[Westheim]

The free agency deadline did not bring nasty surprises; Giovanni James refused arbitration and the Raccoons thus released eight free agents into the wild, including the dumb pig Jarod Howden. Non-tendering five players that would have drawn over $1M in salary actually freed up some resources in the budget, which could be cautiously applied to a free agent or two, if our heart so desired, provided they’d play for cheap and had no expectations, and would also not contribute to the general lawlessness in the clubhouse. I get complaints daily that this and that guy ate this and that guy’s lunch.

And the lunchbox too.

Dr. Chung announced that he found no detailed medical files left behind by the Druid and had to examine all players individually in the coming weeks, which required calling them back from vacation, which contributed to even more unhappiness among the players. But I had known all along that the Druid hadn’t kept records on paper. He had kept them all in his head… and in his peyote-induced dreams.

Before we could divest ourselves of players with peg legs that had so far gone unnoticed, we had to take some sort of stock though. It didn’t really look like the Raccoons would need a pitcher. I mean, yeah, we could certainly use an ace, but we had kind of subscribed to the theory that Chavez, Sabre, and del Rio would be the next Toner, Santos, and Abe. Not-so-early indicators hinted at a potential shortfall compared to expectations here, because the three young pitchers, 23 years of age on average, so far had career ERA’s of, in order, 4.43, 4.56, and 4.91. Their combined record was 27-35.

That was without giving much currency to Rico Gutierrez, who annoyingly was still here and would have to take residence in the rotation. That left only one spot open and there was no reason to go out and blow coin on an ace or horse or a guy with two arms, because we still had lots of guys with two arms (Martinez, Russell, Gurney, Coffee …….). The pen could use a righty with stamina, although now we were back at Martinez, Gurney, Coffee……. We had lots of options in that regard.

The position player department of the extended roster however soon revealed a certain barrenness (not: baroness, the Baroness of Hundelschweif-Apfelgarten, a well-known N.Y. socialite, being a close acquaintance to Raccoons owner Nick Valdes). For starters, there were only two catchers left, including Toby Ross as well as Elliott Thompson, who we had waited years for to arrive only to see him bat a withering .200 and then the rumored top-notch defense and handling of pitchers didn’t materialize either.

Travis Zitzner was now the king of first base. There were five other infielders left on the extended roster, including starters Tim Stalker, Alberto Ramos, and Justin Perkins as well as the season-long reserve Justin Marsingill and 2005 Ugliest Baby Boy Sam Cass, who was really just NOTHING. The outfield was even thinner – Adam Braun (still recovering from the labrum thing), Ed Hooge, Preston Pinkerton, and Jimmy Wallace.

There was little to no hope in AAA in most of these categories. Of course there was Manny Fernandez, #5 pick in 2031, but he had only gotten 347 at-bats between Ham Lake and St. Petersburg in ’32 and was not considered ready for prime time, although a strong April could go a long way for a team as destitute as the Critters… He hit .254 with three homers and a .797 OPS in 17 games for the Alley Cats in late August and September.

No other prospects of renown to speak off, at least as far as production was concerned. We had a pair of second basemen in Danny Duenas and Rich Vickers that had put up some numbers. Neither of them had the arm strength to move to the left side of the infield, and neither of them looked like much use in the outfield. Duenas had switch-hitting going for him; Vickers was a right-hander.

And Maud is insisting on us adding at least one free agent of some profile. She claims she has no idea what promotions she is supposed to put up with the current roster. Berto has had a bobblehead two years in a row. There is only so much fame-horning off the 1993 championship team’s 40th anniversary you can do. Vern Kinnear and Jason Turner will get retro bobbleheads, f.e., you know, the sort where the head falls off when you bobble them too hard.

FINE. I’ll see what I can do with a free agent signing…!

