Gentlemen-

Some of you may know that DC owner Brian Hockin has been working on redoing the league website. He’s bringing improved design and functionality to the table.

Well, we’re ready to go. The new site, oel.brianhocklin.com is now live and will be the site wherein all the league stuff will occur. Please adjust your bookmarks immediately as I believe Mack will use this one for tonight’s sim.

As always, let us know if you have any problems. And much thanks for Brian for all of his work!

Nate

Pitchers and Catchers can’t be far off it we’re looking towards the end of January, my friends. They simply can’t. The longest season, the offseason, is being whittled down by old man time. Soon the grass will be green and so will the rookies. Bring forth the day.

A few signings:
Miami reupped Vuong for 1 year and $12MM.
Brattleboro signs SS Taylor for 1 year/$300k.
Phoenix signs 2B Decesare for 1 year/$3.5MM
Pittsburgh signs MR Hernandez for 3 years/$13.2MM
New York signs 3B Martinez for 1 year/$600k

Still some real names out there. Who’s going where? Stay tuned!

Not all the news is good, though.

Brattleboro MR Cartagenia has suffered an rehab setback and elected to retire. He’s out of the game.

Always sad, that.

Still, the next sim is Wednesday by Mack. He’ll take us to February and we’ll really get this thing moving!

The promised apocalypse has begun in Seattle. Pilots pitcher Tobias Rosado reinjured his arm during a rehab workout. Apparently, it was a pretty bad injury, as Rosado has retired. That really sucks.

On the bright side, Seattle locked up two young stars when they extended the contracts of 3B Myles Horne and SP Hyun-Jung Hong. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh re-signed IF Danilo Henriquez for three more years and New York locked up Abe Nix for five years.

In free agent news, one of the premier guys signed, as Tupperware Street added outfielder and spelling nightmare Kenrokurou Yoshuu for a reasonable three years at just under $14.5M per year. Other signings:

Baltimore signed Luis Boring for $1.46M over two years.
New York signed Javier Castillo for $29.8M over three years.

League file is posted. Nate has the next sim, on Friday, going up to January 21.

At the cusp of the new year the offseason has seen two trades among the newest owners! Where will it stop? Only their hairdressers know for sure…I’m sure.

It is now December 31, 2011 in the OEL and we’re on the verge of a new year. Will 2012 be the disaster everyone says? And did the Mayans like baseball, anyway? Stay tuned!

Many more minor league signings this sim. I’m just going to give you the major league ink.

Stockholm: MR Asuncion 2 years, $1.1MM
Maryland: C Miller 2 years, $1.2MM
Maryland: SS Jordan 2 years, $2.18MM
Jersey City: MR Yasuo 1 year, $310K
Charleston: MR Stein 2 years, $2.6MM
New England: SP Mahone 2 years, $1.15MM

One injury this sim:

Brooklyn’s Salo suffered a setback. His injury time is extended 2-3 extra months.

Next sim is Friday by Mack. One should not to be missing it. Mack will be rolling over to the new year and taking us to 1/11/12.

Since neither of our new owners have blog logins right now, I’m posting this trade on their behalf.

Brattleboro sends a first-round pick (#2 overall), a fifth-round pick, and $1 million in cash to New England in exchange for MR Dae-Ik Chong, MR Tom Briggs, and SP Cliff Norwood.

The Seattle Pilots have aquired All-Star catcher Raul Zambrano from the Brattleboro Islanders in exchage for top pitching prospects Scott Vinson and Daniel Garrett. “We couldn’t pass on this opportunity”, said Seattle GM Mike Bateman. “We gave up a nice package of young pitching, but we got an exciting talent in return in Zambrano. We hope he can be that extra piece we need to put us over the top this coming year”. Also included in the deal was veteran Catcher James Dominy going to the Islanders in exchange for 1 Million in cash.

It’s now December 21, 2011. The free agents apparently were not impressed with our offers. Despite the winter meetings coming and going, the only two signings were contract extensions. Pittsburgh locked up Tsukijirou Tashiro for two more years for a total of $21 million and New York inked Eric Guglielmo for four years for $18 million.

Next sim will go up to December 31 and be run by Nate on Wednesday. League file is posted and I’m trying to update the web too. Happy free agent hunting everyone.

We’re at mid-December now and people are chopping down trees and setting them alight and such. But not our star, insured players, right? Not without invalidating those contracts, baby!

Free Agency is now underway with offers and such abounding. Who gets the big payday and who ends up disappointed and taking a sub-market deal? Let’s find out!

Signings:
Phoenix signs SP Bob Sutten to a minor league contract.
Baltimore signs MR Rivera to a minor league contract.
Miami signs CF Ortiz to a minor league contract.
Phoenix signs SP Peters to a minor league contract.
Baltimore signs MRs Wigmore and Armstrong to minor league contracts.

For heaven’s sake doesn’t anyone want MONEY any more?

Tupper Street signs MR Pineda to a 3 year deal for $5.55MM.
DC signs 1B Masson to a minor league contract.
New England signs SS McIntyre to a minor league contract.
New England signs SP Hernandez to a 3 year old for $1.75MM

OK, so nothing particularly exciting. But surely in each of your inboxes there are responses to offers and such.

The next sim will be Monday by Mack. He’s to take us to December 21 and another 10 days of free agency. Don’t miss out!

WASHINGTON – DC and Charleston are at it again. DC has agreed to send LF George Cue, MR Jose Arroyo, CL Gonzalo Vazquez, and DC’s 1st rd draft pick to Charleston in exchange for RF Jose Antonio Calderon and SP Chris Frazier (A).

Rumors were circulating that some big names were being discussed in this deal, but when the dust settled, both sides walked away with pieces that they needed. Neither GM could be reached at this time due to their hectic offseason schedules, but this is probably not the last we’ll hear from them.

The Pittsburgh front office, somewhat reluctantly, publicly admitted today that they took advantage of Stockholm owner Michael Weintraub. “I feel a little bad about it, frankly,” muttered an unusually glum Mack Shultz, Owner/GM of the Pisces. “It’s not my most charitable moment.”

Weintraub apparently recently began following American football. He attended a NFL game in London a few years back and, as with many bored European plutocrats, is looking for ways to occupy his time. He asked Shultz about it at an owner’s meeting and Shultz pointed Weintraub to a few resources. “Next thing I know, he’d apparently read all of the preseason stuff because he was suddenly crowing about how the Philadelphia Eagles were the bee’s knees. I mean, I knew his information was out of date, but he just kept babbling on,” explained Shultz. “I couldn’t get a word in edgewise. Next thing I knew, he’d proclaimed that the Eagles would trounce my beloved Seattle Seahawks. Well, that just couldn’t be allowed.”

So, Shultz and Weintraub wagered a 15th round pick in the 2012 amateur draft on the outcome. To be precise, the supporter of the loser of the game would trade the draft pick to the other for one shiny OEL dollar.

“Now,” said Shultz, “I guess I’m picking up another draft pick. I might grab that Marshawn Lynch kid. Seems like he’d be able to hit for power. At the least, I can’t see a catcher blocking the plate against him.”

When asked how a Seattle Seahawks fan could own an OEL franchise in the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Shultz angrily responded, “No comment,” and strode away from the podium like a petulant wide receiver.