[Westheim]

2032 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set in parenthesis shows 2031 stats, second set career stats; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Tom Shumway, 36, B:L, T:L (2-7, 4.35 ERA | 141-122, 3.36 ERA) – no-hit the Loggers in May of 2030, then went straight into the toilet. That was still better than the DL, where he spent half of the 2031 season, amounting only to 89 innings, still enough time to walk 45 batters with skills eroding at blistering pace. Since he’s owed plenty of dough for this and next season and was thus not tradeable, he won the Opening Day assignment by default.
SP Jason Gurney, 26, B:R, T:L (10-8, 3.51 ERA | 12-11, 3.75 ERA) – came out of nowhere (well, St. Pete) early last season after injuries and misery had already decimated the rotation, plugged right in and made 26 starts down the road with pretty nice overall stats, although he lacks stuff to pile up strikeouts (100 K in 164 IP), and to be frank, our scout hates him still.
SP Bernie Chavez, 23, B:R, T:R (3-1, 3.52 ERA | 3-1, 3.52 ERA) – youngster with three main pitches including a 94mph heater that won a spot in the rotation with a September callup that was *pretty decent*. He could use some more movement on the fastball, which comes rather straight and can be tatered.
SP Raffaello Sabre, 23, B:L, T:R (3-1, 3.23 ERA | 3-2, 4.84 ERA) – one of the main pieces of this team getting younger – pronto! – this left-handed groundballer got turned into toilet paper in his lone start in ’30, but held up reasonably well during his call-up in late ’31. Both him and Chavez can be rookie contenders this year, and while Chavez’ problem might be dingers, Sabre’s main issue is command. He walked almost five per nine innings in ’31, but gave up only one bomb in 30.2 innings.
SP Rico Gutierrez, 32, B:L, T:L (7-14, 5.69 ERA | 103-88, 3.62 ERA) – the baseball equivalent of a dying pet, Rico agan made 26 starts in ‘31 and almost as often came back in a litter with half his intestines dragging behind him - AGAIN. He gets a little bit worse every year, and the Raccoons are stuck with him for a few more years, even though he was banished to the pen and not used at all in the final week of the 2031 season.

LR Bryan Rabbitt, 26, B:L, T:R (0-0, 4.91 ERA | 0-0, 4.26 ERA) – beat out Nick Bates for the long man job mainly for a slightly less atrocious walk rate and a bit better fastball movement and thus fewer dingers, which always come extra-frustrating after the guy has walked a pair aboard first. Spent bits of two seasons in the majors so far, with 38 innings under his belt in total.
MR John Hennessy, 24, B:L, T:L (2-0, 1.62 ERA | 2-0, 1.62 ERA) – not much was seen of this rule 5 pick in his first major league season; bone spurs in the elbow held the young slider hurler to 16.2 innings, but he returned apparently healthy in September and thus remains on the roster, part of a pen with three left-handers, and none of those anointed closer… yet.
MR David Fernandez, 25, B:L, T:L (1-1, 1.91 ERA | 1-1, 1.91 ERA) – this 2027 fifth-rounder flummoxed batters with a vicious slider, even though the fastball didn’t always arrive in the correct zip code, but which young lefty ever gets it over precisely where the catcher points at…?
MR Jonathan Fleischer, 29, B:L, T:R (3-2, 2.78 ERA, 1 SV | 14-10, 3.55 ERA, 4 SV) – right-hander with a 96mph heater and a nasty curveball, but unfortunately also with some significant control issues. Despite that he often seems to avoid major damage, making him one of those quietly efficient right-handers that create drama for all the wrong reasons.
MR Jared Stone *, 32, B:R, T:R (3-1, 2.86 ERA | 12-18, 3.61 ERA, 13 SV) – pretty straightforward right-hander with relatively good control and solid dinger control. And “straightforward” we mean – no nonsense with Stone around, which is always a plus on a team with a litter of kits.
SU Mauricio Garavito, 30, B:L, T:L (4-4, 1.46 ERA | 11-12, 2.66 ERA, 7 SV) – left-hander with balanced splits that was claimed off waivers by the Bayhawks early in the 2029 season when Jeremy Moesker turned out to be a turd. Has since been really reliable, and in major news did not turn paws up in the first year of a 4-year contract, which is major news for this franchise...
CL Chris Wise, 25, B:R, T:R (2-3, 2.45 ERA, 26 SV | 5-5, 2.76 ERA, 26 SV) – new year, new closer; the Tennesseeian groundballer Wise won the job in the middle of his first full season in the majors and didn’t do anything outrageous to lose it again. Struck out less than nine per nine innings, which is not great, but was reasonably close (63 K in 66 IP) and is young enough to still get better.

