IHOF: Maassluis Merchantmen

[MIJB#19]

2006 All MIJB 53-Men Selection
Today the IHOF announced the 24 names of offensive players and kickers in the All IHOF first and second team selections. As anticipated, no Maassluis Merchantmen players made the lists. In fact, not a sinlge player from the European Division was rewarded for their effort. To counter act, here are the 53 names of players selected by Merchantmen general manager M.IJ.B. as his 2006 All MIJB roster. As per the rules, every team is represented and the 53 names would for a logical roster, including return specialists, but excluding a long snapping and kick holding specialist. Players are listed in order of position. In brackets are the years a players has been selected before. MIJB selected three Merchantmen players in offensive tackle Wilson Grimaldo, defensive tackle Charles Gomez and wide receiver/kickoff returner Devin Henson.

qb1 - Boulder - Julius Irvine
qb2 - Syracuse - Brent Peterman
qb3 - North Plainfield - David Conti
rb1 - Astoria - Billy 'Bam Bam' Jamerson
rb2 - Paris - Joe Boulware
rb3 - Springfield - Raymond Flowers
pr1 - North Plainfield - Davis Cole
fb1 - Georgia - Cole Dean
fb2 - Fort Worth - Mark Burger
te1 - Astoria - Brendon Drumm
te2 - Conyers - Brent Hickok (2005)
te3 - Asheville - Andrew Augustin
wr1 - Orlando - Reggie Norris (2004)
wr2 - Telluride - Seymour Barber (2004,2005)
wr3 - Ann Arbor - William Duenas
wr4 - Minnesota - Alfredo Bass (2005)
kr1 - Maassluis - Devin Henson
c1 - Anaheim - Keenan Arguello
c2 - Rochester - Chet Shell
g1 - Astoria - Stacey Decoteau
g2 - Gothenburg - Luke Hayes
g3 - Rochester - Scottie Yuan
g4 - Syracuse - Randy Salgado
ot1 - Vicksburg - Randall Dunkin (2004)
ot2 - Outer Banks - Dwain Higginbotham
ot3 - Maassluis - Wilson Grimaldo
ot4 - Orlando - Chris Gallaher
p - Outer Banks - Malcolm Detwiler
k - Syracuse - Bill Vickers
de1 - Columbus - Gary Shields
de2 - Bordeaux - Harold Wells
de3 - Telluride - Bennett Ruano (2005)
de4 - Frederick - Frank Kerrigan
dt1 - Maassluis - Charles Gomez (2005)
dt2 - Outer Banks - Charles Carreno
dt3 - Rochester - Greg Lehr (2004)
dt4 - Miami - Ronald Bell
ilb1 - Ann Arbor - Devin Hidalgo
ilb2 - Tucker - Jeffrey Cogan
ilb3 - Anaheim - Joseph Flaherty
ilb4 - Brooklyn - Johnnie Braithwaite (2005)
olb1 - Orlando - Andreas Liddell
olb2 - Chesapeake - Miles Sam
olb3 - Gothenburg - Andrew McDaniel
olb4 - San Luis Obispo - Truman Hudson
cb1 - Chesapeake - Phillip Shumway (2004)
cb2 - Fairbanks - Omar Stewart
cb3 - Boston - Randall Royster
cb4 - RayCo - Clarence Whyte (2004,2005)
s1 - San Antonio - Chance Hite (2005)
s2 - Chesapeake - Justin Swanson
s3 - Ann Arbor - Isaac Graham
s4 - Outer Banks - Milo Epperson (2004,2005)


All European Division
With the selection of not a single European Division player in the All IHOF offensive teams, the Maassluis Merchantmen present a potential All Europe selection. Of the 25 names, six are reserved for the Merchantmen players. Divisional champs Bordeaux got seven spots, Gothenburg seven and Paris five.

QB - Bor - Joe Johnson (15 gp, 2,966 yd, 13 td, 5 int, 89.4 rating)
RB - Par - Joe Boulware (16 gp, 1,398 yd, 8 td, 4.7 yd/carry, 10 total td)
FB - Maa - Jamel Rosenberry (16 gp, 8 total td)
TE - Maa - Jim Reiser (16 gp, 79 receptions, 693 yd, 3 td)
FL - Got - William Walker (16 gp, 55 receptions, 866 yd, 7 td)
SE - Bor - Toby Williams (16 gp, 58 receptions, 823 yd, 2 td)
C - Got - Rocky Schramm (14 gp, 36 run blocks, 34%, 1 sack)
LG - Got - Luke Hayes (13 gp, 34 run blocks, 43%, 1 sack)
RG - Par - Tony Kuhn (16 gp, 23 run blocks, 27%, 3 sacks)
LT - Bor - Reuben England (15 gp, 20 run blocks, 31%, 5 sacks)
RT - Maa - Wilson Grimaldo (13 gp, 22 run blocks, 34%, 1 sack)
P - Par - Keith Horne (16 gp, 41.4 yd/punt, 49.4% in20)
K - Bor - Louie McConnell (16 gp, 28 fg, 90% accurate, 55 yd long)
DE - Bor - Harold Wells (16 gp, 15.0 sacks, 59 tackles)
DE - Bor - Ross Musgrave (15 gp, 9.0 sacks, 31 tackles)
DT - Maa - Charles Gomez (16 gp, 12.5 sacks, 99 tackles)
DT - Got - Chris Nagel (16 gp, 8.5 sacks, 52 tackles)
OLB - Got - Andrew McDaniel (16 gp, 126 tackles, 6.0 sacks, 0 int)
OLB - Par - Paul Dunkle (16 gp, 73 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 1 int)
ILB - Got - Steven Marshall (16 gp, 101 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 1 int)
ILB - Maa - Cody Cluff (16 gp, 120 tackles, 0.0 sacks, 0 int)
CB - Got - Harley Gowan (16 gp, 9 int, 10 def, 34 catches, 55 tackles)
CB - Maa - Johnnie Stidham (16 gp, 7 int, 5 def, 33 catches, 48 tackles)
S - Par - Edward Boatwright (16 gp, 5 int, 7 def, 25 catches, 62 tackles)
S - Bor - Cecil McIver (16 gp, 4 int, 15 def, 42 catches, 82 tackles)

[3ric]

Great teams, I especially like the All-Europe squad... nice!

[Alf]

Great as usual !

[MIJB#19]

Charles Gomez again selected as All IHOF
After a statistical huge year, Charles Gomez has been honored with being named to the All IHOF first team selection. With 12.5 sacks and 99 tackles, Gomez has been a big force on the Merchantmen run defense and pass rush. Sadly, Gomez couldn't keep the defense from ending up as a league worst in pass defense and overall defense in yardage. The selection is Gomez' second All IHOF honor, in 2005 Gomez was a second team selection. Amongst the other names was Bordeaux Vineyards defensive end Harold Wells. The ex-Merchantmen joined Gomez on the All IHOF first team.

Still to come up are the individual awards for league MVP, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and the two Rookie of the Year awards. For that matter, the Merchantmen expect to have little candidates. Charles Gomez is a potential Defensive Player of the Year, while cornerback Myron Stevens could be a longshot at the Defensive Rookie of the Year title.

[Chief Rum]

Disappointed DT Ivan Sparks didn't make the list, but thanks for recognizing Flaherty and Arguello. Especially Arguello--I really think he is one of the best centers in the league, and he was very good this year.

CR

[MIJB#19]

Merchantmen Players of the Year
As the 2006 season ended after the victory over the Gothenburg Giants, it's time to announce the best player of the year award as selected by the Merchantmen general manager. The top five players of the last game were Charles Gomez, Ellsworth Thelen, Jamel Rosenberry, Emile William and Butch White.

With that the final standings per category are:

Best rookie:
1. quarterback Louie Flannery (picked #5 overall)
2. cornerback Myron Stevens (undrafted)
3. punt returner Matt Offord (undrafted)
4. kicker Al Bettis (undrafted)
5. defensive tackle Andy Weliczka (drafted at #193 overall)

Best newcomer:
1. fullback Jamel Rosenberry (traded from Syracuse)
2. quarterback Louie Flannery (drafted)
3. cornerback Johnnie Stidham (traded from Orlando)
4. cornerback Gus Stoffers (traded from Orlando)
5. defensive end Scot Dick (traded from Bordeaux)

Best special teams player:
1. gunner Cody Cluff
2. kick returner Devin Henson
3. punt returner Matt Offord

Best defensive player:
1. defensive tackle Charles Gomez
2. middle linebacker Cody Cluff
3. strongside linebacker Ellsworth Thelen
4. cornerback Johnnie Stidham
5. defensive end Albert Bernardo

Best offensive player:
1. running back Randy Harris
2. fullback Jamel Rosenberry
3. quarterback Louie Flannery
4. right tackle Wilson Grimaldo
5. left tackle Kerry McLaurin

Best player:
1. defensive tackle Chares Gomez
2. running back Randy Harris
3. fullback Jamel Rosenberry
4. middle linebacker Cody Cluff
5. strongside linebacker Ellsworth Thelen

Sadly, the good performance from the offensive line goes by a little bit unnoticed with these rankings, but that's the effect of having an overall well performing line. If the top players should be mentioned based on the entire season, rather than game by game stand out names, Wilson Grimaldo and Butch White would be given more credits. Additional, tight end Jim Reiser had a huge year with 79 receptions, but his yardage and touchdown numbers didn't call for big single game honors.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Disappointed DT Ivan Sparks didn't make the list, but thanks for recognizing Flaherty and Arguello. Especially Arguello--I really think he is one of the best centers in the league, and he was very good this year.

CR

With the way I make the 53-men roster, sometimes the 4th best player might not make it at the absence of a player of some teams. But in the case of Ivan Sparks, it was more a result of Lehr (Roc) and Bell (Mia) having almost similiar stats as Sparks while missing 3 games more.

On the other end is Georgia's inside lienbacker John Culpepper, who deserved being in there, but he was overshadowed by the absence of a Tucker and Brooklyn player, while the IHOF's tackles leader Joseph Flaherty just had to make the 53-men list.

Arguello has such amazing stats, I can't believe he isn't an All IHOF pick, 43% of effective run blocking, 1 sack in 508 passing plays. But then, it's always an argument who should and who shouldn't be on the list. Just looking at the quarterback situation, with none standing out as a true #1, but about nine deserving a #2 concideration...

[MIJB#19]

Gossip News: Merchantmen talking trade already
The off-season is coming up and the masters of trade are back at it. Our sources claim that the Merchantmen already finalized a trade for the upcoming off-season. With the Merchantmen facing a cap hit of 15 million dollars, they have to find a way to create over 20 million of cap space. With the names mentioned of who are up for trade, it makes sense to expect that a couple of players will be dealt. The front runners are running back Jonathan Smith, defensive tackle John Bryant and the unhappy guard Lane Stedman.

As usual, the Merchantmen management was not willing to comment on the issue, but we have reason to believe that they are trading Ian Degrange. 'Deranged' Degrange's player agent Moe Wagner was spotted in Maassluis and we think it has to be with an upcoming trade. Degrange saw limited action in the three games he played for Maassluis, despite being traded in for a 2009 seventh round pick together with tight end Charles Burley, who played only 24 downs on offense.

The Merchantmen advertised Degrange as being worth a seventh rounder or potentially being part of a package deal. Degrange denied everything, but we can read between the lines. "The Merchantmen don't know how to use me. I'm a sack machine, but you got to play me. maybe some other team knows how to handle things." There is reason to believe that Degrange's conflict with veteran linebacker Carl Meier have had a key role in the decission to put him on the inactive list for most of the season. Degrange only returned to action recently due to injuries for both Scot Dick and Omar Gougeon.

