[Westheim]

There were still two things bugging me. First, left-handed relief. We want to have two pitchers in the bullpen that are left-handers, because with one of them, you’re always saving him, and then don’t use him at all, or then you need him four days in a row. Or you have Juan Diaz and you’re screwed either way because he will uncork three wild pitches in one at-bat.

Also, backup infield. I found a former Raccoon who was always a very serviceable hand in the infield to be a free agent in early February and extended out to him. It was hard finding qualified left-handed relief, though. We were looking for somebody NOT walking batters endlessly. And it was early February, the good pieces were all picked already. While there were quite a few guys still available, only a few legit stars remained, and none of those were pitchers (unless you include a 39-year old Bastyao Caixinha, who looked like 52 a lot…). In the end, world champion Josh Thomas, ex-Bayhawk Bob Hall, and a few others were left unsigned – many teams struggling with money really really badly, it seems.


February 9 – Tijuana baseball gets greatly enriched by the addition of ex-BOS SP Jesus Bautista (99-82, 3.35 ERA). The 29-year old receives a 2-yr, $1.4M contract.
February 12 – The mundane wheelings and dealings of the baseball world are fundamentally shaken that the wife of the Loggers’ Marc Padgett has been killed in a tragic accident. Padgett, who was already in pre-season camp, has left the team to be with his family.
February 17 – The Condors are not done adding to their team, signing ex-DEN SP Ramón Ortíz (184-125, 3.37 ERA) to a 3-yr, $2.47M deal. Ortíz is a 3-time world champion with the Capitals.
February 21 – The Raccoons add left-handed relief in 28-yr old ex-TIJ MR Domingo Moreno (12-6, 2.86 ERA, 12 SV), who will earn $800k over two years, as well as a veteran bat in 33-yr old INF Marvin Ingall (.280, 44 HR, 353 RBI), who returns to his team from 1993-2000 on a 1-yr, $215k contract.


There is scarcely any money left over. I managed to keep scouting and development largely level with the last year, but we are below league average there. The total league average is something like $4.1M combined, and we’re at $3.68M. We have enough money left over to make one waiver pick on a minimum contract player, and that would have to happen before the draft.

Overall I am not happy with the roster. I am happy with the way we managed to figure out semi-sane trades to address the key issues. The team should be better than last year (although right now there are 23 other ABL teams that think the same). Or it might go bust again.

For our fuzzy butts, we could not find a left-handed backup infielder who was not just a first baseman. When Ingall was still collecting dust after a league-average season with the Knights (he was traded there to acquire Palacios last winter), I moved. We know what we get there, although age has taken his toll with him already.

Moreno is the primary southpaw in the pen now, over Kevin Jones, another addition. Like catchers, we change our left-handed relievers more often than our socks. This has been going on since Ken Burnett’s demise, which is going on ten years, and we have no trouble to home-grow right-handers, but left-handers have always been an issue.

But it fits. We’re the Issuecoons after all, right?

Next: Opening Day roster.