[Westheim]

Shall I be frank? Nothing happened in January after the Hall of Fame ballot came out. Nothing. We didn’t have the funds to pursue anybody (and stopped doing that after signing Okrasinski earlier), and there weren’t any obvious trade moves to be made since I was still not willing to purge our very best prospects for an incremental outfield upgrade. I think we have a very good outfield, and the price to pay for that 2% more just wasn’t worth it.

So the Raccoons consoled themselves making the odd minor league contract offer. The sole exception was a waiver claim on January 31 that saw us add a utility infielder off waivers by the Loggers, 23-year-old Vince Lutch. He had yet to play in AAA, where he was assigned to after hitting for a .727 OPS with a meager BABIP in AA last season. He most likely projected as a Matt Nunley type of third baseman, except that he had some speed, too, at least as long as he fulfilled the potential seen by our head scout, Perez. Or Paredes. Or Polanski. What the **** do I know?

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January 8 – The Thunder make a splash by signing ex-SFB CL David Gerow (48-56, 4.03 ERA, 122 SV) to a 3-yr, $6.6M contract.
January 8 – Meanwhile the Bayhawks console themselves with a new closing candidate, trading for the Rebels’ CL Jimmy Lohrey (12-20, 4.59 ERA, 28 SV) in exchange for two prospects.
January 9 – The Cyclones sign former Buffaloes and Blue Sox SS/2B Alex Majano (.310, 17 HR, 477 RBI) to a 2-year contract that will pay the 29-year-old a total of $5.68M.
January 11 – The Stars add ex-VAN SP Logan Bessey (58-63, 3.89 ERA) for 3-yr, $2.53M.
January 24 – One of the remaining star pitchers on the market joins the Capitals: 29-year-old SP Jimmy Souders (46-55, 4.18 ERA), previously of the Warriors, signs a 7-yr, $30.52M contract with Washington.
January 28 – More pitching to the Potomac: the Capitals sign ex-DAL SP/MR Lorenzo Viamontes (66-49, 3.64 ERA, 1 SV) to a 3-yr, $3M contract.

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Bad deal for the Warriors – since the Capitals had already forfeited their second-round pick, they only got their third-round pick for the loss of Souders. That was tough luck, especially for a team only measuring up to greatness once every other generation…

Former Furballs in new places: Andy Palomares signed a $366k contract with the Scorpions; Rin Nomura hooked up with the Crusaders for 2-yr, $2.09M; the Rebels got the services of George James secured for 2-yr, $1.26M; Felipe Delgado got $296k from the Pacifics;