[Westheim]

December 11 – The Indians add ex-SAL/DEN 3B/2B Mike Green (.239, 95 HR, 392 RBI) on a 1-yr, $1.2M contract.
December 13 – Former Loggers SP Pedro Hernandez (135-114, 3.42 ERA) signs with the Gold Sox, who will pay $7.76M over two years to the 32-year-old right-hander.
December 13 – The Buffaloes sign ex-POR CL Brett Lillis (42-61, 3.02 ERA, 302 SV) for 2-yr, $1.9M.
December 14 – The Rebels add offense, signing ex-TOP LF/RF Alfredo Quintana (.282, 87 HR, 806 RBI), who will net $22.4M over seven years.
December 14 – The Cyclones add a closer in ex-Pacific Troy Charters (49-53, 3.77 ERA, 213 SV) for 3-yr, $6.36M.

+++

Yes, once upon a time the Raccoons had a third baseman not named Matt Nunley, although it sure felt like when the glaciers most recently receded from the Pacific Northwest they already left Nunley behind. That was not true, and the previous entrenched third baseman had been Jon Merritt. Good ol' Jon was already 34 when he signed a 5-year deal with the Coons prior to 2010, which led to three jolly good years, a year marred by injuries, and then Matt Nunley had already arrived and relegated Merritt to reserve duties in 2014. However Merritt's career was then far from over. He played for another five years in the majors, getting as many as 251 at-bats at age 40 with the Stars, before taking bit assignments with three different teams afterwards. Although superficially unassuming, Jon Merritt would lead his league in triples three times, all in his 30s(!), including once with the Raccoons in 2010. Merritt's mark of 18 three-bag hits still stands, towering over the remaining top 10, which are mostly populated by Cookie Carmona, who has six entries in the franchise top 10 for triples in a season with a high, and overall second-best, of 14 in 2015.

Another former Raccoon on the ballot was Ron Alston, although like Merritt he delivered most of his body of work elsewhere. Ron Alston played in Portland for only two-and-a-half years, arriving in a huge deal in 2008 that sent Daniel Sharp, Ryan Miller, and Jimmy Oatmeal to the Indians. He hit 33 dingers between the two teams in 2008, then led the CL with 35 in '09, one of four times he won the home run crown in addition to three batting titles and one RBI belt, although he didn't line it all up for a triple crown. But his appearances atop any sort of leaderboard were as far as 14 years apart, indicating a player that was very good for a very long time. Unlike Merritt, who was more on the average side of "pretty good", Alston was an impact player and is regarded as a sure-as-heck first-ballot Hall of Famer, owing to his 475 homers and 1,598 RBI. The former mark had him as the all-time ABL leader, and the latter mark ranked him third behind Will Bailey (1,714) and Martin Ortíz (1,670). The former was already in the Hall, and the latter would not appear on the ballot until two years from now.

There was one thing though that Alston and Merritt had in common – they were part of the most recent Raccoons team to reach the World Series in 2010.

Three more former Raccoons are on the ballot, including one new arrival, although Manuel Reyes passed through only briefly in 2000 on the way to Atlanta, where he did his best work. We got him from the Blue Sox for Cesar Gonzalez, then sent him to Georgia with Marvin Ingall (who would soon return) for Jesus Palacios and a host of obscure fringe players.

Still on the ballot are Jerry Fletcher, also a half-season Coon only, in his eighth season and Kel Yates, the reason for my most-recent arrest in Canada, in his sixth season. None have particularly good chances, with Yates especially harmed by relative brevity despite piling up an impressive 2,773 strikeouts.

Full ballot below.