[Westheim]

Somewhere down in Mexico, the Prick had a stroke that fall – or that was what I suspected once I got his usual insulting hate mail after the World Series ended, for I failed to make any sense out of the new budget the Raccoons received.

Being just barely over the average in 2018 and getting kicked out of the CLCS by the Aces (who had the fourth-smallest budget at $19M) with a budget of $28.8M, the Raccoons received a *raise* for 2019 and it was not a small one! Our 2019 budget would be $32M, a whopping 12% increase, and good for sixth in the league.

Maybe the Prick had cancer and got desperate to win a title, like his old man had done, twice. I should send flowers and a card. Yeah, I should.

But I won’t.

Like I said, the Coons now had the sixth-biggest budget in the league, scratching at the top 5, from which they were only half a million bucks removed. The top 5 budgets belonged to the Crusaders ($41.5M), Pacifics ($36.5M), Cyclones ($34.5M), Bayhawks ($34M), and Rebels ($32.5M).

The bottom 5 would be the Capitals ($23M), Blue Sox ($22.8M), Loggers ($18.4M), Falcons ($17.6M), and Wolves ($16.2M). The current World Series champions, the Aces – and I can to my own surprise say that without wincing – move only barely above this dark red zone with a $23.2M budget, good for 19th overall. The other CL North teams rank 10th (Indians, $28.8M), 13th (Elks, $26.6M), and t-15th (Titans, $24.2M).

The median budget is $26.7M; the average budget is $27.3M.

+++

After 23 1/2 years, 492 major league starts, 225 wins, 135 losses, a 2.89 ERA, and 3,166 strikeouts, and no championships, Nick Brown is a Raccoon no more, and also no ballplayer in general no more. He hung up the cleats and the glove and the ball after the World Series. He told me there were other things to reach for now, and other than the World Series ring he had been longing for for the last quarter century, these goals were attainable (mostly) with his own power, mainly driving expensive sports cars and procreation.

I wished him all the best and assured him that he was always welcome around the place. Then I spent three days in the basement with the 1993 team photo until Slappy accidentally scampered in there and got the scare of his life when I was wailing in the darkness (which hints at one of his secret liquor stashes being somewhere in here, because he sure as heck didn’t come down here to clean up). Maud dragged me back to daylight the following day.

The Agitator also took it hard, running a photograph of Brownie pitching in the ultimately unsuccessful CLCS, with a thick black border and the gloomy headline “THE END OF A STAR”. Supernovas happen, and we may all survive until the happy day of his Hall of Fame inauguration.

That was some years off. Until then, there were still two more steps to make with this team as long as we could fit all the good players under one hat. And all the bad ones, too.

+++

At the end of the day, our $3.2M budget increase would more or less serve to pay the phenomenal replacement level extravagancy we were employing in leftfield, and now we could use our old budget to build a team around that black hole in the lineup. Thank heavens that contract is at least flat. If it would escalate, the situation would do so as well.

The financial fluff brings us straight to the salary arbitration and free agency part of the offseason, and the Raccoons had 11 players in the business here. (See the full table before changes and before *eventual* compensation changes at the bottom)

With Nick Brown’s retirement (chokes up) – … With – … Damnit, Maud, stop cutting onions in here!!

With Nick Brown’s retirement, there are three free agents remaining, who were all 1-year budget solutions in 2018. Ricky Mendoza won 14 games as a starter, but was mostly taxing to watch. While we got our money’s worth for $450k with his 4.48 ERA and decent 133 K in 178.2 IP, we had another option to fill his spot in the rotation – more on that in a moment – and would not pursue him further. The same goes for Tom Dahlke, who was picked up off waivers by the Indians, but the Raccoons have too many second basemen as it is, and Dahlke didn’t exactly set the world on fire. Same for Joey Mathews, who won Player of the Week at one point in the middle of the season, and afterwards hit .176 for the last three months. The Raccoons will have Ronnie McKnight back to play short, and Shane Walter will move back to second base. Brock Hudman will be a cheap backup infielder, and we will look for another cheap one somewhere. Plus, Mathews is the only compensation-eligible free agent we have, and I prefer the extra draft pick over his services.

