Another Saturday night drinking with the scout at the Barleymoe

            Tonight Elijah Craig is joined by Hiram Walker, Captain Morgan, and Jack Daniels.

Elijah:  Captain were you surprised to get your invitation to join us tonight?

Captain: Yes, you have made horrible accusations about me, in the past, taking owners hostage and using them to extort ransom from Mr. Stickball that he never pays.

Elijah: Well Seventy_77 and billhowell75 have been returned to us, so you are once again welcome at the Barleymoe.

Captain: I want you to know that not a single dollar was exchanged between me and Mr. Stickball.

Jack: I can verify that Elijah. Feamster, of the Jersey League, paid Bill's ransom and bruinsfan911 , of the Plumpy Rules! league , paid the ransom on Seventy.

Captain: I thought bruinsfan911 was an emissary from Mr. Stickball. I thought I had finally got some of his money.

Hiram: After all this time you should know Mr. Stickball is too cheap to pay you ransom.

Elijah: Regardless of who paid what, we are delighted that Seventy_77 and billhowell75 are back in the league. Now let's get down to business fellas. I want to talk about the players who were drafted or signed as internationals last year.

Hiram: Well when I started looking at these youngsters, I was flabbergasted that pimpbotlove used Wilin Uribe in the majors last season.

Jack: Well he paid him a bonus in excess of 19 million dollars. You don't win 8 World Series in this league unless you're bold.

Captain : And bold he was. Uribe made 5 starts at Hi-A and then was promoted to the majors; starting 24 games for Vegas in the regular season.

Jack: I could be mistaken but I think Vegas had three starters on the sixty day disabled list last season. When you get that thin on the mound you got to go with what you have.

Elijah:  Are there any other of the newly signed players that you like?

Captain: Javier Seanez was the only international to get more than a 20 million dollar bonus last year.

Elijah: Only one? Are the owners suddenly getting frugal or was this a bad year for internationals?

Hiram :  Eleven guys got bonuses in excess of 5 million dollars; I wouldn't call that frugal.

Elijah: Of the eleven,  are there any  that you think are definite Hall-of-Famers?

Hiram: I wouldn't go that far this early in their careers but the guy I like most is Wichita's first baseman Cesar Ortiz. He had an OPS over 1.0 at Low-A last year. He kills right handed pitching and has power.

Elijah: Jack of the players drafted, do you see any Hall-of-Famers?

Jack: Yea, I like three of them a LOT. Eight of the first twelve picks were pitchers. The first pick Jerrod Diaz will be a starting pitcher that I think will make the Hall. The fourth pick Rip Nunnari, a right fielder will also make the Hall in my opinion. But the guy I like the best is guy dudemac took with the ninth pick. Norm King is going to save a lot of games in his career. He pitched at three levels last year, had a little trouble in Hi-A but I think he will break Geoff Reuschel's record for most career saves.

Captain: That's a little bold isn't Jack?

Jack: Well I don't think anyone is going to remember what I said fourteen seasons from now.

Elijah: Let's have one more round fellas. Hiram call the uber.