[Westheim]

2002 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set shows 2001 numbers, second set overall; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Carl Bean, 28, B:R, T:R (10-13, 4.41 ERA | 55-58, 4.04 ERA) – won 20 games and struck out 212 for the Gold Sox in 2000, but didn’t even come close to that in his first year in Portland. Nominally, he has blistering stuff to strike out batters in scores.
SP Ralph Ford, 24, B:L, T:L (11-14, 4.07 ERA | 20-33, 4.37 ERA) – more innings, less walks, more strikeouts than in his tumultuous rookie season of 2000, so he made progress. At times, he will go completely nuts, missing the zone left, right, high, low, however. Still has special stuff, and we believe that he can improve on the 167 strikeouts from 2001 and challenge that 200 mark.
SP Randy Farley, 28, B:R, T:R (8-11, 4.74 ERA | 47-41, 3.50 ERA) – suffered through an outright horrible season, even suffering demotion early in the year. Everybody is stunned how it could swing around so viciously for a pitcher who was rock solid for his first three major league seasons.
SP Nick Brown, 24, B:L, T:L (2-3, 4.54 ERA | 2-3, 4.54 ERA) – rookie, has come from the 11th round of the amateur draft to display amazing stuff, which included casually setting a new franchise strikeout mark with 13 K in a start during his cup of tea. Still has some control problems occasionally.
SP Felipe Garcia, 24, B:R, T:R (2-0, 3.60 ERA | 2-0, 3.60 ERA) – a poor man’s fifth starter, Garcia owes his spot on the roster to the fact that the Raccoons are hideously broke and can’t pay anybody else. His stuff is run of the mill, his control is so-so, and we fear the worst for him.

MR Ricardo Huerta *, 28, B:R, T:R (3-5, 4.67 ERA, 1 SV | 5-6, 4.94 ERA, 1 SV) – rule 5 pick with some experience over parts of four seasons. Vince thinks he can actually hold his ground if giving work regularly.
MR Marcos Bruno, 26, B:R, T:R (5-5, 4.46 ERA, 2 SV | 5-5, 4.46 ERA, 2 SV) – first-rounder who made his debut last year and went the full season, Bruno’s struggles at times have been attributed to a considerable amount to the high workload, especially in the first half of the season. His stuff is special though, with a fastball approaching 100mph and singing bats in the process.
MR Domingo Moreno *, 28, B:R, T:L (5-2, 2.85 ERA | 12-6, 2.86 ERA, 12 SV) – signed as free agent from the Condors, Moreno throws hard like most of our relievers, but his a flyball pitcher, contrary to the rest of the pen. He knows how to get by, though, pitching to a rock solid 1.23 WHIP in seven major league seasons.
MR Kevin Jones *, 27, B:L, T:L (2-2, 4.06 ERA, 4 SV | 9-9, 3.70 ERA, 7 SV) – acquired in trade from the Indians, Jones is the secondary left-hander in the mostly revamped Raccoons bullpen; he can’t possibly be worse than his predecessors.
SU Manuel Martinez, 23, B:R, T:R (3-2, 4.93 ERA, 2 SV | 3-2, 4.93 ERA, 2 SV) – another sophomore who had more mixed success in 2001, Martinez sports a rocketing fastball and is able to pitch to poor contact at the same time, much like most right-handers we have.
SU Daniel Miller, 33, B:S, T:R (1-4, 4.24 ERA, 15 SV | 36-34, 3.35 ERA, 55 SV) – again didn’t give us what we desired in the closer’s role. His control has gotten worse in recent years, but most of the time he will be able to adequately navigate through an inning. Longest-tenured pitcher on the roster, debuting with the team in 1991.
CL Dan Nordahl, 23, B:R, T:R (6-4, 4.61 ERA, 20 SV | 10-10, 4.76 ERA, 21 SV) – Nordahl acquired the closer’s job from Miller mid-season, but neither fared all too well. While Nordahl is able to strike out batters at a nice rate, he is still honing his control – under live fire. Budgetary constraints force us to go with him.

C Mark Thomas, 25, B:R, T:R (.253, 5 HR, 35 RBI | .258, 5 HR, 38 RBI) – survived all those other pitchers we had, including the burst bubble of dreams named Julio Mata, to win the primary catcher’s job on the Raccoons, however enviable this might be with wild throws going anywhere. We are hoping for semi-competent batting, too.
C Gary Fifield, 29, B:R, T:R (.167, 1 HR, 4 RBI | .219, 5 HR, 26 RBI) – keeps coming up from AAA, but even for a second division team, Fifield is a poor choice for a backup catcher, generally possessing few amazing talents. He can hold is ground behind the dish, but is mostly helpless at the plate.

