September 1, 2010
Another manager change 
DAYTON, OH. - It is with much regret that I announce that Marc Hollingsworth is stepping down as manager of the Rip City Highlanders. He leaves in good standing and I would like to thank him for his many years as an SPB-Now founding manager. 

With that being said, I am proud to announce that SPB-Now Commissioner-emeritus Rick Ryan has agreed to take over the Highlander franchise. It is great to have him back in SPB-Now! Rick has renamed his team to the Miami Redhawks. I am sure Rick will make more than a few trades to get the team back on track. 

August 28, 2010
Manager Openings filled 
DAYTON, OH. - I am proud to announce the two openings for SPB-Now have been filled. Taking over the Ozark Fiddlers franchise is Dean Toso, brother of Brian Toso. His new team name is the Asgard Aesir. He will have to tell us how it is pronounced! He can be reached at tosodj@gomoorhead.com. The second opening for the Hilbillies franchise will be taken over by Peter Reoch, who will rename his team the Bluff Park Rowdies. His email is npeter7040@yahoo.com. Welcome to both new managers! 

August 28, 2010
Rule changes abound  
DAYTON, OH. - The following rule changes have been brought forth and voted upon by the rules committee: 

1) Player losses due to overusage has been eliminated. Player losses has also been grandfathered for this year, so that nobody loses a player to overusage. You will now only lose players to underusage. 

2) The Playing time limits meter will be set at 115% for all players for use in the PTL module for player performance. This includes Plate Appearances and playing splits for batters, and IP, BF, and GS for pitchers. All of these thresholds is what DMB 10 uses. 

Players will no longer have an advantage to overusing a player beyond 115% since DMB will baseline that player to a “replacement level” performance after reaching 115%. In the past overusing a player would result in continued good performance beyond their 115% limit. This will automatically take care of that, thus the elimination of the rule #1, since there is no advantage now for overusing a player past 115%.

3) Eliminate all bonus player rules for all players. All players can be used as much as the game will allow….but their performance will go to “performance level” player conditions after 115% There is no use in doubling a bad pitcher when he will be pitching bad after his allotted real-life limits anyways. This also eliminates a lot of admin time for me sifting through overused players for deletion from rosters. There will be NO player limits on usage, since the game will automatically lower their performance at 115%. 

If a scrub player was to be used for a good player once that good player reached his playing limit, the same result will occur by just leaving that good player in there and letting the game use replacement level stats for any play over 115%. ALL UNDERUSAGE rules will remain intact. You still must use everyone 50% or lose them. This will still force managers to use their bench players. 

August 28, 2010
Playoff pairings set  
DAYTON, OH. - The playoff matchups are now set, and the playoff page is now posted.  Here are the pairings: 

Falduto League Divisional Series:
Bowling Green Buskers (Chris Williams) vs. Canton Moondogs (Tom Kackley)
Dodge City Marshalls (Craig Korol) vs. Richmond Rebels (Greg Henning)

Schilling League Divisional Series:
Virginia Terriers (Ron Peterson) vs. Worcester Grays (Hugh McElaney)
Carolina Sandlappers (Don Swearingen) vs. Niskayuna Warriors (Don Rahn)

Good Luck to all. We will have a new champion this year!

July 21, 2010
September games completed  
DAYTON, OH. - The stats and power rankings for September 2009 season is now posted.  I will within the next week have all of the end of season playoff matchups, the database, overusage/underusage losses, and the draft order. The player losses below are not complete, as I will need to complete the list with the September losses.  More to be posted as it comes.   

Players lost so far to date:
Alfredo Amezega-Tigers
Cameron Maybin-Zeppelins
Guillermo Moscoso-Rockets
Ramon Ramirez-Rockets
Jeff Gray-Tigers
Nelson Figueroa-Highlanders
Nick Green-Hillbillies
Lou Marson-Rambler
John McDonald-Zeppelins
Adam Eaton-Blue Crabs

January 24, 2010
All drafts complete  
DAYTON, OH. - The drafts are complete and the free agent draft results are now posted, along with current rosters.  Listed below are the players that were cut during the FA period:

Barking Seals: Carlos Silva
Rambler: Tony F. Pena, Mike Lincoln
T-Bones: Emil Brown, Brian Wolfe
Buskers: Rich Rundles, Jesus Colome, Alan Embree, Zach Jackson
Rockets: Chad Reineke, Sidney Ponson, Billy Sadler, Chris Denorfia
Warriors: Robinson Cancel
Moondogs: Doug Slaten

Free agents are now available on a first-come, first-served basis until the April disk goes out.  

January 22, 2010
Ballpark change   
DAYTON, OH. - The Colgate Creek Blue Crabs have vacated Coors Field and have moved into pitcher-friendly PETCO Park.  Coors Field and Tropicana Field are available.   

