Olde Tymers

The Royals celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the 1985 All-MO World Series by fielding a couple of teams for the Willie Wilson Classic, a seven inning softball game for charity. The Cardinals didn't exactly bring out the stars - it was Jack Clark, John Tudor, the rest, and some grocery store executives.

Clark still had his big swing:



Good seats were available and the Royals' camera caught two Benchwarmer Baseball owners taking it in:

Happy Home Opener Day!

Who can believe today is here?!

In Enemy Territory

Best Reasons to Lose in 2010

My preseason prospect list only included players who were/are available in Benchwarmer. As a BWB admin, I'd say the most frequently asked question (to which I actually know the answer) is when new players become available. The rule:

After the initial load of the master list in December, players will be added to the master list only for these reasons:

• They are promoted to a major league roster AND earn major league statistics.
• They are a number one draft pick in the amateur draft. This is only for one of the top 30 picks and does not include any of the supplemental picks. (If supplemental picks are added in the middle of the first round, they will be included...the intent here is to cover all the primary 30 team slots in the first round).

Putting this another way, no players will be added to the list between January and April – despite signings of players from Japan, Korea, Cuba, etc. and despite any expectations that a minor leaguer not currently on the BWB list will make a major league roster. These players must play in a regular season game before they make our list.

So non first-round draft picks who aren't initially on the 40 man roster trickle in throughout the season. Obviously, a few might even be there the first week. It's important to attempt to jump on these $100 players, as they can be signed cheap and kept under control for a good while (just like in MLB) . Moreover, teams doing the worst pick free agents first, so there is always a reason to pay attention. Here's a quick list of guys definitely worth making room for :

Aroldis Chapman - SP - Cin
Jesus Montero - C- NYY
Jenrry Mejia - RP - NYM
Mike Stanton - OF - Fla
Martin Perez - SP - Tex
Michael Taylor - OF - Oak
Domonic Brown - OF - Phi
Starlin Castro - SS - ChC
Logan Morrison - 1B - Fla
Alex Colome - SP - TB
Matt Moore - SP - TB
Todd Frazier - 2B - Cin
Derek Norris - C - Was
Dee Gordon - SS - LAD
Noel Arguelles - SP - KC
Zach Stewart - P - Tor

No Place Like Home

Where are the Troughs of Yesteryear?

Target Field, 4/2/2010

Ku'oko'a Kila Ka'aihue!

Why even invite Kila to spring training if he can't make the team with a .378/.472/.733 line? Will the first half of the season be an attempt to "showcase" Jose Guillen in order to find someone willing to kick in a million or two of twelve?? If Randy Winn and Brett Gardner should happen to collide with Nick Johnson on the on deck circle....