[Westheim]

Work began on sorting out arbitration cases. There were two pitchers that the Raccoons would like to sign for multiple seasons at once but only one of them (Josh Brown) actually took home the offer. Chuck Jones refused, insisting on a 1-year deal, which was ballsy considering that he was already 29 and would not reach free agency until after the 2043 season.

There was less enthusiasm for the other two relievers on hand. David Lindstrom had almost doubled his ERA from the year before, but Cristiano showed me some BABIP values which indicated that the defense had helped him a lot in ’40 and had not done anything good for him in ’41. He was probably a run-of-the-mill high-3 ERA pitcher with a normal defense behind him. Considering that he was also a team leader at least some hitters were impressed by his wild beard, we extended another offer to him.

No such luck for Juan Zabala. The 33-year-old was the secretary of inconsistency when on the roster, which he wasn’t a whole lot due to shoulder woes. The list of shoulder woes for him was long and growing longer, and the Raccoons had no interest in burning more money on this chronic DL case.

That aside, the Raccoons had to find new pitchers in the offseason – the current top 5 starting pitchers on staff (Brown, Moreno, Mathers, Montano, White) would be grossly insufficient to be anything other than punching bags going forwards.

Now, the real question was whether we could turn, say, a soon-to-be-32-year-old outfielder we all adore and like and who is generally above-average, but got a meaty contract after one superb season he never replicated, into a younger starting pitcher that would be around for a while. (Not that the Raccoons had leftfielders to spare, at least not of above-de Wit quality…) But we had tried to trade Manny Fernandez before and the returns had not materialized. Was that because Fernandez’ contract was too big or because the Coons GM thought Fernandez better than he was? He had won an RBI title as recently as ’40 after all, and had been Player of the Year in ’36! But he had also posted four straight seasons in the 110s for OPS+, which was *good* … but not *great*. That was Manny Fernandez – an all-around good player hitting for average, power, with a fine glove, and with some speed … but he was not a star, and maybe I was expecting a star pitcher in return.

He also wasn’t really earning that $2.5M contract per year, second-biggest on the team behind hip-stricken Cosmo ($3.8M), and in 2042 terms ahead of Maldonado (2.2M), Hamill (1.9M), Kilmer (1.7M), Reyna (a frightening 1.5M), and Ito (who gave that guy 1.4M???);

Our first talks of the offseason were with the championship Loggers, a minor deal that would see a lefty reliever dinked for Joseph Ronan, simply for the purpose of Ronan not burning the Raccoons anymore. We’d then leave him to rot in Rancho Cucaracha in Instructional League. Nothing came of that proposal, ultimately, and Ronan hung with the Loggers.

The Loggers!

Before much of importance happened, the first contracts came back signed. Lindstrom inked for $450k, Jones for $510k, and Josh Brown signed a 5-year, $6.6M contract that I would consider team-friendly if he continues to pitch like this. He will get $900k this next season, $1.2M the year after, then $1.5M three times after that.

Also, did I say we need pitchers?

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October 21 – The Rebels ship SP Danny Tankersley (18-21, 3.99 ERA) to the Pacifics in exchange for #96 prospect SS Landon Guillory.
October 21 – The Thunder acquire SS/2B Chris O’Keefe (.238, 55 HR, 276 RBI) from the Aces, parting with five prospects, none of them ranked or even close.
October 24 – The Raccoons snatch 29-year-old right-hander SP Jake Jackson (36-51, 3.75 ERA) from the Indians for three outfielders, LF/RF/1B Bill Balaski (.273, 14 HR, 78 RBI) and single-A prospects OF/1B/3B Nelson Hernandez and OF Chance Middendorf.
November 4 – The Rebels acquire SP Casey Pinter (44-47, 4.08 ERA) from the Crusaders for two prospects.

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Pitching was added at the cost of two second-rounders (Balaski, Middendorf) and a July IFA that cost $215k and never hit in Aumsville, just like Middendorf. Balaski was an easy addition when the Indians wanted extra to the two prospects we had already whittled it down to, because the best he could be for us next year was in a platoon with Rikuto Ito, and then we were already stuck with Reyna, who could do everything Balaski could, and was not a terrible error sink in rightfield. Balaski played 1,382 innings in the outfield for Portland and made 18 errors, which struck as a lot.

What does Jackson bring to the table? Certainly #2 credentials (unless Nelson Moreno wants to roar back and claim those honors, which I would be entirely open for!) with a 95mph fastball, a curve, and a fork, and general groundball disposition. His weak spot is control, meaning he will walk about 90 batters a year. He is also arbitration-eligible and did not sign a contract with the Indians before the trade. He made $880k in 2041 and pretty soon signed a $1M contract for the 2041 season. He will be arbitration eligible twice more.

Of course the jury will be out for a while on that trade, but at this point it looks like a friggin’ steal for the Critters!

We also signed Tony Hunter for $720k and Stephon Nettles (reluctantly) for $375k a few days prior to salary arbitration. With Zabala non-tendered, the only way for us to have an actual hearing was for one of the four free agents to drag us there.

In minor news, the Raccoons reassigned some players to AAA right away; Travis Sims was waived (and not claimed, quelle surprise), and Jake White and Chris Lancaster were optioned. We also released Chua-kah Yuen, a 27-year-old righty reliever that had been signed on a minor league deal out of Taiwan on the eve of the 2041 season and had pitched to a 7.33 ERA there.

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2041 ABL AWARDS

Players of the Year: SAL C Morgan Kuhlmann (.271, 33 HR, 109 RBI) and VAN OF Jerry Outram (.353, 19 HR, 70 RBI)
Pitchers of the Year: SAL SP Ryan Bedrosian (19-11, 2.90 ERA) and ATL SP Brad Santry (9-12, 2.75 ERA)
Rookies of the Year: PIT OF/1B Rusty Dirks (.321, 11 HR, 57 RBI) and NYC SP Jeff Johnson (18-5, 3.04 ERA)
Relievers of the Year: LAP CL Jesse Allison (8-7, 2.54 ERA, 28 SV) and TIJ CL Steve Bailey (5-5, 2.11 ERA, 34 SV)
Platinum Sticks (FL): P TOP Miguel Alvarado – C SAL Morgan Kuhlmann – 1B CIN Danny Santillano – 2B DAL Hugo Acosta – 3B SAC Paul Laughren – SS LAP Brian Bowman – LF SAC Mike Preble – CF CIN Jayden Lockwood – RF RIC Joe Ritchey
Platinum Sticks (CL): P LVA Oscar Valdes – C VAN Timóteo Clemente – 1B TIJ Willie Ojeda – 2B VAN Dan Schneller – 3B MIL Jared Paul – SS MIL Ted Del Vecchio – LF OCT Ethan Moore – CF VAN Jerry Outram – RF SFB Dave Martinez
Gold Gloves (FL): P SAC Josh Vercher – C DAL Pacio Torreo – 1B RIC Manny Liberos – 2B WAS Logan Arnold – 3B NAS Brad Critzer – SS CIN Cody St. Peter – LF DAL Ricky Correa – CF SAL Armando Herrera – RF PIT T.J. Serad
Gold Gloves (CL): P SFB Noe Candeloro – C CHA Chris Kokoszka – 1B MIL Aaron Brayboy – 2B LVA Glenn Sprague – 3B TIJ Nick Rozenboom – SS POR Tony Hunter – LF ATL Luis Inoa – CF BOS Mark Vermillion – RF TIJ Ryan Phillips

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Oh yes.

Remember salary arbitration and being dragged there?

We were dragged there.