[Westheim]

2006 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set shows 2005 numbers, second set overall; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Nick Brown, 28, B:L, T:L (15-10, 2.91 ERA | 56-44, 3.10 ERA) – strikeout machine, with 212 or more strikeouts in every full season in the majors; the prime source of joy in Portland, and not all that bad for a second-to-last round pick.
SP Edgar Amador, 24, B:R, T:R (7-11, 4.01 ERA | 20-21, 3.81 ERA) – the “Fat Cat” is a serious groundball pitcher who is hard to homer off, and despite his gargantuan size he can field his own position; last year however, it was a struggle for him, as he had no control whatsoever over his pitches in the first half of the season and eventually was demoted to spend two months in AAA. He came back in the last quarter of the season and was much better then.
SP Ralph Ford, 28, B:L, T:L (6-14, 3.98 ERA | 52-85, 4.07 ERA) – gave up a career high 23 home runs in ’05, as his struggles rarely ever ceased; his W-L record is not only indicative on which team he has pitched his whole career, but it also tells a thing or two about his pitching, which includes many walks, and lots of extra base hits.
SP Kenichi Watanabe, 29, B:R, T:R (0-6, 3.00 ERA | 4-8, 3.09 ERA) – an international free agent added before the 2004 season, “Winless” Watanabe has pitched with even less luck and run support than any other pitcher before him, and also with a lower K/9 than anybody we dare to remember – in 110.2 innings in the Bigs, he has struck out only 47 batters.
SP Kelly Fairchild *, 33, B:R, T:R (5-7, 3.14 ERA | 39-63, 4.52 ERA, 1 SV) – Kelly always pitched much better for the Crusaders as when he was on the Raccoons in his 20s; except for leading the league in losses in 2003, he was a pretty solid part of the back half of the New York rotation since 2002, and we hope that this will hold true in 2006.

MU Kazuhiko Kichida, 26, B:L, T:R (2-3, 2.61 ERA | 3-3, 3.80 ERA) – if it stunk for all other reasons, but 2005 at least showed that Kaz could actually do something else than bloom up opposing leads; he held the shallow end of the rotation very well together and recommended himself for more regular duties, and also made a spot start.
MR Ed Bryan, 25, B:L, T:L (1-2, 2.36 ERA | 2-2, 2.23 ERA) – replaced a struggling Dave Williams very early in the season and pitched sufficiently well to never go away again, with a good K/BB (2.9), although he was home run prone, giving up six dingers in 42 innings, which happens to 92mph finesse guys when they drift into the middle of the zone.
MR Lawrence Rockburn, 25, B:R, T:R (3-1, 2.97 ERA, 1 SV | 4-3, 3.01 ERA, 1 SV) – this Canadian is the stock right-hander any bullpen needs a few of. Not overwhelming in any way, he was quietly trudging along in his first full season and did nothing to enrage general management.
MR Rémy Lucas, 27, B:L, T:L (3-0, 0.00 ERA | 3-0, 0.00 ERA) – this 27-year old Canadian came to the Bigs late, but when he came, he was impressive, allowing no runs to score in 8.2 innings of work late in the season and outpitched Matt Cash for the final bullpen slot, in which he is now the third left-hander, but his mean slider should help him to face right-handers as well.
SU Marcos Bruno, 30, B:R, T:R (2-4, 2.36 ERA, 10 SV | 18-20, 3.35 ERA, 50 SV) – excelled in 2005 with very few weak moments, and posted an 11+ K/9 for the second consecutive year which was instrumental in getting a lot of close leads from getting away; also subbed for Angel Casas when he was on the DL early in the season.
SU Domingo Moreno, 32, B:R, T:L (3-4, 3.86 ERA, 1 SV | 22-17, 3.08 ERA, 17 SV) – usually steady, although his fourth year in Portland was somewhat of an adventure, in which he completely lost it twice, including early in the season.
CL Angel Casas, 23, B:S, T:R (2-0, 1.30 ERA, 28 SV | 3-2, 1.80 ERA, 31 SV) – yes, it’s only a track record of 65 innings, and he missed two months to injury, but if Angel continues to pitch like he did last season, nominally his first full season in the majors, then Grant West might finally find rest in closer’s retirement, since we finally found a suitable replacement for a Hall of Famer.

