The Peddlers exit early

Hard for anyone to deny that it wasn't a disappointing season for Joe.

Amidst all the name changes and trash talk, our two-time finalist never really gained any momentum. He had an average team - as we said from the start - and didn't do himself any favors during the season.

"This franchise has never had a losing regular season record and has made the playoffs three consecutive years and been in the finals two straight years," Joe said. "This year was a struggle from the onset. A lot of players didn't perform to historical norms."


Maybe he got too complacent due to the success in the league. Although, in fairness to Joe, he made the playoffs. And as he knows, all you need is to get hot in September once you're in.

He didn't, though. He got whooped 13-3 by Andy in the first round of the playoffs, his first non-championship loss. It was so bad Joe didn't even bother stiffing over the weekend to try and steal the win.

Joe described his season as "inconsistent." Hard to argue.

"Couldn't gain any traction (and) fought as a manager to get into the playoffs," he said. "If you can get in and get hot anything can happen. I admit I was definitely not as prepared for the draft this year as I normally am."

Now Joe goes into the offseason with a TON of questions. He is losing Mark Teixeira and David Wright, and his offense is, well, not very good without them.

I asked him what changes he's looking forward to making in the offseason. His response?

"We are losing two solid players, but we look forward to the large free-agent pool. I will not comment further."

Joe will have the eighth pick in the draft unless Chris makes the finals. In that case, he'd have the seventh.