Another potential candidate could be John Bryant. The defensive tackle has reportedly the same agent as Degrange and Bryant's role has been small the past season. In 2004 and 2005, Bryant started in all 32 games, in whichhe made 11.5 sacks and 118 tackles. In the 2006 season, Bryant had to play second fiddle behind seventh round pick Andy Weliczka as a pass rush specialist. Limited with some minor injuries, Bryant had just five starts and missed one game altogether. What his new home could be remains a question mark, but with nine teams listed as having a need for a defensive tackle, he could be a hot commodity. But why would they already finalize a deal for him then? It doesn't make sense and it should say enough that the team is trading Degrange and not Bryant.

[MIJB#19]

General manager notes
Well, the league is currently advancing slowly, we're still getting ready for the first round of playoff games. For the Merchantmen, it means we're doing nothing but hoping that we can resolve a little issue: we've gone over the cap!

What happened? Well, between the week 16 and week 17 games, we signed two new players in flanker Donovan Bradley and safety Earnest Atkins. With these moves, we went 10,000 US dollars over the cap. This shouldn't have happened, yet our cap manager had miscalculated the salary figure of defensive end Britt Bycroft the same 10,000 US dollars too low.

To resolve the issue, we've been talking with backup tight end Charles Burley to extend his contract and tune down his 2006 salary figure. So far, Burley didn't sign the new deal, but we hope he will sign a contract before season's end. If he doesn't, we'll have to work something out with someone else.

Going into the 2007 season, a couple of players will be free agents:
* fullback Greg Berk
* flanker Donovan Bradley
* center Bubba Kerney
* left tackle Kerry McLaurin
* defensive end Britt Bycroft
* cornerback Laurence Gerry
* strong safety Earnest Atkins

You know something, I'd like to return all these guys. Gerry is our secondary leader and has been important to keep the chemistry alive. But other than that, his role was limited. Others have been good for chemistry too, yet are just backup players. Of them, Kerry McLaurin jumps out a bit. We've won all five games with him in the starting line up. That's interesting to say the least, especially given the fact he's been on two IHOF Bowl reaching teams in the past.

Britt Bycroft has had a decent role and we might promote him to even more playing time in 2007. I expect to go on without Scot Dick in 2007, who's been a decent play, but we've got a young guy ready to take his place in Omar Gougeon as sack machine. Bycroft is a run stopper and can also fill in as backup tackle on the defensive line. Yes, he's a free agent, but only a restricted free agent and we should be able to re-sign in time for training camp.

Other things to note, we're shopping a few other guys around. Defensive tackle John Bryant has been doing good things as Charles Gomez' boy wonder, but I expect more out of seventh round pick Andy Weliczka and I really hope to get a promising defensive tackle in the 2007 draft, not necesserily a rookie, but rather with one of the second round picks. In fact, we've already made a deal with another team in the league to send Bryantr to them in the upcoming off-season. We're not disclosing the what's and if's, but fact is, Bryant is not going to be a Merchantmen at the start of the 2007 season.

Running back Jonathan Smith is another guy who might be gone by that time. He's been a good backup, but his role has been limited and we've got two cheaper backups in Cedric Rubio and Kyle Montoya. Really, I'd like to keep Smith, but the salary figure is so high at 2.2M US dollars. Only if we can pull his figure down to below 1.5M US dollars, we could be able to keep him around.

The situation on free safety Richard Muller is still a mystery. The repetitive concussion syndrome that sidelined him might force him into retirement, which is basically what I expect to happen. If he stays around, perhaps we'll try to find a new home for him, otherwise he'll spend the 2007 on injured reserve. Plus, we've already acquired Emile William, just before Muller went out, we still have John Cole around and have good hopes that Lamar Singelton is a worthy backup safety over time. And then, we still have the anchorman Lincoln Gilmore at strong safety.

The story around Justin McDavid will also be interesting to follow. I have no idea how he will show up in mini camp and training camp. We might be forced to downgrade him from primary backup to number three or number four. If that is the case, I fear me might have to say goodbye to the franchise passing yards and touchdowns record holder. Imagine that, the Merchantmen without Fumlin' Justin, that's unheard of, no? But if we'll keep him, it's still a bit of a tough decission in the quarterback department. Mel Atkins is a decent #3 and has excellent holding skills. But than, Louie Flannery can do that too. Shane Bower is talent wise a good #2, but hasn't shown his skill in the limited action he saw. Dominic Lynch will definately stay to mentor Flannery. And clearly going into 2007 with five quarterbacks would be unwise.

Others who we are shopping around?
* cornerback Gus Stoffers - he's been good, but we might want to go a different direction when Tai Wayne returns to play opposite Johnnie Stidham. Stoffers lacks the nose for interception to be our nickel back.

* guard Lane Stedman - has been mentoring Butch White and Timothy Lacy well, yet I fear eventually his attitude and happiness will cause problems in the locker room.

* defensive end Ian Degrange - has been a locker room problem and I don't think he'll ever play enough downs in Maassluis to live up to his potential. We've got better options on the line.

Other things to note right now? Well, not really, except that we're still awating the final decission on the Defensive Player of the Year award. Charles Gomez' had a huge season, but the 23.0 sacks from Columbus' Gary Shields, the league leading 135 tackles and 52 assists from Anahiem's Joseph Flaherty and the 9 interceptions from San Antonio's safety Chance Hite could keep Gomez away from the trophy. Still, we're not complaining. The Merchantmen defense was last in least yards allowed, even though we finally learned to compensate mistakes with turnovers and we've improved in the pass rush department, despite the departure of sack machine Harold Wells. If only we found a way to make our linebackers' roles be bigger than just to tackle the opposing players after running or catching for a new first down...

That reminds me, Mike Kershner's progress has been disappointing. I hired Josh Weisberg to mentor Kershner, yet his progress was too slim to call it a success. I'm seriously thinking to go overboard with one of our linebackers (Thelen, Kershner) and find a guy who actually is able to support the pass defense. The pass defense has been so bad, it's the biggest concern on the team, even our more than capable paas rush can't make up for it. That is while knowing that there is statistical proof that a good pass rush decreases the effectiveness of the paasing game.

Enough for now, you're up to date.

Well, except for one more thing: I've made a list of about 20 players who are worth trying to get in the off-season through trade or free agency. If things go as planned, me might be able to get up to three of hese guys. Would that be something?

Oh, and another note, our draft situation looks to be good, despite missing a first rounder. We're holding picks #39, #41, #48, #49, #130, #132, #141, #144, #145, #149 and a fifth rounder that is yet to be ranked, based on te outcome of the playoffs. For those who didn't notice, that's four second rounders and seven fifth rounders. We're going to dominate the fifth round of the draft for sure. Unless we're going on a trading spree, again...

[MIJB#19]

Merchantmen records book
Yes, I was bored and not motivated to work on my project or be busy on looking for a (trainee) job. Here are the top three's in the Merchantmen's all time statistical record books.

Points - career
260 Cary Coles (2004-2006)
138 Randy Harris (2004-2006)
54 Bryce Ewald (2004-2006)

Passer Rating - career
64.4 Louie Flannery (2006)
62.3 Fumblin' Justin McDavid (2004-2006)
61.6 Leonard Lyon (2005)

Passer Rating - single season
64.4 2006 Louie Flannery (2006)
63.9 2004 Fumblin' Justin McDavid (2004-2006)
61.6 2005 Leonard Lyon (2005)

Passing Yards - career
3941 Fumblin' Justin McDavid (2004-2006)
2765 Louie Flannery (2006)
1814 Leonard Lyon (2005)

Passing Yards - single season
2904 2004 Fumblin' Justin McDavid (2004-2006)
2765 2006 Louie Flannery (2006)
1814 2005 Leonard Lyon (2005)

Passing Yards - single game
294 2004 Fumblin' Justin McDavid (2004-2006)
265 2004 Fumblin' Justin McDavid (2004-2006)
264 2006 Louie Flannery (2006)

Passing Touchdowns - career
24 Fumblin' Justin McDavid (2004-2006)
15 Louie Flannery (2006)
9 Leonard Lyon (2005)

Passing Touchdowns - single season
19 2004 Fumblin' Justin McDavid (2004-2006)
15 2006 Louie Flannery (2006)
9 2005 Leonard Lyon (2005)

Passing Touchdowns - single game
3 2004 Fumblin' Justin McDavid (2004-2006)
3 2005 Leonard Lyon (2005)
3 2006 Louie Flannery (2006)

Rushing Yards - career
3344 Randy Harris (2004-2006)
511 Jonathan Smith (2004-2006)
476 Fumblin' Justin McDavid (2004-2006)

Rushing Yards - single season
1203 2006 Randy Harris (2004-2006)
1114 2005 Randy Harris (2004-2006)
1027 2004 Randy Harris (2004-2006)

Rushing Yards - single game
159 2006 Randy Harris (2004-2006)
129 2005 Randy Harris (2004-2006)
115 2006 Randy Harris (2004-2006)

Rushing Touchdowns - career
15 Randy Harris (2004-2006)
5 Jamel Rosenberry (2006)
2 Mark Burger (2004-2005)
2 Fumblin' Justin McDavid (2004-2006)

Rushing Touchdowns - single season
6 2005 Randy Harris (2004-2006)
6 2006 Randy Harris (2004-2006)
5 2006 Jamel Rosenberry (2006)

Rushing Touchdowns - single game
3 2004 Randy Harris (2004-2006)
2 2005 Randy Harris (2004-2006)
1 several

Receptions - career
129 Bryce Ewald (2004-2006)
128 Jim Reiser (2004-2006)
113 Gregory Monti (2004-2006)

Receptions - single season
79 2006 Jim Reiser (2004-2006)
67 2004 jerry Aubrey (2004-2005)
47 2004 Bryce Ewald (2004-2006)

Receptions - single game
8 2006 Bryce Ewald (2004-2006)
8 2006 Jim Reiser (2004-2006)
8 2006 Jim Reiser (2004-2006)
8 2006 Jim Reiser (2004-2006)

Receiving Yards - career
1729 Bryce Ewald (2004-2006)
1552 Gregory Monti (2004-2006)
1202 Jim Reiser (2004-2006)

Receiving Yards - single season
760 2004 Jerry Aubrey (2004-2005)
693 2006 Jim Reiser (2004-2006)
683 2004 Bryce Ewald (2004-2006)

Receiving Yards - single game
123 2004 Bryce Ewald (2004-2006)
121 2004 Gregory Monti (2004-2006)
115 2006 Bryce Ewald (2004-2006)

Receiving Touchdowns - career
9 Bryce Ewald (2004-2006)
8 Randy Harris (2004-2006)
7 Gregory Monti (2004-2006)
7 Jerry Aubrey (2004-2005)

Receiving Touchdowns - single season
6 2004 Jerry Aubrey (2004-2005)
5 2004 Fredric Vargas (2004)
5 2005 Bryce Ewald (2004-2006)

Receiving Touchdowns - single game
2 2004 Jerry Aubrey (2004-2005)
1 several

Key Run Blocks - career
79 Harold Hurtado (2004-2006)
43 Wilson Grimaldo (2005-2006)
42 Butch White (2005-2006)

Key Run Blocks - single season
31 2004 Harold Hurtado (2004-2006)
28 2006 Harold Hurtado (2004-2006)
24 2006 Butch White (2005-2006)

Key Run Blocks - single game
5 2004 Harold Hurtado (2004-2006)
5 2004 Harold Hurtado (2004-2006)
5 2005 Russell Malave (2004-2006)
5 2006 Butch White (2005-2006)

Sacks - career
24.0 Charles Gomez (2004-2006)
22.0 Harold Wells (2004-2005)
15.0 John Bryant (2004-2006)

Sacks - single season
13.0 2005 Harold Wells (2004-2005)
12.5 2006 Charles Gomez (2004-2006)
9.0 2004 Harold Wells (2004-2005)

Sacks - single game
3.0 2006 Charles Gomez (2004-2006)
3.0 2006 Charles Gomez (2004-2006)
2.5 2005 Harold Wells (2004-2005)
2.5 2006 Scot Dick (2006)

Interceptions - career
7 Johnnie Stidham (2006)
5 Desmond Craig (2005-2006)
4 Lincoln Gilmore (2004-2006)
4 Dennis Preciado (2004-2005)

Interceptions - single season
7 2006 Johnnie Stidham (2006)
4 2006 Desmond Craig (2005-2006)
3 2004 Randall Smith (2004)
3 2005 Richard Muller (2005-2006)

Interceptions - single game
2 2006 Johnnie Stidham (2006)
1 several

Tackles - career
309 Cody Cluff (2004-2006)
237 Charles Gomez (2004-2006)
204 Ellsworth Thelen (2005-2006)

Tackles - single season
120 2006 Cody Cluff (2004-2006)
109 2006 Ellsworth Thelen (2005-2006)
99 2004 Cody Cluff (2004-2006)
99 2006 Charles Gomez (2004-2006)

Tackles - single game
14 2006 Ellsworth Thelen (2005-2006)
12 2006 Cody Cluff (2004-2006)
12 2006 Ellsworth Thelen (2005-2006)

[MIJB#19]

General manager notes
It was about time, I've further evaluated the entire roster and figured out which players will fit on the 2007 list of 53 names. I'm not giving all the info away, besides, most is out there already, but I've come to the conclusion we might not need all the draft picks we currently hold. 11 picks is a lot, and really, we don't need that many. So, I'm leaning to a different draft situation from what we have now and what I would like to sit in.

