Per my approval, the only one who responded in recent days to the San Diego opening, Greg Lake (glake) has accepted the offer to be GM of the Padres.  He promises to bring some changes and make some key moves in the coming weeks.

Jake has informed me of his busy work + personal life and how this affects Franchise GM.  Needless to say, I am taking the reigns over as interim commissioner.  Hopefully, someone can step up to be the new commish as I have many other duties to take care of across MLFB.  PM or post here if interested.

Barden, Thompson, and Stavinoha for the 5-25

PIRATES TRADE
5-25 PIT (from LAA)

CARDINALS TRADE
CI Barden, Brian, $0.5m (P-2012)
OF Stavinoha, Nick, $0.5m (P-2012)
P Thompson, Brad, $0.5m (2010)

While Thompson's status could be seen as a liability, this trade was mostly done to bring in Stavinoha in an effort to add more to the top of the farm.  Plus, the Pirates may need to clear some picks so the EDR isn't overloaded.  Paul, Cardinals GM, is to approve this deal.

After over five months of negotiations, the RC has concluded not just a scoring system for Franchise GM, but a standardized system to be permanent in MLFB for leagues that wish to use it.  In the Scoring Categories thread, plenty of work was done by M.J. (mjmezetti), Ben (Brewers GM), and I among Chad (clidwin) and Jake (Jake) as well as other non-RC members. 

The H2H points idea was originally M.J.'s, and the big downside of it originally was that Fantrax didn't support H2H with uneven divisions (NL Central has 6 vs. AL West with 4), but that appears to be a dead issue.

We found a way to value player's contributions to run creation and run prevention in a Bill James manner that correlates to the game as much as possible.  James' research concluded that 47% / 17% / 36% of wins comes from hitting / fielding / pitching, respectively.  You will see these ratios in the breakdown of the stats in ranges of players.

The batting stats were largely based on the old metric Runs Created, but it was tweaked to reflect more consistent hitters who have higher AVG / OBP.  The weights for batting are:

At-Bat, AB: -10
Hit, H: 10
Single, 1B: 24
Double, 2B: 36
Triple, 3B: 48
Homerun, HR: 60
Walk, BB: 20.4
Grounded-into-Double Play, GIDP: -18
Hit-by-pitch, HBP: 20.4
Sacrifice Fly, SF: 6
Sacrifice Hit, SH: 6
Stolen Base, SB: 6
Caught Stealing, CS: -12

Fielding was the toughest one to mimic as players may be open to multiple positions.  In the end, we kept eligibility at 20 games played in this season and last season for any one position.  Defensive weights had to be different per position though.

Catchers
Error, E: -32
Games Played, GP: 4.8

Corner Infielders
Assist, A: 4.48
E: -32
Putout, PO: 0.48

Middle Infielders
A: 1.28
E: -32
PO: 2.4

Outfielders
A: 6.4
E: -32
GP: 4.8

There are no defensive points awarded to players in the Utility position or for pitchers.  Pitching stats are much more simple and rely on four metrics: Ground Balls, Walks, Home Runs Allowed, and Strikeouts.  The stats are designed so there is no bias given to control nor power pitchers.

Ground Balls Allowed, GB: 3
Home Runs Allowed, HR: -15
Walks Issued, BB: -5
Strikeouts, K: 9

This system is effective immediately and affects the positional rankings for 2008 and 2009.  Contract extensions are now available and will start to be processed starting tomorrow. 

Yea, I'm really sorry. I'm a senoir in high school, and I've been busy with applaying to colleges, schoolwork, and having a job. I can barely use my computer, and really have no time. i might have to resign my position as GM of the Marlins. It was fun though, thanks for giving me the oppurtunity to be part of your first season. Good luck going on forward.

This means that there are three openings that will be filled and announced later today.