C Bob Wood, 25, B:R, T:R (.211, 4 HR, 30 RBI | .217, 4 HR, 31 RBI) – Bob Wood tried, and couldn’t. Which was to be expected. After years of spending money and getting no production from their catchers, the Raccoons went cheap, and got no production, which was only fair. Our unwillingness to spend on catchers while getting no production from them keeps him in business.
C Craig Bowen *, 25, B:S, T:R (.199, 2 HR, 10 RBI | .197, 15 HR, 64 RBI) – acquired via trade with the Indians, Bowen sports a very manly moustache, if not a great resume. Our revamped scouting department liked him.

1B Adrian Quebell, 23, B:L, T:L (.356, 0 HR, 1 RBI | .356, 0 HR, 1 RBI) – Al Martin’s replacement hit no homers and drove in a single runner in 45 at-bats, his entire major-league experience. This might not be Bob Wood displaced by 90 feet, but he’s gotta show something soon. In any case, he is much more adept with the glove than Martin could ever have hoped to be.
1B/2B Ieyoshi Nomura, 22, B:L, T:R (.285, 1 HR, 14 RBI | .274, 2 HR, 25 RBI) – Yoshi started to show his ability to get on base (.357) in his first full season, which was still only a half season after three trips to the DL.
SS/3B/2B Victor Flores *, 27, B:R, T:R (.264, 2 HR, 42 RBI | .276, 10 HR, 215 RBI) – acquired in trade from the Bayhawks, but best known as 2001-05 Titan, Flores is a significant upgrade over the outrageously unproductive Yoshi Yamada at shortstop, with a steady glove on top of that.
1B/3B Daniel Sharp, 28, B:R, T:R (.290, 8 HR, 42 RBI | .290, 37 HR, 257 RBI) – everyday third baseman, never mind the stupid errors, in the field or on the base paths; performs consistently without any major hot or cold streaks.
SS/2B/3B Yoshi Yamada, 28, B:L, T:R (.208, 2 HR, 35 RBI | .208, 2 HR, 35 RBI) – set a Continental League record with 54 stolen bases despite reaching base 23.8% of the time, and was top notch with the glove, but the bat was indisputably bad. He has to settle into a defensive backup and pinch-runner role. He could f.e. run for Sharp or Nomura, stay at short, and Flores moves to the open position.
3B Steve Searcy, 24, B:R, T:R (.252, 1 HR, 9 RBI | .252, 1 HR, 9 RBI) – bounced back and forth between AAA and the Bigs, and hardly played; not a real defensive improvement at third base, and untrained anywhere else, with a bat that leaves you longing for much more.

LF/RF Clyde Brady, 29, B:L, T:L (.237, 22 HR, 74 RBI | .252, 100 HR, 434 RBI) – although he set a career high with 22 home runs in 2005, he continued the nasty trend of being completely absent from the scoreboard in the second half of the season. Also, he hasn’t batted .250 in four years, and there’s little hope for a reversal of this trend, while he is one of several free agents (with Greenman, Ford, Fairchild, and Moreno at least).
LF/CF/RF Edgardo Fernandez, 27, B:S, T:R (.257, 4 HR, 39 RBI | .275, 11 HR, 146 RBI) – very good defensive, at best average bat; he won the starting job in centerfield mainly by sucking less than the numerous competitors, and he is certainly no Neil Reece.
RF Bob Mays, 22, B:L, T:L (.267, 2 HR, 11 RBI | .267, 2 HR, 11 RBI) – limited exposure (90 AB) showed promise, and we are pretending that the K’s will go down and the bombs will go up while platooning with Christian Greenman.
RF/LF Christian Greenman, 30, B:R, T:R (.245, 24 HR, 82 RBI | .244, 101 HR, 308 RBI) – not liked in Portland, by anybody, his career best 24 dingers were a result of a career high 498 AB granted to him despite a not even middling batting average. He will platoon with Bob Mays until we get his sorry butt shoved through the door.
RF/LF Jose Carlos Crespo *, 25, B:S, T:R (.333, 0 HR, 2 RBI | .333, 0 HR, 2 RBI) – six at-bats of major league service, nothing to get enraged about. Came over in a trade with the Titans.

On disabled list: Nobody.

Otherwise unavailable: Jose Carlos Crespo has a throat infection and will be unable to play in the first one or two games of the season.

Other roster movement:
SP Felipe Garcia, 28, B:R, T:R (6-16, 4.57 ERA | 23-39, 4.46 ERA) – DFA. His first full season without injuries or demotions was a nightmare, no stuff, no command, no luck.