It would be unwise to give away the plans, but it should be clear that the four second rounders and seven fifth rounders should turn into less 2007 picks and a few extra 2008/2009 picks. The main desire is to get a mid-first rounder. To get there, I've got the four second rounders, of which I'd dare to sacrifice three to get into that situation. With the trade talks tombolo getting started now, so the draft situation could be virutally closer to the desired situation before the IHOF Bowl has been played.

[MIJB#19]

Gossip News: Merchantmen to use franchise tag on backup player?
The International House of Football is in the playoff stages and the weaker teams are making a look to the upcoming 2007 season. One of the toughest decission to make for each team is whether to use the franchise tag and on who. But not for one of those teams. The Maassluis Merchantmen have only two players on roster who are scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. The franchise tag will likely go to one of them, if the management can make up their mind. Quick question: how many games did the 2006 franchise player play for the Merchantmen?

Alvin Causey was an elite left guard in the IHOF when the league started play in 2004. The Orlando Knights were Causey's first home, but at the end of the season he suffered through a serious shoulder injury and was scheduled to miss 15 of 17 regular season weeks in 2005. The Maassluis Merchantmen jumped in with a gamble trade, but then drafted a replacement for Causey. Eventually, Causey only started in the last two games and only due to injury of right guard playing right tackle Russell Malave. In between, Causey somehow managed to earn the honors of being the IHOF's strongest man in the 2005 season.

In the 2006 off-season, The Merchantmen traded in a younger right guard in Timothy Lacy and decided that Causey was expendable. Earlier on, they franchised Causey as the guard was not willing to sign a new deal during the 2005 season, while he was scheduled to become a free agent. In the end, the Bordeaux Vineyards were willing to add the then 28-year old, meaning that the franchise player had only 2 starts for the Merchantmen.

Now, the team has an easy choice to make and "to use or not to use" isn't the question. It's "Gerry or Kerry", as simple as that. One guy played 31 games for the Astoria Heroes in 2004 and 2005, fell without a job in early 2006 and then was hired as the secret weapon in Dutch Bowl II. The other guy was on the roster of the 2004 IHOF champions, the 2005 AOC champions and then saw his 2006 team go 5-0 when he was listed in the starting line up. There, these are your candidates for the franchise tag in Maassluis. I see you laughing, they're not going to use that tag on a backup player who based on his position would cost 5.5 million dollars. But you might be wrong there.

Laurenc Gerry came into town to become the secondary leader in a young group of players. The oldest player was injured reserved safety Richard Muller, at 28 years at the season start. 25-year old John Cole took the role on him, but clearly he failed and locker room ramblings were going strong. Gerry was hired a day before the home game against the Orlando Knights. With Gerry playing a backup role, the Merchantmen won 24-13 and started a four-game winning streak at home. Then followed three losses on the road and Gerry moved to the inactive roster as other defensive backs returned from injury.

Kerry McLaurin was hired a week later than Gerry. With Maassluis seeing their best offensive lineman Wilson Grimaldo injured, the team hired McLaurin to be a backup, but on game day they decided to give McLaurin the start on the right outside. It paid off, the Merchantmen won 20-10 against the then AOC leading Rochester Lake Monsters and McLaurin recorded 4-on-4 key run blocks. In the next four games where he started, he recorded just 3 key run blocks on 10 opportunities, but amazingly the Merchantmen won all those games.

Clearly, neither of these guys have done anything to be worth a salary of 5.5 million dollars. But then, both had their role in the success of the Merchantmen and the team seems to be interested in retaining the services of both guys. Both will probably stay in the free agency pool through out the pre training camp period, but the Merchantmen don't want to risk losing these guys. General manager M.IJ.B. said: "Gerry is a gift to the locker room. The secondary is still the worst in the league, but with him we're keeping it close to being #31. Kerry is an amazing guy. The guy is said to be just a marginal talented player, but he's playing well on the line and we could use an experienced backup behind the start Hurtado and Grimaldo."

Gerry or Kerry, some have been joking about elections, but then, John Kerry lost in 2004 and this would just scream for a double loss. Who's it gonna be, it's going to be a big question. Maybe the Merchantmen will let them both walk, who knows? Aynway, the franchise tag could be used, but if the Merchantmen will do it, they'll be offering 5.5 million bucks to a career backup. Keep reading and you'll find out by the start of the 2007 off-season whether it's "Gerry or Kerry".

[Alf]

As you are European, like me, I suppose you are going to franchise Kerry ,while the US guys would have franchised the other guy

[MIJB#19]

Homage to the readers II: 2006 Player of the Year poll
To give the readers of this dynasty, again, a little bit of power, I decided to create a poll in the dynasty poll section, just like I did at the end of he 2005 season. There are again nine candidate, while the tenth slot is reserved for write in candidates. Please note that the trout-option, running back Shelton Troutman, plays for Springfield and not for Maassluis. The poll can be found here: Merchantmen 2006 Player of the Year.

[Dutch]

MIJB,

I think you have unintentionally given one of my numerous "skunked" posts new life.

[Dutch]

Best newcomer:
1. fullback Jamel Rosenberry (traded from Syracuse)
2. quarterback Louie Flannery (drafted)
3. cornerback Johnnie Stidham (traded from Orlando)
4. cornerback Gus Stoffers (traded from Orlando)
5. defensive end Scot Dick (traded from Bordeaux)

Glad I could help....and if only I knew that cornerback was going to be sucha huge need for me this year.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Dutch

Glad I could help....and if only I knew that cornerback was going to be sucha huge need for me this year.

Oh yes, these two guys changed the world, we ranked only 32nd in passing yards allowed.

Stoffers is listed as up for trade, by the way...

[MIJB#19]

General manager notes
Here's the general manager again, I've got something to tell you all. No, I'm not going to announce a trade or something, although we are working on something big right now and on something else a bit smaller, but still significant enough.

No, the thing to do is give some looking back on the player progress of our players. I've listed all players who have made progress according to the scouting staff. And to put things better into perspective, I'll have to provide some info on the environment our players work in.

Quarterbacks: good coordinator, excellent with young talent, mentor on roster since week 5
QB Louie Flannery, rookie, 24yo, +16 on 1-100 scale

Running backs: average coordinator, excellent with young talent
RB Randy Harris, 5th year, 26yo, +2 on 1-100 scale
RB Jonathan Smith, 3rd year, 25yo, +2 on 1-100 scale
FB Jamel Rosenberry, 4th year, 25yo, +3 on 1-100 scale

Receivers: excellent coordinator, excellent with young talent
TE Jim Reiser, 3rd year, 25yo, +11 on 1-100 scale
FL Gregory Monti, 4th year, 25yo, +4 on 1-100 scale
SE Bryce Ewald, 3rd year, 25yo, +6 on 1-100 scale
SE/KR Devin Henson, 2nd year, 25yo, +2 on 1-100 scale

Offensive Linemen: very good coordinator, excellent with young talent, mentor for guards, mentor for offensive tackles
C Brant Heinrich, 2nd year, 24yo, +3 on 1-100 scale
LG Butch White, 2nd year, 24yo, +9 on 1-100 scale
RG Timothy Lacy, 3rd year, 23yo, +9 on 1-100 scale
LT Edgar Dunkin, 2nd year, 23yo, +1 on 1-100 scale

Kickers/Punters: average coordinators, excellent and good with young talent
K Cary Coles, 3rd year, 25yo, +5 on 1-100 scale

Defensive linemen: very good coordinator, good with young talent, mentor for defensive ends
DE Britt Bycroft, 2nd year, 25yo, +4 on 1-100 scale
DE Omar Gougeon, rookie, 23yo, +3 on 1-100 scale
DT Charles Gomez, 5th year, 27yo, +6 on 1-100 scale
DT John Bryant, 4th year, 26yo, +2 on 1-100 scale
DT Andy Weliczka, rookie, 24yo, +2 on 1-100 scale

Linebackers: very good coordinator, good with young talent, mentor for outside linebackers
MLB Cody Cluff, 3rd year, 25yo, +6 on 1-100 scale
WLB Mike Kershner, 3rd year, 24yo, +3 on 1-100 scale

Secondary: very good coordinator, good with young talent
CB Desmond Craig, 2nd year, 24yo, +3 on 1-100 scale
CB Gus Stoffers, 3rd year, 23yo, +4 on 1-100 scale
CB Myron Stevens, rookie, 23yo, +3 on 1-100 scale
CB Johnnie Stidham, 3rd year, 25yo, +8 on 1-100 scale
FS John Cole, 4th year, 25yo, +4 on 1-100 scale
SS Lincoln Gilmore, 3rd year, 25yo, +6 on 1-100 scale
SS Lamar Singleton, rookie, 22yo, +1 on 1-100 scale
SS Emile William, 5th year, 27yo, +3 on 1-100 scale

So, what need does the average fan have about this info? Well, it's good to know that our young roster is making progress and that players are catching up with the other teams around the league in experience. Yes, I see you thinking, others make progress too. Just for an example, 'Super' Mario Hudson, Paris' second year quarterback, has hardly made any progress. It seems that the 2005 #4 overall pick is caught in the wrong environment to develop. (Note that this isn't an attempt to make the Paris management look bad, I've talked about the progress of Hudson a lot the past season with the Paris management, Hudson's lack of progress is just an example to point out how different situations can be.) I've decided to take a team into a developmental situation that would require two or three years to get going.

The total is +131 points on the 1-100 scale, knowing that most of the progress has come in playing time, mainly for starters (let's put the figure at 22), that accounts for about +6 per starter during the season.

Also, we're going to have to hire a new head coach in the upcoming off-season. Unless Leroy Van Der Woude is willing to sign with us for about 2.5 million a year, we might be looking for a new head coach. Aged 38, Van Der Woude is young enough to get better, but with his skills being average, I have no idea whether there will be competition. But with a 15-17 record on a pretty weak team, people might be interested.

But then, we need a strategy to keep a good defensive coordinator on team after the 2007 season anyway. Kim Johannsen is a steal at his salary and with his skills we might want his services in 2008-2011 as well. Then, retaining Van Der Woude isn't a priority. But then, we might go a different course and try to hire a cheaper lead scout or offensive coordinator to create staff cap room (which is something the IHOF inducted and hasn't given up yet).

And something else, we might need to ship Wilson Grimaldo to a willing trade partner if we really, really, really can't open up the 20 million of cap room we'll need to create this off-season. The 15 million of lost cap room could get pretty serious if we don't manage to work things out in time for training camp. It's not something I want, Grimaldo looks like a key player, especially after what he did in the 2006 season, but he's not going to play forever. After all, he is 33 years old and I suspect that he's got only two years left in the tank, maybe three. I shipped away our backup guy for him during the 2006 season to Telluride, so we got to find a replacement sooner than later. With injury woes always hunting the offensive line, we'll need a decent sixth guy to start anyway, so perhaps we could take a look at offensive tackle in the draft...

