[Westheim]

Teams with money to spend (which the Raccoons temporarily would belong to) had a fine selection of free agents to go after in this offseason. There was something for most every demand. Want a top notch starting pitcher? How about former Pacific Brad Smith. Sure, he’s 36, but he hasn’t let up much, so far. That would be around 15 million bucks.

Teams that had just gotten rid of a low-average, high(…)-power corner outfielder could elect to go after ex-Knight Gil Rockwell, who had batted .237 with 36 dingers in 2020. Like Smith, he was 36, but he was surely going to hold up for a wee bit longer. Deposit 18 million here please.

Need a closer? The Indians just lost Jarrod Morrison to free agency. He isn’t even 36. Only 35. And his strikeouts have come down a bit recently. Nevertheless, he’s yours if you can put 10 million in cash into an envelope.

Yeah, maybe we needed to go about this smarter. The first player I went after had zero major league experience. It was a 23-year old Cuban right-hander that had just washed ashore a few months earlier and hardly spoke a word in English. Jesus Sanchez had a 95mph fastball that was nicely complemented by a changeup, curveball, and slider. None of the three side pitches were overwhelming, but he had an uncanny ability to throw a slider exactly 1.5 inches off the plate to fool every kind of batter in the box. The Riddler saw star potential – at least the scouting report spoke a lot about Aries, Gemini, and Sirius behind a veil – but the question was whether he was major league ready.

Or to formulate differently: would he embarrass himself any more than “Tragic” Garrett?

Being a Cuban ‘emigrant’, Chavez would cost hard coin even when stashed away in AAA to start his stateside career, so this could be a move to sell the present for a better future, and it didn’t sound like me at all.

There were a few good relievers available, but we surely weren’t the only team that had to restock a flayed bullpen, so time was of the essence here. I quickly jumped on a few players and they were happy to sign soon.

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November 27 – The Raccoons sign two relievers in one day, reuniting with 32-year old ex-NYC/CHA CL Brett Lillis (29-43, 3.23 ERA, 175 SV) on a 4-yr, $7M contract, and also add 31-year old former Scorpions MR Noah “Bloody” Bricker (74-66, 3.71 ERA, 18 SV), who is going to make $365k in 2021.
November 27 – The Miners sign ex-IND C Jayden Jolley (.262, 130 HR, 734 RBI) to a 3-year deal. The 35-year old backstop, who batted only .228 in 2020, receives a 3-yr, $5.46M contract.
November 28 – Former Indians closer Jarrod Morrison (74-59, 2.72 ERA, 255 SV) signs with the Gold Sox, who will pay $4.66M over three years to the 35-year old right-hander.
November 28 – The Bayhawks also have themselves a new closer, signing ex-RIC CL Matt Collins (63-47, 2.73 ERA, 298 SV) to a 2-year deal for $3.24M.
November 28 – 26-year old SP Mike Fernandez (11-3, 3.57 ERA) is traded from the Cyclones to the Warriors for 26-year old C Brett O’Dell (.254, 5 HR, 42 RBI) and a prospect.
November 28 – The Falcons sign ex-LAP MR Dusty Balzer (57-45, 3.50 ERA, 85 SV) to a 2-yr, $1.72M contract.
November 29 – The Canadiens make a splash by signing 29-year old former Falcon C Ryan Holliman (.271, 124 HR, 455 RBI) to a 6-year deal worth $15.84M.
December 1 – Rule 5 draft: 14 players are taken over three rounds. The Raccoons are not affected.

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The only team to take three players in the rule 5 draft were the … Crusaders! Some entirely new rocket science going on over there in New Jorvik.

Thrasher’s price only went up after he attained free agency, so we went back to co-lights-out-lefty Brett Lillis, who had been a Raccoon in the latter half of 2019 for 27 games. Lillis had then joined the Coons at the deadline for a package that included Alex Duarte, and became a free agent after the season. He signed a 2-year deal with the Crusaders, who traded him to the Falcons mid-season, and he also missed two months with shoulder woes. Not seeing himself on a going-nowhere team, Lillis voided his $1.62M player option for 2021, and now signed a flat 4-yr, $7M deal with the Raccoons. The last year is another player option for 2024.

Bricker was high on our draft list all the way back in 2008, but was taken second overall by the Scorpions, with whom he spent his entire professional career so far. They used him as a starter for years, but he never was any more than mediocre in that role, transitioning to the bullpen first in 2017. The last three years have been trying seasons for Bricker, who only managed 45 appearances (12 starts) amidst repeated and consistent injury woes, reaching a low point in 2020 when he didn’t even pitch ten innings after hitting the DL with shoulder inflammation on May 3, never to return from there (but he still got his ring). It was the second time in three years that shoulder inflammation axed him in May, the other time being 2018, and he ruptured a finger tendon in May 2019, also burying him for the year. He is a reclamation project if we’ve ever signed one, but at least he’s dirt cheap.

I see Lillis as our closer in 2021 and beyond, and Bricker as setup, at least until the amputation that has already been scheduled for May. So it might not hurt to look for another eighth-inning-capable reliever. Handedness doesn’t really matter, but the market for left-handers is more or less Ron Thrasher after we signed Lillis.

As long as Bricker is on the roster, and depending on whether you think Adam Cowen can hold down the shallow end of the pen, that leaves one or two positions in the bullpen open. I hear we still have Nick Lester on