MONEY DRAFT COMPLETED - BURKETT, LIDLE & Lo DUCA TOP LISTS

The 2002 Money Draft is over. The top bids this year were for
John Burkett who seemingly awoke from the dead to make a major
contribution for the Braves this year, A's starter Cory Lidle, and
rookie Paul Lo Duca, a multi-positional player for the Dodgers, long
noted for their strong crop of rookies each year.  
Burkett impressed GM Mike Carpenter of the Menace #1 enough for him to
plop down a draft-high amount of 382K for him, while Lidle and Lo Duca
managed to induce Mike Murphy of the Indians #4 and Eddie Freitas of
the Bulldogs #2 to lay down 352K and 320K respectively.
Burkett was then traded to the Maruaders in what would appear to have
been a pre-draft deal. Other Post-Draft transactions are included in
the Trade Log.
The Money Draft went very well this year. Everyone included the required
information that was requested, and the bids arrived at a pace that
enabled me work on the chart a little at a time. 
After checking for late changes at the 11:00 AM CST deadline, the few
alterations were made, and the list was official and posted at 11:15,
which was a half-hour earlier than planned.
The league's cooperation on all these matters was greatly appreciated.
MONEY DRAFT NOTES - ( # number refers to the USPBL Team involved)
88 bids placed total. (2 passes)
66 winning bids of the 88 for a 75% rate of success. There were 61
   winnings bids in 2001 and 60 in 2000.
5 teams got all 5 players they bid on. #1, #7, #9, #13, #15
No teams were shutout. Teams #6, #12, and #14 each got just one player.
Total Money Available: $5,969
Total Money Sopent:    $4,187, or 70%
35 pitchers were selected of 46 that were bid on.
31 batters were selected of 42 that were bid on.
The Winning Bids for batters came from the following positions:
C= 9  1B = 0  2B= 3  3B= 4  SS= 4  OF= 11
....and from the following Major League Teams:
ANA= 2 ARZ=2 ATL=3 BAL=2 BOS=2 CC=3 CIN=1 CLE=3 COL=2 CWS=4 DET=5 
FLA=2 HOU=1 KC=2 LA=1 MIL=3 MIN=3 NYM=4 NYY=1 OAK=2 PHI=4 SD=2 SEA=4
SF=1 TB=3 TOR=4    and NONE from TEX, PIT, MON, STL
High Bids: Burkett #1 382K    Lidle #4 352K   Lo Duca #2 320K
Highest Losing Bid: Burkett #2 251K    Lo Duca #14 193K
Most Bids on a Player: Mark McClemore 5
Most $ bid on a player:  Burkett 710K
Low Bid: Adam Pettyjohn #5 1K  Last year it was Rivas #10 2K who
         turned into a productive player.
Highest Uncontested Bid: Mike Prior (Cub pitching prospect) #1  143K
Tie Breakers: NONE
NON-APL: 14    13 in 2001 and 7 in 2000

In closing, I should note that the players taken in the Money Drafts
traditionally have been keepers. These players nearly always make our
final rosters.

Complete Results can be found by taking the Link below.

Next up, the Rotation Draft.

   

 

THE 2002 ROTATION DRAFT will be Saturday, February 2nd. 
The Time will be announced at a later date.

As we did last year, the Draft will take place ONLINE. We used AOL-IM
last year. While we encountered some problems, the overall benefits
were great and the time involved, especially in the early rounds was
significantly reduced.
The main problem we had was the inability of some to enter the
Chat-Rooms we used, and as a result we had to change occasionally.
But it still seemed that with each one, there was always one or two
teams that couldn't "Get In". I have since learned that there is a 
remedy to this for one of the problems. It has something to do with
AOL-users not being able to use their normal AOL screenames. Instead
they need to log on differently. I'm sure some out there are familiar 
with this and can help us out before the draft arrives.
The general format remains the same, and a list of Rotation Draft
Guidelines will be posted prior to the Draft.
Lists and Phone calls remain an option as well for those unable to
participate online.

Updated Available Player Lists are not sent for use in the Rotation
Draft. Using the third list found on the 2002 Money Draft Page
you can go right down each of the lists, for Batters and Pitchers, and
cross the names off your current APL.

Links Associated with the December 2002 Beacon

PLAYOFF AWARDS - 
Take the Link above to read about the Playoff Awards and see what the
Trophy Steins look like.

PLAYOFF PROGRESS -
The Participants for the 2001 USPBL World Series......
Dan Model of the Pacific Marauders is making his 2nd consecutive
trip to the USPBL World Series after defeating Mark Carpenter's Slippery
Rock Rockets in a 7 game Musial League Championship Series.
Dan included a league-wide e-mail highlighting the series.
Rodger Katter of the Circle City Cyclones will be the opponent after
taking the Reggie League Championship Series in 6 games over
Rob Workman's Great Lakes Arsenal.
It will be the 2nd trip to the World Series for both managers.
Neither has won the Championship previously.
Congratulations Dan and Rodger.
 
ONLINE ROSTERS - 
Eddie Freitas has been keeping the Rosters updated and has even included
the Money Draft acquisitions. There is a link to his Homepage located
on the LINKS page.

MENACE FEATURE STORY -
Mike Carpenter, who's been a regular contributor to the Beacon, has
his own Homepage, and this month has posted a story which takes a look
at some of the top picks from the 2001 Money Draft to see how they
fared. Take a look. 

BALLPARK DRAFT -
The Wizards #6 is the only team that has moved to a new Ballpark in
the first stage of the Ballpark Draft. They will be playing in
CIN for the 2002 season. Nobody has claimed the 1-20 HOME RUN COL
Ballpark yet. Stage 2 of the Ballpark Draft will be announced once
the Ballpark Ratings have been announced by SOM. At that time the
Ratings will be posted, and teams will once again have the opportunity
to move to a new environment if they so choose.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT -
The USPBL's Financial Statement from the 2001 season has been posted.
The cost of the Beacon, which was normally the primary expense of the
league has nearly been negated by the use of the internet. The other
two main expenses were Recruiting and Phone calls, and again, both
have been substantially reduced through the use of e-mail and the
internet.
Because we had saved quite of bit of money over the last few years,
the presenting of Trophies for previous USPBL World Series champs
was decided on. We also planned to give awards to the Playoff Teams
on a trial basis. 
While the World Series Champion will continue to receive a trophy
each season, continuing the practice of giving awards to the Playoff
Managers is something that will be decided upon in the future. 
This time the managers appearing in either the 2000 or 2001 Playoffs
were given an award. But whether this will be done every-other year
or every year or even at all will be voted on.
The cost this year was high, but the plan would be to give less
expensive awards for repeat winners while first timers would always
get the Trophy Stein that was awarded this time.
See the above story on Playoff Awards and the 2001 Financal Statement.

BEACON LOGO CREDIT -
The July Beacon featured a picture of the Eagle River Lighthouse 
on it's logo. The picture was taken from a brochure about this
historic lighthouse located at Eagle River, in Michigan's beautiful
Upper Penninsula. This December Beacon is the same lighthouse, though
this logo pic is taken from a photo that editor Jim Walsh took
while in Eagle River this past July.