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot, it seems that our schedule for the 2007 season is looking pretty tough wit games against the NAC Mid-West division (the only division with no losing teams), and the AOC Deep South. The complete provisional schedule, with in brackets each team's 2006 record:
Week 01 Paris (4-12)
Week 02 at Ann Arbor (11-5)
Week 03 at Rochester (10-6, hello Futility Bowl IV!)
Week 04 San Antonio (12-4)
Week 05 open
Week 06 Vicksburg (6-10)
Week 07 at Fort Worth (6-10)
Week 08 at Paris (4-12)
Week 09 at Telluride (8-8)
Week 10 Bordeaux (11-5)
Week 11 at Gothenburg (10-6)
Week 12 RayCo (9-7)
Week 13 Georgia (5-11)
Week 14 Minnesota (8-8)
Week 15 Gothenburg (10-6)
Week 16 at Columbus (8-8)
Week 17 at Bordeaux (11-5)

More news later...

[MIJB#19]

IHOF League News: North Plainfield and Chesapeake win conferences
The cards have been reshuffled, there's only two players left. The North Plainfield Plague will represent the AOC in IHOF Bowl III, while the Chesapeake Chitterlings defend the pride of the NAC. Both teams are first time qualifiers for the Bowl game, yet both have come near the Bowl game in te past seasons. The Plague reached the AOC Final in 2004 and reached the final four of the AOC in 2005. Chesapeake had mde the NAC final four in both 2004 and 2005.

North Plainfield has a young team, which is anchored bytheir defense. Cornerback Jimmie Sprawn is the most famous player of the bunch, yet the defense is overall very impressive. With 175 passing yards per game allowed, they rank second in the IHOF. And with the talented quarterback David Conti leading the top scoring offense (26.1 points per game), there's no question that the Plague will have a chance in the title game.

The Chesapeake Chitterlings have a pretty similair reputation. With the top ranked pass offense (273 yards per game), led by quarterback Jaime Canter (4,045 yards, 25 touchdowns), they can win any game with the second best socring offense (23.6 points per game). But then, they also field the best run defense of the IHOF (83 yards per game) and have their own bunch of defensive stars. Strong linebacker Myles Sam (92 tackles, 10 sacks, 4 interceptions) can make plays in every to-go situation, while cornerback Scott Benge is the Chitterlings' solution to stop opposing wide receivers. Benge and his buddy Phillip Shumway, combined for 14 interceptions, making them a duo to not be underestimated.

With that, it seems that the two most obvious candidates for the title game are indeed playing in Oklahoma City next Thursday. Both teams were the top seeds per conference and with them being the #1 and #2 in points per game, this game calls for an exciting matchup. But then, the defense might show up and keep the other side from scoring. Chesapaeke kept the opponent to 20 or less points in 16 of 18 games this season. North Plainfield kept the opponent to 20 or less points in 15 of 18 games. But amazingly, both teams lost those games where they allowed more than 20 points. First to score 21 points to win this thing?

[MIJB#19]

General manager notes
Hey, hey, here's your favorite IHOF general manager again. (Well, maybe not, but I'm the only one giving as much away about the team strategy as all others combined, I think.)

Anyway, here's a stunning statistic for you, the Merchantmen tied a league record this season, a single season record and it wasn't a negative one. When you read it, I bet, you can't avoid laughing. Are you sitting down already? Yes? Here's the shocker, the Maassluis Merchantmen led the IHOF in 2006 and tied a league seasonal record in fumbles lost.

Ha!

No, that wasn't a joke, it's for real! In a year that we kept Fumblin' Justin on injured reserve all year, our 'men in total lost just three fumbles all season, making us the 2006 leaders and tying the totals from the 2004 Boston Rhinos and Fairbanks NorthStars. Yes, the same franchise that still holds the negative turnover margin record at -23, set in the 2004 season.

Okay, dry the eyes, because in contrast, we ranked second in the IHOF in 2006 in interception percentage with 4.87 interceptions per 100 pass attempts. The Georgia Gridlock did even worse with 5.26 percent and set a new record.

And then, we set another league record. 56 penalities in an entire season. The old record was 70, set by the 2004 Georgia Gridlock. Coincidentally, the penalty yardage record also went our way with 425 yards for the season. The same Gridlock team held the record previously at 499 yards.

Need another stunner? Our 1-15 2004 pass defense set a record that might never get broken in the IHOF. Least yards per pass completion allowed. 9.26 yards per completion. Second is a team that allowed 10.42 yards per completion. That is the same franchise that allowed record highs with 3,968 passing yards and 339 pass completions in the 2006 season. And the same 2006 defense that allowed a league high 3.52 touchdowns per 100 rushing attempts.

Let's recap the records set and the other side of the spectre after three seasons of football:
# of fumbles lost: Maassluis had 3 in 2006; Boulder had 16 in 2005
turnover margin: Maassluis had -23 in 2004; Ann Arbor had +23 in 2004
# of penalties: Maassluis had 56 in 2006; Brooklyn had 141 in 2004
penalty yards: Maassluis had 425 in 2006; Minnesota had 961 in 2004
yards per completion allowed: Maassluis had 9.26 in 2004;Gothenburg had 13.17 in 2005
passing yards: Maassluis had 3968 in 2006; North Plainfield had 2416 in 2004
rushing td percentage: Maassluis had 3.52 in 2006; North Plainfield had 0.66 in 2004

Funny enough to read that stuff?

[MIJB#19]

General manager notes
Oh goody, today is IHOF Bowl day!
IHOF Bowl III between the North Plainfield Plague and Chesapeake Chitterlings.
A couple of former Merchantmen players are taking the field today:

WR Fredric Vargas, Plague, was our #3 receiver in 2004 when he recorded a career high 5 touchdowns. He's missed a lot of playing time this season and missed the matchup with us, but should be a factor in the game as the #2 guy.

C R.J. Miller, Chitterlings, was projected as our starter for 2004, but got cut by the staff and has now quitely become a decent backup lineman for Chesapeake.


Personally, I'm looking forward to the 2007 season, especially the off-season. Sure, I'll try to attend the live coverage of IHOF Bowl III, but how important is it to see who wins? Granted, if the Chitterlings win, we'll go to an astonishing 2-1 all time record against the 3 IHOF champs, with a matchup against the 2005 champions Ann Arbor on schedule for 2007. But then, the NAC conference is starting to look superiour to the AOC, our conference. That's not good either...

Anyway, I've worked hard the past week. I've concluded negotiations with another team for a blockbuster trade, yet both sides still have the rights to cancel the deal, so no details at this hour. Maybe in a few days, when the smoke from the title game has cleared a bit, we can give some more details. Fact is that I'm still not too sold on the deal and my trade partner is not 100% on the details either. At least we've reached the stage of no more negotiating.

Also, trade talks to get a first rounder turned into an impasse situation and now we're back to the drawing table with four second rounders in hands, rather then a single first rounder. We have some other lines open at the moment, but all is quiet around the league until the 2007 season officially starts. It seems that everbody is waiting for the announcement of the draft class.

Tip of the ice berg for the 2007 season, people think my team is in a disastrous 32.5M over the cap. My own cap management shows we're just 17.55M over the cap, with 53 players signed and 11 draft picks in hand.

What are we looking for as a solution?
Well, it's simple, we've got a few issues to solve:

* the quarterback situation. We've got too many decent backups and can't afford the roster spots in them. Atkins, Bower or McDavid has to go. Concerning the fan base and cap situation, McDavid could be a non-issue, but we have still no idea how McDavid post-MCL surgery will be.

* the passing game misses a big play wide receiver. Bryce Ewald and Gregory Monti are good receivers, but both lack the route running and downfield catching ability that we lack. RB Randy Harris and TE Jim Reiser also lack the downfield ability. That's something to eye for this offseason. Big play receiver David Henkel, who we acquired this off-season, didn't move the world and had just 23 catches, 13.9 yards per catch and 0 touchdowns after a career year with 888 yards and 6 scores. Henkel deserves a second year here, the first year on a new team is always the toughest, but even then, I'd still be looking for a new guy in town. We migh even want to try shopping around either Monti or Ewald to do that.

* We need a young offensive tackle. Clearly, trading Russell Malave might have been a dumb decission after all. Grimaldo is ageing and Harold Hurtado looks like he's at his peak too. Kerry McLaurin will be tought to keep and the guy ain't young either. For the sake of playing all over the line, a left tackle would be best.

* On special teams, I'll be looking for an additional return specialist and might eye for a new kicker. Right now we lack a backup for returning duties. For the kicker situation, I'm not too happy about the progress the kickers made. It seems that sharing duties between Cary Coles (points) and Al Bettis (kickoffs) kept both guys away from progress. But then, if Bettis makes at least some progress next training camp, he's a better kickoff guy and a good investment afterall for a league wide top 16 kickoff kicker.

* Defensive tackle is again an issue, yet I'm really leaning towards Andy Welickza as the solution opposite Charles Gomez. The pass rush threat has to come from the ends and with Omar Gougeon we've already got a hot porspect. Perhaps that I'll eye for another prospect in the draft and give Scot Dick the sack. The injury he suffered doesn't bode well anyway.

* The linebackers group is another issue. In fact, it's not a big deal that these guys are allowing together 7.5 catches per game, as long as our secondary makes more plays, and right now they don't (or didn't). The lack of progress for Mike Kershner remains as a problem. Even hiring a mentor didn't help. Perhaps we should keep him more on the field, put him in the backup slot for strong side and inside back, but with our nickel back playing a lot, Kershner misses important playing time, or so it seems.

* The secondary is still far from excellent. We really need to find a way to get the zone defense to work. At least Tai Wayne, Johnnie Stidham, Lincoln Gilmore, Gus Stoffers and Emile William can all play more coverage schemes. But the rookie projects Myron Stevens and Lamar Singleton don't fit in any other scheme than the zone defense, so it remains as a risky decission. Also, we might be forced to look for a new secondary leader to maintain chemistry. We've been looking out for a new guy in case we can't return Laurence Gerry next off-season.

* Cap space. Well, the plan is simple, a bunch of cap out negotiations could resolve the issue and I hope to be able to keep the contracts manageble in 2008 as well, when we have 15M more to spent on salary, cap-wise. I'm 100% confident we'll manage it, this time I won't go crazy and trade away a first round quarterback and deal our best player to a division rival (Harold Wells was all-IHOF with 15.0 sacks, with a cap out offer we could have kept him and could have been a bigger factor in the European division. Rookie mistakes, I guess...)


Oh well, enough strategy sharing for now, IHOF Bowl III will be up in about 3 1/2 to 4 hours, depending on when the IHOF commish will start broadcasting the game's play-by-play.

Oh, and for those who missed it the previous times I mentioned it, we've managed to go 8-8 and end up 17th with a roster that's ranking as 31st best in roster value.

[MIJB#19]

Testing:

Go Merchantmen!

[MIJB#19]

Merchantmen release Gerry and Kerry
On the day of IHOF Bowl III, won 10-7 by the Norht Plainfield Plague in a defensive game over the Chesapeake Chitterlings, the Maassluis Merchantmen released cornerback Laurence Gerry and left tackle Kerry McLaurin. Both veterans were going to be free agents at the start of the 2007 off-season. With this move, the Merchantmen make sure they end the 2006 season being in a healthy cap situation. The move also opened up the option to renegotiate contracts with three key members of the team, yet none of them signed a new deal.

Gerry and Kerry, as they had been called recently, were both signed during the seeason to fill a gap in the roster and now their stints with the Merchantmen are over. The Merchantmen management said the team might try to sign both of the veterans in the upcoming free agency periods for the 2007 season, but that isn't a guarantee. General manager M.IJ.B. said: "This move was neceserry to get under the cap. With both guys already scheduled to leave the team, there was no harm done to other situations. The only thing that we can't do now is designate either of them as franchise player, which we in fact did plan to do. But in the end the franchise tag would create a tougher situation in cap management."

