[Westheim]

2020 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set shows 2019 numbers, second set overall; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Jonathan Toner, 29, B:R, T:R (13-3, 2.31 ERA | 106-41, 2.32 ERA) – For the second time in his career, Toner missed a good chunk of the season, yet somehow still managed to wind up with the second-most wins in the rotation. He still is the best pitcher the ABL currently can throw onto the videoboard, and despite the injury woes in 2019 struck out more than 11 per nine innings for the third straight year, and after just having turned 29 is already almost halfway to 1,500 K for his career. About his repertoire it is sufficient to state that he throws raw filth that nobody can cope with. In addition to 98mph heater he also has a nasty curve and an off-the-charts circle change. If he feels like it, he throws a changeup, just for giggles. AGAIN: Best pitcher in baseball right now!
SP Tadasu Abe, 28, B:R, T:R (12-8, 2.98 ERA | 49-30, 3.09 ERA) – huge arsenal that allows him to dazzle batters and keep them guessing; consistently strikes out almost eight per nine innings and has the ability to often get out of a mess that he gets into.
SP Hector Santos, 31, B:S, T:R (15-10, 2.75 ERA | 108-80, 3.08 ERA) – sometimes a bit the forgotten man in the rotation, Santos led the league in WHIP for the third time in 2019. His slider is the bane of batting, but unfortunately he tends to leave things hanging over the middle from time to time to get clonkered. He’s allowed 162 homers in 1,744 innings, and allowed five dingers in a pair of matchups with Nehemiah Jones in the 2019 CLCS that killed the Raccoons along with their offensive ineptness.
SP Cole Pierson, 30, B:L, T:L (9-15, 3.73 ERA | 43-52, 3.70 ERA) – Pierson was picked up in a trade with the Capitals, who hardly ever scored for him, but nobody has ever gone to Portland and suddenly found run support. Pierson posted back-to-back 9-15 campaigns for the 2018 Capitals and the 2019 Coons, but the latter season started out so much better. Pierson however hasn’t won a game since July of 2019, and was pretty much an automatic loss, not even coming close to keeping his team in the game.
SP Bobby Guerrero, 30, B:R, T:R (12-9, 3.33 ERA | 60-59, 4.19 ERA, 2 SV) – mixes his four pitches very well, but could use a control upgrade; Guerrero couldn’t break glass in April of 2019 and spent some time in AAA to get recalibrated – and it worked. Was reliable again in the second half of the season.

MR Adam Cowen, 25, B:R, T:R (0-0, 1.53 ERA | 0-1, 2.81 ERA) – groundballer with a fastball splitter combo that was picked off the trash heap in the winter of 2016-17 after originally being drafted in the 10th round in 2012 by the Elks, Cowen had cups of coffee in both of the last two seasons for 17 games total. 2018 didn’t go great (5.63 ERA), but he whiffed 14 in 17.2 innings in 2019, and we are hoping for genuine and permanent improvement here.
MR Jeff Boynton, 30, B:S, T:R (5-2, 2.27 ERA | 33-26, 3.38 ERA, 92 SV) – solid-to-good middle reliever, Boynton was doing some good work in the Raccoons pen in 2019, his first season with the team, before popping out his elbow in the middle of June. He hasn’t been seen since, but he has some neat feats to replicate as the new season gets underway; Boynton, in a contract year, allowed no home runs in 31.2 innings in 2019.
MR Seung-mo Chun, 31, B:S, T:R (2-2, 3.23 ERA, 1 SV | 12-10, 3.15 ERA, 5 SV) – routinely handles the seventh inning with great consistency, but he lacks the stuff to put hitters away reliably in close situations, which in our view limits his value in later innings.
MR Jason Kaiser, 33, B:L, T:L (4-5, 2.36 ERA, 1 SV | 13-14, 2.89 ERA, 5 SV) – the Raccoons abused the career nobody Kaiser, who entered his age 31 season with 87 big league appearances, by throwing him into 80 games during the regular season, and five more in the abortive playoffs in 2018, then used him for another 74 regular season appearances in 2019. While he didn’t exceed 60 regular season innings in either campaign, he sure has shown that he can be used regularly and for several days in a row. Or so we hope.
SU Chris Mathis, 33, B:R, T:R (2-1, 3.45 ERA, 2 SV | 25-11, 2.42 ERA, 26 SV) – oddly unreliable in a closing assignment despite strong overall numbers, Mathis continues to be an enigma to his own front office. He has developed a reputation for streaking, with lights-out stretches alternating with several outings in a row in which he creates a mess or incinerates somebody else’s mess. Mathis was also one of the bushel of the Raccoons who missed significant time on the DL in 2019 and only appeared in 38 games and for 28.2 innings.
SU Joel Davis *, 28, B:R, T:R (5-7, 2.61 ERA, 9 SV| 21-25, 3.08 ERA, 19 SV) – one of only two free agency additions on the roster, Davis has a devastating curveball that he showed off numerous times against the Raccoons as a member of the Indians squad in the last few seasons. Will be part of our closer carrousel.
SU Ron Thrasher, 32, B:L, T:L (0-1, 1.80 ERA, 7 SV | 29-26, 2.42 ERA, 53 SV) – blessed with an executioner’s stuff, but saddled with a drunkard’s control, Ron continues to strike out more than a dozen per nine innings (a career value) while sometimes walking close to as many. Missed most of the second half of the 2019 season like so many other good guys, and is part of the closing committee with Mathis and Davis.

