution Draft.
  • Note - the draft order has not yet been verified or updated to move division winners into picks 13-16 of the draft order. That will happen within a few days.

1/11/23

  • Roster deadline moved to midnight EST on Thursday night.
  • Orphan Teams - very late, but here's the initial list of available orphans for 2023.  There will be more added once I verify some "no answers" on returning will indeed become orphans.  Email me if you want to pick up any of these orphans and we still might be able to get you to pick your roster cuts/keeps.
  • Players of the Year listings are now final. There may be slight changes from what was previously listed as the rankings through Week 25 as performance for the whole season was added into the calculation in addition to the accumulated weekly scores.
  • Team finances are updated to reflect the POY awards

1/10/23

1/6/23

  • There are several set up/administrative tasks that I didn't get completed before going on vacation and, though I brought my computer along, I should have been realistic that I wouldn't have an opportunity to work on during this week. I'm not going to be ready to process cuts on Sunday, so I'll pass additional time on to you.
    • The roster cut down deadline is moved to Thursday, January 12, 7 PM Eastern
    • I'll work on the cuts Thursday night and open up the Redistribution Draft list by Friday 1/13.  That will give you 3 full weekends to work on that prior to the first draft deadline of Sunday 1/29.

1/1/23

  • I'll also have more on rule changes coming up, but here are a couple to be aware of as you make your final roster adjustments:
    • Salaries for players coming from Japan/Korea or other foreign leagues may not be automatically set to 100 as has always been done. This will be a subjective call - looking at stats in the other system, contract size for MLB, etc.
    • Costs to store players on the Prospects Roster will rise from 250 to 500. I'm tempted to make it higher, but we'll see how this works.

12/27/22

  • Week 30 Transaction Results Posted (Winter Trade Period #2)
  • There's one more bit of cash to hand out - rewards for Player of the Year results. I hope to have that up within a couple of days.
  • Next deadline - Roster cut downs due Sunday, January 8
  • Payment information is NOT yet set up for 2023, so no need to pay yet - that's coming soon.
  • Estimated due date for Redistribution Draft lists is now Sunday, January 29

12/25/22

  • I'm going to be unavailable the week of January 2 so we'll move the deadline for cuts/carry overs to January 8, which will give you 2 full weeks to finish your choices.

12/8/22

11/29/22

11/28/22

  • Player salaries for 2023 are now FINAL.  Premium salary adjustments were made for 296 players, most at less than 5%.  These players had salaries that went up more than 25%:
    • Aaron Judge: 39.1%
    • Paul Goldschmidt: 36.6%
    • Freddie Freeman: 31.7%
    • Nolan Arenado:30.8%
    • Yordan Alvarez: 29.9%
    • Mookie Betts: 29.8%
    • Shohei Ohtani: 28.3%
    • Jose Ramirez: 27.4%
    • Manny Machado: 25.4%
    • Sandy Alcantara: 25.2%
    • Jose Altuve: 25.1%

11/21/22

  • Lots of changes and updates as we move on to the 2023 season!
    • Salary cap cash has been distributed.  The 2023 salary cap is 40735 (was 41833 in 2022).
    • Cash rewards for playoff performance will be distributed later this week
    • 2023 salaries are posted but are not final - Premium salary adjustments will be made later this week
    • 2023 player positions are updated but not final
      • Any player showing an "x" in their position didn't have any MLB stats in 2022, so I need to go back in and check what they did in the minors in 2022 (or maybe they didn't play at all and might be removed from the list) - their positions may change.
      • That usually takes a lot of time and will be finished sometime late December/early January
    • Player retention decisions for 2023 can now be made from your team roster pages.  Deadline to complete this is expected to be Monday, January 2 - if you have a lot of teams, don't wait!!
    • First step before you can do any trading or pick your carryover players - indicate if you're keeping each of your teams in 2023.  You must answer "yes" before you may submit any trades or before anyone can contact you for trades.  Deadline is December 18 or we assume the unanswered teams become Orphans.
  • New leagues for 2023 will be opened soon.
  • As people indicate they're dropping teams, orphans will become available.
  • Trades are now open for a roughly 2-week trading period, ending on Sunday, Dec. 4.  Following that will be another 2-week trade period open through December 18.