Opening day lineups:
Vs. RHP: 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – LF Brady – 1B Quebell – RF Mays – SS Flores – CF Fernandez – C Wood – P Brown
Vs. LHP: 3B Sharp – CF Fernandez – LF Brady – RF Greenman – 1B Quebell – SS Flores – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P Brown

OFF SEASON CHANGES:

The only significant improvement is Vic Flores at short. We are giving the two most obvious power positions to rookies that have one home run between them after trading Al Martin for prospects. We traded for a few prospects, but who knows what will become of them. The Raccoons did not dismantle completely. We will leave that to the next offseason when everybody and their mother will be free agents.

Top 5: Pacifics (+7.4), Indians (+7.0), Canadiens (+6.9), Thunder (+4.2), Crusaders (+3.9)
Bottom 5: Raccoons (-4.3), Loggers (-5.4), Capitals (-6.6), Knights (-8.5), Cyclones (-8.5)

PREDICTION TIME:

It’s been nine years. Nine years of losing.

This will be the tenth.

There is just no reason to believe that it will get better. Our strong point is the bullpen, and everything else – apart from Nick Brown – is shoddy and makeshift. We don’t need injuries to fill our lineup with .200 batters. We do that from the start. It’s not even about Quebell and Mays hitting or not hitting. The whole lineup reeks of fish top to bottom, there is not one player in there you can key on. No mid-80s Hall/Osanai/Dawson heart of the order, not even a mid-to-late 90s Neil Reece to form an orderly line around. There’s Daniel Sharp trailed by a flock of .245 hitters – at best. The win-it-all Raccoons of the early 90s used Bobby Quinn (mostly around .755 OPS) as a constant backup. The early 90s Bobby Quinn would bat third for the 2006 Raccoons.

Unless the bled-dry Loggers manage to suck even more, the Raccoons will take the red lantern in early April and run with it, finishing desperately far out at 66-96.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

The Raccoons’ farm system improves four spots from 16th to 12th, despite one fewer (13 rather than 14) players ranked in the top 200.

The following ranked players from last year are no longer eligible: #24 Rémy Lucas (age), #111 Ed Bryan (service time), #113 Scott Boone (minor league free agent), #143 Pedro Salas (traded), and #187 Bob Wood (service time).

35th (+12) – AAA MR Pedro Delgado, 21 – 2002 first round pick by the Titans, acquired in trade with Bill Corkum and Rémy Lucas for Manny Gabriel and Dale Moore
40th (+41) – ML 1B Adrian Quebell, 23 – 2000 supplemental round pick by the Warriors, acquired in trade for Randy Farley and Dan Nordahl
53rd (+1) – AAA CL Adam Riddle, 24 – 2002 second round pick by the Raccoons
63rd (new) – AA 3B Ricardo Martinez, 20 – international discovery by Pacifics, acquired in trade from Titans with Jose Carlos Crespo and Cássio Boda for Albert Martin and Glen Barnes.
70th (+29) – AAA MR Luis Beltran, 26 – 2001 seventh round pick by the Raccoons
87th (new) – AA 2B Jose Gutierrez, 21 – international discovery by Condors, acquire in trade from Pacifics for Curt Cooks
95th (+30) – AAA MR Matt Cash, 23 – 2000 second round pick by the Raccoons
110th (new) – AA SP Brendan Teasdale, 21 – 2005 first round pick by the Raccoons
132nd (+9) – AAA SS Ryan Miller, 21 – 2002 first round pick by the Titans, acquired in trade with Christian Greenman for Mark Thomas, Manuel Martinez, and Freddy Rosa
134th (new) – AA SP/MR Ted Reese, 22 – 2004 supplemental round pick by the Loggers, acquired in trade for Dave Wheaton
166th (-9) – ML RF Bob Mays, 22 – 2001 supplemental round pick by the Titans, acquired in trade with Falcons with Pedro Salas, Gary Tucker for Conceicao Guerin
183rd (new) – AAA SP Cesar Lopez, 23 – international discovery by Knights, acquired in trade with Jesus Palacios, Manny Gabriel, and Butch Kaustrop for Marvin Ingall and Manuel Reyes
184th (-46) – AAA MR Cody Bryant, 23 – 2001 second round pick by the Raccoons

22-year old outfielder Jimmy Roberts, the Pacifics’ first overall draft pick in the 2005 draft, was the #1 prospect in the country.

Next: first pitch!