[Westheim]

Mostly did this update while watching Moneyball for the first time. Hideously overacted movie. The book was way more exciting. Nobody but Hollywood needed the sub plot with the child.

And a German-dubbed baseball movie is in general awful. We insist on translating EVERYTHING. We insist on translating things like “batter”, “pitcher”, and “runs”. I am stunned we didn't translate Oakland Athletics into "Die athletischen Eichenländer" ......

In the spirit of my side amusement, a wicked deal or two may be included in this update.

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In mid-December, the Raccoons were still slightly overbudget and were looking for ways to dump money thanks to the Mexican Prick being a prick.

Between Reece, Palacios, Brady, Bean, Guerin, Farley, and Lopez we have only seven players that make more than $350k. If we want to add another strong relief arm or an actually qualified left-handed bat off the bench, we need money – or we find something in a trade.

Well, Reece has a no-trade clause, and wouldn’t be an option anyway. Neither are Brady, Guerin, and Farley real options. That leaves us with Palacios, Bean, and Lopez. We could not get anybody interested in Carl Bean except for the Condors, and they didn’t have a lot to offer in return (taking into account our sliver of a budget).

Who would trade for the wreck Miguel Lopez? The Capitals were remotely interested, but offered only a choice between a broken desk, a small pack of candy, or six baseballs in return. No, don’t get excited. We have to pick ONE of those items.

Then it’s on Palacios. That’s incredible bad news. We kind of counted on Palacios at second base so far. Without Palacios, we have a horribly wretched choice to make between Adrian Matthews, George Morris, Miguel Ramirez, Matt Love, and whatever other useless, money- and time-stealing sponks we can come up with.

Then, the few days before Christmas, I had Vince do the dirty work and compile a list of relief pitchers with things and qualities we liked. Then, the final list had three of our own relievers (Bruno, Martinez, and Miller) among the top 35 of the results.

Could it be that we were just unlucky? Maybe a new pitching coach will go a long way towards fixing what is wrong? Just pretend everything will be fine and everything will be fine?

No, we had to do SOMETHING. Sitting motionless on the railway tracks and staring calmly into the loco’s headlights was nothing that sounded remotely entertaining.

December 19 – The Titans shock the ABL and especially the still hopeful Bayhawks with the addition of ex-SFB SP Jorge Chapa (77-60, 3.45 ERA) on an 4-yr, $7.84M deal.
December 20 – Former Falcon SP Angel Romero (138-107, 3.43 ERA) signs with the Stars for 5-yr, $8.52M.
December 23 – The Bayhawks get back at at the Titans by adding 37-yr old ex-BOS C Andres Manuel (.267, 72 HR, 650 RBI) on a 2-yr, $2.12M deal. It will be Manuel’s fifth team, and the fourth team in four years after the Aces, Crusaders, and Titans.
December 26 – The Canadiens part with 25-yr old 1B Jose Valenzuela (.282, 29 HR, 167 RBI), sending him to the Buffaloes for C Pedro Hurtado (.252, 8 HR, 68 RBI), who is one year older.
December 26 – Journeyman SP Juan Sanchez (90-73, 4.10 ERA) returns to his 1999 team, the Cyclones, on a 2-yr, $1.8M contract, after pitching for the Warriors and Titans in between.
December 29 – The Condors acquire 26-year old 1B Hugues Cambria (.317, 14 HR, 48 RBI), who was a rookie in 2001, from the Rebels, parting with 26-yr old INF Aurelio Gomez (.222, 4 HR, 22 RBI).
January 10 – The Indians sign a 1-yr, $436k contract with old warhorse MR Jared Chaney (52-53, 2.93 ERA, 170 SV). The 36-year old spent the last few years with the Titans.
January 13 – OF Carlos Talamante (.235, 30 HR, 155 RBI) is dealt from the Pacifics to the Aces, along with a prospect, for MR Donald Sims (9-12, 3.71 ERA, 4 SV) and another prospect.
January 22 – The Raccoons and Cyclones agree to a deal that send 33-yr old SP Miguel Lopez (83-72, 3.78 ERA, 1 SV) and 19-yr old A 1B Juan Garcia from Portland to Cincy in exchange for 19-yr old A 1B Mun-wah Tsung.
January 31 – 33-yr old ex-WAS CL Jesus Longoria (71-50, 3.09 ERA, 267 SV), who is labelled as fragile by scouts, signs a 3-yr, $2.53M pact with the Loggers.
February 5 – The Raccoons deal C/1B Jorge Defrese (.264, 1 HR, 5 RBI in 53 AB) to the Knights for 25-yr old SP Ramón Meza (5-7, 6.36 ERA).
February 6 – Another deal is made between the Scorpions, who receive C/1B Julio Mata (.242, 12 HR, 112 RBI), and the Raccoons, who get 22-yr MR Kazuhiko Kichida, who pitched across three minor league levels in two organizations last year.

The Lopez trade (and maybe all three trades) might raise an eyebrow or two among the readership. First, Lopez is wrecked. Felipe Garcia might do a better job. Over the course of ten years from AAA to his age 31 season, he suffered a forearm strain, from shoulder inflammation, a torn rotator cuff, and a partially torn UCL, and in total missed about four complete seasons due to those and smaller injuries and ailments. It’s a miracle his arm hasn’t turned all black and blue and isn’t falling off.

Garcia is a non-prospect. Vince rates Tsung a 5-star potential first baseman, although I am skeptical. We might get something better out of this deal, we might not. All we know right now is that we are cutting a $650k dead arm. We can now turn those $650k (actually $648k) in budget space into something worthwhile. I hate our infield backup situation, and I continue to hate our bullpen no matter whatever Vince is thinking. On the field the product was crap last season.

I always liked Lopez. There was tremendous potential for him for a phenomenal career. Injuries killed all that. Maybe even that 5-yr, $3M extension, of which we now had the final year on our plate, was a terrible mistake. We knew he was wrecked all along.

The rotation is set for next season. Bean – Ford – Farley – Brown – Garcia. Sounds like trouble. Meza will only be part of the trouble if someone among those five goes down. He has options and has no place on an Opening Day roster.

Then we also gave up on Mata, who is added to the “why late season callups don’t matter” chapter in my biography. Getting progressively worse every year … I mean, he’s allowed to do that, even at 26, but not on my books. Kichida can well turn out crap, but Vince thinks he might turn into a “Chubby” Martinez like right-handed reliever: strong stuff, good control, durable. Every bullpen needs one or two of these guys.

With that, we have sorted out two of our five catchers, leaving Mark Thomas as the Opening Day man. I am yet debating on the backup role between Fernandez and Fifield. We know Fifield can’t do anything right, but he’s out of options and would have to be put on waivers. Fernandez on the other hand is not quite 100% ready. It’s a hard call, and it’s been mostly hard calls since David Vinson departed in 1997.

Since then (merely four seasons!), the Raccoons have employed the following catchers:
Julio Mata (238 games)
Werner Turner (140 games)
Mark Thomas (108 games)
Lance Branch (76 games)
Ricardo Castillo (74 games)
Gary Fifield (67 games)
Freddy Jackson (49 games)
Jorge Defrese (25 games)
Ron McDonald (22 games)
Mario Guerrero (12 games)

This is not only a lot for a team that before this mess went 14 seasons with just two primary catchers: Sam Dadswell and David Vinson.

Early February. Still looking for a backup infielder who offers more than a .212 average, as well as whether we want another relief pitcher from somewhere.

It’s a hard job…