[Westheim]

The winter meetings were upon us with the Rule 5 draft gone by, and when I looked at our pitching, I saw where our priorities should be.

Heading into the winter meetings, our rotation was Roberts, Gutierrez, Chavez, Sander, and… huh. Whitaker, Legleiter? In the pen, of all the closers only Jonathan Snyder was left over, with Vince D as setup man. Behind that: Surginer, Brotman, Lee, and whatever you think of Legleiter. Theoretically Juan Barzaga and Hector Morales. That's not a pitching staff that evokes good vibes of the "hey if the dice fall right, we're valid in September" sort, but more of the kind that made you want to put your head in the stove.

I reached out to ex-Titan Chris Klein during the winter meetings, but he apparently already had a 5-year deal well north of $15M on the table and the Raccoons – under tears – could not offer more than $2.75M annually at this point. Which was of course not enough to add a top-notch starter like Klein, who would also have us had forfeit our second-round pick since he was a type A free agent.

No, the Raccoons could afford neither him, nor the other first-rate free agent starting pitchers, Jose Menendez, and the Loggers' former Pedro Hernandez, who had lost 16 games in '24 but had also led the league in strikeouts. The Raccoons had to sift through the various pitchers on the market that were less flashy and often flawed.

Also on the market: Jonny Toner, who by now was pretty much the definition of damaged goods. The Crusaders had given him a $2.28M deal for 2024, well knowing that he would miss at least the first two months of the season. In the event, he didn't join them until after the All Star Game, and then made it only into 13 games (7 starts). Yes, he ended up 5-3 with a 2.73 ERA, but that was with a ridiculous .222 BABIP in 59.1 innings. He struck out 6.2/9, or in other words roughly half of what he put out in his heydays. He walked 5.2, that one pretty much in line with his last years in Portland, tumbling from injury to injury.

So what is the lower threshold for a 4-time Pitcher of the Year to make the Hall of Fame? Is 162-72, 2.62 ERA, 2,275 K going to be enough?

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December 3 – Three years and $4M land the Cyclones ex-DAL/LVA INF Raul Maldonado (.321, 23 HR, 553 RBI).
December 3 – The Condors trade RF/1B Chris Hollar (.266, 14 HR, 67 RBI) to the Stars for MR John Waker (22-23, 3.46 ERA, 23 SV) and #83 prospect CL Tom Zack.
December 3 – Oklahoma City acquires SP Adam Henry (12-27, 4.97 ERA) from the Cyclones. Cincinnati receives two prospects for the 29-year-old left-hander.
December 3 – After nine years in the Federal League, 38-yr-old ex-DEN LF/RF Mike Bednarski (.286, 260 HR, 1,253 RBI) returns to the Continental League, signing a 1-yr, $880k deal with the Condors.
December 3 – The Loggers trade for the Falcons' 38-year-old C Jamal White (.261, 222 HR, 915 RBI), who batted for only .200 and two homers between two teams in 2024. The Falcons receive MR Justin Guerin (12-19, 4.14 ERA, 34 SV) and a token prospect.
December 4 – Ex-CHA/POR CL Ryan Corkum (21-26, 3.60 ERA, 125 SV) signs a 2-yr, $3.1M contract with the Indians.
December 5 – The Knights send SS Phil Neubecker (.264, 9 HR, 53 RBI) to the Stars for swingman Yoo-chul Kim (26-26, 4.09 ERA, 6 SV).
December 6 – The Raccoons acquire 25-year-old MR Ricky Ohl (1-1, 4.86 ERA, 1 SV) from the Capitals, sending LF/RF Jake Williams (.266, 40 HR, 201 RBI), recently acquired from the Crusaders, and AAA C Ricky Ortiz to Washington.
December 6 – The Capitals also acquire ex-CIN CL Pat Selby (33-25, 3.64 ERA, 104 SV) for 1-yr, $1.56M.
December 6 – The Gold Sox pick up ex-MIL RF Brad Gore (.286, 98 HR, 624 RBI) for five years and $14.4M.
December 7 – The Buffaloes trade two prospects to the Miners for 27-yr-old SP Joe Jones (25-38, 4.52 ERA).

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Let me explain the Ohl trade. I said before that Ricky Ortiz is a promising catching prospect, but Elias Tovias is here and is here to stay, and behind Tovias, and further down the minors, we have another very good catching prospect in Elijah Bean. There was no value to Ortiz but as a trade chip.

And the same is true for Jake Williams, just earlier picked up with Legleiter from the Crusaders. We had four corner outfielders between Cookie, Kopp, Alfaro, and Williams, and that was before we were going to the half-baked demi-prospects like Mansfield and Gerace (a bad apple). You can't trade Cookie with that contract, so he has to stay here anyway, and I have too much of a big mouth invested in Omar Alfaro to silently send him off to the Federal League, and Terry Kopp is the best of all of them. Williams has never *really* broken out. His best effort was a .264 season with 16 homers. It's not like he's worth his weight in gold.

Ricky Ohl is a young reliever with a murder slider. His control was wonky last year as a rookie, but with this vicious stuff he could walk them loaded and still emerge unscathed with three strikeouts.

Although this was not his GM's suggested battle plan. I have pills, but I don't always know which are for irregular heartbeats.

Ex-Coons shuffeling around: Adam Cowen signed with Vegas for 2-yr, $454k; Raul Claros got $580k from the Indians for one year;