The Brooklyn Knights had a fine spring training, posting a record of 21-9. Loaded with freshly signed talent, the Luisville Beasts went 20-10. The Stade Maples and Washington Allies had League 2’s best spring training records at 19-11. In League 2 Division 2, the St. James Crusaders and Phoenix Rattlers finished at 16-14.

The Knights had some minor injuries and one very serious injury. Relief pitcher Isaías Alemán tore his ulnar collateral ligament. He will require surgery and 12 months before he can return.

Key injuries in spring training:
Cornfield Axemen: C Danny Dygert fractured his foot and will miss the first few weeks on the season.
Dayton Grizzlies: P Manuel Sánchez torn a rotator cuff and will be out 12-13 months.
Dunedin Otters: RP Juan Carlos Tejeiro suffered a torn labrum (shoulder). He will miss at least 6 months.
Key West Corals: CF Tad Burridge fractured a finger on March 22. He will need 3 weeks to recover.
Key West Corals: CL Almandeto ‘Skip’ Trillio partially tore his UCL (elbow). He will need at least 7 months of recovery time.
Las Vegas Luck: CL J.C. Somodevilla strained a hamstring on March 11. He is expected to return about 6 weeks into the regular season.
Luisville Beasts: SP Vincent Cadieux is battling shoulder inflammation as well as a strained hamstring. He will most likely be out 2-3 months.
Luisville Beasts: CL Jesús ‘Cookie Monster’ Montufar will be out about 7 weeks with an oblique strain.
Luisville Beasts: CF Ramón Cantú fractured his hand on March 17. The injury will keep him out of action for 7-8 weeks.
Nashville Firecats: CF Jim Stoneman will miss the entire season with a broken bone in his elbow. He needs an estimated 8-9 months to recover.
Quebeck Sky Chiefs: On March 19, CL Roberto Farinas tore the flexor tendon in his elbow. He will be out of baseball for 13 months.
St. Rock Mudcats: SP Fortunato Cidade fractured his elbow and will be out 4 months.
St. Rock Mudcats: On March 19, LF Luís García fractured a finger. He will miss 3-4 weeks.
Vancouver Wild: A torn quadriceps will keep SS Phil Murray out of the lineup for the next 3-4 weeks.

There were some notable roster moves before spring training began for the 2016 NALB season.

The Knights organization made some roster moves but nothing extraordinary:

• Extended the contracts of nine players through salary arbitration: Romeo Usquiano, Porfírio Portio, Bruce MacOmish, Tony Tamayo, Maurilio Godim, Lariel Gómez, Alvino Flores, Ángel Santago, and Rikiya Kiyomizu.
• Offered arbitration to Ralph Kerfoot and Carlos Cardenas. Both declined and filed for free agency.
• Arbitration was not offered to William Garner and Víctor Trujillo.
• Traded 23-year-old minor league catcher Lorenzo Torres to the Dayton Grizzlies, getting 21-year-old minor league starting pitcher Alex Mobley, 20-year-old minor league second baseman Michael Arquellez, 19-year-old minor league center fielder Donovan Buehl, 20-year-old minor league starting pitcher Fernando Aguilar and 19-year-old minor league reliever Pedro Botello in return.
• Traded 23-year-old minor league second baseman Burnell Himes to the Cornfield Axemen, getting 24-year-old minor league second baseman Pedro López, 24-year-old minor league right fielder Rod Steadman and 24-year-old minor league center fielder Michelangelo von Muller in return.
• Traded 26-year-old minor league shortstop Wilson Bullard to the Washington Allies, getting 20-year-old minor league left fielder Matthew Goeble, 26-year-old minor league right fielder Lerrin Arlarcón, 20-year-old minor league second baseman León Delfieno and 20-year-old minor league first baseman Tony Scott in return.
• Lost RP Robinson Texido in the Rule 5 Draft to the Richmond Slam.
• Signed international amateur 3B Nike John out of Mexico to a minor league contract.

Significant offseason signings:

• Dayton Grizzlies: Signed free agent RP Juan Miranda to a 2-year contract worth a total of $11,000,000.
• Las Vegas Luck: Signed free agent 1B J.R. Singleton to a 7-year contract worth a total of $43,520,000.
• Luisville Beasts: Signed free agent LF Yvon Chouinard to a 4-year contract worth a total of $31,200,000.
• Luisville Beasts: Signed free agent RP Sergio Delgado to a 3-year contract worth a total of $2,730,000.
• Luisville Beasts: Signed free agent SP Charles Revels to a 7-year contract worth a total of $67,400,000.
• Luisville Beasts: Signed free agent SP Vincent Cadieux to a 1-year contract worth a total of $650,000.
• Nashville Firecats: Signed free agent 1B Paul Lyons to a 1-year contract worth a total of $9,500,000.
• Nashville Firecats: Signed free agent 2B John Edwards to a 6-year contract worth a total of $70,200,000.
• Nashville Firecats: Signed free agent C Dacey Rager to a 6-year contract worth a total of $42,200,000.
• Nashville Firecats: Signed free agent SP Ralph Kerfoot to a 2-year contract worth a total of $12,800,000.
• Phoenix Rattlers: Signed free agent SP Wen Xiong to a 4-year contract worth a total of $14,400,000.
• Phoenix Rattlers: Signed free agent SS Charles Difranco to a 5-year contract worth a total of $36,000,000.
• St. James Crusaders: Signed free agent SP Hap Bedford to a 2-year contract worth a total of $15,600,000.
• Vancouver Wild: Signed free agent 3B Hsiao-lou Yuan to a 4-year contract worth a total of $39,300,000.
• Vancouver Wild: Signed free agent SP Omar Cambra to a 3-year contract worth a total of $12,480,000.
• Washington Allies: Signed free agent LF Dorian Chivers to a 4-year contract worth a total of $12,240,000.