C Giovanni James *, 31, B:L, T:R (.263, 10 HR, 68 RBI | .264, 45 HR, 272 RBI) – pretty solid, but not overwhelming catcher that arrived in the 6-player deal with the Buffos that also left us with Justin Marsingill. James usually hits right around the league average, and we primarily think of him as a bridge to Elliott Thompson, who will hopefully arrive by next year.
C Josh Wool *, 36, B:L, T:R (.320, 0 HR, 12 RBI | .279, 104 HR, 644 RBI) – more veteran savvy with the 1-year addition of Wool via free agency. Was the 2020 CLCS MVP with the Loggers (y’know, past the Nick Lester disaster), but has not been a primary backstop since the ’25 season. He is also here to provide advice to the kits and to prevent them from pulling stupid stunts.

1B Jarod Howden, 26, B:L, T:L (.245, 17 HR, 70 RBI | .259, 35 HR, 175 RBI) – the fourth-year player not overly beloved by either his front office or the fans finds himself in a platoon with the new arrival Zitzner at first base, something that hasn’t been seen around Portland for a while. Howden was tragically blind at the plate in his first year as a Critter, striking out 123 times and ending up with a sub-par OPS+ of 95 despite the 17 dingers…
1B Travis Zitzner *, 28, B:R, T:L (.328, 12 HR, 52 RBI | .290, 21 HR, 106 RBI) – acquired from the Stars for none other than Mark Roberts, Zitzner did hit the ball hard and far and sometimes outta there, but now has to show that he can repeat the feat in a somewhat normally sized ballpark. First task would be to send Howden butter churning to have first base all to himself…
2B/SS Tim Stalker, 33, B:R, T:R (.262, 12 HR, 64 RBI | .260, 89 HR, 555 RBI) – very good defensive middle infielder, more than just token speed, and most of the time also a good batter, at least until he hit a snag right after signing that big extension. Since then, Stalker has three seasons with OPS+ of 98 or worse, and will receive loads of coin for another three season as a middle-aged middle infielder. Oh, the tears of joy.
SS Alberto Ramos, 26, B:L, T:R (.315, 3 HR, 45 RBI | .320, 14 HR, 255 RBI) – The Excitement played in ALL GAMES in 2031, starting 152, and led the CL in stolen bases for the fourth straight year, but didn’t come close to challenging for sole possession of the all-time single-season mark. Enters the season with 329 SB and lots of space left in his career. Can he get to a thousand bags? What else is there even to discuss? Slaps a ton of singles, but also hit for 27 doubles, and for the fourth straight year drew more than two walks for every strikeout he was hung with, which sure helps in getting a career OBP of .413...
3B/SS Justin Perkins *, 31, B:R, T:R (.279, 6 HR, 35 RBI | .275, 7 HR, 50 RBI) – good defensive third baseman that was blocked for half a career by better players on the Titans and can now finally show what’s in him! Batting above the league average would be a nice start after newly minted pensioner Matt Nunley’s final year was rather rough.
3B/2B/SS/RF Justin Marsingill *, 25, B:R, T:R (.000, 0 HR, 0 RBI | .000, 0 HR, 0 RBI) – this throw-in from the Buffos comes without any sort of burden of prior hitting accolades, having hit nothing in eight major-league plate appearances; sure-handed infielder with a variety of applications on D, has a chance to be at least better than Baldwin …

LF/CF Nate Hall *, 29, B:S, T:R (.262, 7 HR, 70 RBI | .264, 31 HR, 308 RBI) – late free agency addition last with the Caps, Hall is a very competent defensive outfielder who unfortunately has yet to produce a WOW! season with the bat at the age of 29. He *can* hit for extra bases though, amounting to as many 43 of them in ‘29.
LF/RF/CF Adam Braun *, 33, B:R, T:R (.280, 9 HR, 39 RBI | .275, 111 HR, 600 RBI) – the former Player of the Year and World Series MVP arrived in a deal with the Titans, along with Justin Perkins, that seemed unlikely at the outset of the offseason given his $3.28M annual price tag but somehow we still got it done. Has won many accolades in his career, but was not very productive in 2031, missing almost half the season to injury. Center is not his best position, but he can reasonably placed there.
RF/LF Jimmy Wallace, 25, B:L, T:L (.283, 16 HR, 83 RBI | .281, 17 HR, 91 RBI) – dubious defense aside, Jimmy swung a hot stick and won three Rookie of the Month honors but somehow was passed over when it was time to give out the big belt. His power is probably true, as is his lack of competence in fielding his position (he cost more than one win on defense in ’31…), but 38 extra-base hits in a somewhat injury-shortened season (missed 29 games) is something we’d like to build upon.
RF/LF/3B Wilson Rodriguez, 29, B:R, T:R (.290, 4 HR, 25 RBI | .252, 9 HR, 56 RBI) – what is it with the recent-day Raccoons and their knack for getting stuck with late-20s corner outfielders with no reasonable power or other pedigree? Wilson has a murderous arm but has never produced anything in the majors, at least not over a reasonable amount of at-bats. Best case scenario he turns into something like Eddie Jackson, perhaps the best fourth outfielder the Raccoons ever had (although Bobby Quinn would like to have a word), and he figures to get regular starts against left-handed pitching spelling either one of the left-handed starting corner guys.
RF/CF/3B/2B Preston Pinkerton *, 26, B:R, T:R (no stats) – pale-faced debutee with good defense and strong and agile hindpaws that hit next to nothing with the Miners’ AAA team. I’m sure it’s gonna be fine.

