[Alsfastball] PRAWN and the Beer Bracket - Scott Wagar

[Al Doran]

Subject: re: PRAWN and the Beer Bracket
Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2005 13:00:28 -0400
From: "Wagar, Scott" <SWagar at niagarahealth.on.ca>
To: <fastball at pmihrm.com>

After reading Todd Martin's posts regarding the PRAWN rule and sifting 
through all the info that is out there I'd have to say that I do like the 
spirit of the rule but would have to say that in my opinion it is flawed.



This rule does nothing to protect the smaller teams in their attempt to 
hold onto the talent that they develop. What it does ensure is that big 
money teams that have their PRAWN quotas filled will just have to be even 
more diligent in finding the up and coming talents (that have not made 
All-World yet) on the smaller -budget teams and outbid them for the 
player's services. This does not level the playing field. Instead, it just 
encourages the big-money teams to search for their future PRAWNs because if 
they can get him before he attains PRAWN status- they get to keep him. 
Eventually the bigger teams will be able to field teams consisting entirely 
of PRAWNs should they be able to evaluate talent well enough.



This short-sighted rule also forces some pitchers to travel out of area. 
Take Ontario as an example. We have teams in Kitchener, Jarvis, Innerkip, 
and Six Nations which played in the ISC World Tournament last year. Even if 
you include the possibly of an Owen Sound  team you do not have enough 
spots for the PRAWN pitchers that reside here on at least a part-time 
basis  (six PRAWN pitchers -Todd Martin, Jamie Simpson, Darren Zack, Rob 
O'Brien, Paul Koert, Rob Schweyer). This forces at least one of these 
gentlemen to travel out of area in order to pitch whether he intended to 
travel or not. And, on the off chance that the odd man out on this list 
doesn't garner any attention from an OOA team you have just planned an 
interesting summer on the patio for him.  And, God forbid, if two of these 
guys want to pitch on the same team in order to challenge County's 
two-PRAWN pitching staff, or The Farm's three-PRAWN pitching staff, they 
simply can't do it.



Thirdly, with the current format (Power Pools) I would have to agree with 
others that have stated that a good round robin for a player on an 
11th-40th ranked team may end up in him being a PRAWN based solely on his 
stats against non-power pool teams. This is not a good way to decide where 
players are permitted to play. The likelihood of this individual being on a 
team with PRAWN problems isn't as great within the lower rankings but 
should he wish to move to another team - perhaps because his family moved 
for work - he might not be able to play with a local team due to their 
number of PRAWNs....another player on the patio.



Maybe if we get enough players on the patio we could form another 
team....but then again, we'd have too many PRAWNs.



As for a suggestion: perhaps using limits on the national team players is 
the way to go. I don't see this as having widespread immediate impact but I 
doubt that it would create as many problems either.





I do have to take issue with Todd's comments regarding the pools:

The other side of the coin, which I eluded in my last email, is there are 
two distinct types of brackets used in the World Tournament.  Super bracket 
and beer bracket!  Am I the only person that sees this?



Really now, the beer bracket? I didn't know that there would be an asterisk 
beside the 20 strikeout performance by Todd which I thought was impressive 
regardless of the team that it was against.



Granted there are teams there that get walloped because they are they only 
team in their region and are by default the representative but just because 
you fall below the 10th ranked team does not make you a beer bracket team 
(see Kitchener Hallman Twins).



My team, Jarvis, didn't make the top 10 either. But why should teams that 
are trying to do their best at developing players locally (and keep this 
game alive) instead of raiding small-budget teams be classed as a beer 
bracket team?  We are a young team that isn't yet top 10, formed from the 
best local players available and don't rely on a big budget to stock a team 
with OOA players. We beat some higher ranked teams this year, lost to 
others, and took a small step forward at the World Tournament. I think that 
makes us a young, inexperienced team rather than deserving of beer-bracket 
status, but thanks for the bulletin board material.



Just remember though, this is a big tournament and beer bracket teams 
(apparently 30 of us) are what help the tournament be so big and grand. I 
will concede that many people love watching the big 10 and some want to see 
only these teams, hell...I stayed around to watch them; but others do come 
to watch their teams play. These players and their fans buy beer, 
concessions, and souvenirs etc. that financially make the tournament what 
it is. Without all of them we could have this thing done in a weekend 
without much fan fare or interest and the winner could take home a nice crest.

Scott Wagar B.Sc. Kin., CK

Occupational Health Analyst

Niagara Health System

Phone:  905-732-6111 ext. 2347

Email:  <mailto:SWagar at niagarahealth.on.ca>SWagar at niagarahealth.on.ca


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