Braves Select Duncan to Kick-Off the SWD

The SWD is under way and Miwaukee Braves owner Dave Scott nabbed slugging outfielder Chris Duncan to start the draft. Other selections to-date:

2. Chatham Ironment - Cla Meredith, P
3. FM Twins - Scott Spiezio, 3b
4. Indianapolis Clowns - Luke Scott, of
5. FM Twins - Greg Norton, of-1b
6. Purgatory Creek Superbas - Eliezer Alfonso, c

A surprise to see Luke Scott fall to number four and to see Alfonso taken early at number six but the Superbas are in need of a catcher.

Braves Select Duncan to Kick-Off the Spring Waiver Draft

The Spring Waiver Draft is under way and Milwaukee Braves owner Dave Scott tabbed slugging outfielder Chris Duncan with the first overall pick. Other picks to-date:

2. Chatham - Cla Meredith, P
3. Fargo-Moorhead - Scott Spiezo, 3b
4. Indianapolis - Luke Scott, of
5. Fargo-Moorhead - Greg Norton, of-1b
6. Purgatory Creek - Eliezer Alfonso, c

The first surprise was Luke Scott falling to number 4 in the draft. Indianapolis owner John Skillings was happy to nab Scott. The next surprise might be the selection of Alfonso in the sixth slot by the Superbas but they were in need of a catcher.

Rampage acquire Jordan Walden

The Red Deer Rampage have acquired pitching prospect Jordan Walden from the Bangor Blue Ox for a 2007 1st round SWD selection and a 2007 2nd round MD selection. Walden was a top pitching prospect in the 2007 draft who fell to the Angels when he has a poor senior season and then signability issues were raised as many thought he would head to Texas. Instead he attended Grayson County JC and extended his signing rights to end of May.

This trade makes sense for both team. Rampage are working on building through youth and Walden does have a very high ceiling. Blue Ox are looking to fill in some of their holes with role playing major leaguers which they should be able to accomplish through the SWD.

SWD Reminders

A reminder that only teams that have less than 30 players on their Major League roster may participate in the SWD. A team cannot select players beyond the 30 player limit during the SWD.

Teams may release players in advance of the SWD to allow for particpation in the draft. No releasing of players will be allowed after March 6 to allow for a static pool of players for the SWD.

Blue Ox start process of accumulating draft picks

The Bangor Blue Ox started the process of accumulating selections in the MDBL SWD draft as they purchased the Batavia Muckdogs 2nd round selection for $10K.

SWD Draft moving to bulletin board

Last year was the first year of running the SWD as more of a "real-time" draft and not relying on lists. It went very well but there were issues with using the YahooGroups mailing list to run the draft. Those issues have led us to use a bulletin board site to run the draft this year. The downside of that decision is that it adds yet another website for the league but we think it will smooth out the rough spots and be worth the troubles of having everyone register on the MDBL bulletin board. Please register for our league bulletin at http://mdbl.jconserv.net/index.php.

Sun Devils conclude exit strategy from Spring Waiver Draft

Earlier today the Somerset Sun Devils announced they have traded their first and second round selections in the MDBL SWD draft to the Portland Sea Dogs. "We had no roster spots for the players we could have acquired with those picks so we decided to gain some currency.", stated GM Alan Kaplan. The Sun Devils received $60K as compensation.