C Danny Margolis, 29, B:R, T:R (.239, 1 HR, 15 RBI | .240, 16 HR, 100 RBI) – Margolis’ name being announced as the starting catcher on Opening Day will be the first hint that the team stands right at the edge of the abyss. Five years as a backup have shown that Margolis is defense first as a catcher, and can’t hit no matter the circumstances.
C/1B Ezequiel Olivares *, 29, B:R, T:R (did not play | .500, 0 HR, 0 RBI) – Worse, Margolis’ backup is a rule 5 pick whose presence on the roster puzzles even the most veteran analysts of the game. Olivares has no credits and many say, no skills. What exactly he is doing on the Opening Roster is a mystery.

RF/LF/CF/1B Hugo Mendoza, 29, B:L, T:L (.299, 22 HR, 89 RBI | .319, 211 HR, 842 RBI) – bright sides: Dumbo Mendoza’s 2019 season (.875 OPS) was much less of a train wreck than his 2018 campaign (.816 OPS). Bad news: he still keeps ruining his Hall of Fame case year after year in Portland and continues to be highly aggravating to watch.
2B Ieyoshi Nomura *, 36, B:L, T:R (.337, 4 HR, 60 RBI | .303, 63 HR, 820 RBI) – after six years of wandering the desert, the long-lost son returns home! Yoshi signed a 4-year deal to try and pick it up where he left it off in 2013, when he batted .324 and had an .838 OPS as nominally low-power middle infielder. Sometimes ignored are the 30+ doubles Yoshi reliably hits every season, 471 for his career, and despite his age his defensive metrics are still very good.
SS/2B/3B Ronnie McKnight, 29, B:L, T:R (.281, 16 HR, 77 RBI | .272, 72 HR, 352 RBI) – a unicorn, combining a power bat with a top notch glove at the premium defensive position on the field. What is not to like about that? McKnight bounced back nicely from missing more than half of the 2018 season to a back injury, although his rookie season still remains his most productive with the bat.
3B Matt Nunley, 29, B:L, T:R (.260, 7 HR, 41 RBI | .289, 63 HR, 387 RBI) – excellent defensive third baseman that has yet to win a Gold Glove, and spent more or less the entire 2019 season in hell, sucking first, and then finding the DL just when things appeared to get a wee bit better. After a lost season, Nunley knows he has to bounce back despite being under contract through 2022.
RF/3B/2B/1B/LF/CF Brian Petracek, 29, B:S, T:R (.221, 4 HR, 16 RBI | .232, 13 HR, 74 RBI) – super utility player that is able to fill in everywhere in the field, although he spent almost the entire season under the Mendoza line and to be fair we wonder what HE is doing here as well.
2B/SS Tim Prince, 29, B:R, T:R (.200, 0 HR, 1 RBI | .260, 11 HR, 116 RBI) – another player whose presence on the roster is a medium-sized mind boggler. Prince is a decent enough defensive middle infielder, but has not hit anybody or anything in his time shuffling back and forth between Portland and St. Petersburg since coming over prior to 2019. Has no options, and nobody cares much.