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November 14 – Veteran 1B Jon Gonzalez (.281, 203 HR, 807 RBI) is traded from the Aces to the Warriors for two prospects.
November 14 – The Falcons send outfielder Barend Kok (.270, 144 HR, 549 RBI) to the Capitals for 1B Roberto Morales (.252, 70 HR, 396 RBI) and a prospect.
November 17 – The Raccoons acquire 26-year-old OF/1B/SS Noel Ferrero (.252, 24 HR, 209 RBI) from the Blue Sox in exchange for 26-yr old SP/MR Steve Russell (3-6, 5.70 ERA, 1 SV), 25-yr old AAA C Rich Olmos, 22-yr old AAA 2B Danny Duenas, and 19-yr old A SP Jerry Hodges.
November 24 – Incumbent Continental League stolen bases champ 3B/SS Guillermo Obando (.296, 26 HR, 656 RBI) joins the Rebels for 4-yr, $14.36M. The 32-year-old Obando spent the last two and a half years with the Crusaders.
November 24 – The Crusader pick up 1B/SS Jose Pulido (.259, 25 HR, 255 RBI) and cash from the Bayhawks in exchange for MR Dan Lyke (2-1, 3.74 ERA) and a prospect.
November 25 – The Rebels ink ex-POR C Giovanni James (.261, 55 HR, 307 RBI) to a 1-yr, $530k contract. The Raccoons receive a supplemental round pick.
November 25 – The Warriors sign 35-year-old ex-ATL 1B Kevin Harenberg (.298, 240 HR, 1,081 RBI) to a 3-yr, $8.72M contract.
November 25 – 30-year-old LF/RF Kelvin Winborn (.281, 112 HR, 513 RBI), who played for both the Cyclones and Miners in 2032, continues his FL East tour by signing a 6-yr, $11.54M contract with the Capitals.
November 26 – The Bayhawks add ex-SFW C Mike Thompson (.267, 172 HR, 802 RBI) on a 2-yr, $8.28M contract.
November 27 – In-his-prime ex-TIJ C Danny Zarate (.254, 72 HR, 430 RBI) signs a 6-yr, $22.2M contract with the Gold Sox.
November 28 – Vancouver trades SS/2B T.J. Bennett (.287, 7 HR, 195 RBI) to the Pacifics for a prospect.
November 29 – The Buffales sign veteran outfielder Tony Coca (.259, 221 HR, 912 RBI) to a 4-yr, $12.48M contract. Coca was with the Crusaders for the last few years.
November 30 – As one star signing per day continues, the Crusaders add ex-SFB SP Gilberto Rendon (57-54, 3.94 ERA) on a 4-yr, $10.68M contract.
December 1 – Rule 5 draft: 11 players are selected in one round. The Raccoons draft 22-yr old MR Jesse Erickson from the Titans; they lose 22-yr old OF Chad Reinhardt to the Crusaders and 22-yr old LF Steve Florence to the Blue Sox.

+++

FINALLY. Tony Coca is out of the division (and league)! He seemed to hit ten homers against Portland every year… probably because he did. No I didn’t count them. But I know it in my liver.

Also, the Coca signing gave the Crusaders control of the #17 pick, forfeited to them by the Buffaloes. They held it for one day before moving it on to the Bayhawks for the signing of Rendon.

Both outfielders we lost in the rule 5 draft had become hopelessly stuck in Ham Lake. It was not that the 40-man roster was full – wildly not – but they were just not deemed worth the $203k for protecting them.

Lots to unpack in the Ferrero trade. First, he’s not the slugger that will blast us towards a .500 record or – lo, slow down! – beyond. We’d be merry if he hits ten homers. But he offers – maybe – a solid league-average-or-better bat with top notch defense in right, allowing us to shift Jimmy Wallace, that black hole in the field, to left, where he can do less damage, permanently. And yes, it’s gross; Wallace piled up -1.5 wins in the field last season, and for his career sits at -2.7 wins in just under 300 career games, although Cristiano says that on a per-inning basis, his stats in left are actually worse. Fine, y’know what – they can play either way round!

The bounty hauled in by Nashville includes one of a pile of sucky starting pitchers, a no-good catcher that played only one season in the organization, one of the aforementioned second basemen with nowhere else to go, and our 2031 third-rounder, who had gone 13-24 with an ERA near five in one and a half seasons in Aumsville. I could have gotten away trading fewer players, f.e. the Sox had been sort of hot on Julian Ponce’s heels, which always makes my ears stretch upwards and my whiskers twitch. Ponce – also a 19-year-old hurler in single-A – had been signed for cheap ($23k) in the 2029 July IFA period. He had debuted in Aumsville during this season but had gone 2-10 with a 4.23 ERA for the Beagles. His steadfast refusal to learn a third pitch will relegate him to the pen before long, but as a reliever he should have quite the potential, and while he was unranked, and one of my undeclared, but intended goals of this offseason was to not trade away any ranked prospect, which ruled out a few other players the Blue Sox would have accepted instead of the actual minor league basket they got, including but not limited to Manny Fernandez (no!), Jason Lucas (eh, but no!), and Jonathan Dykstra (hum, but still no). Darren Brown and Ignacio del Rio had also been on the list.

…and even if we think nothing of our own players, I always take note of when other teams do…

What else? Ex-Coon Nick Derks landed a 2-yr, $504k contract from the Loggers. Bless them. Also: Terry Kopp rejoined the Pacifics for 2-yr, $5.5M;