[Westheim]

Hugo Mendoza resigned with the Cyclones on November 22, the deal being worth $23M over six years. That will take Dumbo through his age 37 season and far enough away to not take out his frustration on the Raccoons. He’s probably going to be in the Hall of Fame eventually, just not as a Raccoon.

Nothing happened in Portland for the rest of November, with all trade attempts that I made being abortive. I primarily tried to get Julio San Pedro from the Titans, who weren’t even using him to his full potential as a swingman, but there was apparently nothing on our own roster that could be piled up to make any kind of trade work in this case.

In late November, with the rule 5 draft fast approaching, I restructured the 40-man roster to such an extent that four extras ended up on waivers, including Guillermo Aponte, Edwin Prieto, Isaiah Jones, and Jose Castaneda.

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November 16 – The Bayhawks acquire C Brett O’Dell (.253, 8 HR, 74 RBI) from the Cyclones, parting with 2B Gerardo Gonzalez (.252, 12 HR, 76 RBI), neither of whom has ever been a regular at 28 and 27 years of age, respectively.
November 23 – Ex-CIN SS Andrew Showalter (.308, 162 HR, 826 RBI) signs a 4-year deal with the Gold Sox that will pay the 31-year-old right-hander $10.56M in total.
November 24 – Former Condors closer Jayden Reed (75-65, 3.18 ERA, 262 SV) gets another payday at age 39, signing a 2-yr, $3.44M contract with the Miners.
November 25 – One big-name domino falls every day now as the Warriors snatch up the Miners’ RF Justin Quinn (.302, 81 HR, 499 RBI). The 28-year-old right-handed bat will cost them $19.64M over six years.
November 26 – The Condors pick up 29-year-old SP Luis Flores (90-58, 3.29 ERA) from their division rivals, the Knights. Flores will make $22.64M over six years.
November 27 – The Miners add ex-CHA CL Dusty Balzer (64-55, 3.33 ERA, 158 SV) to their roster, paying the 35-year-old right-hander $5.72M over three years.
November 30 – Ex-ATL CL Harry Merwin (29-40, 3.28 ERA, 195 SV) signs a 3-yr, $4.76M contract with the Aces.
December 1 – Rule 5 Draft: 25 players change teams over four rounds, with only the Aces picking past the second round. The Raccoons draft 23-year-old MR Kevin Surginer from the Rebels.

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If you think you remember that Surginer kid from somewhere, then you are totally correct. This is in fact the second time the Coons have picked him in the rule 5 draft after the 2021 edition of the rule 5 draft, although back then we returned him to the Rebels eight weeks later after stashing our pen through other means. I don’t think he’s gonna be returned this time around; even now (excluding Cory Dew) we only have seven relievers on hand for Opening Day and you’d think that lightning would strike the West / Cowen / Kipple group first should be sign free agents.

Talking about free agents, with all catchers except for Elias Tovias removed from the 40-man roster, the Raccoons are pursuing a veteran catcher that is used to backup duties and should come cheap. That is currently all the effort we are making on the free agent market…

While the jury is still out, this might be the point where you want to take a wager on a 100-losses season!

Other former Raccoons finding shelter in the cold: Ezequiel Olivares signed a 2-yr, $444k contract with the Rebels; the Pacifics added Logan Sloan for $270k;