Summer begins July 16. Balance of $3000 fees needs to be paid by then, or game will be a forfeit. After 2 forfeits, available players not of your choice will be assigned to your team to make up any fee deficit. ALL PLAYERS MUST HAVE PAID the $35 registration fee. If you bring someone new to a game either have them bring the $35 or you bring it. If they play and the registration is not paid by the end of the game, it will also be recorded as a forfeit loss. INFO BELOW WAS POSTED PRIOR TO MANAGER MEETING 5/8/11 Summer manager meeting was held sunday May 8th at 10am (mothers day). Issues were COST of summer play, schedule, deadline for signups, and whether the Bulls will be entering. BACKGROUND: Costs - 2006 began with $1200 worth of baseballs, we ran a surplus of $477 and carried over $1677. 2007 ended with loss of $1590 carrying over $87 plus received grants/donations of $5182 balance forward $5296 2008 ended with surplus of $840 plus carryover plus another $3370 donations total carryover $9479 2009 ended with $1810 loss carryover $7712 2010 ended with $3295 loss carryover $4510 For 2011 the City has increased field rate per hour, light cost per hour, and says they MAY do away with the "free" field prep we get on each play date (1 only) and instead charge us the $37 fee they charge for "extra" preps for ALL preps. This would increase our season costs about $2000.00. Also, we are now paying $10 more per game for umpires (another $800+ in costs), balls will 'possibly' increase, and possible Cuesta increases are unknown. We purchased the Rattlers tractor for $300 to possibly minimize city billing, have dropped the outside scheduler for umpires ($400-500 cost), etc. Since we still have a surplus, 2011 should still be able to be played at the rate we have used for several years ($10 per game per player), but this may well be the last year that can be done. SCHEDULE: The Rattlers folded, but the Blues purchased the rights and claimed all the field priority that the Rattlers had by contract. Also, Babe Ruth extended their summer season and claimed several of the June saturdays we usually played, then also requested a July weekend for "All-Stars" plus booked 13yr old and 15yr old regional tournaments in July (1 week each), and we are nearly shut out for summer. Nobody liked the early (May) start last year with a month or more gap between games, so I took every available space from our "normal" start of the 3rd week of June. However since Babe Ruth claimed saturdays, we only get 2 games each sunday in late June, then have to play July 3rd and 4th (holiday), sneak in a couple games around the Triathlon, and get to play the final weekend of July (4 games). Booking 8 games per week thru August and September (INCLUDING playing Labor Day weekend instead of the "Woody") we can get 17 games per team accomplished, handling ONLY 8 teams. We will then have to book THREE weekends at Cuesta to get a 3-game tournament per team to reach 20 games. (Cuesta is also more costly since we have to 'rent' the parking lot to avoid people being ticketed). VOTED TO SKIP LABOR DAY AND PLAY THREE WEEKS AT CUESTA. The 20 games per team will be $200 per player - 15 players paid required, or $3000 per team. This does NOT include the $35 registration fee per player. SIGNUPS: I will be gone (out of country) from May 24 thru June 16. I will be at the Stadium all day sunday May 22 for spring playoffs. DEADLINE TO GET MONEY IN IS SUNDAY EVENING. On monday May 23 I will tally the players who are paid per team, and the 8 teams that have the most signed players will be in the summer league. We had 8 teams last year, but I have been approached by a couple of other people about starting teams, and I told them it will require they get players signed up and paid to make the 8-team cutoff. "Paid" players is the $200 fee. The $35 registration can also be paid (many players will already be registered from spring or open play). Lack of the $35 being paid by the deadline will not affect the player count per team. Checks WILL be cashed May 23 as the City requires prepayment of approximately $10k to lock in the field schedule. BULLS: At the last managers meeting it was decided that the disparity between the talent on the Bulls vs all other teams was too great and that some method had to be found to let other teams have a chance at winning the league. It was decided to either drop the Bulls entirely or to let them play but not in playoffs (since they cannot meet everyone in playoffs the teams that meet them are still at a disadvantage). I presented the decision to the manager, and he felt that if they played fewer games, they should play at a discount. There is also considerable argument that if they can find 'strong' players, so can others, but in fact that is NOT happening. I suggested they break up into TWO teams and find more 'strong' players so there is at least SOMEBODY that can 'beat' them. I have no idea what the Bulls plan to do. I have been asked if we can reconsider the managers decision, and have a suggestion we can vote on. IF the Blues stay as 1 team and wish to enter, we can go to two 4-team playoff pools - pos 1-2-3-4 and pos 5-6-7-8. This gives the 'better' teams strong competition and the weaker ones comparable opponents instead of the normal pools where top seed faces weakest opponents. The top 2 from each pool would advance to a semi-final and championship, except the Bulls would not advance so someone else would win the league. All teams including the Bulls would play 20 games, with half getting a 21st game and 2 getting the extra championship game. All teams would pay the same $3000 entry fee. The 2 finals teams will be able to combine after the championship game and play a 'challenge' game with the Bulls. THE ABOVE PROCEDURE WAS ADOPTED ON A 5-4 VOTE. Future years would depend on whether the Bulls continue to be a team that is not competing on the level of the rest of the league. In larger leagues or in tournaments this is not an issue as teams are generally split into talent divisions, but we are far too small to have that luxury. Comments are welcome. If made to me by email, I will forward them on to all the managers.