[Westheim]

Safe for a trade of Juan Barzaga for a Pitcher of the Year or two, the Raccoons appeared mostly done for the offseason as the year preceded to wither and die. True, you can always make an upgrade to that one bench player. I imagine there are plenty of upgrades to be made to Daniel Bullock, but if I speak out loud about that, Christiano Carmona will swiftly produce another presentation about how he’s the best ever, and how he wields a solid bat with great potential.

In fact, an upgrade over Hector Barcenas as fifth outfielder was probably not that hard to find, you’d guess, but I had been looking for most of the offseason even before taking him in the rule 5 draft, and nothing had really turned up.

By the way, does anybody remember Chris LeMoine anymore? He had a few impressive seasons with the Loggers, leading the CL in slugging once even as centerfielder thanks to 33 homers and 29 other extra-base hits in 138 games in ’19. That was his age 26 season, and the fourth straight year he was worth 4+ WAR, which is a useless stat. LeMoine batted .279/.328/.472 the next year while missing 47 games, and then steeply dropped into a chasm of mediocrity. He slugged .331 for the Falcons in ’22, three years removed from his slugging crown antics, and still on the ‘good’ side of 30. He recovered somewhat last season, but – boy! – has it been a nightmare for him!

This Rookie of the Year and 4-time Gold Glover, and 2-time All Star, was up for grabs with the hot part of the offseason already over, and he didn’t even seem to command lots of coin. Too bad he was batting left-handed, and we had our share of brittle left-handed centerfielders already.

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December 20 – Former Crusader RF/1B/2B Ivan Flores (.271, 116 HR, 651 RBI) returns to the Federal League on a 3-yr, $4.26M contract with the Cyclones, who also re-sign 39-year-old veteran C Pat Walston (.285, 192 HR, 988 RBI) to a 2-yr, $6.16M deal on the same day.
December 21 – The Loggers get some relief in ex-IND MR Brian Gilbert (59-45, 3.71 ERA, 129 SV), who signs on for 2-yr, $4.16M.
December 22 – The Aces snatch 35-yr-old ex-SAC SP Samuel McMullen (176-112, 3.33 ERA) for 2-yr, $6.24M.
December 22 – Meanwhile the Scorpions console themselves with the addition of former Condors CL Joel Davis (35-38, 2.71 ERA, 72 SV), who inks with them for three years and $6.6M.
December 22 – After splitting the 2023 season between the Miners and Scorpions, CL Troy Charters (45-49, 3.87 ERA, 173 SV) signs a 1-yr, $1.94M deal with the Pacifics.
December 28 – The Scorpions add more pitching with the addition of ex-WAS CL Ben Marx (47-51, 2.73 ERA, 296 SV) on a 3-yr, $6.36M contract.

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Oh the luxury of signing both Ben Marx and Joel Davis to quite high seven figures in the same offseason! By contrast, the Critters hope to grow one of their 75 relievers into a workable closer that isn’t gonna kill ‘em in 2025. Sadly, Quantity < Quality.

The Scorpions started the offseason with three type A free agents. They wound up with no first round picks, and four in the second round, including three of the last five. Bad luck? Be it as it is, nothing will change about that anymore given that all type A players were off the market by December 22.

Unsigned so far is Jonny Toner, although there are constant rumors about this team and that team eager to sign him early to big bucks, even if it means burning a million for him to dwell on the DL to start the 2024 season.

The Capitals signed 40-yr-old Jayden Reed for 2-yr, $1.94M; the Stars picked up the tab on Danny Margolis for $274k;