[Westheim]

November

Salary arbitrations went well enough. Stephen Hall and Jason Bentley were awarded the team offer of $129k (=estimate). Carlos Gonzalez and Nate Goodman were non-tendered. Dadswell and Reyes refused arbitration.

That other Hall and Bentley were shopped immediately. Nobody dared to touch Bentley, but Hall drew a few offers. Among them was one 17-year old Dominican pitcher our new (and very old) scout was quite hot upon. Few other peoples agreed with him, but he was quite insisting that we take on that kid.

Among players retiring during this month were Jason Gurston, a pitcher I was after many moons ago, Mario Garcia, a pitcher signed by the Furballs as international free agent and then immediately traded to the Crusaders without ever throwing a pitch for us, and also Miguel Sanchez, one of the premier pitchers in the sport for many years. Between the Indians, Warriors, Condors, Scorpions, and Aces he went 151-115 with a 3.34 ERA in 329 career starts. He was the CL Pitcher of the Year in 1981, when he also won the World Series with the Indians.

Free agents included Michael Root, Mark “Icon” Allen, Pedro Villa, David Castillo, Michael Watson, Guy King, Zahid Mashwanis, Raimundo Beato, Cameron Green, Isto Grönholm, Cordell Atkins, Rick Evans, Andres Ramirez, and Carlos Guillén. All of these have cropped up at one point or the other before, some repeatedly, some most notably only once, like Guillén, whose not too distinguished career includes a no-hitter against the Raccoons.

We had about $3M to throw around after the free agents filed and the books cleared up, but they had to be spent wisely. We needed a starting pitcher. We could use a good right-handed reliever, or replace our need from our own farm system, where there were some options to test out.

The outfield was quite crowded, with Hall, Johnston, Dumont, Quinn, Reece, and Martin all throwing punches for five roster spots. There was also the need for at least one backup infielder, who needed to have excellent fielding on both middle positions. We also needed a backup catcher, since I was not entirely thrilled over our AAA options.

November 1 – No Raccoon takes home a Gold Glove this year. Cameron Green wins the 3B glove in the Federal League. Does the FL have eleven third basemen in wheelchairs?
November 2 – The Raccoons announce extensions for Mark Dawson (2-yr, $1.8M) and Antonio Cordero (2-yr, $450k).
November 3 – WAS 1B Billy Mitchell (.301, 15 HR, 96 RBI) and MIL LF Adam Woodward (.274, 18 HR, 81 RBI) are Rookies of the Year. Mitchell is a former draft pick of the Raccoons.
November 4 – NAS SP Luis Guzman (18-10, 2.39 ERA), who will miss the 1990 season after Tommy John surgery, and ATL SP Carlos Asquabal (19-7, 3.13 ERA) are Pitchers of the Year.
November 5 – RIC OF Manuel Doval (.344, 33 HR, 117 RBI) and ATL RF Michael Root (.327, 41 HR, 118 RBI) are named Outstanding Hitters of the Year.
November 9 – Veteran LF/RF Thomas Martin and his 2,053 career hits are traded from the Condors to the Buffaloes. The Condors receive MR Raúl Chavez (10 SV, 2.28 ERA in 163 G).
November 14 – The Raccoons deal INF/LF/RF Stephen Hall, a .247 career batter, to the Condors for 17-year old prospect SP Jose Rivera.
November 23 – Two of the biggest fish among position players on the free agent market are gone, as the Knights and Michael Root agree to a new 6-yr, $5.88M contract to keep the .303, 169 HR, 778 RBI slugger in Atlanta, and the Bayhawks add 2B Pedro Villa, who left the Crusaders as a free agent. Villa, 28, is a .277 batter with some pop and 1,101 career hits and will make $4.09M over five years.
November 24 – The Stars land CL Andres Ramirez (376 SV) for 1-yr, $570k.
November 26 – The Raccoons send AAA RF Marcos Costello to the Stars for C Alarico Violante, who has had a few spurs of big league exposure the last two years.
November 28 – The Miners sign SP David Castillo (91-65, 3.42 ERA) to a 5-yr, $3.95M contract. He spent his big league career with the Warriors so far (and him getting there was a major trade blunder by somebody in the Raccoons management).

Rivera could either turn out a bust or the next “Mauler” Correa. Violante is more of a third catcher. I’m still looking for a better backup for David Vinson. Violante was an international discovery by the Scorpions in Venezuela back in 1982, when he was just 16 years old.

I was chosen as Manager of the Year for the CL. Yay, lucky me. Woulda preferred a ring. The general snuffing of Coons with the other awards is outrageous. But Cam Green wins a Gold Glove?? He made 22 errors!! ARE YOU SERIOUS???

By the way, so far our only free agent after the 1990 season will be Tetsu Osanai. No question, we will try and re-sign him. It may only cost a ship load of money. Or two.

We currently have only ten players making more than the league minimum, including Bentley, who's on the trading block.