CRL NEWS

January 25, 2026

“Rip the jersey off me.”

n Andrew McCutchen on his desire to play another year.

Getting this out a little earlier than usual this year (my usual MO is to put it out around the Super Bowl), but I didn’t get out a season-ending newsletter due to work, hernia surgery and life.

Normally, by now, we have already done the linked-player cleanup and the EOY league accounting. Still have all that to do. Plus, the draft is a week earlier this year.

Before I get to all that stuff, however, congratulations again to Scott and Trevor for an outstanding season!

I’m sure Scott thinks it’s about time. The last time he finished first was 1997 (his fourth championship) and the last time he finished in the money was a third-place finish in 2005 (Trevor was probably a teenager).

I have already reported on the passing of former CRL owner Doug Cugini. Doug came into the league in 1995, taking over founding Team 7 (the Sex Wax of departing owner Dave Rosellen) and renaming his charges the Spicewood Spauldings, since he lived in an unincorporated area west of Austin called Spicewood. During the late 90s, when I’d walk into his bar, the CRL was the main topic of discussion between the two of us. We had several side bets on occasions when our pitchers faced each other or, while watching a game in the bar, his hitter came up facing my pitcher (or vice versa). His teams showed early success, placing third twice in his first five years. Then he had a bit of a drought until he broke through with a championship in 2005. He retired from the CRL after the 2009 season and Team 7 was awarded to then-new owners Ron Budd and Ron Merkt.

Enough history, back to this year.

Dates:

Feb 20 – Linked player cleanup (list at end of this newsletter).

Feb 20 (not a typo) – Start of Spring Training.

Mar 1 – Money Due (CRL EOY accounting below). You must have an opening balance of $300. If you don’t have it, send a check to Glenn. His address is:

Glenn Cekala

614 Mangrove Thicket Blvd

Ponte Vedra, FL 32081

Mar 20 – Roster Freeze Day.

Mar 26 – Opening Day.

Mar 27 – Draft – Back in Studio 1, our old room by the pool.

Other news and notes:

Scratch draft 2028 – you’ve got 1 year on your contracts (due on Roster Freeze Day) – go ahead and put Skenes down for $5 on Team 9.

Rule clarifications and possible changes (changes up for debate).

Clarification:

Last year, Sept 1 (roster expansion day) was a Monday. Hutch (who had read the constitution) astutely observed that it stated, “For the 24 hours of September first, roster expansions take precedence over all other transactions.” Since I had to work the next day, my initial reaction was, “Shit.” (BTW, he did not actually invoke his right to do so, but the thought scared the crap out of me.)

I am amending the rule by executive fiat – the “24 hours of September 1” will not apply when that date falls on a Monday. In those years, it will end at 10 pm central. It usually takes me until midnight to get all the moves in anyway, so that’s not a big deal – but that’s based on a 10pm cut off. If I have to redo everything starting at midnight because somebody checked in at 11:59 with a roster expansion pick that impacted other teams, I’m up until 2 – and I’m not doing that.

Proposed rule changes:

Ken has suggested a change to one of the scoring categories (effective in 2028 with the scratch draft – so we have some time to discuss it). He would like to replace Wins with Wins + Quality Starts + Complete Games. His reasoning – it would return the value to starters who can last until the seventh inning instead of the crap shoot of which reliever gets the vulture win by pitching one inning (the fifth or later) when the victorious team takes the lead for good. Put me down as a solid “yea.”

I also have a proposal (it can wait until the scratch draft, but I’d like to see it sooner – will explain below).

The constitution prohibits waiving any players with a long-term contract. While I will agree that this is a good rule, there is a circumstance where I think an exception should be granted. Here is the issue that made me think about it:

Austin Riley. Thought I got a good deal from Steve and Bill. But then Riley went on the DL a week later. No problem, I’ll just pick up somebody that’s hot right now for him. Then Riley has season-ending surgery and the flash-in-the pan I picked up for him has turned into a stiff. What I want to do is waive the replacement (meaning waiving Riley, since they are tied together) and grab someone else off waivers. But I can’t, because they were tied together and Riley is on a contract. The constitution states you cannot waive a contracted player during the season, only in the off-season (with a penalty attached). Here is the kicker, it is the last year of the contract – Riley is an L1 – basically the same as an O.

BTW, in 2027, there will undoubtedly be several L1s on rosters because of the 2028 scratch. So this could impact several teams. I’m thinking an L1 player could be treated the same as an O (option year) player – but only on one condition – the L1 player must be out for the season or traded to the AL. (Otherwise, you could dump a contracted player in his final year if he is having a bad season but is coming back and the spirit of the rule says you cannot do that – you must honor the contract.)

I have a couple of ideas on what we could do. I’m going to run them out there for debate. We could do either (not both) or do nothing.