Major contract extensions:

• Cornfield Axemen: Signed C Luís Ellanos to a 1-year contract extension worth a total of $6,000,000.
• Dunedin Otters: Signed SP Sosuke Nakamura to a 1-year contract extension worth a total of $7,400,000.
• Key West Corals: Signed 3B Adelmo Porcayo to a 7-year contract extension worth a total of $73,220,000.
• Key West Corals: SP Whitney Sanders received a 1-year contract through arbitration worth a total of $6,373,750.
• Las Vegas Luck: Signed C Kensaku Shimada to a 3-year contract extension worth a total of $25,960,000.
• Luisville Beasts: RP Jesús Montufar received a 1-year contract through arbitration worth a total of $6,375,000.
• Luisville Beasts: Signed SS Rico Gómez to a 5-year contract extension worth a total of $43,880,000.
• Nashville Firecats: Signed RF Chris Lee to a 6-year contract extension worth a total of $46,900,000.
• Phoenix Rattlers: Signed CL Stokley McGruder to a 1-year contract extension worth a total of $7,000,000.
• Richmond Slam: Signed 2B Edmundo Ovelha to a 1-year contract extension worth a total of $6,100,000.
• St. James Crusaders: Signed RF Rainer Rojas to a 4-year contract extension worth a total of $10,700,000.
• St. James Crusaders: Signed SP Anastasio Urbáez to a 5-year contract extension worth a total of $19,530,000.
• St. James Crusaders: Signed SP Cory Gregory to a 5-year contract extension worth a total of $56,700,000.
• St. Rock Mudcats: Signed SP Noriaki Momotami to a 1-year contract extension worth a total of $6,900,000.
• Stade Maples: Signed RF Jordan Blanchard to a 1-year contract extension worth a total of $7,300,000.
• Stade Maples: Signed SP David Bracy to a 4-year contract extension worth a total of $12,740,000.
• Vancouver Wild: Signed C Morris Brown to a 1-year contract extension worth a total of $7,200,000.
• Vancouver Wild: Signed SS Fernando Chira to a 6-year contract extension worth a total of $17,120,000.

Notable trades:

• The Dayton Grizzlies traded 36-year-old starting pitcher Alberto Harrington to the St. James Crusaders, getting 23-year-old starting pitcher Roger Tatum, 24-year-old minor league shortstop Chale Ortega, 24-year-old minor league first baseman Joe Lazenby and 24-year-old minor league catcher Dave Rodríguez in return.
• The Dunedin Otters traded 26-year-old starting pitcher Sosuke Nakamura and $7,000,000 in cash to the Washington Allies, getting 21-year-old reliever Gerald Lavin, 20-year-old minor league third baseman Earl Brendon and 24-year-old minor league second baseman Edgardo Bejarán in return.
• The Cornfield Axemen traded 33-year-old closer Dong-u Sop to the St. James Crusaders, getting 24-year-old minor league center fielder Johnny Keetley in return.
• The Dayton Grizzlies traded 26-year-old second baseman Chris Cluff to the Vancouver Wild, getting 29-year-old left fielder Pedro Hernández in return.

Last December, I played Master of Orion and liked it a lot. It certainly lived up to its legendary reputation. This month I’ve been playing the sequel, Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares. It took me a while to get into it but I eventually enjoyed it as much as its predecessor. Once again, I chose a medium sized galaxy and played as Humans. This time, however, I included four alien races instead of only three. The selection was random and my opponents were the Alkari, Darloks, Mrrshan, and the Trilarians. I was familiar with the cat-like Mrrshan, who are always itching for a fight. Thankfully, I didn’t encounter them until the early mid-game. My first encounter was with the Trilarians, a race of aquatic life forms. I quickly formed a trade treaty with them. The other race nearest to my home system was the enigmatic Darloks, a race of shape shifters. I engaged in trade with them as well. Unfortunately, they were heavily involved in espionage. It was a constant battle to try and keep them from stealing my technologies. The Alkari made contact with me a bit later on. They are an avian race descended from flying reptiles. Things got a bit complicated when the Alkari and the Trilarians went to war. Having trade pacts with both races, I decided to stay out of it.

As you might gather from the title, Master of Orion II has an additional element to it—the Antarans. They were a powerful race who engaged in a protracted war with the mighty Orions. The Orions eventually defeated the Antarans and imprisoned them in a pocket dimension. In MOO2, the Antarans return and begin to wreak havoc after many years in exile. I feared war with the other races but was able to maintain the peace. That was not the case with the Antarans. They appeared every so often to attack worlds in our galaxy. Every time, they left a planet in ruins forcing me to rebuild. Late in the game, I built a dimensional portal and took a fleet of 32 ships to attack the Antaran homeworld. The Humans were victorious in the Battle at Antares, which caused me to win the game.


The Antarans are not very friendly.