[Westheim]

The first actual activity in the offseason for the Raccoons was more of the basic building maintenance type as they released a handful of minor leaguers that were not even worth their meal money anymore. The most well-known of these was probably (and ‘well’ was going to be used in the broadest sense possible) left-hander Nick Lester, the 29-year old that was also known as the player that led the Loggers to the 2020 playoffs. Also released: 2016 supplemental round pick Justin Chambers, who had batted under .200 in Ham Lake for consecutive seasons, Aumsville outfielders Adam Bareford and Adrian Vandenburgh for seriously not hitting either, and a few guys the cat had dragged in and that you have never heard of.

Or that I ever heard of.

Also, chronically ineffective and permanently injured Roger Kincheloe was struck from the 40-man roster. He would still spend all winter recuperating from Tommy John surgery and then maybe we would make another attempt at Ham Lake with him – almost 26 years old.

With that done and a few dreamy bubbles popped, actual work could resume. The first new player popped up on the organization’s personnel sheet within days, although ‘new’ was again a stretch here as the Raccoons claimed Sam Armetta off waivers by the Blue Sox. The infielder’s name might still ring a well because he was our third round pick in 2014 before being dealt to the Capitals in a rather shady trade for SP Cole Pierson in 2018. The Capitals also received Danny Arguello back then. Armetta, 25, mainly has versatility going for him, covering all infield positions well, although he was less of a super utility than Brian Petracek. His major league experience was limited to 117 AB with the 2020 Stars and 2021 Blue Sox, batting only .188 with two homers.

While Armetta and Petracek are probably redundant to both have on the roster – both are kind of a 25th man type o’ guy – Petracek would still be offered a contract in arbitration (or signed for cheap for another season) because the winter is going to be long, and we still don’t know where f.e. Matt Nunley or Yoshi Nomura might wind up by Opening Day…

The infield situation remained interesting regardless of this cheap addition (Armetta was eligible for another $188k in ’22). The Raccoons had two veterans who had been to hell and back in Nunley and Nomura, plus three young hotshots in Spencer, Bullock, and Tim Stalker (in AAA) competing for three spots. Things like this usually resolve on the trade market by Christmas. I mean, you know where you’re heading by the winter meetings usually. Where were the Raccoons heading? I don’t know. Lemme see the prices on the starting pitchers in November first.

While that was going on, the Raccoons finished the arbitration topic before October was over. In the dying days of the month they signed both Josh Stevenson and Brian Petracek to extensions. Alex Duarte was not made an offer and would probably, hopefully get the hint and start packing his ****. Stevenson signed for 2-yr, $1M while Petracek received $350k for one season. Both players will be eligible for free agency for the first time at the end of these contracts, but neither are player material you are dying to keep around for that extra year…

There was also one surprise addition to the roster that nobody saw coming: Noah Bricker resigned with the Raccoons for 2022, agreeing to a very budget-friendly $550k for a 1-year deal. While this scales up well on paper compared to Joel Davis’ $900k, you also have to readily assume that you can spend $517k of that money for a guy on the DL, although Bricker remarkably survived the 2021 season more or less in one piece despite being used often and regularly and a whole lot overall…

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October 24 – The Raccoons claim INF Sam Armetta (.188, 2 HR, 11 RBI) off waivers by the Blue Sox.
October 25 – The Blue Sox acquire 25-yr old OF Rico Miranda (.224, 1 HR, 13 RBI) from the Crusaders for a prospect.
November 1 – The Knights pick up 31-year old RF D.J. Fullerton (.291, 123 HR, 653 RBI) from the Buffaloes in exchange for 28-yr old MR Luis Calderon (15-18, 4.72 ERA, 7 SV) and #27 prospect CL Mike Willis.
November 6 – As far as odd deals go, the Indians trade for 25-year old SP Mario Alva (19-30, 5.59 ERA), who split ’21 between the Buffaloes and Stars and racked up a 10-17 record in total, sending 23-yr old SP Alfredo Morua (0-0, 3.65 ERA) to Dallas along with a second-rate prospect.

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Meanwhile, no extension was signed with Hector Santos, who had been hurt and bad the last two years, and who still thought he was worth seven figures (and not just barely seven figures). The Raccoons could not agree to such a risky deal and thus had to part ways with a player that had been in the organization for 17 years and had gone 128-85 with a 3.11 ERA in his 12-year major league career with the Critters.

Santos was always second (or even third) fiddle to Brownie and/or Jonny Toner, and sometimes even to Tadasu Abe, and hardly ever was front and center of discussions. First we looked forward to Brownie’s starts, and, oh well, Santos will go the next day or two days later and we will probably be fine. Then we looked forward to Toner’s starts. Nobody ever particularly looked forward to Santos’ starts for most of his career. But let’s appreciate for one last time how good he really was for a decade-plus!