On disabled list: Nobody.

Otherwise unavailable: Nobody.

Other roster movement:
SP Dave Martinez, 26, B:S, T:R (5-9, 5.25 ERA | 25-23, 4.20 ERA) – run-of-the-mill righty that used to mostly get by on wings and prayers until being forsaken by Odilon, the Chosen One. Reassigned to St. Petersburg to may get him shaken out again after being rocked hard for 22 starts and 14 relief appearances with Portland last year.
C Toby Ross, 29, B:R, T:R (.215, 6 HR, 28 RBI | .231, 41 HR, 167 RBI) – waived and DFA’ed; arrived on waivers from Pittsburgh late last season and did absolutely nothing to endear himself. Hit 20 homers for the Miners in ’30 – we saw none of that. Has a weird long-term, low-coin contract that might get taken off our paws here.
2B Sam Cass, 26, B:S, T:R (.240, 1 HR, 7 RBI | .209, 1 HR, 8 RBI) – waived and DFA’ed; 2005 Ugliest Baby Boy Sam Cass’ lack of versatility or defensive prowess or hitting acumen doomed him on a team with two first basemen.
CF/SS/LF/3B/2B/RF Sean Catella, 27, B:S, T:R (.202, 0 HR, 11 RBI | .219, 0 HR, 20 RBI) – waived and DFA’ed; versatile and trying, but not overly gifted defender that kept running into odd assignments with the team for much of the last two years while providing no offense and mostly ho-hum defense. Designated for assignment to keep rule 5 pick Preston Pinkerton around.
RF/LF Donovan May *, 34, B:L, T:L (.147, 1 HR, 8 RBI | .218, 9 HR, 61 RBI) – waived and DFA’ed; throw-in to the Vanatti/Prieto deal to balance the Thunder’s budget. Never figured to make the Opening Day roster with an utter lack of a skill set. If not claimed is likely to be released outright.

Other players not listed individually and reassigned to AAA on an option: Ignacio del Rio, Nick Bates, Brendan Day, and Chris Baldwin; the latter one was optioned because of his lack of experience at shortstop, which Marsingill can play quite well, and because his bat has been a never-ending shtick of sadness…

Everybody still not mentioned by now has already been waived during the offseason.

OPENING DAY LINEUP:

Vs. RHP: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – RF Wallace – CF Braun – 1B Howden – C James – 3B Perkins – LF Hall – P
(Vs. LHP: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – CF Braun – 1B Zitzner – RF Rodriguez – LF Wallace (Hall) – 3B Perkins – C James – P)

I would actually prefer Braun in the #3 hole and Wallace in #4 against right-handers, but that would make it easier on other teams to play mix and match with the pen. With Wallace in front, the first five will alternate handedness ahead of a pair of left-handers in Howden and James, but Howden can trivially be hit for should a southpaw be inserted.

OFF SEASON CHANGES:

The Raccoons shipped no fewer than 26 players in or out during the offseason, with many long-time players gone in Roberts (traded), Tovias, Ohl, Hereford (all free agents), and Nunley (retired). The trades brought in some interesting players, some of which might be keys for the next dynasty, like maybe Zitzner, or the prospect Prieto. But shedding some veteran experience made no positive impact on BNN’s offseason WAR gains board, where Portland ended 16th with -1.8 WAR.

