Meet the new managers: John Renbarger

John Renbarger, manager of the expansion Iowa Swirling Cyclones, was born one month after the I-75 League celebrated its 10th anniversary. Still a student at Iowa State, where he is majoring in chemical engineering, John displaces Dan Wilson as the youngest manager in the league, but in so doing becomes the second second-generation manager in [...]

Meet the new managers: Ken Crawford

Ken Crawford has dubbed his team the Michigan Moneyballers, but does he subscribe to the Moneyball principles? That remains to be seen, but the Ohio native did earn a living as a financial consultant before semi-retiring in 2011 to spend more time learning how to play Strat.  You will recall that he shared managerial duties [...]

And now, the leftovers: Clubs grab what they can

The pickings were decidely slimmer in the third and final round of the I-75 League Expansion Draft, perhaps best illustrated by the selection of .159-hitting Adam Dunn. Apart from the selections of two decent starting pitchers and Florida Marlins first baseman Gaby Sanchez, the picks were primarily guys who’ve seen better times or hope to [...]

Pitchers snapped up in second round of expansion draft

Unlike the first round, pitchers were the dominant element of Thursday night’s second round of the I-75 League Expansion Draft, which saw seven hurlers among the 12 players chosen in the 17-minute round. English manager Rick Lackey led the way by snagging pitchers on each of his three picks: Jhoulys Chacin from Chatfield, Derek Holland [...]

Expansion draft set to unfold: Iowa has first pick

It’s not that difficult to find a dozen decent players available among the unprotected players for the first round of the I-75 League Expansion Draft. But sorry, expansion teams, only one of those players can come from the Springfield Isotopes. That goes for all of the other existing teams too. Therein lies the challenge in the [...]

New stuff to mock: Protection lists

Steve Hart just couldn’t contain himself. Race for playoff spot be damned, Steve has canvassed the entire I-75 League and drawn up his assessment of which 10 players each team will be protecting. If you too have lost interest in this season, as seemingly about seven teams have, and would like to pen your own [...]

New No. 1 in latest Mock Draft

It’s time for another end-of-the-month installment of the 2012 Mock Draft. This time you’ll note a few adjustments, based on the new expansion format adopted since the last mock draft, starting with the fact that there are now a whopping 19 selections in the first round. But, expansion teams can no longer select uncarded players. [...]

Revised offseason expansion plan

With Detroit Demolition Dogs manager Ken Kuzdak making the decision not to return to the league for the 2012 season, the league has made modifications to the overall offseason expansion plan to account for the dispersal of Demo Dogs talent. The league will still expand to 15 teams, but now will bring in four new [...]

Hickory gets jump on trade-a-thon as deadline looms

The Hickory Nuts weren’t about to let the Bushwood Gophers and Superior Titans slug it out for the Northern Division title. With pre-emptive strikes in the marketplace, the Nuts are fortified for the 60-game sprint to the postseason and beyond. Meanwhile, managers who haven’t had any success in private channels can join the annual public trade-a-thon [...]

League ratifies expansion to 15 teams for 2012

By an 11-1 margin, league managers have ratified a proposal to expand the league from 12 to 15 teams at the conclusion of the 2011 season. This will mark just the second expansion in the league’s history and will come after the completion of its 32 year. The league began in 1980 with nine teams, [...]