Russell

John Russell was extended through 2010. Yes, I know I am a day late.

Saturday was my draft day for the Federal League. This was my first draft in the league and I was not completely prepared. The FL is a sim league that has been around 20+ years. I found out I could manage a team about a week before the draft.
Needless to say a week is not enough time to prepare a draft strategy in a league with a 40 man roster and no waiver wire.
Add to that I inherited a team that rivaled the franchise Neal Huntington inherited. The only difference. I don't have a Bay nor Nady to build my team around or trade.
Even worse, I don't have the luxury to hire a manager like Russell.
Russell had a team with poor pitching be a surprising 8 games under .500 at the time of the first trade. For that reason alone, he deserved this extension.
Unfortunately, the deadline trades sent the team spiralling through the remainder of the season.
At the same time, the Astros made additions with a similar record. They continued on to make a run at the playoffs until a hurricane and MLB forced them into playing a home series against the Cubs a mere couple hours from Wrigleyville.
MLB screwed the Astros while the Pirates began the process of rebuilding a collapsing house.
Now I know how Huntington felt taking over the Pirates.

I am now sitting in the ER with one of my sons who is running a temp of 103 at 1:30 A.M., so I am posting and cutting this short.