1B Albert Martin, 25, B:L, T:L (.261, 26 HR, 89 RBI | .267, 43 HR, 142 RBI) – missed the CL home run title by three park-leavers last season; generally performed like feast and famine, with one particularly bad drought in August, where he didn’t hit anything but the hay at night. Defense is questionable and he will regularly be subbed for in late, close games.
2B Jesus Palacios, 27, B:L, T:R (.290, 24 HR, 88 RBI | .287, 56 HR, 295 RBI) – had a blistering hot May, hitting for 14 home runs over three weeks, while not hitting a whole lot of them outside that timeframe. Works well together defensively with Concie, and has the second base starting spot locked down hard.
SS Conceicao Guerin, 28, B:R, T:R (.283, 2 HR, 37 RBI | .282, 10 HR, 236 RBI) – stellar defense, good OBP, and a knack for stealing bases. Only injury kept him from making a challenge for the CL SB title in 2001, going down with two weeks left and unable to add to his 33 bags.
1B/3B Daniel Sharp, 24, B:R, T:R (.301, 8 HR, 57 RBI | .285, 12 HR, 80 RBI) – Danny was mostly a reason to relax in his first full season – when he wasn’t accidentally making one of his 20 errors on the hot corner. Also made a few base-running mistakes, costing a number of runs and – defensively – also wins. But he’s batting .300 and scored 88 runs, and if everybody on the team did that…
1B/2B/3B/SS Adrian Matthews *, 29, B:R, T:R (.248, 6 HR, 35 RBI | .269, 35 HR, 320 RBI) – one of three pieces received from the Indians in the Ramiro Cavazos trade, Matthews is a versatile defensive player that could hold his ground in the starting lineup if we were to suffer an injury.
1B /2B/3B/SS Marvin Ingall *, 33, B:R, T:R (.273, 6 HR, 49 RBI | .280, 44 HR, 353 RBI) – returns as free agent from the Knights after one season abroad; will take over a backup job, but both him and Matthews are very similar players and they both should see regular starts at least against left-handed pitching, however the time when Marvin ran up 600+ AB in a season might be over.

LF/CF Chris Roberson, 25, B:R, T:R (.312, 6 HR, 27 RBI | .312, 6 HR, 27 RBI) – made a spectacular debut in the second half of the 2001 season, playing himself into the starter’s role in left right away. Roberson brings a well-rounded package with a good contact AND power bat, great defense, and a pair of fast legs capable of stealing bases in numbers worth reporting.
CF/LF Neil Reece, 35, B:R, T:R (.311, 11 HR, 71 RBI | .308, 153 HR, 766 RBI) – longest-tenured Raccoon, having debuted in 1989, Reece is showing signs of age, with his range and agility decreasing; interestingly however, his batting picked up – sort of. While his power is a bit down from his peak years, he batted for the best slash line in a qualifying season since 1993. He continues to be our centerfielder of choice and is under contract through 2004.
LF/RF Clyde Brady, 25, B:L, T:L (.304, 10 HR, 48 RBI | .266, 43 HR, 203 RBI) – was ready to have a phenomenal year before he tore ankle ligaments and ended up missing 91 games. WHEN he played, he was mostly amazing and we are keying on him to be our rightfielder of the future – all we need is a contract with him.
LF/RF/CF Chris Parker, 26, B:L, T:R (.237, 6 HR, 24 RBI | .251, 14 HR, 141 RBI) – started to pinch-hit a blistering 0-29 last season; apart from that, he was not all bad, but failed to even get a single recommendation for the vacant leftfield job, which Chris Roberson took by storm last fall.
LF/RF/CF Gilberto Flores, 29, B:R, T:R (.237, 1 HR, 20 RBI | .253, 26 HR, 183 RBI) – was a rule 5 pick, did his job more or less as expected and wins a backup job over Jason Kent as we didn’t want to carry two left-handed outfield bats on the bench, nothing more or less.

On disabled list: one minor leaguer, AAA OF Cal Lyon.

Otherwise unavailable: Nobody.

Other roster movement:
RF/LF/CF Jason Kent, 28, B:L, T:L (.277, 3 HR, 14 RBI | .243, 4 HR, 26 RBI) – DFA, failing to deliver much of anything in parts of five seasons for the Raccoons.

Opening day lineups:
Vs. RHP: SS Guerin – 2B Palacios – CF Reece – RF Brady – 1B Martin – LF Roberson – 3B Sharp – C Thomas – P Bean
Vs. LHP: SS Guerin – 3B Sharp – CF Reece – RF Brady – LF Roberson – 1B Martin (Ingall) – 2B Matthews (Ingall) – C Thomas – P Bean
If we open against a left-hander, Palacios will still play over Matthews.