The team tried to seal deals with tight end Jim Reiser, linebacker Ellsworth Thelen and quarterback Dominic Lynch to give them a longer contract and push some money forward to the 2006 cap situation, yet that attempt failed as all three players declined the contracts given. General manager M.IJ.B.: "It's no big deal, we still need to open up 17.5 million US dollars of cap space, as we had to. If the deals had gone through, it would have risen to about 20 million."

Next up for the team is the awaiting for the day that players can officially announce their retirement from the IHOF. M.IJ.B. "We're not expecting to Merchantmen players fill the papers, yet they have the rights to do it anonymously, thus we won't know for sure until tomorrow." The Merchantmen management has listed seven players as potential retirees:
* Defensive end Scot Dick, who turns 30 before the 2007, yet is already a nineth year pro football player and suffered a torn rotator cuff during the 2006 season.
* Offensive tackle Wilson Grimaldo, who turns 34 just before the 2007 season starts.
* Quarterback Shane Bower, who will turn 34 in May 2007.
* Linebacker Josh Weisberg, who will turn 34 in February 2007.
* Safety Richard Muller, who will turn 30 during the 2007 season and missed the 2006 season due to repetitive concussion syndrome. Muller is expected to miss the entire 2007 season and might also miss the start of the 2008 season.
* Quarterback Justin McDavid, who just turned 26 during the playoffs of the 2006 season, he's still recovering from ACL knee surgery and is undecided on whether he'll try to make a comeback in the IHOF.
* Guard Lane Stedman, who turns 33 in the 2007 season and has been unhappy with his role on the Merchantmen roster as a backup and mentor to the young starters.

With that, the search for a new head coach has started and the team will soon announce the name of the new candidate. After the relative success of the team in the past seasons, they team feels a big desire to try to maintain Leroy Van Der Woude as head coach, yet it's uncertain whether there will be competition. Maybe the team will try to persude a free agent, like Arnie Hardee, who left the Conyers Condors after their conference championship year, or Floyd Seba, who was defensive coordinator with the Merchantmen during the 2004 season and has been unemplyed since the end of that season. Other candidates could be people with current employment in the IHOF at other teams, like San Antonio's head coach Robert Franz, Fairbanks' head coach Reggie Burton, Springfield's head coach Billy Richmond or Forth Worth's defensive coordinator Vinny Jarvis.

[MIJB#19]

League News: North Plainfield Plague win IHOF Bowl III
In a sold-out stadium in Oklahoma City, the North Plainfield Palgue captured the IHOF league title in a thrilling 10-7 victory over the Chesapeake Chitterlings. Linebacker Ethan Mills took the MVP honors with some big defensive plays. The Plague take their first title and are the first Atlantic Ocean Conference representative to win it all.

Looking at the stats, the Chitterlings offense was the better part of the game, but three missed field goals from rookie Ike Settles, including a 26-yard attempt when trailing 0-3, it was a tough game to win. And with special teams stand out punter Jon Middelton keeping the Plague moving forward time-after time, the Plague overcame being outscored 3:2 in yardage and losing the turnover battle 0-2.

Chesapeake quaterback Jaime Canter had a great game, as he kpet his men going all game with 273 yards passing and no interceptions. But Canter's day was spoiled by mainly one guy: North Plainfield's Ethan Mills. The strong-side linebacker recorded 6 tackles and 3.5 sacks. His last sack was the crucial big play to end the game. With Chesapeake trailing 7-10, they had 2 seconds on the clock at their own 15 yard-line to go for a Hail Mary pass. Mills took advantage of the exhausted left tackle Mort Smithson and ended the game in his own style, by taking Canter down to the green layer and finish the game.

Most of the fans and league pundits were disappointed by the low scoring effort, as the two teams had ranking first (North Plainfield) and second (Chesapeake) in scoring after the regular season. But the real experts knew that this was a game between arguably the two strongest defenses in the league and not the battle between two of the elite quarterbacks.

All IHOF selection David Conti was clearly not able to fight such a strong defense, as he completed just 10 of 23 passes for 109 yards and 1 interception. In return, Conti did record a touchdown pass, to show his excellent skills with a big play when it counted, to take a 10-0 lead midway the third quarter.

The loser of the game was clearly Chesapeake kicker Ike Settles. The rookie kicker was called out four times to pull his trick. In the regular season, Settles had amazed people by scoring on 19 of 24 field goal attepmts and converting a a league high 44 of 44 extra points. But in maybe the most important game of his career,the lack of power in his leg was worldwide broadcasted. Settles never scored a longer kick than a 47-yarder and thus it was not to be expected to see him convert a 43-yard and a especially a potential score-tying 48-yarder with less than two minutes left in the game. But in the end, his miss from 26 yards away was a big mistake and some sources around the league predict that the undrafted rookie will be playing elsewhere or even be out of professional football during IHOF Bowl IV.

With the victory for North Plainfield, the Plague are the first Atlantic Ocean Conference representative to win it all. Over the past three seasons, three North American Conference's seemed to have dominated the IHOF. But where the Fairbanks NorthStars (2004) and Ann Arbor Anachronism (2005) took the highest crown, the Chesapeake Chitterlings choked in their attempt to show they are on te same level. The North Plainfield Plague take their first title to demonstrate their dominance in the AOC over the first three seasons of the IHOF. The Plague have won the Northeast division three times in a row. The Northeast is arguably the strongest division in the entire league, with a league high eight winning records in three years.

And now on to the 2007 season. The league is anxiously awaiting the possible retirement of star players. Three IHOF Bowl quarterbacks, Norm Rizzo (Telluride, lost the final in 2004), Donald Woods (Ann Arbor, 2005) and Jaime Canter (Chesapeake, 2006) are in the age group where they might decide to call it a game. Another IHOF Bowl quarterback, Joey Allen (Fairbanks, 2004), suffered a serious back injury and his role in the IHOF for the future is in jeopardy too, despite him turning only 30 a few days before the 2007 starts.

In the meanwhile, young David Conti gets ready for a repeat. Conti is only 24 years old and is now the favorite to be the first playcaller to win the IHOF Bowl twice.

[MIJB#19]

Fumblin' Justin returning to Maassluis in 2007
The requests for retirement papers arrived in the IHOF league office today and there was good news for the Maassluis Merchantmen: none of the 53 players under contract filed the papers. That means that the long-term injured players Justin McDavid and Richard Muller will both return.

Sadly the first reports on Justin McDavid's health are not so positive. The scouting staff thinks that McDavid can succeed as a professional football player, but the knee injury he suffered has hurt him bad enough to not be a starting calibre player and will have a hard time making the final 53-men roster for the 2007 season. The Merchantmen management wants to acknowledge that McDavid's salary may be a concern, but that his popularity with the fans could be an important reason to give him a reasonable shot at the third string role.

Richard Muller is expected to miss 20 weeks, according to the medical staff, meaning the free safety will miss the preseason and 14 games of the season. What Muller's role will be for the Merchantmen is not sure yet, but it could be that he will be placed on injured reserve at the start of pre-season or on the 53-men roster cut day.

All other players who were listed as potential retiring players didn't fill the papers either and will return to Maassluis for the upcoming season, barring trades or releases. Two former Merchantmen players did make an announced retirement though. Fullback Vincent Lopez, traded to Boulder last off-season, played two seasons in Maassluis. Cornerback Angel Tong spent a few weeks on the Merchantmen roster during the 2005 season, yet moved to Astoria as a free agent and retired a Hero. Last but not least, none of the famous quarterbacks retired, except Brian Hartsock from the RayCo Raiders.

[MIJB#19]

Editor's Note: Season Reviews
Just like after the 2005 season, I've written season reviews conference-by-conference, division-by-division, team-by-team. I hope everyone enjoys them as much as last season. By the way, the color schemes are created by the commish (VPI97), I've simply inserted the text.

Links:
Atlantic Ocean Conference Reviews
North American Conference Reviews

[MIJB#19]

John Bryant traded to Georgia Gridlock
Today the Maassluis Merchantmen and Georgia Gridlock announced the trade of John Bryant from Maassluis to Georgia for a fifth round pick in the 2007 draft. The deal had been agreed on during thw playoffs, yet the league administration is against announcing trades before the league commish is able to process the trades.

Bryant has been a first minute member of the Merchantmen roster, starting in all of the first 32 games the franchise played. In three years, Bryant played in 47 games, starting 37 of those. He made 149 tackles and 15.0 sacks in those games. Last season Bryant lost the starting job battle to seventh round pick and then rookie Andy Weliczka. This move also means that Stanley Jacke, who spent the 2006 season on injured reserve and 2005 on the inactive roster, has a better chance to play in a Merchantmen game again, for the first time since week 17 of the 2004 season.

With this trade, the Merchantmen create about 1.5 million of cap room, factoring in the salary of the selected rookie with the pick, and will mean a cap hit of 1.8 million for the 2008 season.

With this trade, the Merchantmen will have a league high 12 draft picks in the 2007 draft, as much as the Fairbanks NorthStars, including eight picks in the fifth round. But knowing the management better, this situation probably won't be reality when the draft starts.

[MIJB#19]

General manager notes
Alright people, the trade talking is going on right now.
This season, I'm not going to give in as easily as I used to. I feel we have very little needs and things to do to make the next big step forward. Having a healthy Tai Wayne will be pretty crucial for possible success.

I've finalized negotiations for a deal with another team, yet they need to resolve their cap situation a bit to be able to acquire a player from our team. I tell you, this deal is a pretty big one for both sides. But since I have full confidence in the other team getting the cap room in time, this trade will go through. I'll explain how all went and such after the trade is announced and confirmed. But to give you a little bit of a teaser, this deal took a lot of negotiating and I have had second thoughts on finally giving the go ahead with a "Let do this deal".

I've also been involved in an interesting trade negotiations with another team that will help out both sides a bit. But since both ends are not giving in right now, despite us being very close to a deal, this thing can still blow off so I can't give details at this moment. From the sidelines, it's interesting to see who will give in first...

Other things to note?
Well, with Fumblin' Justin turned into a career 3rd stringer at best, it's really a tough decission to make when we start negotiating with players to get a huge 21M cap problem resolved. That includes the expected cost for draft picks, which should be resolved as we're clearly trying to trade all four second rounders (rated at about 1M) for just one 2007 first round pick and a couple of future picks.

More to note?
We're probably going to say goodbye to a few other players this off-season who are not listed on the trade block.
* DE Scot Dick, contributed with his pass rush, yet I feel confident that Omar Gougeon can do that too and with Albert Bernardo and Britt Bycroft also signed, Dick would be a backup. With his salary, he's too expensive to ride the bench, even in our pass rush rotation.
* WR David Henkel, big-play guy who excelled at the Vicksburg Vipers, especially in 2005. Maybe I should give him another year to get used to the system, yet I have little hope he will work out as the #3 receiver I thought he could be. And then, we're not using the multiple wide-outs sets a lot, to keep our outstanding receiving backs and tight end involved a lot.
* OT Wilson Grimaldo. I see you thinking "WTF?" Well, the guy is pretty old and might have been the key to our excellent year of pass protection (28 sacks allowed), yet when he was missiing due to injury, the team won three games in a row, two of those games were at home against eventual 10-6 teams. I might go the route to try to get a high draft pick and pick a young offensive tackle to fill his job, but right now I don't have a first rounder and Grimaldo's age won't help me get a 1st for him up straight.

"I pick Omarosa!" We really need to find someone else to do the finances, we've been losing money the past season ($10.8M) and our fan base has made a hit too (-7,000 fans per game), despite us being very hot as a playoff contender for most of the season. We didn't make much more money with the new ticket prices, so we might keep them at the current figures and hoping that inflation will make the tickets look more attractive and draw a bigger audience.

And now the important issue, our head coaching job. Well, we haven't hired a new head coach yet, but we are confident we'll get the guy we wanted. I've tried to come up with a good strategy to get 'our guy', but clearly I can't tell you whether we made him an offer yet and whether it is indeed the old head coach, Leroy Van Der Woude. Let's hope I have more news, being good news pretty soon.