LF/RF R.J. DeWeese, 33, B:L, T:L (.224, 21 HR, 62 RBI | .243, 289 HR, 956 RBI) – paws up anybody who wants to hear the story of the vastly, insanely overpaid crumbling veteran, who couldn’t hit a barn from the inside with a ball or a bat, one more time – thought so.
CF/LF Andy Bareford, 25, B:R, T:R (.247, 3 HR, 26 RBI | .246, 5 HR, 44 RBI) – one part of our platoon in centerfield, which will not be a straight platoon since Bareford, the right-handed batter, is actually the better batter overall, we think, and his range seems to be a bit better than DeWald’s.
CF/RF/LF Kevin DeWald, 23, B:L, T:L (.253, 1 HR, 10 RBI | .253, 1 HR, 10 RBI) – debuted in the latter half of the 2019 season due to injuries mounting up and made some kind of impression, enough to be considered for playing the other half of the centerfield platoon.
LF/CF/RF Ricardo Carmona, 28, B:L, T:R (.320, 1 HR, 51 RBI | .326, 18 HR, 358 RBI) – Cookie played a career-high 158 games in 2019, enjoying much better health after getting moved out of centerfield two years ago. He led the CL in base hits with 205, but struggled with his timing in stealing bases and only managed to steal 33 at a 60% success rate. Only three years ago he stole 28 bases while missing almost 70 games... regardless, he is a great leadoff hitter, although he could sometimes be a tiny tad more patient.
LF/RF Eddie Jackson, 35, B:R, T:R (.281, 7 HR, 36 RBI | .268, 69 HR, 458 RBI) – very qualified pinch-hitter and still decent as a corner outfielder, but with the level of talent on the team Jackson can’t get more than a support role right now – unless injuries strike again. Jackson didn’t figure as a starter in either of his two previous Raccoons campaigns, and still both times got more than 300 plate appearances.

On disabled list: Nobody.

Otherwise unavailable: Nobody.

Other roster movement:
MR Will West, 26, B:R, T:R (3-0, 4.95 ERA | 4-2, 4.82 ERA) – waived and DFA’ed; shaky and unreliable and by walking five per nine innings not even suitable for mop-up duties.
MR Matt Schroeder, 27, B:L, T:R (0-0, 5.63 ERA | 1-2, 3.75 ERA, 1 SV) – waived and DFA’ed; the sparkle that surrounded him after his 2018 debut is completely off, could hardly get anybody out in 2019.
1B Russ Greenwald, 26, B:L, T:L (.241, 2 HR, 15 RBI | .226, 2 HR, 15 RBI) – spent an awful lot of time on the roster in 2019 without doing anything particularly useful; since he has no place to start anyway with Mendoza on first base, he loses the roster spot to someone at least able to play somewhere other than first.

Opening day lineup:
Vs. RHP: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – C Margolis – P Toner
(Vs. LHP: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – CF Bareford – 3B Nunley – C Margolis – P Toner)

When DeWald starts against a right-hander we will actually not have a left-handed bat on the bench between Jackson, Bareford, Prince, Petracek, and the second catcher. But truth be told, outside of Jackson and MAYBE Bareford, there isn’t a real *batter* in there anyway.

