[Westheim]

December 12 – The Raccoons acquire 22-yr old A SP/MR Ted Reese, a 2004 first round pick, from the Loggers, sending over 27-yr old OF Dave Wheaton (.287, 19 HR, 173 RBI) and cash.
December 17 – The Bayhawks sign 32-yr old ex-SAC SP Jose Dominguez (108-125, 4.33 ERA) at a 2-yr, $3.36M point.
December 19 – Raccoons and Cyclones exchange prospects, with 22-yr old AA LF/1B Matt Pruitt joining Portland’s fold in exchange for 20-yr old A C Pedro Salas.
December 19 – The Thunder spill $5.8M on a 5-year deal for ex-NAS C Felix Hernandez (.251, 54 HR, 472 RBI).
December 22 – Pay day for ex-ATL SP Larry Cutts (70-81, 4.45 ERA), who lands a 6-yr, $19.76M contract from the defending champions, the Falcons.
December 25 – After taking a ring with the Falcons, SS Conceicao Guerin (.277, 17 HR, 399 RBI) signs a 1-yr, $530k contract with the Crusaders to return to the CL North.
December 25 – Another former Knight switches uniforms: C Jorge Lopez (.275, 113 HR, 636 RBI) settles on the Crusaders and their 2-yr, $3.68M offer.
December 25 – 32-yr old ex-Titan INF Masaaki Matsumoto (.313, 29 HR, 734 RBI) lands a 3-yr, $5.66M contract with the Capitals.
December 27 – The Bayhawks flip 30+ outfielders with the Miners. Luke Black (.236, 61 HR, 261 RBI) is headed for the green-clad team, while Luis Alonso (.263, 53 HR, 446 RBI) joins the red squad.
December 29 – Career home run leader Raúl Vázquez (.305, 414 HR, 1,524 RBI) leaves San Francisco after a disappointing season and joins the Blue Sox for 1-yr, $750k.
December 31 – Ex-NAS MR Francisco Rodriguez (28-30, 2.54 ERA, 56 SV) will haul in $3M over the next two years as a member of the Scorpions.

How the Crusaders got Concie that cheap is beyond me. Honestly, had I had reason to expect him going for half a million, I would have brought him back rather than bother with Vic Flores.

Ted Reese’s third pitch, a changeup, is crap. Unless he can develop that, he won’t cut it as a starter, and might burn out as a bad copy of a right-handed reliever. Pruitt is a better prospect, though also unranked, with so-so defense, but a consistent bat that is good for a decent average and perhaps 20 home runs. He has a bit of speed, but not enough to make a pitcher nervous. We’re basically talking Clyde Brady in the first half of a season here, minus the glove. He also bats left-handed. A supplemental round pick in 2001, he will get his first sniff at AAA with the Alley Cats in 2006.

What else? We signed a 28-year old never-was as backup starter in AAA, and we are still after another starting pitcher who’s available for cheap and won’t get us very far, but is a potentially less gut-wrenching than Garcia/Watanabe. Because we didn’t learn from the Carlson disaster.

No results at all in our attempts to flip millionaires for prospects.

And now for something more important, and may I say that I am as happy as can be:

2006 HALL OF FAME VOTING RESULTS

LF Jeffery Brown – 98.8 – 1st – INDUCTED
SP Craig Hansen – 78.8 – 2nd – INDUCTED
SP Kisho Saito – 78.8 – 2nd – INDUCTED
SP Carlos Asquabal – 71.2 – 3rd
CL Domingo Rivera – 56.8 – 3rd
RF Michael Root – 55.6 – 1st
CL Jim Durden – 53.2 – 3rd
LF Diego Rodriguez – 52.0 – 1st
C Gabriel Rivera – 44.4 – 3rd
2B Dave Browne – 41.6 – 1st
2B Jeremiah Carrell – 36.0 – 3rd
SS Paul Connolly – 26.8 – 2nd
SP David Burke – 26.4 – 3rd
RF Yoshinobu Ishizaki – 21.2 – 3rd
SP Kiyohira Sasaki – 20.8 – 3rd
SP Arnold McCray – 16.8 – 1st
SP Harry Griggs – 10.4 – 1st
CF Antonio Rodriguez – 7.6 – 1st
CL Rick Evans – 7.6 – 3rd
3B Roberto Rodriguez – 6.0 – 3rd
CF Xiao-wei Li – 5.6 – 3rd
SP Bill Smith – 4.0 – 2nd – DROPPED
CL Domingo Alonso – 4.0 – 3rd – DROPPED
SP Joe Ellis – 3.6 – 3rd – DROPPED
3B Mark Dawson – 3.6 – 3rd – DROPPED
CF John White – 2.8 – 3rd – DROPPED
SS Eddy Bailey – 2.8 – 3rd – DROPPED
SP Robbie Campbell – 2.4 – 3rd – DROPPED
CL Jon Butler – 2.4 – 3rd – DROPPED
CL Scott Clements – 2.4 – 3rd – DROPPED
CL Raúl Vargas – 1.6 – 1st – DROPPED
2B Pedro Villa – 0.8 – 2nd – DROPPED
2B Yoshihito Ito – 0.0 – 1st - DROPPED

Due to this dynasty being migrated from OOTP 12 to 16 prior to the 2003-04 offseason, no proper HOF votings have taken place before 2004, and long-ago retired players reappeared on the ballot as far as they hadn’t been elected by the Secret Ninja Committee prior to 2004. As thus, nobody has been on the ballot for longer than three years.