Oh, and then another thing, the legendary Gene Simmons, who I tried to acquire in the 2005 off-season, the guy who was the best offensive linemen in the IHOF in 2004 and 2005, he's released by the Rochester Lake Monsters. What's up? Well, Simmons suffered a serious injury and didn't quite come out of it very well. He's still able to play football, but not at the level we were used to see him on. He was scheduled to make 4.5M bucks, which the Lake Monsters didn't want to spend on a career backup. He's now seeking about 5M over 3 years, perhaps the Merchantmen can finally get the guy we always wanted to have, although only as a backup. And honestly, even at his new level, he'd still have been a starter for the 2004 Merchantmen, a playing backup in 2005 and a 3rd stringer in 2006. But in 2007, we're looking for another step forward and Simmons might miss the quality now.

Back to the negotiations table, I've got a few other talks started as well. And no, the "Masters of Trading" won't be making 25 trades this off-season. At this point, I think 10 deals is the over/under. Make your best now!

[MIJB#19]

Editor's note: What happened to Fumblin' Justin?
For the fans, here's a link to three scouting reports on Fumblin' Justin.
The reports are snapshot at three different stages in his career:
* the save game right after the game where McDavid suffered his knee injury, week 11 of 2005
* the save game right after the 2006 training camp
* the save game right after the 2007 season start

Link: hxxp://merchantmen.defense.com/mcdavid.htm
(Just replace hxxp with http, I think the Merchantmen website is worksafe, but you never know for sure these days. )

[MIJB#19]

Merchantmen back at it, announce four trades
Yesterday evening, the Maassluis Merchantmen and three other teams involved announced four trades. With these trades four Merchantmen players are given a new home, while four other players are coming over from across the Atlantic Ocean. Additionally, the Merchantmen received and dealt away draft picks. Let's breakdown the trades one-by-one.

First announced was that defensive end Scot Dick is moving back to France. After a stint with the Bordeaux Vineyards in 2004 and 2005, the Paris Musketeers are his new home. Paris gave up their 2009 third round pick and traded down from third to twenty-first in the fifth round of the 2007 draft.

Second announced was that cornerback Gus Stoffers will move to the Outer Banks Ospreys. In return, tight end Arnold Ramirez will go to the orange-white-and-blue.

Third trade was again with the Outer Banks Opspreys. Defensive end Ian Degrange is leaving Maassluis, but in return cornerback Danny Person is flying in from the States. Additionally, the Ospreys trade up in the fifth round of the 2007 draft from thirty-second to seventeenth, while they give up their 2008 fifth round pick too. Most importantly, the Ospreys receive the seventh pick in the second round of the 2007 draft for their own second round pick in 2009.

Last trade announced was the biggest one and which had been finalized for a few days before announcing. Offensive tackle Wilson Grimaldo will move to the Vicksburg Vipers, while offensive tackle Cornelius Rice and return specialist-wide receiver Emmanuel Jennings go the other way. Additionally, the Vipers give up their second round picks in 2008 and 2009 for the nineth pick in the second round of the 2007 draft, the Vipers trade down from seventh to twenty-eight in the fifth round of the 2007 draft and the Vipers get the 2009 third rounder from Maassluis for their fifth rounder in 2008.

Dick, Degrange and Stoffers were all 2006 off-season additions to the Merchantmen, yet the management clearly saw no big roles for them in 2007. The trade of Wilson Grimaldo is amazing as the Merchantmen General manager M.IJ.B. recently declared that Grimaldo was one of his 'Players of the Year'. M.IJ.B.: "Dick would be an overpaid backup, easy decission. Degrange was a locker room problem and was only traded for those reasons. Stoffers would be a backup with the return of Wayne and improvement shown by Stidham. Tight end Ramirez will give us a decent backup again, cronerback Person will be our new secondary leader and backup starter. Jennings will be our new return specialist and Rice will take the spot we open with the trade of Grimaldo. Grimaldo has been a key member, but I wanted a younger guy starting, plus his high cap figure made it easier to part ways with him."

The Merchantmen project to still be $10.7M over the cap, but claim they will resolve the issue in a timely fashion to make the Degrange for Person trade. The trading of picks mean the Merchantmen have added two second rounders in 2009, while they will now have three second rounders and eight fifth rounders in 2008. The 2007 situation sees two mid second rounders and no less than eight fifth rounders, including five located in the top eight of that round. M.IJ.B.: "We're still hoping to get a first round pick for the two second rounders. For the bunch of fifth rounders, you will have to wait and see what we'll do with those picks."

[fantastic flying froggies]

Let the Trading Madness begin!!!

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by fantastic flying froggies

Let the Trading Madness begin!!!

I'm still planning to do about 10 trades max, with 5 done already.
But then, I somehow suspect it will turn out to be 10 before the draft, 1 or 2 during the draft and about 5 after the draft, for a total of about 15.

[MIJB#19]

General manager notes
A little insight on the announced trades here.

OT Wilson Grimaldo has been a key element on the OL in 2006 and I fear we'll give up 40 sacks next season, rathen than the 28 we gave up. If Rice turns out to be the real thing, this trade was wort it. All we still need to do is figure out whether Dunkin is good enough to be the primairy backup OL player or whether we'll need a new backup, like Kerry McLaurin turned out to be for us.

DE Scot Dick was a good player, but he was simply a temporary solution. When we got Omar Gougeon in the draft, the need for him was gone and now I've been able to deal him away for a 3rd rounder and also managed to trade up in the 5th round of the draft.

DE Ian Degrange has great potential, but with him simply not fitting in with chemistry, he wouldn't get playing time here to develop. Sadly, but it just wouldn't work with him on the line.

CB Gus Stoffers was a good fill-in. He was the initial guy to side with Tai Wayne, but then Wayne got injured and Johnnie Stidham broke out with 7 interceptions. Sure, Stoffers contributed in a way, but he would be a backup and doesn't have the interception skills to show for it, unlike our other backups Desmond Craig and Myron Stevens.

Now the future additions:
WR Emmanuel Jennings will give us more room for the returning duties. With him we'll have two punt returners and two kick returners rather than one. I believe in special teams and reserving roster spots for it.

RT Cornelius Rice was a second round pick for Vicksburg and I think he can work out here. He should be interesting for chemistry and has the skill level to at least not be the weakest link on the link in pass protection or run blocking.

CB Danny Person is a man-to-man coverage standout, but the guy will also be a great new secondary leader and should be a decent replacement when either Wayne or Stidham gets injured.

TE Arnold Ramirez will finally give us a good backup behind Jim Reiser. Sure, we had good old Jerry Aubrey in the past, but he was, well, old. And the Charlies Burley and Martins just don't do it. Burley is exclusively a pass catcher, he can't block, while Martins can't do either well, but yet is an excellent long snapper.

Also, I feel pretty happy with the new draft situation. In 2008 we now have enough picks to make an impact then, if we need to, but we also added two 2nd rounders in 2009, when I initially planned the required rebuilding. But with Grimaldo traded at a dead cap friendly timing, we might not be forced in a big rebuilding mode, but rather will still be looking for a big offensive tackle to replace Harold Hurtado at some point. And in the 2007 draft, I will still try to get a (low) 1st rounder and start focussing on the fifth round of the draft, wait and see what's available there.

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

In the meanwhile, young David Conti gets ready for a repeat. Conti is only 24 years old and is now the favorite to be the first playcaller to win the IHOF Bowl twice.

Let's hope so. He didn't play too well in the IHOF Bowl, so I think he's hoping he'll get a chance to really show his stuff on the big stage again.

Great stuff as always, I love reading through this thread from time to time. It's so well done.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

Let's hope so. He didn't play too well in the IHOF Bowl, so I think he's hoping he'll get a chance to really show his stuff on the big stage again.

Great stuff as always, I love reading through this thread from time to time. It's so well done.

It's always nice to read compliments.

It'll be intersting to see how the Plague will move in the offseason. Like I wrote in the season review, there's nowhere but to go down now (and that basically refers to your own words. )

[MIJB#19]

Gossip News: Where's the new Merchantmen headcoach?
It's week three of the staff hiring period in the IHOF and two teams haven't signed a headcoach yet. The Maassluis Merchantmen clearly tried to keep Leroy Van Der Woude around, but they seem to be in a bidding war with an undisclosed team. The rumor are that the coach-less San Antonio Volunteers, who where 12-4 division winners and the AOC runners' up, are the other team bidding. But why don't the Merchantmen have a plan B?

Well, we here they do have a Plan B. The guy is called Dana Bailey and was the offensive coordinator in Paris last season. The Merchantmen management didn't want to comment on this gossip, but we're pretty sure they offered Bailey a two-year contract to fill the void as they seem to expect Van Der Woude to sign with the Volunteers.

But why Bailey? The guy pretty much ruined the career of 'Super' Mario Hudson. Well, maybe there you have it. It's well known league wide that the Merchantmen had their eye on Hudson in 2005, yet saw their rivals Paris trade up to get the guy and the Merchantmen settled with Leonard Lyon. We all know where that guy hangs out these days, being the handoff guy to Huey Gervais' successor Raymond Flowers in Springfield.

Bailey is said to be a type of coach just like Van Der Woude, yet a much older version at the age of 63. Van Der Woude is only 39 years young. Van Der Woude has the futurew and could be an elite headcoach for he ages.

But maybe the Merchantmen's so called "Plan B" refers to Reggie Burton. Burton is 64 years old, yet was the headcoach for the Fairbanks NorthStars the past three seasons. We all know how that worked out, the NorthStars were the first champs in 2004 and still hold the best single season record with a 15-1 record in 2005. But the downfall after injury to Joey Allen pretty much cost Burton his reputation and the NorthStars suffered a record 36-10 loss in Maassluis last season, against the league's worst defense.

Or maybe they're aiming for 41-year old Bernard Leaf. The guy would be new to the league, yet the experts say he's a good play caller, and knows about everything something, except that he has no clue what kind of techniques defensive linemen use.

The last candidate is said to be Billy Richmond. The guy coached the Springfield Isotopes to a 12-36 record, yet people do rate him as a good coach. Only his offensive play calling seems to be off at times.

The options are numerous, but the fans are calling the management out. The rumors that Fumblin' Justin would have to leave the Merchantmen after injury gives little respect and the management has to solve something there. The announced trade of defensive end Scot Dick, a popular player around the league, not in the last place with his last name, he's traded to the arch rivals from Paris. And now there are rumors that wide receiver Bryce Ewald would be traded next, after the already announced trade of moderately popular guys like defensive tackle John Bryant and offensive tackle Wilson Grimaldo.

But now, the coaching job has to be given to someone. The Merchantmen have screened the candidates and they've said they made an offer to one guy today. Who it is, we'll hear later on, but we suspect that they indeed have given up on Van Der Woude and that "Plan B" referes the the first digit of a first name or last name. Our favorite: Reggie Burton. Keep reading Gossip News and you'll find out who it is.

[MIJB#19]

Press Release: Merchantmen try to keep Fumblin' Justin
The Maassluis Merchantmen management wants to let the fans around the IHOF and especially the Merchantmen fans know that Fumblin' Justin McDavid isn't written off as of yet. The management want to point out that it is too early to draw conclussion out of McDavid's return from injury in a state we are not known to see with the fan favorite. McDavid will not be released before the pre-season starts.

When Justin McDavid suffered a serious knee injury in week 11 the 2005 season at the Gothenburg Giants, people around the league feared for McDavid's retirement. McDavid decided to return for the 2006 season so spend the year on injured reserve and at the start of the 2007 season the fan favorite to the Maassluis Merchantmen fans has called in for duty in the heart of Europort.

The Merchantmen scouting staff has reported that McDavid won't reach the level of play the fans got used to and will never reach the potential he was said to have. Still, the Merchantmen management understands that McDavid has become a popular player and is important for the fan base. The management believes that with his experience and popularity, McDavid will be a worthy number three quarterback.

