Link to baseball manager online- a fine way to get a baseball fix during the off-season.

The trade market is a fickle mistress in BMO. RPs have been picked clean from the cpu teams, so much so that if you ask for one, they usually want 'an established reliever' in return.

My stable of pitchers drafted out of high school continue to drive me nuts, as they all stay down in A ball and refuse to develop. I have 6 of them down there. Three are in their third season in A ball, one is in his fourth season in the league. Only one of them is a true rookie. Because of their stagnation the IX will probably lose money this season since we have about $6M in salary dedicated to middling relievers that I had hoped would be these young guys pitching for the minimum. Couple that with a few previous poor contract decisions and my guys are set for the next two seasons for better or for worse, with no margin for error or room for improvement. Another injury like my 3B going down for the year and the central belongs to rhubarb. His White Stockings have improved dramatically. Houston could contend as well, and I don't want to count out Pittsburgh either, I'm not sure why they aren't scoring any runs. Paper tigers I guess.

The east is the same as it ever was. The ringer in Washington continues to dominate all of us SSS'ers with his vast knowledge of every trick in the book. I hate that guy. World Champ gar ridge has his Braves in their customary second place, and the bailed out Marlins and their bloated contracts hang tough as well. Robo-philly wilts while the Mets rebuild.

Out west Arizona is off to their traditional hot start while the Dodgers sit back and count all their paper. I'm still waiting for the day candiru outbids everyone for everyone for a couple seasons of 200M payrolls spending his cache of cash and winning 130 games going away.

NL East	Won	Lost	Pct.	GB	OPS	ERA	RS/G	RA/G
Washington	12	3	.800	--	.797	2.69	5.5	2.8
Atlanta	10	5	.667	2.0	.851	2.89	5.8	3.3
Florida	10	5	.667	2.0	.714	4.14	4.4	4.4
Philadelphia	4	11	.267	8.0	.655	6.07	3.7	6.2
New York	2	13	.133	10.0	.594	4.89	2.8	5.5
NL Central	Won	Lost	Pct.	GB	OPS	ERA	RS / G	RA / G
ST. LOUIS	10	4	.714	--	.773	2.36	5.0	2.7
Chicago	10	5	.667	0.5	.777	3.68	4.9	3.8
Houston	8	6	.571	2.0	.786	3.39	4.1	3.3
Milwaukee	8	7	.533	2.5	.763	3.92	5.1	4.1
Pittsburgh	6	8	.429	4.0	.696	3.44	3.7	3.3
Cincinnati	2	11	.154	7.5	.635	7.38	2.5	7.1
NL West	Won	Lost	Pct.	GB	OPS	ERA	RS / G	RA / G
Arizona	11	3	.786	--	.857	2.50	6.3	2.5
Los Angeles	8	7	.533	3.5	.741	4.03	3.7	4.4
San Francisco	6	9	.400	5.5	.716	6.15	4.8	6.5
San Diego	5	9	.357	6.0	.752	3.65	4.4	3.7
Colorado	4	10	.286	7.0	.601	6.24	3.3	6.7
League Average	7	7	.500	--	.734	4.19	4.4	4.4
			Bold = Clinched Playoffs			Italics = Eliminated