Walter and McKnight is already a critical topic. Both made $500k plus change in 2018. Both have estimated of $700k plus change for 2019. Both are crucial to our continued semi-success. Matt Nunley would have been in the same group as these guys, but he had signed an extension in September, $4.2M over four years, buying out his last year of arbitration and three years of free agency.

With Walter and McKnight, timing was of the essence. McKnight would be arbitration-eligible once more after the 2019 season, but for Walter this was the last time. If we could get him to sign an extension comparable to Nunley’s, it would hardly be a bad move – you can’t err far with a strong defensive middle infielder that missed the batting title by four points and was essentially a gift from the Midas-touched Crusaders. While he has no power (the eight homers he hit in ’17 were a career-high), he doesn’t need power to be productive, other than certain other players on the roster. ISN’T THAT RIGHT, R.J.??

Also on the arbitration list were both of our catchers. While neither had been an offensive force in ’18, there was no point in dropping either of them right now. Denny had a bad season, yeah, but that was deflating his value and that was good for our budget. Meanwhile, Danny would continue to be dirt cheap in his second-to-last year of team control. Yes, he is a career .241/.299/.335 batter, but then again Mr. DeWeese hit for only 44 points of OPS more than him this year, while making more than 13 times as much dough. And I do like his arm. Both stick.

Four pitchers are left on the arbitration bingo card. This includes Bobby Guerrero, who came over from the Falcons in a trade in July, and went 5-3 with a 3.89 ERA. The Raccoons have enough openings behind Jonny Triple Crown, Santos, and Abe. His $550k estimate was in the neighborhood of what Mendoza had made in 2018, and he had performed a lot better, going 15-13 with a 3.69 ERA combined between Charlotte and Coon City. I probably would not be crazy if I tried to get him for a 3-year deal now, which could turn out to be a huge bargain, but I would not want to go past that, unless we can have him REALLY cheap, say, under a million per season, but he probably won’t be that stupid.

Three relievers remain; Jason Kaiser pitched more or less every other day and still managed to pitch to a 2.26 ERA in 59.2 innings. There is a yellow flag up because he is already 32 and would not become a free agent until he’d be 35. The Rebels never loved him, but still held onto him firmly, and I intend to do the same. Seung-mo Chun has been quietly efficient in a fourth-right-hander role in the pen; neither would make a whole lot in arbitration, so these were no-brainers to keep. A no-brainer to NOT keep would be Chet Cummings, the final guy in the bunch. After turning in a 5.26 ERA and making more than Kaiser, or Chun, or even Guerrero, Cummings was not welcome anymore and would be the only guy among the eight arbitration cases to be handed his papers.

+++

Despite the $3.2M budget increase, the Raccoons would still have to be selective in their approach of the offseason, because a good part of the money was already running from our hands due to escalating contracts. Between Jonny, Cookie, Nunley, and Abe we were already down $1.45M, and there were a few more guys that would get more coin than in 2018 since I was also signing right-handed relievers to escalating contracts… Wade Davis and Chris Mathis came another $130k (combined) more expensive than in 2018, and then there would be arbitration cases.

Right now we had less than $2M in beer money, but I would try to find new homes for Alex ****mirez ($1.3M) and Eddie Jackson ($750k). I do not consider R.J. DeWeese ($3.3M for four more years, the last a player option), and Dumbo Mendoza ($2.6M for five more years, including the bedamned player option) to be very movable right now… those are the two most expensive players on the roster. Third place will be taken by Cookie and his $2.3M in 2019, which is the first year of five with the full contract value in the 8-year deal he signed after 2015.

The laundry list?

• Starting pitcher to slide in between Santos/Abe and Guerrero, preferably a southpaw
• Closer
• If Jackson is traded, a replacement for him for cheaper
• Backup infielder, not a left-handed batter
• Someone to actually drive in runs instead of Dumbo Mendoza

Gonna be an interesting winter.