With that statement, that doesn't mean that McDavid is a lock for making the 53-men roster. The competition with Shane Bower, Mel Atkins and and Dominic Lynch for the two or three spots behind Louie Flannery as backup quarterbacks will be big. The team has even sent out a league wide message that Atkins, Bower or McDavid could be available in a trade.

As McDavid has a cap figure of $2.67 million the team does have to make a choice here. The management wants to let the fans know that at this rate, McDavid is too expensive to ride the bench. The management will soon start negotiating with McDavid's agent Leland Hanks to make sure that McDavid will have a chance in the upcoming training camp to make the 60-men pre-season roster and eventually the 53-men regular season roster.

Last, but not least, the earlier announced trades of expensive players like Wilson Grimaldo and Scot Dick could help to maintain Justin McDavid as a Merchantmen. In the original plans, Grimaldo's salary was taken into account as being part of the cap situation, but with him traded there might be room to keep McDavid around and to save other fan favorites from leaving the team. As soon as there is more news, the Merchantmen will let the fans know.

[MIJB#19]

Merchantmen Bring Van Der Woude Back, Hire New Coordinator
Good news in the heart of the world harbor today, the Maassluis Merchantmen managed to get headcoach Leroy Van Der Woude to sign a five-year contract to keep the succes coach around. In addition, the Merchantmen hired a new defensive coordinator in Bernie Hicks.

Leroy Van Der Woude, 39 years young and the apparent crownprince in the coaching department. He's been mentioned as the one guy who lead the once laughing stock of the IHOF to .500 land and helped the team in 2005 to a then record turnaround season from 1-15 to 7-9. With the team reaching 8-8, despite having a roster that was tagged as the worst in the AOC, Van Der Woude was given the confidence of the Merchantmen management. Today, Van Der Woude signed a five-year contract, which means the team won't have to worry about the need to hire a new coach.

Bernie Hicks was the surprise announcement of the day. Hicks is already 66 years old, but the Merchantmen management expect that the former Tucker Tigers offensive coordinator will be an important guy in the continued improvement of the defense. It also ment the termination of Kim Johannsen at this role, but the young talented coordinator was immediately hired by the Columbus Architects through the 2009 season.

With Van Der Woude and Hicks on the team, the Merchantmen have sealed up their staff members through the 2010 season. General manager M.IJ.B. claims that no job is safe: "Well, with the deals done for so long, we have a guaranteed continuation of team support. But if it turns out that one of the guys is making a mess of his job, we won't hesistate to hire someone else. Plus, we don't expect to see either lead scout Gabe Avila or defensive coordinator Bernie Hicks to not retire by 2010." Next up is the job to managing the roster to an extend where the team will be able to make a more serious run for the playoffs than the one failed attempt in the 2006 season.

[MIJB#19]

General manager notes
I'm delighted to have Leroy Van Der Woude back. The guy is a very good play caller in both areas and with his young age, I hope he'll be excellent in one or both of these areas before the end of his cotract.

Bernie Hicks will be a little improvement over Kim Johannsen. Hicks is excellent with young talent, which should be good for us. Especially as he's excellent with linebackers and we have two guys in Cody Cluff and Mike Kershner who really could use a teacher. With Hicks being 'only' average in the two other areas, the young defensive linemen and backs might see a set back, but if Hicks really is so excellent with youngsters, it should work out okay after all. And he also knows more about kickers than any previous coordinator we ever had.

Now comes the ticket prices and franchise tag period, yet we won't be too active here. We're probably freezing the prices as the drop of attendance (-9%!) is worrying and we really can't use more loss of fans. In that regard we will really have to strive to keep Fumblin' Justin McDavid around, the guy is an idol to so many fans. The franchise tag won't be an issue since we've got no unrestricted free agents and the restricted free agents are not worth concideration, if you ask me. C Bubba Kearney, DE Britt Bycroft, FL Donovan Bradley, SS Earnest Atkins and FB Greg Berk all might be willing to sign a new deal before the draft. We 'only' have to create cap room for them in a timely fashion.

[Kodos]

Did you break the news about poor ol' Gene Simmons?

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Did you break the news about poor ol' Gene Simmons?

Yup...

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

Oh, and then another thing, the legendary Gene Simmons, who I tried to acquire in the 2005 off-season, the guy who was the best offensive linemen in the IHOF in 2004 and 2005, he's released by the Rochester Lake Monsters. What's up? Well, Simmons suffered a serious injury and didn't quite come out of it very well. He's still able to play football, but not at the level we were used to see him on. He was scheduled to make 4.5M bucks, which the Lake Monsters didn't want to spend on a career backup. He's now seeking about 5M over 3 years, perhaps the Merchantmen can finally get the guy we always wanted to have, although only as a backup. And honestly, even at his new level, he'd still have been a starter for the 2004 Merchantmen, a playing backup in 2005 and a 3rd stringer in 2006. But in 2007, we're looking for another step forward and Simmons might miss the quality now.

[MIJB#19]

General manager notes
Yay, the 2006 general manager awards are in and...
Nothing, again.

Well, not hat we had any candidates, although Charles Gomez made a strong case for Defensive Player of the Year, yet the competition was very big.

Our best bet was our fourth best wide receiver Devin Henson. Henson return two kickoffs for a score, scored on a fumble recovery and didn't record a fumble while he returned kickoffs for 25.7 yards per return. The league mentioned him and, probably boosted by my own vote for him, Henson was tied for being the runner-up in the Special Teams Player of the Year category. Winner was four times fumbler, not including his IHOF Bowl mistake, and three times touchdown scoring punt returner Davis Cole from the champs, the North Plainfield Plague.

Other awards?
Best GM went to Boulder Blizzard GM Blackadar, who guided his team to the best turnaround in league history with +10 wins, including a playoff win on the road, outdoing our own second best all-time at +6. (Indeed, I ended up second in this voting after our amazing season).

The player awards weren't such a big surprizes. Even though I personally voted on a different guy in every single category, go figure how odd that is.

[MIJB#19]

General manager notes
Exciting moments are coming up, today will be another important day in the future of the IHOF.

The 2007 draft class will be revealed, teams will announce their free agents and all team will get a single shot at re-negotiating contracts with as much players as possible to get under the cap in time for free agency and the first couple of trades could be processed after those negotiations.

I will be taking special note to which players will be available from the fifth round down. It'll be a gamble to rely on fifth round picks, but I just don't see much need for using high draft picks on new players with the players we have today. Last season was different, we needed to get a hot prospect quarterback as I didn't dare to rely on Leonard Lyon or a 100% healthy return of Justin McDavid (it paid off, in a way).

Sure, we could use a hot guy in the first round, I still hope to turn the two remaining second rounders into a first rounder, but it's not a necessity. The only reall needs we might have are a future replacement for Harold Hurtado, but maybe we'll be lucky and get a potential starting left tackle in the second round who would immediately be our backup at guard and right tackle. Other needs still are a backup running back, a deep-thread wide receiver, maybe a run stopping defensive tackle and maybe another shutdown cornerback, although I have confidence in both Tai Wayne and Johnnie Stidham there.

The biggest risk still is giving up Grimaldo. With McDavid starting, we could risk having a shaky pass protection. McDavid has the eye and intelligence to see the pass rush thread and had the speed to avoid a problem on first or second downs. The newby Louie Flannery doesn't come with that skill. Also, we really need a deep threat wide receiver to make Flan's additional value as long passes throwing guy pay off. Gregory Monti and Bryce Ewald lack that deep threat, while David Henkel seems to not be the solution either. Our backs and tight ends can't be trusted to do that either, so we might try to get such a guy this draft.

Go ahead other owners, read this stuff, you never know where I have a trade with someone else set up to fit the needs anyway...

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes
Good news from the Netherlands, we've started negotiations with 25 players to extend contracts and in a few cases to just drop the cap figure for this season. The players who are about to be shipped back to the States have gone untouched and when the smoke of all trades today has been cleared, we could be in a more than healthy cap situation at around $2.5M under the cap. That's right: almost $20M better than where we were.

Fumblin' Justin McDavid has said to be willing to give up about 1.5M in his salary figures, without asking for a signing bonus. Wow, talking of loyalty. How can we now release this guy? The fans adore him, no way McDavid is going back to the States, let alone to Sweden or France.

Wow, the freed salary cap figure means that, with draft picks even taken into account, we might make a splashing move in free agency. Not that we have much needs or that the market has some interesting players, because there are about 10 free agents who could make an impact. Of all the free agents, we've listed about 20 who can be decent signings, but more importantly, we've identified 5 players who deserve concideration to be offered a contract. No, no names here and two or three of these guys would mean that we'd be making just a small upgrade at some important roster spots, but I've found three players who could make an impact. Knowing the market, we're probably not going to be able to sign these five guys anyway and of we could get two, we'd have made a big impact.

The draft class is revealed and at this moment I'm not quite sure what to think. The league all around is thrilled about this being a great class, with a lot of interesting quarterbacks, but I have yet too see which of those passer can really make an impact. There are two real franchise type guys in Chris Donaldson and Nate Sutter, but the second of the two is reported as lacking something called "timing". The third guy that should be going in the top three is running back Randy Reagor, who according to my scout would immediately be a top three back in the league, isn't that something?

Our needs and draft solutions? I think it's a slim chance. there's one awesome WR in Jonathan Adams, with about three other wide outs who would fit the picture of the type of guy I'm looking for. But then, that would be their potentials. At left tackle, the top prospect is Donald Cook. The guy needs a year or three to develop, lacks the endurance to really make an impact here and is scouted to have a very high volatility. I wonder who will even dare to draft this guy. There are other offensive tackle who could make a splashing entree here, though, and I might concidering picking one, if we'll be able to get a draft pick high enough to get such a guy. And you know me, I always get two guys to fill one need, one in a trade, one in the draft, so the guy will have to beat incoming Cornelius Rice for the job.

How about defensive tackle? Well, there are four guys who caught my eye and I dare to bet one of them will be there at the mid second round. There's also a Andy Weliczka type of guy around, A typical run stopper with high stamina called Shaun Billig. We will also need a new defensive end, or two, with Degrange and Dick moving out. The top five prospects don't fit the Merchantmen worthy profile, but I'm comfident we'll be able to get such a guy in the fifth round.

And last but not least, cornerback will again be a need position. I've seen enough guys who would fit the Merchantmen profile for a cornerback and we might try to get such a guy. But not before the fifth round.

Oh yeah, that fifth round, what are the Merchantmen going to do with all those picks there? No, it's still to early to tell, I'm not done with the plan there and won't give too much away anyway.

[MIJB#19]

Merchantmen Present First 2007 Addition, Negotiate Contracts
The Maassluis Merchantmen have been trading again and the first addition was today presented at the Merchantmen headquarters. Tight end Arnold Ramirez was acquired in a trade with the Outer Banks Ospreys for cornerback Gus Stoffers and arrived to town. Ramirez will be wearing the #89 jersey and should be the new backup tight end to Jim Reiser. In 31 games with the Ospreys, Ramirez made 19 receptions and scored 4 touchdowns. He should also be a reliable run blocker on goal line plays.

The Merchantmen management also worked out new contracts with 32 players. Most notable were three-year contract extentions to wide receiver Gregory Monti and cornerback Johnnie Stidham. Next in line was a big salary cut that Justin McDavid agreed to make, which will likely help him to make the 53-men roster at the season start. Also important was the new contract running back Jonathan Smith agreed with, which helped him to get withdrawn from the trading block.

All the moves in total freed about $16 million in cap room. With expected additional negotiations and the trade of offensive tackle Wilson Grimaldo, the Merchantmen management expects to have enough cap room to use one draft pick in the top two rounds and add a bunch of players in the fifth round.

Two trades were postponed today as the Vicksburg Vipers came short to free up enough cap room to acquire Wilson Grimaldo today. This non-trade also ment the postponement of the trade that should bring in cornerback Danny Person and see defensive end Ian Degrange leave the team.