January 2, 2010
Extra players added to rookie draft pool    
DAYTON, OH. - Two teams have decided to cut ties with carded players, thus adding them to the rookie draft pool.  Most, if not all of them are FA quality players who probably wont get drafted in the first 8 rounds.  The players are: Doug Mientkiewicz, Branson Backe, Freddy Dolsi, Enrique Gonzalez, Luis Mendoza, Jose Ascanio, Bryan Bullington, Eulogio de la Cruz, Chris Duffy, Greg Golson, Logan Kensing, Tony Pena (ss), Jason Schmidt

December 19, 2009
2009 Phase 2 Protected player numbers    
DAYTON, OH. - Below are the numbers that each team will be allowed to keep for the Phase 2 draft:

18 Players
Canton Moondogs
Niskayuna Warriors
Dayton Dynamo
Dodge City Marshalls
Rip City Highlanders
Richmond Rebels

19 Players
Jotenheim Storm Giants
Carolina Sandlappers
Ozark Fiddlers
Thunder Bay Damage
Needham Rockets
Bowling Green Buskers
Manhattan Titans
Worcester Grays
Oakwood Owls
Scio Farmers
Virginia Terriers
Waldo Peppers
Kansas City T-Bones
Midnight Rambler
Bay Area Barking Seals
Frankfort Frogs


20 Players
Simi Hillbillies
Houston Oil Barons
Colgate Creek Blue Crabs
Jersey Jukes
Leeds Zeppelins
Michigan Tigers
 

December 19, 2009
2009 Player disk now created    
DAYTON, OH. - After many hours of tweaking, the player disk is complete.  In the links above you will find updated links for team rosters, 09 eligible rookies, ballpark ratings, and uncarded players that you will need to pare down to three for the upcoming season.  Not included in the links are the 2009 position removals, which lists those players who had >=400 at bats and <= 10 games played at a position.  If they had <10g played at an OF position and they had more than 10g at another OF position, I did not remove the lesser rating since you are allowed to use OFers at any OF position.  Hideki Matsui did not have any rating as he was a full-time DH. Per the constitution he was given last years' OF ratings and also a Pr100 rating at 1b.  David Ortiz and Pat Burrell's ratings were not deleted or changed because they were primarily DH's during the season.  Ballpark names were also updated on the disk, the managers listing and on the manager's bio pages.  Everyone must purchase the season disk in order to play in 2010.  Addendum:  Travis Hafner will also be rated Pr100 at 1B.  

December 15, 2009
New manager on board    
DAYTON, OH. - It is my pleasure to announce that Rob Capizzano will be taking over the reigns of the Lafayette River Pilots franchise.  He's renaming the team to the Thunder Bay Damage, and will remain in Ameriquest Field.  Rob will be moving to the Schilling-NY Metro division by virtue of his location, and Tom Kackley will be moving once again to the Falduto-Wabash Division alongside his fellow Buckeyes and Hoosiers!  Welcome aboard Rob!  

November 29, 2009
Teams swap divisions    
DAYTON, OH. - With some new managers taking over since the current divisional geographic setup, I am making a small tweak with the approval of the two managers involved. Tom Kackley’s Canton Moondogs will be moving to the Schilling-Great Lakes/NE division, and Greg Henning’s Richmond Rebels will be moving into the Falduto-Frontier Division. Thank you both for accommodating this move 

November 15, 2009
Stadium change    
DAYTON, OH. - The Kansas City T-Bones have taken up stakes from PETCO Park for the pitcher-friendly Comerica Park.  PETCO and Tropicana Field are the two available stadii.  

October 12, 2009
Team name change    
DAYTON, OH. - Jim Wheeler has decided to change the name of his Pocono Pumas to the Manhattan Titans.  He also has some trade bait posted on the site as well.  

October 4, 2009
2008 Player Losses    
DAYTON, OH. - Now that the season is over, the database has been updated to reflect rosters based on the player losses from this past season.  The rosters are still from the 08 season disk.  The 09 season disk will be out in December.  

September 27, 2009
Dayton Dynamo capture 2008 crown!
DAYTON, OH. - The Dayton Dynamo outlasted the pesky Richmond Rebels in 6 games to capture their first SPB-Now championship.  Mike Napoli was named series MVP, as he smacked 3 homers and 12RBI, including a grand slam in the clinching game.  Congratulations to Greg Henning for a great battle. This officially ends the 2008 season.  The trading lamp is now lit.

August 21, 2009
Regular season complete...playoff pairings set
DAYTON, OH. - Congratulations to the following playoff teams. The pairings will be as follows:

Falduto League:
Canton Moondogs, Tom Kackley (107-55, Frontier division winner) vs. Rip City Highlanders, Marc Hollingsworth (97-65, Wild Card winner). Moondogs will have home field advantage
Dodge City Marshalls, Craig Korol (97-65, Plains Division winner) vs. Dayton Dynamo, John Turnbull (97-65 Wabash Division winner). Marshalls will have HFA due to better head to head record.

Schilling League:
Niskayuna Warriors, Don Rahn (106-56, NY Metro division winner) vs. Carolina Sandlappers, Don Swearingen (92-70, Wild card winner). Warriors will have HFA
Richmond Rebels, Greg Henning (96-66, GrtLks-NE Division winner) vs. Jottenheim Storm Giants, Brian Toso (95-67, Mid-Atlantic division winner). Rebels will have HFA due to better overall record.

July 22, 2009
August stats posted
DAYTON, OH. - The stats and power rankings for August have been posted.  A few divisions are still up for grabs.  Please remember to watch your usage as we enter the final month.  Rosters for September can now be expanded to 40 players.   

May 22, 2009
Player overusage losses
DAYTON, OH. - As we get closer to the end of the season, a few clubs have overused players.  These players have been released from their clubs and are ineligible to be picked up as free agents.  They will enter the rookie draft pool for next season.  **Updated 22 July**

Jared Burton-Owls
Jorge Posada-Storm Giants
Danny Richar-Frogs
Scott Elarton-Tigers
Raul Chavez-Blue Crabs
Marcus Thames- Dan Giese-Storm Giants