11/17/22

  • If you made any changes to your team information (for example, team name) after the end of the regular season, I made a mistake in early November and overwrote the current team data with a copy saved before the playoffs began. Some of you have already re-entered those changes, but wanted to alert anyone who didn't notice that.
  • Trades and cuts will be open soon - perhaps as early as late Thursday night
  • The first step before you can do any trading or pick your carryover players - indicate if you're keeping each of your teams in 2023.  You must answer "yes" before you may submit any trades or before anyone can contact you for trades.  Deadline is December 18 or we assume the unanswered teams become Orphans.
  • Look for 2023 salaries and positions to be set over this weekend.

11/14/22

  • We'll start setup for 2023 this week with:
    • Preliminary 2023 salaries - with final values set next week.
    • 2023 positions set by this weekend
    • We'll open up rosters within a couple of days for trades and starting to choose roster cuts.
    • Planned schedule (subject to change):
      • Dec 4 - deadline for trade period one
      • Dec 18 - deadline for trade period two
      • Jan 2 - roster cut downs due
      • Jan 22 - first Redistribution Draft list deadline

11/9/22

  • Benchwarmer Bash 2022 - Final Results: Kingston Don Dadda (That's the Fact Jack League) defeated Valley Forge Continentals (Big Red Machine League) 4 games to 1.
    • Congratulations to team owner Ricardo Alexander.
    • This is Ricardo's 2nd win in the BWB ultimate tournament following last season's win with his Marxball team.
    • Ricardo won 15 league championships in 2022 and had 21 teams in the field of 128 that started out the Bash last week.
    • Also congratulations to runner-up Robert Elias in his first trip to the finals.

11/8/22

  • Benchwarmer Bash 2022 - Semifinals complete. Games 1-7 posted.
  • Benchwarmer Bash bracket
  • Slight change - finals games will post on Wednesday instead of tonight.
  • We're down to our final two teams. Valley Forge and Kingston were victorious in the semifinals:
    • Kingston Don Dadda (99-51, That's The Fact Jack, Power Rank 30) - Ricardo Alexander vs. Valley Forge Continentals (100-50, Big Red Machine, Power Rank 7) - Robert Elias
    • Ricardo won the Bash last year with Kingston (from a different league: Marxball)
    • No winner has come out of either league before.

11/7/22

  • Benchwarmer Bash 2022 - We move on to the Bash round with the final 8 teams. Quarterfinals complete - Games 1-7 posted
  • Semifinals coming on Tuesday morning/afternoon - Finals on Tuesday night
  • Previewing the Bash:
    • There are 8 teams remaining - 5 league champions and 3 wild card teams
    • None of the franchises have won the Bash previously - although one owner has won before with another teams: Ricardo Alexander won last year.
    • No teams repeated this year as Federation champions.
    • Federation titles by seed:
      • 1st: 4
      • 2nd: 3
      • 3rd: 0
      • 4th: 1
    • Owners with multiple teams in final 8:
      • 4 teams: Ricardo Alexander
      • Two of Ricardo's teams face each other in the first round, so he's guaranteed to have 1 team in the semifinals, but could have as many as 3.
    • Our top seed based on BWB's power ranking, is Valley Forge Continentals with an Power Index of 7. This breaks a 6-year streak for the #1 team to reach this round. Only 2 of the top 10 are here as was the case in 2021, which are the smallest numbers since 2015, when only one of the top 10 (#7) advanced from the Federations.

11/4/22

  • Benchwarmer Bash 2022 - Federation Finals complete - Games 1-7 posted;
  • Federation semifinals complete - Games 1-7 posted
  • Quick links to the Federation results:
  • Previewing the Federation round:
    • There are 32 teams in the Federation field - 22 league champions and 10 wild card teams
    • One team has previously won the Benchwarmer Bash - Kingston from Marxball (Ricardo Alexander) won last year.
    • Two franchises have previously finished as the runner up in the Bash: She's the Fire (Sherman Wan) finished 2nd 3 times, most recently in 2019, and Wisconsin (Greg Flees) in 2012
    • Seven of the teams have previously won a Federation title, with 1 of 2021's 8 Federation winners still in the hunt for a repeat.
    • Two of the 16 semifinal series has an owner with teams on both sides of the matchup - Ricardo Alexander in both the Bench Federation and the DiMaggio Federation
    • Owners with multiple teams in the Federation round of the Benchwarmer Bash:
      • 11 teams: Ricardo Alexander
      • 6 teams: Jason Kiernan
      • 5 teams: Sherman Wan
      • 2 teams: John Hula
      • 8 other owners have a single team
  • Benchwarmer Bash - Association Round Recap
    • Association titles by seed:
      • 1st: 9
      • 2nd: 5
      • 3rd: 11
      • 4th: 7
    • 22 titles were won by league champions, 10 by wild cards
    • For our league championship rematches mentioned below on 11/2, Valley Forge reversed the results from the Big Red Machine title series, while the other four had the same results
    • 22 teams came in with a chance to repeat from 2021 and 4 did:
      • Ed Delahanty Association: Kingston (Marxball) - Ricardo Alexander - keeping alive a chance to repeat as the Bash winner.
      • Darrell Evans Association: Atlanta (Golden Throat) - Ricardo Alexander
      • Bob Feller Association: Feller's (Cleveland Rocks) - Jason Kiernan
      • Carl Hubbel Association: Wisconsin (Bleed Dodger Blue) - Greg Flees

