[Westheim]

Around the North, the Titans had a few significant departures in terms of free agency, most notably Tony Ramos, their first baseman, but the most important free agent of the North was batting champion Martin Ortíz of the Crusaders. I don’t care who gets him, but if he’s out of their #3 slot, that’s already a win for everybody else.

The Raccoons were going to offer arbitration to Rob Howell in an attempt to get that extra draft pick, but would not offer arbitration to ancient Jon Merritt. Howell aside, we would try to avoid as many arbitration cases as possible. There was a case to be made for significant extensions to Ron Richards and Mike Bednarski, who were both under team control for only one more season. None of them are elite batters. Spilling millions on them could become a major mill stone around our neck. Bednarski has been here for two years and overall failed to even reach an .800 OPS. Ron Richards was the only mid-season acquisition that was not a giant disappointment, slightly improving on the .840 OPS he had with the Aces. Stan Murphy’s OPS with the Coons was a grisly .700, Howell’s was .671 as he recovered late, but in the summer he was atrocious, batting in the .210s for a long time.

Regardless, I wasn’t keen on spilling millions on either Richards or Bednarski. Richards had a track record of really low batting averages, with his overall batting average in 2014 of .276 being the high point of his career at age 29. The miserable Aces had not even allowed him to start regularly for many years, and he had never had more than 50 RBI before 2014. Raw power was certainly there, but the overall package was dangerously prone to a really dark and really long season of .220/.290/.390 …

For 2015, the Raccoons were hardly in a spot to be choosers, however. The most prudent move was to keep them both for 2015 and see how they’d do during the season. We were not in a position to bid on Martin Ortíz anyway, and he was already 34, so the poor team that was bound to throw $15M over five years at him was due for some harsh disappointment in the second half of the contract.

So it’s Richards, Carmona, Bednarski in the outfield. Seeley can stick around as a backup. Maybe Fucito would make a semi-decent right-handed backup. Murphy and Nunley are on the corners, D-Alex behind the dish. Sandy figures to start somewhere, and he’s not a great shortstop; not a shortstop you want to start 150 games. He might start at second base and cover most other positions to give the other regulars days off, with Bergquist starting at second base whenever Sandy is occupied elsewhere. Margolis might have won the backup catcher’s job already. So we need a starting shortstop and another backup. Thanks to Sandy we are very flexible for that last bench spot, but maybe an infielder for the left side, a SS/3B, would be good to have.

We don’t need a starting pitcher. Brownie, Toner, Santos, Conway, Dickerson. We’re full. No need even for Graham Wasserman, who broke his thumb in early November when he tried to wrestle a microphone from an intrusive reporter that had encroached on his fishing trip. I feel like that Wasserman saga will end badly one day. But well, that’s the rotation and there’s nothing to be done about that. The pen depends a bit on … things.

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Angel Casas’ campaign to rebuild value had not been a great success at all. His first half had been a ridiculous nightmare, with struggles unseen with him before. April had been most cruel, May still awful, and his ERA had been over four until the All Star break. He had a run of six weeks without allowing an *earned* run before allowing two in his last game of the year against the Titans. He finished with a 2.76 ERA, his worst season mark in his career. His debut season at age 21 aside, it was *by far* the worst ERA of his career. Only once more had he had an ERA over two.

We knew it, Angel knew it – and with a uncertain winter ahead of him, our little Mexican friend got incredibly cold feet and was very receptive to another 1-year extension. And this time, he signed for half the price compared to 2014, inking a $500k deal for 2015, with another $55k in incentives. This will be his age 32 season, so that BIG contract will probably never come together for him.

So that keeps the backend of the bullpen in order. Ron Thrasher might however get the assignment in the ninth inning if the opposition brings up left-handers.

We also came to terms for 1-year deals with most of our arbitration cases. Zack Entwistle signed for $500k, Ron Richards signed for $675k, Manobu Sugano agreed to $300k, Tom Constantino took $290k. Finally, Josh Gibson signed a $271k contract.

