[Westheim]

The winter meetings saw a few oddly fascinating trade proposals for Jonny Toner that were too ludicrous to even present in detail. There is probably more substance in talking about a trade that I almost stumbled upon but didn’t do.

Will Newman – on the Miners – could have been the new Eddie Jackson, primarily a pinch-hitter but regular starter against right-handed pitching. You may remember him from his debut years when he played with the Condors. Corner outfielder, so-so defense, bit of pop. However, someone signed the guy to a deal worth almost $10M for six years prior to the 2020 season. Newman hasn’t been a regular starter since, and the Miners are quite desperate to clear the commitment off their books. They would have flatout traded him one-for-one for Ricardo Romero, the throw-in player in the Yoshi/Kelly trade to make the ends of the Gold Sox’ books meet. Romero is a terrible batter and a sub-par centerfielder, and while Newman isn’t perfect at all, this would be such a massive trade up for us.

… if that contract wasn’t there. He would make more than twice of what Eddie made. And Eddie had at least been a regular in any of the three previous seasons. Releasing Romero would be considerably cheaper than soldiering up the $5M+ that Newman was guaranteed through 2024 (’25 was a team option).

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December 1 – The Rebels sign ex-IND SP Dan Lambert (101-95, 3.83 ERA) for a 5-yr, $14.6M contract.
December 3 – The Cyclones will pay $4.88M over two years to 37-year old ex-DEN C Pat Walston (.285, 158 HR, 844 RBI).
December 4 – The Canadiens have a new pitcher in 32-yr old ex-SFB SP Kevin Woodworth (58-93, 4.45 ERA), who signs on for 2-yr, $1.87M.
December 4 – Former Aces closer Alex Silva (31-29, 4.14 ERA, 96 SV) signs a 1-yr, $1.18M contract with the Stars.
December 4 – The Loggers trade for 27-yr old LAP MR Justin Guerin (6-8, 2.74 ERA, 1 SV), sending a prospect to the Pacifics in exchange.
December 6 – The Warriors trade for the Miners’ C Jose Ramirez (.264, 25 HR, 156 RBI). The price for the 28-year old backstop is 31-yr old 2B/SS Ruben Pelles (.239, 35 HR, 195 RBI) and a second-rate prospect.
December 7 – The Gold Sox sign 30-yr old ex-POR/NAS C Danny Margolis (.265, 44 HR, 239 RBI) on a 2-yr, $2.68M deal.
December 7 – Milwaukee adds 26-year old LF/RF Jon Berntson (.261, 12 HR, 138 RBI) in a trade with the Pacifics, leaving them with two more prospects.
December 8 – The Aces acquire the Stars’ SP Sergio Aredondo (26-30, 4.75 ERA), parting with 31-yr old OF/1B Rich Arrieta (.308, 13 HR, 125 RBI) and a minor-leaguer.
December 9 – The Loggers add some veterancy to the roster, signing 36-yr old RF/1B Tom Reese (.258, 224 HR, 1,111 RBI) to a 2-yr, $3.04M contract. Reese spent the last four years with the Gold Sox.
December 11 – 37-year old ex-LVA 1B Steve Butler (.303, 312 HR, 1,324 RBI) inks a 2-yr, $4.24M contract with the Cyclones.

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Nope, no movement during the winter meetings for the Raccoons.

I may have misplayed my cards here, because somehow we still have $5M to spend, we just don’t have much to show for it. And what did I do? Trade for the (hideously overbudget) Buffaloes’ Todd Sanborn to add a fourth centerfielder (or fifth, counting Cookie’s nominal skill at the position) to our already complicated and dangerously bloated outfield mix. Sanborn was probably the best of the non-bakery-item centerfielders in the mix, a left-hander, and could form a platoon with Stevenson, but even then he was cheap, which normally was good, but in this case limited my options tremendously given the Buffaloes’ budget status. No trade materialized.

Oh well, one trade possibility would have been getting Sanborn for Travis Garrett and one of a selection of token pseudo-prospects. Yes, there are prospects more pseudo than “Tragic” Travis and I still didn’t dump him to make the deal.

Our pitching depth is … non-existent. For starters, assuming we switch Jesus Chavez with Dave Dyer, our rotational depth will be … Dyer. And we still can’t field a full bullpen.

Former ex-Coons landing elsewhere included Evan Carrell hooking up with the Knights for $254k … period.

Yeah, dull winter meetings. Good news is, despite the dullness of the proceedings the Hall of Fame will not be abolished yet and a new vote is called for.