11/2/22

11/1/22

  • Benchwarmer Bash 2022 - Association semifinals complete - Games 1-7 posted
  • Benchwarmer Bash - Matchups are posted for the Association Semifinals - see the Benchwarmer Bash page and look for "Association Results" links within each Federation block. Games will begin later on Tuesday.
  • Previewing the Bash:
    • There are 128 teams in the Association field - 68 league champions and 60 wild card teams
    • 4 franchises in the field have previously won a Bash title, including last year's champion Kingston Baseball Club from Marxball (Ricardo Alexander) and there are 3 previous runners up.
    • 28 of the teams have previously won a Federation title, with 6 of 2021's 8 Federation winners attempting a repeat this year.
    • 42 of the teams have previously won an Association title (a level of competition that just started in 2019), 22 of 2021's 32 Association winners are in the field again this year.
    • Of the 64 first-round Association matchups, 21 feature teams from the same league playing each other. Several are playoff rematches:
      • There is 1 rematch of conference championships
      • We have a whopping 13 league championship rematches:
        • A League About Nothing: Jerry's (Michael Quinn) vs Infinite (David Henning). Jerry's won the league championship in a 4-0 sweep.
        • B Movie Actor: Don't Let (Jason Kiernan) vs Lord Boulder's (John Stroba). Lord Boulder's won 4-2.
        • Birdland: Palmer, McNally, Cueller, Dobson (Jason Kiernan) vs J-town (Keith Rudy). PMCD won 4-3.
        • Blame Canada: Elsinore (Jerry King) vs Banff (Dave Matter). Elsinore won 4-3.
        • Federal: Wrigley (Jason Kiernan) vs Atlanta (Ricardo Alexander). Atlanta won 4-3.
        • Four Star: Mt. Eaton (Dave Matter) vs NYC2ATL (Ricardo Alexander). NYC2ATL won 4-3.
        • Grand Slam: Moons (Sherman Wan) vs Grannies Salami (Jason Kiernan). Grannies Salami won 4-2.
        • Original Six: Super Mario All Stars!!! (Jason Kiernan) vs Lamoureux (Sherman Wan). Lamoureux  won 4-2.
        • That's the Fact Jack: Proton (David Henning) vs Kingston (Ricardo Alexander). Proton won 4-3.
        • They Might Be Giants: NYC2ATL (Ricardo Alexander) vs Herrickville (Jay Snyder). NYC2ATL won 4-0.
        • Tobacco Road: Jordan's (Jason Kiernan) vs Kingston (Ricardo Alexander). Jordan's won 4-3.
        • Wes Anderson: Atlanta (Ricardo Alexander) vs Twee (Sherman Wan). Twee won 4-2.
        • Whiff: Big Train Rides (Jason Kiernan) vs The Usual (Micah Bustard). Big Train Rides won 4-0.
    • 3 of the 64 first-round series have an owner with teams on both sides of the matchup - Jason Kiernan, Ricardo Alexander, and Sherman Wan
    • Owners with multiple teams in the Association round of the Benchwarmer Bash:
      • 37 teams: Jason Kiernan
      • 21 teams: Ricardo Alexander
      • 15 teams: Sherman Wan
      • 8 teams: Jay Snyder
      • 6 teams: Jerry King, Michael Rudolph
      • 5 teams: Robert Elias, Dave Matter
      • 4 teams: Ken Stevenson
      • 3 teams: John Hula
      • 2 teams: Greg Flees, David Henning, Michael Quinn
      • 12 other owners have a single team

10/31/22

  • Congratulations to BWB team owners who won multiple league championships in 2022: (see how this compares to last year)
    • 15 titles: Ricardo Alexander (out of 21 conference champions), Jason Kiernan (29),
    • 12 titles: Sherman Wan (14)
    • 4 titles: Robert Elias (7), Ken Stevenson (4)
    • 3 titles: Jerry King (9), Michael Rudolph (10)
    • 2 titles: Jay Snyder (5)
  • 40 of 2021's 67 league champions won their division again this season. 15 completed the journey to a repeat league championship.

