[Westheim]

Schedule has been fudged around with successfully. As far as my limited editing abilities and willingness go. I mutated four FL teams from the ’79 schedule, that will make the ’82 schedule. That will have to do. (In the end it doesn’t matter, since the Raccoons lose against everybody, not discriminating certain teams)

It’s mid-February, still, and time to throw a look at financials. I have been given $8,689,000 to play with. Currently my staff consumes $761,500 of that, and player contracts currently amount to $5,148,000.

This leaves us with $2,779,500 for scouting, development, and free agent money. Of course we will go over-budget again once the draft comes, while still making a million or two in profit at the end of the year. Small market, small budget, big issues. I did away with the last international scouting area (past the free first one), and re-upped the national scouting slightly to $880,000, which is about 10% below league average.

Player development remains at $1,075,000 (slightly over league average), so I still have the princely sum of $824,500 to dish out before the season starts. There are a few interesting free agents still on the market.

One of them is 31-yr old Ramon Borjon, who can play all three outfield positions. The name has come up before. He hit 27 home runs in ’79 (one less than Ben Simon, who was the home run king that year), and 25 the year before that. He has only hit 27 the last two years combined, being traded twice in mid-season. His batting average is unpredictable, swaying back and forth between .215 and .308 – he is a career .274 hitter. His 102 total home runs are #2 on the leaderboard all time, six behind Michinaga Yamada. His fielding is very solid. He is a type B free agent and demands $460,000 for one season.

Another player in the same category is 32-yr old Joe Nelson, who spent all of his career so far with the Stars. His fielding is better, his average over his career is higher, although his best years were 1977-1978. He also has 92 career homers. Type B, $360k/yr.

Thomas James, 30, has bounced around from Boston to Las Vegas to Nashville to Salem in the last three years. He has no power and hits .280 but has never made a starting job anywhere. No compensation, $300k/yr.

I must say that Borjon is tempting to pursue. Good pitchers are mostly grazed already. Interestingly, Kevin Hatfield is on the market. He pitched in 30 games (22 starts) for the Crusaders last year, going 7-9 with a 3.94 average.

Francisco Dominguez, that nasty Titans speedster, is also still available, but doesn’t fit my system, since he only plays LF, and I want Hall there. Really. One last name: Beau Horn, 35, who made the World Series with the Scorpions twice and won in 1980, is also available. His defense is terrible and his hitting has plummeted to .250 last season. Plus, I’m set in the infield. Looking at his stats, he should consider retiring while he is not remembered as the guy who played too long.