Also, this depressing bit of info: Hector Santos is one of only three players that finished the season with the Critters that was a major leaguer at the time the Raccoons were most recently in the World Series, which says more about the organization as a whole and the management’s performance in particular than about Santos. The other two players to receive major league paychecks when the Critters lost in six to the Cyclones in 2010? Yoshi Nomura and Eddie Jackson. Only the former was with the Raccoons back then; Jackson was playing for the Pacifics in 2010. Given that Yoshi might well be traded to free up an infield spot for our unexpected youth movement, we could reach zero on the count for “Raccoons that played in a World Series as such” any moment now (and don’t get confused, but that count is ‘one’ right now, because Santos was not on the playoff roster in 2010).

Since we are rummaging in the depressing annals already, here are the other remaining active players who were on the 2010 Raccoons, the most recent edition to reach the World Series:

Angel Casas, 39, missed most of ’21 on the DL and will be a free agent
Rob Howell, 36, backup infielder for the miserable Aces
Ray Kelley, 40, had an ERA over seven with the Elks and will probably retire
Ricardo Martinez, 35, last seen with the Loggers in ’20 and stashed away in AAA
Ralph Myers, 39, backup for the Capitals this year
Matt Pruitt, 38, waited in vain in the minors to be recalled by the Crusaders all year
Pat Slayton, 36, split the season between the Buffaloes and Titans with fairly decent numbers
Ron Thrasher, 34, closing for the Titans with good success apparently

Only Casas, Howell, Kelley, Pruitt, and Thrasher were on the 2010 playoff roster. Martinez (a.k.a. the guy we axed Sharpie for the first time) and Myers have not made a playoff appearance in their entire career. Slayton pitched in the 2016 playoffs for the Pacifics, for a single inning.

All but Slayton and Thrasher could literally be done tomorrow.

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2021 ABL AWARDS

Players of the Year: SAC RF/LF Pablo Sanchez (.409, 10 HR, 112 RBI) and MIL CF/RF Ian Coleman (.376, 15 HR, 99 RBI)
Pitchers of the Year: RIC SP Ian Van Meter (21-6, 2.78 ERA) and MIL SP Chris Sinkhorn (21-9, 2.78 ERA)
Rookies of the Year: SAL 1B Kevin Harenberg (.291, 17 HR, 81 RBI) and TIJ LF/RF Omar Larios (.263, 10 HR, 56 RBI)
Relievers of the Year: SAL CL Jorge Beltran (6-6, 1.83 ERA, 36 SV) and BOS CL Ron Thrasher (6-5, 1.62 ERA, 42 SV)
Platinum Sticks (FL): P NAS Mike Lake, C SFW Jerrod Luckert, 1B SAC Gil Rockwell, 2B TOP Chris Owen, 3B CIN Eddie Moreno, SS CIN Andrew Showalter, LF CIN Yasuhiro Kuramoto, CF PIT Justin Quinn, RF SAC Pablo Sanchez
Platinum Sticks (CL): P MIL Chris Sinkhorn, C NYC Jose Vargas, 1B IND Mike Rucker, 2B CHA Matt Good, 3B ATL Jamie Wilson, SS ATL Tony Jimenez, LF ATL Marty Reyes, CF MIL Ian Coleman, RF IND Cesar Martinez
Gold Gloves (FL): P RIC Rich Guerrero, C SFW Jerrod Luckert, 1B SAL Kevin Harenberg, 2B DEN Bobby Torres, 3B PIT Travis Bahner, SS SAC Trey Rock, LF SFW Jeff Wadley, CF SAL Abel Mora, RF SFW Ivan Flores
Gold Gloves (CL): P MIL Julio San Pedro, C VAN Ryan Holliman, 1B MIL Mike Gershkovich, 2B ATL Devin Hibbard, 3B BOS Antonio Esquivel, SS ATL Tony Jimenez, LF OCT Steve Hollingsworth, CF MIL Ian Coleman, RF VAN Man-su Kim

Not one award. Not even for “Stinkiest Show”.

When Matt Nunley found out that he was once again snubbed for a well-deserved Gold Glove in favor of a 40-year-old, he broke into a local cream factory the following weekend and gobbled up all the cream waiting for shipping on Monday morning. I am sure this will not affect his performance negatively in any way in the future once he’s over his very serious bout of diarrhea he’s having right now for totally unknown reasons.

Batting .400 (for the first time in league history) also paid off for Pablo Sanchez; the 27-year old signed a 6-yr, $28.78M contract with the Scorpions just days after the announcement of him being the Federal League Player of the Year. Sanchez will make $5.3M annually by 2025, the first player known to make in excess of $5M in league history.

Lots o’ firsts here, but I think we will have to wait a whole lot longer for the “first championship for the Raccoons since the 1990s” moniker.

Hey, one last fun fact! Who are the top 3 pitchers in games started on the Raccoons *right now*?

Jonathan Toner – 254
Noah Bricker – 177
Damani Knight – 53

Don’t forget the tune in again next week to a new episode of the new hit show, “Welcome to Our Doom”.