15 games

That's how long the Florida Winter Baseball League lasted.

Jim Gabella, the manager of the Burlington Bees, has reaction:

Instead of boarding their white vans for a one-day delayed series in Miami, Space Coast Surge players on Wednesday morning went their separate ways from their home base at the Cocoa Expo because the Florida Winter Baseball League is no more. Fifteen games into its inaugural 60-game season, the league suspended operations on Tuesday and on Wednesday — lacking paychecks they could trust or further word from league President Mickey Filippucci — the four teams scattered like so much dust on the basepaths.

After three inconclusive conversations with Filipucci and unsuccessfully trying to cash his first paycheck, Surge field manager Jim Gabella spent the day ensuring his players they could cash their checks and find their way home.

“They should never be allowed to do anything with the game of baseball again because they tarnished its beautiful reputation,” Gabella said referring to league officials.

Emphasis added.

There is a comment from the league. They posted it at their website, but the article has it -- in its entirety -- in a sidebar. A taste:

“The Florida Winter Baseball League (FWBL) is suspending play for the remainder of the 2009 – 2010 season,” the note said. “Although the inaugural season was shortened, the FWBL will continue on with its mission to provide the only US-based winter baseball alternative for professional baseball players.

“Being a first-year league, the organization was built from a simple idea into reality, and though we are ending the inaugural season prematurely, we now see the commitment and organization needed by our staff in order to be successful long term. We acknowledge that start-up growing pains are real and sometimes overwhelming, but that has only strengthened our resolve. We will be recapitalizing the Company to better accommodate the financial requirements to operate the league more effectively in the future.

Let me know how that 2010 season works out.

It's not all bad for Gabella. He is heading back to Burlington for 2010.

The Kansas City Royals have announced the minor league coaching staffs for the 2010 season. Jim Gabella will return for his sixth season as Bees manager.

Gabella led the Bees to the Midwest League Championship Series in '09. The playoff appearance was the second in a row for the Bees, and the first time the franchise has been in the playoffs two years in a row in 30 years. After a 29-41 first half record, the Gabella-led Bees went 35-34 in the second half and captured the Western Division Wild Card.