Down goes Frazier!
It's one of the most iconic sports calls that most typical sports fans would recognize.
But in the JLB, that phrase now means so much more.
On Tuesday morning, at 8 a.m., 11 owners in the JLB got a notification on their phones and they quickly swiped to see what happened.
The gasps had to be hard to contain when they saw that the Bensalem Slammers swapped out the world's hottest hitter, Adam Frazier, for a random Angel who isn't even above the Mendoza line.
What was the reaction in the Crox Sox front office when the news hit?
"I can’t comment on this," he said. "At this point in the season I just assume the first 7 notifications in a week is just Choo swapping the last weeks Mickey Mantle for this weeks Ted Williams, so I ignore them until the 8th one."
Strangely enough, the eighth move of the week did belong to Choo.
But it was the 12th move that created such a buzz in the JLB that everyone is now focused on potentially the biggest Saturday in JLB history. It will be an unprecedented moment at 8 a.m. ET when we find out who uses their waiver claim to acquire the key to a JLB World Series in 2023.
"That’s 6 a.m. my time so 'giddy' wouldn’t be likely, but when I do get up, I can only hope that one-time all-star is still available," said Double Eh, who is in desperate need of some Quad Eh players.
Frazier may be even higher than that.
Even after an 0-for-3 Monday night in Texas, he is batting an unfathomable .455 with a home run. All three outs were incredible, though, as he grounded out softly, flew out and grounded into a double-play. He didn't get a fourth at-bat because he bats so low in the lineup, which we can only assume is because the Orioles don't want to expose their best player.
"I had Adam Frazier on my must draft list," the Main Line Gamblers said. "Going into the 16th round I had him queued up but took Casey Mize instead. I was hoping he’d fall to the waivers so I can get his bat in my lineup. Sure enough with the next pick, boom, Choo grabs him. I’ve never been more devastated in my life."
And that's the sentiment around the JLB right now. Missed opportunities.
Big League Choo drafted him but dropped him before he started his historic 2023 campaign.
Then the Slammers essentially wasted their prime waiver position to get him on Monday, only to let him go 24 hours later.
"We made a front office decision that Frazier wasn't the right fit," Slammers GM Jimmy Johnson said. "It made sense to acquire him when second base is an issue, but after making the move, it became apparent to us that he'll be part-time in Baltimore and we're confident he's more of the .238 hitter he was a year ago."
The Slammers organization's view of Frazier greatly differs from the rest of the League.
The fact is, the world's hottest hitter and franchise-changing bat will clear waivers at that time and one lucky team is going to get him.
"On Saturday, I’m going to make a nice Big Ol' Country Breakfast for myself and wait for the clock to strike 8 a.m., in hopes I can get the most revered hitter since Ted Williams to hit over .400 in a season. Once I get him, I will be ready to turn my breakfast into reality and finally devour Big Ol' Country Breakfast in the standings."
Double Eh agrees that the impact will be unprecedented.
"Any time you can bring in a guy hitting .455 that isn’t long dead or cryogenically frozen is a huge opportunity," Double Eh said. "Frazier could bring some much needed bloop-single power to the club and really set the table for the rest of the squad."
But the problem for these franchises lies in the waiver order.
The Dude holds the top spot and the Cheese Steaks are sitting in third right behind Crox.
"Ugh, Frazier is out there," Breakfast said. "Jim will add him and he'll bat .600 the rest of the way."
The Steaks were coy on the subject, though.
"I’m really trying not to get my hopes up, because I’m sure Dude or Crox will grab him before me," JV said. "But I’ll obviously put a claim in on him. How many times does an MVP front-runner land on the waiver wire? This is an opportunity that you know won’t come again."
Or will it?
You would say it's not often that a big-time player gets dropped, but so far, two franchises in the JLB have done so. Who says a third team won't?
Well, considering what Crox is doing in his everyday life to make Saturday happen, I would imagine Frazier would be a Crox forever.
"I’ve actually decided to celebrate Orthodox Easter this year so that no egg hunt or cooking of hams would distract the waiver claim of Adam 'Trout-Ohtani' Frazier," Crox said, while looking up local Orthodox churches.
His religious conversion will be all for naught, however, when the Dude claims him.
We know this is happening.
Why?
Because out of six JLB owners handed questions for this article, he was the only one to avoid the question.
So on Saturday, we know what's happening at 8 a.m.: Dude goes Frazier!
Note: All Gambler quotes were edited to have proper spelling and grammar.
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