Is it just me or is it wrong that Independent teams can bring in strong players from teams in other leagues who are out of the playoffs to reinforce their own postseason rosters?
This practice is not new although it seems to this corner the practice is increasing.
Sure, an Independent team should be able to fill out a roster depleted by injuries or a player who has to go back to school before the playoffs. It would not be fair for a team to have to play shorthanded, and Independent teams do not have farm systems.
But it seems some ruling needs to be considered so that a star pitcher or hitter is not added to roster merely because his team isn't going to be in the playoffs. Some organizations would take a financial hit to enter into this "bulking up" process. Besides, where is the fairness for a team good enough to make the postseason with its regular season roster to reach to the outside for a new star player in one of those "John Doakes was traded to Team A for a player to be named later"? Anyone in the know realizes that player to be named will likely be John Doakes going back to his original organization once the playoffs have ended.
How would anyone like it in the major leagues if some playoff-bound team could add Cleveland's Cliff Lee (21-2) or San Francisco's Tim Lincecum (16-3) only to have them return to their current team once the season is over? The screams would be heard from now until the Super Bowl was over.
CONGRATULATIONS TO SIOUX FALLS AND THE GOLDEN LEAGUE
It took 16 years (the duration of today's Independent Baseball), but the Sioux Falls (SD) Canaries now have a league title. Steve Shirley guided the Canaries to the American Association crown, and it must feel oh so good to everyone in the South Dakota city, one of three original Northern League franchises (along with Sioux City, IA and St. Paul, MN) still playing.
The Golden League has to be happy today to have its first major leaguer. Adam Pettyjohn has made it all the way back from the ulcerative colitis attack which nearly cost him his life to join the Cincinnati Reds. Pettyjohn, now 31 and 11 seasons removed from the 1998 campaign when Detroit made the lefty its second-round draft choice, led the International League with 15 wins for Louisville this summer. Pettyjohn's new lease on his pitching life took on encouragement in 2005 when he was 10-2 for Long Beach, CA in the Golden League. His original trip to the major leagues came in 2001 when he made 16 appearances, including nine starts, for Detroit.
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