Top 5: Gold Sox (+7.1), Pacifics (+6.7), Titans (+5.2), Blue Sox (+3.8), Crusaders (+3.2)
Bottom 5: Aces (-3.8), Loggers (-4.2), Bayhawks (-5.5), Wolves (-5.7), Buffaloes (-8.3)

Someone explain to me how the Aces (who lost 108) can actually lose WAR at this point…

PREDICTION TIME:

I picked the Coons to lose 95 last year, and didn’t come quite as bad with a 74-88 season that was still all sorts of bad…

Then there is the faint hope that we have reached the nadir and that it is uphill from here. I like our young pitchers, for example. Obviously they are the key to this season – Chavez and Sabre making it this season will be the difference between being about .500 and feeling somewhat good about ourselves or tumbling right back into pitching hell and juggling fourth-tier spot starters again. Both had their weak points in their previous brief stints, but both clearly have potential. They might not be the instant pleasure rockets that we hope for, but I think they’ll do good. Elsewhere we still have to wait out several bad contracts (Gutierrez, Shumway, Stalker) to expire before we can really rally to the top again. Our catching situation is one placeholders, waiting for Thompson, who has absolutely no pressure on him at this point…

The Raccoons are not going to be relevant, but they will be reasonably close to .500 this season. Maybe an 81-81 campaign isn’t out of the question.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

After years on the back end of the table, the Raccoons farm system slowly worked itself up to 17th by last year and jumped all the way into the upper half now, reaching 8th place amongst all ABL outfits.

In no small amount this is due to the raw amounts of young pitching assembled (all but three of our top 10 are pitchers), but there’s more to like. The Raccoons had ten ranked prospects in 2031, three of them in the top 100. Of those, all are still in the organization, although not all of them are ranked again this year. But we also got some reinforcement in numbers: FOUR more top 100 prospects, and a total of SEVEN more ranked prospects overall!

15th (+33) – ML SP Raffaello Sabre, 23 – 2025 international free agent signed by Raccoons
52nd (new) – A SP Jonathan Dykstra, 22 – 2031 supplemental round pick by Raccoons
58th (new) – A 1B/LF/RF Will Luna, 19 – 2031 first-round pick by Raccoons
59th (new) – A OF Manny Fernandez, 22 – 2031 first-round pick by Raccoons
77th (0) – AAA SP Darren Brown, 22 – 2028 first-round pick by Raccoons

78th (-46) – AAA C Elliott Thompson, 22 – 2028 sixth-round pick by Raccoons
82nd (new) – A SP Jonathan Galvan, 20 – 2028 international free agent signed by Raccoons
112th (new) - AA SP Philip Parkinson, 23 - 2030 third-round pick by Raccoons
120th (-7) – AAA SP Ignacio del Rio, 22 – 2026 international free agent signed by Raccoons
127th (+21) – AA SP Jason Lucas, 22 – 2030 second-round pick by Raccoons

129th (new) – AA SP Kyle Green, 23 – 2029 sixth-round pick by Raccoons
149th (new) – ML INF Justin Marsingill, 25 – 2028 first-round pick by Buffaloes, acquired via trade with Giovanni James for Josh Boles, Ed Hague, Craig Hollenbeck, and Jose Salinas
152nd (new) – INT SP Julian Ponce, 19 – 2029 international free agent signed by Raccoons
156th (-6) – AAA OF Ed Hooge, 22 – 2030 first-round pick by Raccoons
185th (-7) – ML SP Bernie Chavez, 22 – 2026 fourth-round pick by Gold Sox, acquired via trade for Rin Nomura
194th (-17) – AA SP Travis Coffee, 24 – 2028 third-round pick by Raccoons
200th (new) – A 2B Barry Schuster, 21 – 2031 fifth-round pick by Raccoons

Last year’s #175 (C Chris Manning) and #185 (SS Jose Agosto) are no longer ranked but still in the organization.

The top 5 overall prospects this year are:

#1 PIT A INF Sergio Barcia (was #3)
#2 LVA A SP Chris Crowell (newly drafted)
#3 CHA A SP Chris Turner (was #5) – missed entire 2031 season after Tommy John surgery
#4 SAC A RF Troy Greenway (was #7)
#5 SAC A OF/1B Chris Sandstrom (newly drafted)

Last year’s #1 prospect, left-hander Justin Kaiser, dropped to #10 after a so-so season with the Rebels’ AA department. The #2 prospect, the Aces’ SS/2B Enrique Vargas crashed to #44 after hitting .205 in AA and being sent back to single-A. But #4 prospect RIC 2B/3B Ben “Nine Fingers” Freeman was already promoted to the majors and hit .309 with 3 HR and 28 RBI in 69 games. Not shabby for a 22-year-old #1 pick.

Next: first pitch.