OFF SEASON CHANGES:

We gained eight wins last season after going +12 WAR in the winter, and you could blame injuries and other unexpected misfortunes. This year is the first instance in quite some time that the Raccoons lost WAR in the offseason. We dropped 3.0 WAR, with Cipriano Miranda electing free agency (and being left over), the Cavazos trade, and the Miguel Lopez trade, all responsible for losses of just over 2 WAR each. However, we unloaded WAR drains Julio Mata and Max Heart onto the Scorpions in separate trades, regaining 3.1 WAR total, and signed Moreno and Ingall late for another 2.3 WAR gain. Overall, our -3.0 WAR ranks t-10th in the ABL this winter.

Top 5: Condors (+13.4), Titans (+5.1), Cyclones (+4.5), Blue Sox (+2.3), Falcons (+1.6)
Bottom 5: Wolves (-6.1), Gold Sox (-6.2), Crusaders (-8.3), Stars (-10.2), Scorpions (-22.9)

PREDICTION TIME:

First, nothing’s rosy.

Last year, I said that with this miniscule budget we just could not keep up with the better teams, and it showed, finishing 31.5 games behind the Titans. It was our fifth consecutive losing season, and overall we have only won 70.4 games on average in these five years. It has been a drain.

And things won’t get better anytime soon, thanks to the Mexican Prick and his prickly ways. The Mexican Prick expects this team to finish at .500. I have my doubts.

While we have a mostly credible offense in place, give or take no production from the catcher’s spot, our pitching staff continues to have holes, with our #5 starter being fully expected to get set ablaze regularly. We have no closer, we have not had a good left-handed reliever in ages, and our bench is not very strong either. A team with these shortcomings can only reach 81 wins if nobody gets hurt, and nobody pulls a Farley and runs up an ERA over six in April. With the injury history of some of our players (Reece…), and our recent record of truly unexpected regress in several players, this is not something to be banked on. For all we know, even Clyde Brady could bat .227 with two homers through May – and then? It is wholly and entirely impossible to make a late signing. Thanks to the Mexican Prick we are broke.

Last year I said that the Raccoons could not be expected to finish better than 72-90, and they didn’t, coming home 71-91, tying for the second-best result in the last five years. Our lineup is largely the same as last year, and there are lots of question marks surrounding the pitching staff again, including a bullpen that was the worst in baseball in 2001. Although arguably most of the suckers have been replaced, it is possible that nothing gets better. By my estimate, we’d need about $2.5M to $3M to address all our shortfalls and add a starter, a closer, and a catcher.

Verdict: the team continues to have holes in several areas, and with our injury history and always the same rotten luck, a 81-81 finish is out of the question. At best I can imagine a slight improvement to 75-87.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

Something went wrong with the Coons’ farm in recent years. Normally, if you suck and pick high, your farm gets better. Last year we plunged from 8th to 17th among all ABL teams, having only seven players in the top 200. Of those, a whopping four are no longer eligible as Marcos Bruno, Chris Roberson, Sergio Vega, and Miguel Ramirez have exceeded rookie limitations, and a fifth (Cesar Lopez) has dropped off the radar.

With not much new stuff coming up, we are still in the bottom half in the ABL, ranking 16th (so one spot better than before).

25th (+75) – AAA OF/1B Edgardo Torrez, 25 – international discovery by Vicente Guerra
31st (new) – AA SP Jack Berry, 21 – 1999 eighth round pick by the Scorpions, acquired in trade for Max Heart
71st (new) – AAA LF/RF/1B Chris Beairsto, 23 – 2001 first round pick by the Raccoons
75th (-51) – AA CL Matt Cash, 19 – 2000 second round pick by the Raccoons
130th (new) – A 1B Mun-wah Tsung, 19 – international discovery by the Cyclones, acquired in trade for Miguel Lopez, Juan Garcia
132nd (new) – ML SP Felipe Garcia, 24 – 1995 third round pick by the Gold Sox, acquired in trade from Capitals for Harry Jackson
200th (new) – AAA 1B Alejandro Rojas, 22 – international discovery be the Vicente Guerra

The Rebels’ 20-year old SP Jesus Cabrera is the #1 prospect in the league. Named #7 is the Miners’ SP Barney Manning. Manning spent his first professional season with the A-level Miami Shores Cyber Rays, going 7-8 with a 2.87 ERA, and struck out 120 in 125 innings.

Next: first pitch!