OFF SEASON CHANGES:

Walter, Denny, Mathews, Charters, Lillis – the Raccoons bled profusely in the preceding offseason. Only Walter’s loss was compensated. Everything else went right into the BNN offseason WAR table. And the offseason was not kind as the Raccoons ended up in the bottom five in the league with only three additions on the major league roster, and one of those was … well, the 29-year old rule 5 pick / backup catcher.

Top 5: Crusaders (+13.1), Cyclones (+9.6), Blue Sox (+4.4), Falcons (+4.2), Titans (+3.1)
Bottom 5: Canadiens (-4.0), Raccoons (-7.3), Stars (-8.1), Warriors (-8.5), Bayhawks (-12.4)

PREDICTION TIME:

Last time around I said the Raccoons would win 96 games and win the division comfortably while the Crusaders were still being weighed down by horrendous contracts. Well, the last part was true, and they did win the division, but the Loggers(!) gave them a good scare right until the final few weeks of the season. Sad news for Milwaukee, they will not be close this year. The Crusaders – as anticipated in this spot 12 months ago – hands-down won the offseason with a pack of strong additions (though some high-risk additions included in that) and are the prime pick to run away with the division in 2020 and the rest of all the seasons from here to eternity.

The Raccoons are now the team with the worst deals in the division, foremost DeWeese, but we’re also not getting anything close to his paycheck from Dumbo Mendoza. Then I somehow fooled myself into signing a 36-year old second baseman for a lot of dosh. Like I said above, the fact that Danny Margolis, who hit the odd 3-run homer for surprising comebacks in five years as a perpetual backstop, but overall is an outright terrible batter, is the starting catcher for the Coons is ringing all the alarm bells. Despite a top 3 budget in the league, the Coons have bought themselves thin and aren’t getting any return for their big imports, and Yoshi IS 36 years old and his contract can end up on that pile of poo in a hurry.

If that happens and the Raccoons crash, they won’t even be able to trade these contracts. If they crash, they have to ride it out. DeWeese through ’22, Nomura through ’23, Mendoza through ’23. Prospects? Only from Toner, Cookie, and the rest of the good guys.

But this will not happen in 2020. But the Raccoons will also not be even remotely close. They will end up seventh in runs scored AGAIN, and finish 90-72, ten games behind the Crusaders and in second place in the North.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

Boy, it’s empty here. The Raccoons’ system is in the bottom two in the league for the third straight season, rising from 24th to a rousing 23rd this year!

We had only four ranked prospects last year, all of them are still in the organization, but #87 Markus Bates and #118 Mike Rehbock (our two highest-ranked prospects in 2019) are not in the top 200 anymore.

70th (new) – A SP Reese Kenny, 20 – 2019 first round pick by the Raccoons
115th (+10) – AA SP Pete Molina, 20 – 2018 first round pick by the Raccoons
126th (+26) – AAA SP Ricky Martinez, 25 – 2011 international free agent signed by Raccoons
156th (new) – A SP Rico Gutierrez, 20 – 2015 international free agent signed by Raccoons
163rd (new) – A INF Ismael Pastor, 20 – 2015 international free agent signed by Raccoons

The franchise top 10 were completed by unranked AA SP Juan Mendez (2016 IFA), AA INF Daniel Bullock (2016 IFA), AA 1B Ruben Santiago (2017 1st Rd.), AA CL Mike Rehbock (2017 2nd Rd.), and AAA OF/1B Dwayne Metts (2016 3rd Rd.);

The top 5 overall prospects this year are:

#1 SFB AA 3B/LF Shane Sanks (was #1)
#2 SAL ML MR Jorge Beltran (was #3)
#3 DEN A SS/3B Omar Camacho (was #14)
#4 BOS AA SP Dustin Cory (newly drafted in 2019)
#5 NAS A SP Matt Huf (was #5)

Last year’s #2, the Crusaders’ Mike Rutkowski, spent almost two months in their major league bullpen and no longer qualifies, while #4 CL Gregg Bell was traded midseason from the Buffaloes to the Wolves and made his major league debut with them, appearing in 31 games and easily exceeding rookie limitations.

Next: first pitch.