10/30/22

10/29/22

10/28/22

  • Playoffs: Championship Week: Games 3 & 4 posted - See Playoffs for All Leagues
  • Benchwarmer Bash page is now active (and now it actually works)
  • 2022 in Review (Part 2):
    • See Standings for All Leagues and Around BWB
    • Of 268 division winners from 2021, 145 repeated with division titles this season (112 of 260 repeated last year)
    • 57 of the division winners from last season finished below .500 in 2021, 21 of them dropped all the way to last place this year. 1 of those teams lost 100 games this year.
    • From the 268 divisions that existed in 2021, 24 division winners in 2022 are franchises that never before won a division title.
      • Special shout outs to teams doing this for the first time after more than 10 years of league play:
        • Leif Jonson, Pyeongchang, South Korea 2018, in Three of a Kind League's 15th season
        • Michael Lehman, San Francisco in Murderers' Row's 13th season
        • Michael Gaston, John Denny's in Phightin' Phils League's 12th season
        • Michael Rudolph, Northeast Ohio in Winners Circle League's 12th season
        • Michael Gaston, Toonville in Firemen League's 11th season
    • Of the 67 league champions from 2021, 40 of them repeated as division winners this season. (37 of 65 league winners from 2020 won divisions in 2021).
    • 29 teams went "worst to first" - finishing in 4th place in 2021 and winning a division this year (29 last year).
    • 50 teams out of 1,088 won 100 games this year, topped by Ricardo Alexander with Atlanta in Big Red Machine League at 108 wins.
    • 25 teams lost 100 games, with 2 teams dropping 110 for the season.
    • 20 teams had 100 or more losses in 2021.  2 of them won their division this year and 5 finished .500 or better. However, 8 of those teams finished in 4th place this season and 2 of those teams lost 100 games again this year.
    • 20 teams won 100 or more games in 2021. 4 of them won 100 games again this season and 15 were division winners this year. Only 1 of those teams were below .500 this year and none of the teams fell to 4th place
  • Congratulations to owners still alive with multiple conference wins: (see how this compares to 2021)
    • 29 Teams -  Jason Kiernan (out of 53 division winners)
    • 21 Teams - Ricardo Alexander (26)
    • 14 Teams - Sherman Wan (22)
    • 10 Teams - Michael Rudolph (19)
    • 7 Teams - Robert Elias (7), Jerry King (9), and Michael Quinn (15)
    • 6 Teams - Dave Matter (14)
    • 5 Teams - Jay Snyder (8)
    • 4 Teams - David Henning (8), Ken Stevenson (4)

10/27/22

  • Playoffs: Championship Week: Games 1 & 2 posted - See Playoffs for All Leagues
  • Lineups are open again - if you think you might make the Benchwarmer Bash (details coming soon) you can make one more lineup change. Deadline is Sunday night at 7 PM Eastern.