NOTE: None of the options below exist unless the original contracted player is out for the year.

Option 1 – A team may waive both players (the player in the last year of an LTC and his replacement). This could happen with a regular waiver-wire replacement or (in the case of the replacement going down) a free-agent pickup. In either case, it would cost the team the normal contract buy-out (twice the remaining value of the contract) plus the normal transaction fee for the weekly move. NOTE – this rule change could only be invoked in the case of a player with an L1 contract. In all other cases, LTC stipulations still apply.

Option 2 – A team may waive the replacement player through a regular waiver transaction and tie the new replacement to the original L1 player by paying a $5 “irregular link fee” into the prize pool in addition to other fees resulting from the transaction.

Either option would have the same effect – adding money to the prize pool.

I have a sticky note about another proposed change, but I can’t figure out when it happened, what it entailed, or who it involved. I know it involved a 3-player stack – specifically, waiving the middle guy without waiving the original player and paying an extra fee into the pool. (I’m thinking it involved Ken – Welder. remind me of the situation). If I get the particulars of my cryptic note to myself, I’ll throw it out there in our next communication.

Now to the above-mentioned addenda:

CRL EOY accounting:

Expense Categories	Amount	Payouts	Team	Owners	Pct	Payout
Total 1st Half Free Agent	$ 1,250.00	1st	4	Scott & Trevor	50%	$ 3,062.50
Total 2nd Half Free Agent	$ 1,360.00	2nd	8	Weve	25%	$ 1,531.25
Total Act from Farm	$ 75.00	3rd	9	Jim P.	15%	$ 918.75
Total Act from Res	$ 570.00	4th	1	Ken & Andrew	10%	$ 612.50
Total Draft	$ 1,425.50	TOTAL				$ 6,125.00
Total Irregular link fee	$ 10.00
Total Keep on Farm	$ 50.00
Total Reserve	$ 880.00
Total Sept. Roster Expansion	$ 125.00
Total Signing Bonus	$ 29.50
Total Trade	$ 80.00
Total 2nd Half Trade	$ 40.00
Total waiver	$ 230.00
Grand Total	$ 6,125.00
Balances		Money Left	New Pmts	Off season acct totals
League Expenses	$ 101.31			$ 101.31
Team1	$ -	$ 612.50	$ 275.00	$ 887.50
Team 2	$ 75.00			$ 75.00
Team 3	$ 86.00			$ 86.00
Team 4	$ -	$ 500.00		$ 500.00
Team 5	$ 12.50			$ 12.50
Team 6	$ 65.00			$ 65.00
Team 7	$ 235.00			$ 235.00
Team 8	$ 269.50	$ 531.25		$ 800.75
Team 9	$ 33.00	$ 518.75		$ 551.75
Team 10	$ 490.00			$ 490.00
Team 11	$ -		$ 400.00	$ 400.00
Total	$ 1,367.31	$ 2,162.50	$ 675.00	$ 4,204.81
Total in Account*	$ 7,492.31
*before payouts

Linked players – keep 1 (clean up by 2/20) – player listed first is active.

(BTW, looking at the list below, Weve deserves kudos for second with this many buys on the DL.)

Team 1

Walker Buehler/Ben Brown/Logan Henderson

Team 2

Nolan McLean/Ryan Bergert

Team 3

Tim Tawa/Zac Veen

Andre Granillo/Tony Gonsolin/AJ Minter

Cade Cavelli/Steven Matz

Team 4

Michael Conforto/Keibert Ruiz

Mike Burrows/Zack Wheeler

Team 5

Dylan Lee/Tylor Megill

Anthony Banda/Raynaldo Lopez

Ryne Stanek/Joe Musgrove

Team 6

None

Team 7

Blaze Alexander/Pavin Smith

Kyle Freeland/Kodai Senga

Team 8

Will Castro/Trea Turner

Will Banson/Jake Fraley

Otto Kemp/Dane Myers/Kyle Stowers/Jesse Winker

Patrick Bailey/Will Smith

Jack Dryer/Stephen Kolek

Andrew Saalfrank/Kyle Nelson

Kyle Leahy/Jared Jones

Andrew Kittredge/Edward Cabrera

Team 9

Zack Littell/Merrill Kelly

Johan Oviedo/Trevor Megill

Tanner Banks/Evan Phillips

Ha-Seong Kim/Alex Freeland

Team 10

Michael McGreevy/Kendall Graveman/Seth Halvorsen

Joey Wentz/Chris Flexen/Spencer Schwellenbach

Team 11

Jose Iglesias/Xander Bogaerts

Graham Pauley/Eugenio Suarez

Victor Vodnik/Anthony DeSclafani/David Bednar

Jim