Thanks to everyone for a great Auction., and especially to Dan for hosting.  Perfect setup and perfect location!

Also, many thanks to our Treasurer for getting our finances caught up, and to everyone for paying in what they owe.  I'll post the updated financial report here on the Annex soon.  If you still owe anything, try to get Steve paid this week.  

Rosters have been entered on the OnRoto site.  Please take a look at your team when you have a moment and make sure everything looks right.  

Here's a summary of the rules changes we voted to make:

• we are now charging a flat fee of $150 in lieu of the $26 basic fee and the stats/tech assesment.  This will also cover all of your transaction fees for movement of players between active and reserve (up and down) all season, no matter how many you make.  We'll still charge for FAAB purchases, waiver claims, trades, and September expansion.
• September roster expansion will now be limited to 2 extra players (instead of the "unliimited" option we used to have).
• The IP requirement has been reduced from 950 innings to 900 innings.  We have added a $50 penalty to be assessed to any team that fails to make the minimum.  This applies to the AB requirement as well, though we didn't adjust the number: It's still 4,250.

Still to be voted on (by upcoming OnRoto poll):  The Ohtani Question, and possibly moving the FAAB biddng deadline from noon to later in the day.

The Reserve Draft will be Wednesday night, March 29, at 10 pm EDT.  We'll use Zoom and the OnRoto chat room.  You can use one or the other or both.  If you can't be present, just get me a list of picks before the Draft.

Meeting ID: 849 0032 7510
Passcode: 008355

Here's a handy Reserve Draft Grid to follow along with the progress of the Draft.  Let me know if you see any errors.  I'll be updating this live during the Draft.

You are welcome to make trades, including trades of Draft Picks, up until 9 pm on Wednesday.

The Big Sheet is ready!  Please advise the League Office promptly of any errors.  Next I'm going to be updating the OnRoto site, and then FanTrax.

Welp.  2020 kind of sucked.  As we were planning for an Auction that never happened, I remember typing into GroupMe, "

That turned out to be true, but really not in the way I was thinking.

We wound up deciding to "mothball" our teams and play roto in 2020 as a one-off season with no freeze lists, a snake draft, relaxed rules, no transaction fees, and probably a bunch of other concessions to COVID-19.  Every team started with a blank slate, knowing that their "real" rosters would be held in a state of suspended animation until 2021.  We agreed that every team would chip in $25, the prize pool to be donated to a charity of the winner's choosing.  We used Fantrax for both the snake draft on July 26.

It went OK, I think.  Speaking for myself, I definitely paid less attention to my team on a daily basis.  There were plenty of days where I just forgot to set a lineup.  But I enjoyed it.  It was great to have baseball back on TV, even if a lot of games got postponed and rescheduled along the way.  The dumb Manfred rules changes didn't bother me as much as I thought they would.  I honestly didn't even mind the DH that much, and I thought the 7-inning doubleheaders were kind of fun.

And then on August 19, we got this:

as there's a drive into deep left by Castellanos and that'll be a home run.  And so that'll make it a 4-0 ballgame.

If memory serves, our pennant race wasn't really very close and Joe won by a lot.  I'll post the standings and stats on the 2020 page soon.

Joe has chosen the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation to receive the bounty of his victory.  So far, seven teams have kicked in $25.00, so we'll be sending them $200, counting Joe's contribution.  If anyone else wants to chip in -- and it's entirely voluntary -- please send your money to me by the end of the day on Monday, February 22, by either Venmo (@Tom-Myers-22) or Paypal.  I'm forwarding all I've collected to Joe after that.  Thanks!

Thanks to everyone for a great Auction, and especially to Steve for hosting and to Arnie for lunch. 

II will have the rosters entered into OnRoto soon.  Here is a link to our post-Auction rosters in PDF.

The Reserve Draft will be held on Tuesday night, March 26, at 10 p.m., EDT.  We will just use the GroupMe app this year, and hopefully avoid some of the technical difficulties of years past.  Quags are on the clock!

If you have frozen reserve players, please text or email me the pick numbers you wish to forfeit.  if possible, please do this by 7 pm or so on Tuesday night.  We'll permit trades up until 7 pm on Tuesday night also.  The Reserve Draft Grid will be updated soon with the Wonders-DougOuts correction and the most recent trades.

Thanks again to Steve for his service as League Treasurer.  Below is his 2019 Financial Report.  If your number in the last column on the right is red, you're a winner!  You'll receive a check from the League Treasurer.  If that number is black, please be prepared to pay up at the Auction.  

I finally updated the Constitution with the several changes we've made over the last few years.  Just in time to amend it again!  Most of the changes I made were housekeeping cleanups related to our new position requirements (The Davitt Proposal) and the roster size changes that we made when we lost the Astros.  I also changed the minimum IP and AB requirements (10.6 & 10.7) and I re-wrote 16.8 to clarify that when a team claims FAAB compensation for a player traded to the AL, that player is automatically released rather than the team needing to release him.  As always, let me know if you find any errors.

Here are the three proposals that Joe submitted to the League Office for vote prior to this year's Auction.  Proposal No. 1 passed, 7-5.  Proposal No. 2 failed, 8-4, and No. 3 failed, 9-3.  Thanks for voting.

Many thanks to Steve for once again preparing our League Financial Report.  Please be prepared to settle up at the Auction on Saturday.  You can pay your fees via PayPal!  Use the link below.

The Green Monsters held on, surviving a late-season challenge from the QuagMyers, to post their second straight title, and sixth overall.  

Congratulations to the Gregory Peckers, who won the 2017 Commissioner's Trophy.  The Trophy is presented each year to the team that has the best post-All Star Break stats but doesn't finish in the top four.  Please feel free to check my work, as these numbers are entered into the spreadsheet by hand.

The final standings are below.  You can see the entire worksheet here.  (Click on Sheet 1 to see the whole deal).

Here is the official video of KC's dousing for his 2016 Championship, following the 2017 Auction.

Following the 2016 Draft, the Rick Shaws received their second consecutive dousing, and the chocolate shower was administered by the smallest Monster, K.C.'s son Carson.  It was a sneak attack; it happened so quickly that I don't think I got a video.  I did get some photos, though.  Please take note of the demonic glee on the face of young Carson.

Here is Rick getting his first dousing, following his 2014 title.  

Following the 2013 Auction at Steve's office, we did a catch-up dousing for the ceremonies we somehow skipped.