10/22/22

10/21/22

  • Playoffs: Week 1: Games 3-5 posted - See Playoffs for All Leagues
  • 2022 in Review: This season, there were 10 divisional ties throughout BWB. In 2021, 12 divisions ended in ties - how did those teams in last year's tiebreaker games fare this season?
    • B Movie Actor League - Bubba Ho-Tep Division:
      • Winner - Fantasy Island (Roland Dupont) - This year: Finished 3rd, 15 GB
      • Loser - Busey's Blasters (Dave Matter) - This year: Finished 2nd, 11 GB
    • Batman League - Bale Division:
      • Winner - Kersh (& Trouty) Goes to Disneyland (Sherman Wan) - This year: Won the division by 11 games
      • Loser - Quick Draw McGraw (Tom McGraw) - This year: as Kenny Payne Train, finished 3rd, 24 GB
    • Beatleball - Lennon Division:
      • Winner - Abbey Road Warriors (Andrew Lehman) - This year: Finished 2nd, 7 GB
      • Loser - Rome Gladiators (Danny Zaccaro) - This year: Won the division by 7 games
    • Bleed Dodger Blue League - Sutton Division:
      • Winner - South Hills California Elite (Michael Quinn) - This year: Won the division by 2 games
      • Loser - Brooklyn Blue (Roland Dupont) - This year: Finished 2nd, 2 GB
    • Fenway Fenatics - Cronin Division:
      • Winner - Cincinnati Red Stockings 2 (Michael Horvitz) - This year: as Engine Company 51 (owned by Michael Lehman), finished 2nd, 2 GB
      • Loser - Centauri Cosmic Conundrum (David Henning) - This year: Won the division by 2 games
    • Minnie & Paul League - Viola Division:
      • Winner - Grosse Pointe Trailer Trash (Andrew Lehman) - This year: Finished 4th, 24 GB
      • Loser - Minneapolis Millers (Dave Matter) - This year: Finished 2nd, 5 GB
    • Moneyball League - Art Howe Division
      • Winner - Rich Kids (Roland Dupont) - This year: Won the division by 16 games
      • Loser - Already Dunn (Mike Scott) - This year: Finished 3rd, 25 GB
    • Pacific Northwest League - Ducks Division:
      • Winner - Griffey, Edgar, and The Big Unit Ride again (Jason Kiernan) - This year: Won the division by 9 games
      • Loser - Cobble Beach Leathernecks (Stuart McKenna) - This year: Now owned by Mark Currie, finished 3rd, 24 GB
    • Redbirds League - Slaughter Division:
      • Winner - Bloomingdale Camelback Crickets (Chris Bellina) - This year: Finished 2nd, 5 GB
      • Loser - Montara PacSox (Sherman Wan) - This year: As Get A BRAIN! MORANS won the division by 5 games
    • Silver Screen League - Major League Division:
      • Winner - Celluloid Heroes (Alonda Clifton) - This year: Lost a 1-game playoff for the division to Jobu's
      • Loser - Avalon Dryads (John Stroba) - This year: Finished 3rd, 6.5 GB
    • Superman League - Dean Cain Division:
      • Winner - Fusilli Jerries (John Hula) - This year: Won the division by 1 game
      • Loser - Ames Twisters (Tom Kohl) - This year: Finished 2nd, 1 GB
    • They Might Be Giants League - Ott Division:
      • Winner - NYC2ATL Orange Eagles (Ricardo Alexander) - This year: Won the division by 1 game
      • Loser - Gilroy Garlic Gulls (Sherman Wan) - This year: Finished 2nd, 1 GB

10/20/22

  • Playoffs: Week 1: Games 1 & 2 posted - See Playoffs for All Leagues
  • Congratulations to owners with multiple division wins (see how this compares to last year):
    • 53 Teams - Jason Kiernan - This is actually one short of last year's total
    • 26 Teams - Ricardo Alexander
    • 22 Teams - Sherman Wan
    • 19 Teams - Michael Rudolph
    • 15 Teams - Michael Quinn
    • 14 Teams - Dave Matter
    • 11 Teams - John Hula
    • 9 Teams - Jerry King
    • 8 Teams - David Henning, Jay Snyder
    • 7 Teams - Robert Elias
    • 6 Teams - Michael Lehman
    • 5 Teams - Roland Dupont, Leif Jonson, Tom McGraw
    • 4 Teams - Alonda Clifton, Michael Gaston, Andrew Lehman, Ken Stevenson
    • 3 Teams - A Citarella, Jim Duzyk, John Stroba, Jon Swanson
    • 2 Teams - Mike Cerny, Phillip Dang, Skip Hohensee, Bill Munger, Sheldon Price, Jamie Reese, Danny Zaccaro

10/19/22

10/16/22

  • Tiebreakers posted for home field advantage and playoff seeding for all leagues throughout the post season.

10/15/22

  • As a reminder - for your playoff lineups
    • You can't have more than 6 players on your taxi squad - so if you need to make room for players with salary below 251 in your lineup/rotation, you may need to cut someone.
    • You can reset your rotation without worrying when they pitched in Week 25.
    • And you can reset again for the 2nd week of the playoffs without worrying about when they pitched in the 1st week.

See the News Archive for older headlines.