[Westheim]

October passed, with me getting yelled at for gobbling most of the birthday cake for Cristiano Carmona that Maud had baked, but my defense was that I found it in the hidden fridge, and what’s in the hidden fridge I consider mine.

I also cried a bit during negotiation rounds with Jesus Maldonado, who had led the league in total bases this year, the team in homers and RBI, and made it pretty clear that he saw himself as one of the most valuable players in the league. He had always been among those most valuable players, even as a 16-year-old, when we signed him for $466k out of Venezuela, in what was then quite a precocious amount. Other teams had money, too, Maldo said with a sly smile, and I got back to whispering with Steve from Accounting behind our paws that he had to ******* find me more millions …!

Oh well, millions we found in the odd spot or another. The Raccoons would revamp their catching corps, parting with both of their regulars from the last two seasons. Zarate was a free agent anyway, and Kilmer was made one when we declined his $2M option for 2046, thus paying $400k of severance money and saving $1.6M towards the Maldonado extension fund.

The problem was not actually the Maldonado extension – we could easily add another, say, Armando Herrera-sized contract ($4.7M a year, remember). The thing was that we also needed a few things at the peripherals, like a new starting catcher. Free agents would be available in that regard, and I already had my eye on one. Manichiro Toki was 35 years old, but no signs of letting up were detectable yet. He was unlikely to be a type A free agent, and he was a lefty hitter, which would give Ruben Gonzalez automatic starts against southpaws next year. Toki was surely not a permanent solution – we still hoped that Gonzalez would *become* that, but the lights were dimming in that regard… At least Gonzalez was still above-average in his catcher abilities, so that was something that could at least keep him a backup job for the time being.

Other construction sites? I would not say no to another ace on the staff, although we were probably priced out of that market for this year. Then there was the question whether we were content with a Carreno/Martell platoon at second base, or whether an upgrade could be made either there or at shortstop, with Matt Waters then pulled over to second base.

And who will turn Ricky Jimenez into dog food with the least amount of noise?

One thing that quickly didn’t work out was Pat Gurney’s multi-year extension that I had gotten into my head. He saw that he was unlikely to become a regular on the team in 2046 either, and thus was utterly reluctant to sign anything extending beyond 2046, his final year of team control. He would eventually sign a 1-year deal for $1.3M.

Other new 1-year deals were inked by Zack Kelly ($400k), Jonathan Dustal ($500k), Nelson Moreno ($660k), and also Jason Wheatley ($925k), with the Agitator most upset with the missed opportunity to lock him up for life.

Oh, and then we committed some grand theft prospect.

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October 25 – The Raccoons swing SP/MR Brent Clark (47-48, 3.75 ERA, 11 SV), 3B Ricky Jimenez (.256, 33 HR, 166 RBI), and C Jose Zarate (.273, 12 HR, 99 RBI) to the Capitals for two prospects in 24-year-old right-hander Jeremy Chaney (1-0, 1.89 ERA, 2 SV), and 22-year-old outfielder Steve Petersen.
November 11 – The Indians trade SP Chris Volk (18-30, 5.49 ERA) to the Buffaloes for a prospect.

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Now those two prospects don’t come without issues. Chaney was a #9 prospect in 2043 after being picked #4 by the Knights in the 2042 draft, and only appeared in the Caps’ bullpen this year, doing *fine*. It was not like we were lacking for righty relievers, though. He did have two-and-a-half pitches, stamina, and we’d try to turn him into starting depth in AAA, him being a 90mph groundballer or not. Petersen was a #26 pick the same year, but had only now gotten to grips with the AA level. He was a lefty hitter with great defense and good speed, and had quite some gap power, but he was not a pristine slugger.

But we got all that dead weight shed off at once, which was such a relief! I don’t know what the Caps want with Clark, who looks like scorched earth to me, but their current plan for third base seemed to involve lots of fingers crossed that nobody would notice the gaping hole there, so Jimenez gives them a (princely priced) regular to stamp in there. That is *something*. Zarate would have been non-tendered if he hadn’t been crammed into this trade. BNN says this trade was a WAR loss for the Raccoons, but WAR can get it, I’ll rather take the $4M freed up by it.

Four of our arbitration cases did not sign new contracts with the team ahead of the arbitration period. Two of them, Omar Gutierrez and Jay de Wit were non-tendered entirely. Corey Mathers and Arturo Carreno meanwhile refused their offers of $680k and $420k, respectively. We offered $445k for Carreno in arbitration, and both players were awarded the team offer by the arbitrator.

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2045 ABL AWARDS

Players of the Year: DAL OF Tylor Cecil (.369, 23 HR, 144 RBI) and OCT C Jesus Adames (.342, 26 HR, 107 RBI)
Pitchers of the Year: RIC Omar Lara (21-9, 2.74 ERA) and POR Jason Wheatley (15-8, 2.37 ERA)
Rookies of the Year: LAP/CIN OF Armando Luis Herrera (.341, 8 HR, 42 RBI) and BOS SP David Barel (9-13, 2.80 ERA, 2 SV)
Relievers of the Year: RIC CL Jesse Beggs (6-4, 2.09 ERA, 52 SV) and SFB CL Jeremy Mayhall (9-4, 2.27 ERA, 46 SV)
Platinum Sticks (FL): P DAL Arthur Pickett – C PIT Giampaolo Petroni – 1B DEN Jason Robinson – 2B PIT Dan Schneller – 3B DAL Jose Rivas – SS CIN Chris Delgado – LF SFW Mario Villa – CF DAL Tylor Cecil – RF SFW Matt Diskin
Platinum Sticks (CL): P LVA Oscar Valdes – C OCT Jesus Adames – 1B SFB Dan Riley – 2B NYC Mario Briones – 3B VAN Dan Hutson – SS OCT Ryan Cox – LF ATL Billy Hester – CF VAN Jerry Outram – RF NYC Willie Ojeda
Gold Gloves (FL): P NAS Bill Herrmann – C SAC Anton Mercado – 1B NAS Alejandro Ramos – 2B DEN Ivan Villa – 3B NAS Brad Critzer – SS PIT Ed Soberanes – LF LAP Jayden Lockwood – CF DEN Sandy Castillo – RF DEN Dylan Wright
Gold Gloves (CL): P CHA Nick Myers – C MIL Ricky Payne – 1B SFB Dan Riley – 2B ATL Glenn Sprague – 3B LVA Angel Montes de Oca – SS NYC Alex Adame – LF LVA Bob Montana – CF POR Armando Herrera – RF CHA Archie Turley

Dang! Wheats is Pitcher of the Year!

Next year’s version of the Opening Day starter’s curse will be cruel on him.

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Wait a minute, there’s one thing missing, isn’t it? What happened to Jesus Maldonado?

Jesus Maldonado didn’t sign the Raccoons’ 7-year, $35M offer, and instead elected to become a free agent.

(stares into the void with wet black googly eyes while absent-mindedly patting Honeypaws)