Rumor Has It: Silence Broken

July 07, 2017, 06:52:38 PM

In April the Mutinysphere was set on fire by the Machado blockbuster no one saw coming, The Asterisks follow up trade in May garnered some buzz as well. Cell towers were overloaded. Newspapers sold out. And reporters (including yours truly) careers were made. Then radio silence. The silence has been nearly as surprising as that April 10th trade considering the drama playing out as teams continue to clash and jockey for precious playoff positions as we head towards midseason.

In the Dread Pirate Roberts League the the Inigo Montoya (the most competitive division over the last few years) has seen 4 teams above .500. with the 4th place Koi only 6 1/2 games away from the division leading Scurvy Dogs and the top 3 teams finding a 2 1/2 game seperation. In the Miracle Max the Kraken have run away and never looked back with the best record in the league but the ACL's are still a good run away from getting back into the wild card discussion.

The Jack Sparrow League has seen a highly competitive top 3 come out of the Hector Barbosa. The upstart Sweets have surprised and haven't slowed as they lead the division but only a half game seperates them from the Cutthroats and Cache Hogs. Meanwhile the Will Turner has sputtered with no one between the Rattlers and Nomads seeming capable of going on a run.

As the divisional battles have raged other teams have clearly seen the writing on the wall. And finally on July 5th the silence was broken with a report out of the Motor City that the Madmen were looking to rebuild. League sources have confirmed these reports as executives have used rebuild code words such as "getting younger" and "switching up the landscape of the team". Core players such as Abreu, Gattis, Cargo, Rizzo , Pollack, Ozuna, Pollack, Salazar and Treinen among others have been shopped and sources indicate there are ongoing trade discussions regarding those players. It's not clear how far along these discussions are but with the Minor League draft a week away trades may be on the horizon. As with most rebuilds it's no surprise that the Madmen have asked for younger players controlled till at least 2019 which appears the likely date the Madmen feel they will return to championship contention. They also are reportedly interested in minor leaguers likely to be close to a call up, draft picks and expiring contracts.

While the Madmen are clearly at the beginning stages of their rebuild there have been rumblings around the league the Foothill Nomads might be ready to move on from 2017 as well. Frustration abounds throughout the organization as the team most league insiders expected to win the Turner fizzles. Alarmingly the team has lost 6 game in a row and they now sit under .500. In a normal year a rebuild would be a relatively simple decision, but their chief divisional competition, the Rattlers, haven't been much better so the Turner is still wide open. Those against the idea of rebuilding continue to insist that "anything can happen in the playoffs" and a number of Front Office members feel the Nomads would fare far better in the playoffs than in the regular season. It's clear within the organization that they are at a crossroads, but executives appear to be split down the middle on how to proceed. If they do decide to make a run to win the Turner they will likely be looking for starting pitching. For those in the front office who lean towards a rebuild, sources indicate a big name would likely be the primary trade candidate. Paul Goldschmidt, whom the Nomads acquired last season legitimized their offense which played a big part in their run to a Mutiny Championship. Could he do that again for another team? Time will tell, but it's clear the Nomads are actively listening.

Re: Rumor Has It: Silence Broken

Reply #1 – July 10, 2017, 09:02:00 AM

Yeah, this has been a somewhat quiet 1st half of the season. I think teams have been trying to figure out if they are buyers or sellers. But I expect that to change in the next week or so. The draft has historically been a very active time for trades.

Reminder that I will continue to sim games during the draft and then batch process any transactions made during the draft once the draft completes. You can still send in a new MP of course. Moral of the story - if you want to have a trade, waiver, etc reflected in the database you need to get it in before Wed. Otherwise it's going to sit for a couple weeks.