In another trade, defensive end Scot Dick did move to the Paris Musketeers. This mean that for he second year in a row, the Merchantmen will face a former defensive end in week one against a divisional rival. It also kept a good tradition alive between the Merchantmen and the Musketeers to make a trade in each off-season, not counting the relative short off-season prior of the 2004 season.

[MIJB#19]

Gossip News: Merchantmen Lose Their Face
No, Fumblin' Justin isn't going anywhere, but so isn't anyone else. The story of the off-season is one of big trades, but the Merchantmen are not involved, at all. The only big deal they made was shipping tackle Wilson Grimaldo to the Vicksburg Vipers, yet today another team announced two big deal that put Maassluis in a huge shadow: the Conyers Condors acquired the top two pick in the upcoming draft.

Let's start with that big one, the Condors and getting the top picks. Going into the off-season, the Condors held three first round picks including the #4 overall. Today they traded their franchise player, quarterback Everett 'Aces' Glenn, with the #13 overall for the #1 overall from the San Luis Obispo Burn. Then they sent the #4 and #21 picks to the Springfield Isoptopes for the #2 and now they have a shot at getting the top two prospects: quarterback Chris Donaldson and running back Randy Reagor.

With all the news, the Merchantmen have gone to the international news pages, out of sight. Has the management lost the trade of trading? We keep hearing that this team is ready, but from 8-8 with te best players traded away, the next step isn't a championship ring, at all.

For once, the Merchantmen management was willing to respond, but we think it might be to get back in the headlines. General manager M.IJ.B. explained: "The team is set, we've got the players to make a jump forward. All we do is trading overpaid backups and the risky Grimaldo. We have made our splashing moves in the past, to get Tai Wayne and Louie Flannery. Randy Harris was here and we hope to make two more big additions this offseason." Liar.

Gossip News knows better, they guy has lost it. We hear how much he didn't make more trades because he got older and realized he can't trade everything away. Here's a wakeup call for you, the Merchantmen have already enmassed over ten million bucks in dead cap space. Ten million! Way to go, guys, have fun in .500 land. And now on to Georgia, where it's happening these days. The three teams there are the trade masters of this season and the traditional trade-a-holics Maassluis and the North Plainfield Plague are only making little deals. Don't expect more news from the Netherlands any day soon...

[MIJB#19]

Merchantmen Present New Faces
With the conclusion of trades and the first freeagent signings, the Maassluis Merchantmen present the latest addititions to the team. With trades processed, the departure of tackle Wilson Grimaldo and defensive end Ian Degrange was official. Who are the new faces? Keep reading!

Brian Hammond - left guard, free agent from the Outer Banks Ospreys
Hammond was part of the Huey Gervais show in Springfield, starting 7 of 28 games. In those games he made 12 key run blocks and was a bit of a pass protection leak. In 2006 Hammond was an important player for the Outer Banks Ospreys, where he started 12 of 16 games. With 22 key run blocks and 6 sacks he played well. In Maassluis, Hammond will be the backup and mentor to young prospects Butch "Bruce" White and "Tiny Tim" Lacy.

Emmanuel Jennings - return specialist, traded from the Vicksburg Vipers
Jennings missed the 2006 entirely, but did see action in the 2005 season. In 3 starts in 13 games, the wide receiver scored 1 touchdown. His trade is returning and with 6.0 yards per punt return and 18.7 yards per kickoff return he's a good specialist. With 5 fumbles, he does make a risky play. Still, we needed a guy to line-up side-by-side with Drew Henson and Matt Offord.

Johnny Meadows - defensive tackle, free agent from the Outer Banks Ospreys
Meadows was drafted by the Minnesota Miners in 2007, seven picks behind the Merchantmen's Andy Weliczka. He didn't get to play there and got released later on. In Maassluis he's going to battle it out with Stanley Jacke for the backup roles and with whomever the team might draft.

Danny Person - cornerback, traded from the Outer Banks Ospreys
Person returns to Europe this season. Person started his career with the Paris Musketeers, but then got traded to the Syracuse Mohawks after 4 games. The last two seasons he spent on the Outer Banks Ospreys roster. Person started 22 games there, in which he recorded 1 interception and 65 tackles. Person should be the new leader in Maassluis of the secondary, yet the arise of a conflict with star Tai Wayne doesn't bode well for him to stay very long.

Cornelius Rice - offensive tackle, traded from the Vicksburg Vipers
Rice struggled a bit with the Vicksburg Vipers, but with 17 key run blocks and 8 sack allowed, Rice did make himself noticed in 14 starts in two years. In Maassluis he's got to fill the shoes of big name Wilson Grimaldo, but the Merchantmen might try to get another offensive tackle to put the pressure on Rice to perform.

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes
Yay, I can still do it. Within an hour I struck three deals and in that I send a pick from team A to team B and another pick from team B to team C. In the trades, we're sending away the 2.17 pick, 5.32 pick and QB Dominic Lynch and get future picks, while we trade into the 5.5 pick.

Our future drafts are getting more interesting every day, yet this year's draft will be a no-show, in a way... It's fair to give away strategy now. I've gotten so much 5th rounders, it would be a drama in the draft. But trades have unintentionally moved is into having 6 picks within 7 spots. Okay, so the 6th acquisition lucked into our lap and we're trying to talk Boston in giving us that last pick, but we will be in control there.

We've addressed a lot of needs now and have 67 players signed if our free agent offers go through (included the restricted ones) and we use the draft picks we got. It's early, but we're almost ready for training camp. My projection is that we will be $4M under the cap with still the rookies to sign and us needing to extend the contract of tight end Jim Reiser. And with guard Lane Stedman still on team, who's role should be over with us due to locker room troubles.

Our future cap projections? Right now we're heading for being about $9 million over the cap with 71 players signed, including all draft picks. Our 2009 situation is projected at $3.5 million over te cap with 69 players signed. Conclusion: if this team works out, we have something great sitting ready for three consecutive seasons. We don't have to fear for retirements, but we might have to re-negotiate a few contracts in those seasons. And with a few I mean ten at most.

With Dominic Lynch gone, Louie Flannery might make less progress, but I've seen how McDavid made progress when Lynch wasn't mentoring our starter. I have faith in offensive coordinator Antonio Francis to help him out. It means we have four quarterbacks signed through the 2009 season. And as soon as we tie up Jim Reiser, we have all starters signed through the 2008 season.

We've still got six free agent offers standing out and if these guys sign, I feel confident we have a better team than in 2006. With conhesion and team chemistry stepping in, we should be able to avoid the big 14-40 type losses, edge out the field goal deciders and if we miss an upset win or two, we could be able to go into playoff contention all barring injuries of course, but most positions should be well backed up now. Especially if we draft well. 2007 ought to be good in Oranje Haven.

[MIJB#19]

Merchantmen Youngsters Scouting Their Old Schools
With the 2007 IHOF draftcoming up, the Maassluis Merchantmen are scouting their options on who to draft this season. The talk of the moment in the league is the trading of top picks, the top 4 have all been traded within 6 hours of each other. To help the Merchantmen out, four prominent young players on roster were asked to scout their own former college teammates. Read what Cody Cluff (Texas Christian), Louie Flannery (Middle Tennessee State), Justin McDavid (Texas Tech) and Tai Wayne (Jacksonville) have to say about this draft class.

Charlie Long, Jacksonville, RB 6-2 232 lbs 22yo, rating 3.2, 40-time: 4.70, bench press: 18
Tai Wayne: Charlie is a cool kid. We called him "Charlie Long Gains" as the guy kept breaking tackles behind the opposing front seven to have a 20-yard gain game after game. He's got the body to break through and it really showed. His 4.70 40-time isn't great, but the guy is fast enough to get downfield and open. I hear he's going to be a likely late seventh rounder to not drafted.

Gerald Cheshier, Middle Tennessee State, FB 5-9 241 lbs 25yo, rating: 4.1, 40-time: 4.73, bench press: 27
Louie Flannery: I remember Gerald very well. With him around I got all the time to pick out trhe receiver, because he's a great pass blocker. With his body and power he was a great guy to let run over the middle. And on third downs, the guy was always open. We called him "Chessmaster" as the guy is so smart and it was just fun with his last name. The latest is that we all hope he gets drafted, but he's the typical 50-50 guy to be or not to be drafted.

Damon Flack, Middle Tennessee State, TE 6-8 286 lbs 21yo, rating: 2.5, 40-time: 4.91, bench press: 24
Flannery: "Da Monster" we called him. Just look at his size, the guy is huge. Damon made a good run blocker and was helpful as a receiver as well. The experts at school fear he won't get drafted, but with his speed he deserves to go into training camp somewhere.

Cole Martin, Middle Tennessee State, FS 6-0 203 lbs 23yo, rating: 2.0, 40-time: 4.71, bench press: 9
Flannery: Cole is a cool guy. He's got a good size for a safety, but he's probably not good enough for the pro level football. He might be a nice pickup for training camp as I hear he's a protitypical smart guy with break-out potential. Well, he's a run supporter and knows the game well, so maybe he will make it afterall?

Leslie Girardi, Texas Christian, C 6-6 310 lbs 23yo, rating: 2.0, 40-time: 5.27, bench press: 17
Cody Cluff: I've been following my old school through the taped games my old coach kept sending me and I got to say the school hasn't been a pro football developing school. Leslie could be the difference maker after me. He's not fast or very strong, but the guy had outstanding grades and my coach says he's got break-out potential to be a professional long snapper. He's not going to be drafted, but one of the ten smartest guys to leave college, he deserves a training camp spot.

Grant Bidwell, Texas Tech, LT 6-4 301 lbs 23yo, rating: 5.8, 40-time: 5.24, bench press: 33
Justn McDavid: Grant Bidwell... Boy, was he something. The guy wasn't the brightest of all, if I can say that, but boy, he did know how to protect the quarterback. Especially the last two years he's been amazing. Oh, and Grant has been a great supporter for the run too. With his power he can be a great starter in this league someday. I hear he's scouted as the best offensive tackle of the class, so I doubt he'll make it to Maassluis this season. Too bad, I'd have loved to see that happen. I hear he's mid first round talent, so I stick with that projection.

Cole McCarthy, Texas Tech, OT 6-3 312 lbs 22yo, rating: 3.6, 40-time: 5.45, bench press: 29
McDavid: I remember "C-Mac" very well. When I was the old guy and starting quarterback, he and I were called the McDonald's brothers. Of course, he ordered five quarter pounders while I stuck with the salad shake. Good times those were. Cole was a pass protection talent and his main trade was his stamina. I've heard he's a long shot to het drafted, but that he'll probably be picked in the late sixth to mid seventh round. It will be fun to see him in the league!

Trent Wilmer, Texas Tech, P 6-6 217 lbs 23yo, rating: 4.3, 40-time: 5.10, bench press: 14
McDavid: Trent was an outstanding punter for college standards. I hear he's got a great hang time and how he's got break-out potential. From what I've heard he's a 50-50 shot on getting drafted, but if he doesn't, he'll probably make a training camp roster somewhere. And, he's a good kick holder, so he's got more talents.

Justin McDavid said he hasn't seen enough of the two other Texas Tech prospects to rate them well, but wanted to let known he wished offensive tackle J.B. Blackburn and defensive tackle Thomas McConnell a future in the IHOF. He said he knows the school doesn't expect either to be drafted or even picked up, but the two kids were too stubborn and really wanted to try out for the draft. From the Merchantmen scouting the department, we hear both are guys with high volatility and could be break-outs.

[MIJB#19]

Merchantmen Hire Cornerback Mitchem
Today the Maassluis Merchantmen were pleased with the news that cornerback Carlos Mitchem will join the ranks of the team. Carlos Mitchem is a mentor to cornerbacks and should be a decent starter. Mitchem was a member of the Miami Sharks secondary the past three seasons, where he missed just 1 games and started 20 times. Mitchem is said to have no interception skills, but he should be a worthy coverage replacement if a starter is out. And he should help mentoring the younger guys on team.