There were three exceptions. One was the aforementioned Sergio Vega, who did not receive an offer. Another exception was Mike Bednarski, who was not going to sign a 1-year contract and desired a long-term deal, but he wasn’t going to get it (and much less so in the 7-yr, $12k range). I wanted no part of that, and we instead took him to arbitration, where he was awarded the princely sum of $1,125,000 for the 2015 season. The Coons had offered $925k. That one hurt.

And then there was Hector Santos. Winning 17 games in 2014 were good enough for a long-term extension to be offered to him, despite him being the worst qualifying starting pitcher on the team in terms of ERA. There was a bit of ringing for numbers, but by the first days of November, the Raccoons were able to announce a 7-year extension with Hector Santos for $10.8M. He will get $800k in 2015, $1.25M in 2016 (the last year he would have been under team control), and $1.75M a year from 2017 through 2021. There are also substantial incentives involved. Despite this, I think we made a great deal here!

Rob Howell refused arbitration and filed for free agency, making the Critters eligible for a supplemental round pick.

The Santos contract is by far the longest-running deal on the books now. In fact, we will have a substantial amount of free agents after the 2015 season.

And as we are on expensive extensions to key players…

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November 5 – NYC LF Martin Ortíz (.295, 296 HR, 1,335 RBI) signs a 2-yr, $7M extension with the Crusaders.
November 12 – The Canadiens acquire left-handed MR Orlando Valdez (11-7, 3.08 ERA, 4 SV) from the Scorpions, who receive two prospects.
November 16 – TOP SS Tyler Gray (.285, 21 HR, 170 RBI) carelessly chops off a finger of his throwing hand while cutting onions. The finger is reattached successfully, but it will take a long time to recuperate from this. The Buffaloes expect him to be out until the second half of the 2015 season.

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****.

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2014 ABL AWARDS

Player of the Year: PIT SS Tom McWhorter (.312, 32 HR, 111 RBI) and NYC LF Martin Ortíz (.350, 29 HR, 117 RBI)
Pitcher of the Year: LAP SP Brad Smith (21-4, 2.33 ERA) and NYC SP Jaylen Martin (22-6, 2.60 ERA)
Rookie of the Year: SAC 3B Jason LaCombe (.343, 1 HR, 55 RBI) and POR 3B Matt Nunley (.285, 8 HR, 53 RBI)
Reliever of the Year: SAC CL Helio Maggessi (8-1, 0.89 ERA, 37 SV) and VAN CL Pedro Alvarado (5-3, 1.11 ERA, 50 SV)
Golden Gloves (FL): P TOP Ian Norman, C LAP Errol Spears, 1B RIC Alberto Rodriguez, 2B WAS Ieyoshi Nomura, 3B SAC Jason LaCombe, SS DAL Armando Rodriguez, LF TOP Bill Adams, CF DEN Roberto Pena, RF DEN Bill Hiscock
Golden Gloves (CL): P MIL Adam Euteneuer, C MIL Foster Leach, 1B LVA Raúl Bovane, 2B CHA Steve Best, 3B OCT Jesus Soto, SS OCT Erik Janes, LF NYC Martin Ortíz, CF IND John Wilson, RF NYC Stanton Martin
Platinum Sticks (FL): P SAC Juichi Fujita, C RIC Jamal White, 1B PIT Steve Butler, 2B LAP Dennis Berman, 3B NAS Antonio Esquivel, SS PIT Tom McWhorter, LF RIC Winston Jones, CF DAL Hugo Mendoza, RF SAC Pablo Sanchez
Platinum Sticks (CL): P MIL Gabriel Caro, C IND Dave Padilla, 1B SFB Adam Young, 2B LVA Howard Jones, 3B OCT Jesus Soto, SS ATL Devin Hibbard, LF NYC Martin Ortíz, CF TIJ Ryan Feldmann, RF SFB Ron Alston

Jonny Toner finished even behind Alvarado in Pitcher of the Year voting.

I love how Adam Euteneuer won a Gold Glove while being beaten and beaten and beaten to a 4-22, 6.75 ERA finish.