The 1985 Village Idiot

[Alan T]

Welcome to the first edition of the Village Idiot, a newsrag that focuses entirely on the occurrences in the Front Office Offseason League.

We will begin with a look back at the 1984 season. We are going to award our first Village player of the Year. The focus of this award will be on which player meant the most to changing his team's outlook for the season. A world class player might get consideration for this award, but if his team won the pennant by 30 games and swept the League championship, chances are they didn't necessarily need him.

The 1984 Village player of the year is Hartford's Steven McGill. In past years a dominant Hartford club likely could have gone without McGill and still won the Republic League by a handful of games. This year, the challenge from San Diego and Boston both made winning that league tougher than ever before. McGill was in the top 5 of all of FOOL in most offensive categories, and led the free world in RBIs by 30 over the next highest amount.

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Now we would like to award our Village Manager of the Year, which is far more than just winning a league championship or FOOL championship. It is going beyond that, and showing an outstanding ability in both the front office, as well as setting the lineup and strategy on the field.

The 1984 Village Manager of the year is Ramzavail of the San Diego Fathers. All Ramzavail did this season was put San Diego into the playoffs for only the second time since the Fathers moved there. He put up the best record in franchise history and he was only 12 outs from reaching the FOOL Classic. He also did all of this while sipping on Pina Coladas on some vacation beach somewhere!

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Free Agents likely to make a splash:

1B Larry Abbott - Win the MVP award, help lead your team to an upset in the LCS and what does that award you? A fond Farewell note, that is what! Abbott will find a home easily though, so no one should worry and start donating canned foods. As a solid third hitter in a lineup, there is a very good possibility that Abbott will find his way to a team that desperately needs a big lefty bat in the off season.

SP Julio Martinez - FOOL has many many pretty good pitchers, and solid #2 type of pitchers. What is missing for many teams is a solid top of the rotation ace, and those are very difficult to get. Martinez once upon a time was that very thing, as the 1981 Pitcher of the Year, he still has one of the better arms in the league. Don't let the 31-31 record over the past three seasons fool you, he still has quite a bit left in the tank. He might not be the same pitcher from 1981, but there are more teams needing an ace starter out there than I can count on one hand, and he will easily find a home this offseason.

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Things to watch for in 1985:

- Dark Cloud, manager of the Boston Bombers needs only 30 wins to become the first manager in FOOL history to reach 2000 wins.
- Kaosfere, manager of the Toronto Osprey is only 50 wins away from reaching the 1000 win mark himself.
- Artie Wiley (Atlanta) and Dylan Robinson (Hartford) could become the next pitchers to reach the 200 win club. Wiley only needs 13 wins and Robinson needs 15 to reach that mark. Charles Wilson is actually only 8 wins away, but it is not definite that he'll find a starting pitching job for next season.
- Craig Davis (New York) needs only 24 more strikeouts to become only the second pitcher in FOOL history to have 3500 Strikeouts for their career.
- Denny Hennessey (Hartford) only needs 28 more saves to reach 600 for his career. He is easily the all time leader in that category, as the second most in history is 425.
- Hideaki Tanaka, who is only 2 or 3 years away from reaching social security checks likely won't get the last 19 home runs he needs to get to 500 for his career, however if he plays regularly he could reach 2000 RBIs and 1500 walks before this year is out. The question is if Rio Grande manager Cringer can make that sacrifice to keep him in the lineup.


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Well, we hope you enjoyed the first edition of the Village Idiot. If it sells well in the stores, there is a good possibility for additional columns and expansion in future years. Good luck to all on the 1985 offseason.

[Young Drachma]

Sign me up for a subscription!

[Chief Rum]

PRESS RELEASE--ATLANTA FIRECRACKERS

Firecrackers Refute Media Implication They Did Not Deal Fairly With Abbott in Negotiations

Message from GM:

I steadfastly deny the claim that we dealt unfairly with 1984 CL MVP Larry Abbott in contract negotiations. We offered him several above market deals, but he and his agent I.M. Atool insisted on nothing less than a deal over $9 M per year for seven years, with a player option at the end. This deal would take him to 36 and force us to keep him on the roster even if he were to decline as most players do well before that age. His agent even asked for an illegal MVP incentive!

I refuse to be held hostage in negotiations over a 1B who can't even hit for power consistently. And to prove they're both nuts, Abbott is now asking for a Payton-esque $15 M-plus deal. We did everything in our power to keep Mr. Abbott in Atlanta, even offering the seven years he wanted.

Farewell note my ass! (secretary note: this last not for publication)

Chief Rum, GM of the 1984 CL champion Atlanta Firecrackers

[ekcut]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

PRESS RELEASE--ATLANTA FIRECRACKERS

Firecrackers Refute Media Implication They Did Not Deal Fairly With Abbott in Negotiations

Message from GM:

I steadfastly deny the claim that we dealt unfairly with 1984 CL MVP Larry Abbott in contract negotiations. We offered him several above market deals, but he and his agent I.M. Atool insisted on nothing less than a deal over $9 M per year for seven years, with a player option at the end. This deal would take him to 36 and force us to keep him on the roster even if he were to decline as most players do well before that age. His agent even asked for an illegal MVP incentive!

I refuse to be held hostage in negotiations over a 1B who can't even hit for power consistently. And to prove they're both nuts, Abbott is now asking for a Payton-esque $15 M-plus deal. We did everything in our power to keep Mr. Abbott in Atlanta, even offering the seven years he wanted.

Farewell note my ass! (secretary note: this last not for publication)

Chief Rum, GM of the 1984 CL champion Atlanta Firecrackers

I think your secretary and my publicist are cut from the same cloth...

[Ramzavail]

haha awesome, thanks!

[muns]

Nice article Alan