[Westheim]

January 4 – Reigning CL ERA king ex-IND SP Drew Johnson (99-97, 3.83 ERA, 2 SV) settles for $1.4M for one year from the Gold Sox.
January 5 – The Bayhawks land 35-yr old RF/LF Juan Brito (.289, 75 HR, 349 RBI) on a $1.2M deal for 2043. Brito split his time in ’42 between Cincy and Sacramento.
January 8 – The Condors sign ex-SAL INF Sergio Barcia (.249, 66 HR, 369 RBI). The 31-year-old will earn $15.6M over five years.
January 10 – The Gold Sox add ex-NAS SP Matt Hose (99-98, 4.09 ERA) for 2-yr, $6M.
January 16 – A deal with the Thunder lands OF Adrian Wade (.293, 59 HR, 351 RBI) for the Titans, as well as a prospect. Oklahoma receives 1B Alex Zacarias (.256, 98 HR, 449 RBI).
January 20 – Milwaukee gets OF/1B T.J. Serad (.255, 14 HR, 117 RBI) from the Miners in exchange for 2B Tony Lira (.217, 30 HR, 179 RBI) and a prospect.
January 31 – 29-year-old OF Tony Romero (.234, 79 HR, 347 RBI) who spent time with the Raccoons and Aces in 2042, signs a 4-yr, $7.16M contract with the Pacifics.

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We had 17 pitchers on the extended roster and all I did in January was to try to flip one for a backup outfielder with fair skills, not batting left-handed. We scratched on the Gold Sox for Chris Walker, who hit .298 in limited action, and on the Warriors for Juan Garcia (.257, 5 HR, 58 RBI), but neither team was willing to rummage much in our budget bin for mediocre tossers.

Only one other ex-Critter with a new contract: Tim Hale got $2.04M over two years from the Miners;

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2043 ABL HALL OF FAME BALLOT

The Hall of Fame receives one new Hall of Famer in 2043, as longtime Scorpions outfielder Doug Stross finds himself inducted. Stross, the Player of the Year in 2024 and 2025, spent his entire 19-year career in the Federal League, playing for the Blue Sox, Warriors, and Stars besides his 15-season stint with Sacramento. He was an All Star seven times, and in his Player of the Year seasons also led the league in batting average and OBP. He led the league in OBP four times in total, with a career high of .489 in 2024. For his career he posted a .314/.433/.416 slash line with 123 HR and 1,208 RBI. He stole 97 bases and in total landed 2,842 base hits.

SAC LF Doug Stross – 1st – 93.8 – INDUCTED
MIL SP Chris Sinkhorn – 5th – 50.6
SFW SS Jamie Wilson – 8th – 35.8
TIJ SP Jeff Little – 1st – 29.6
??? 1B Kevin Harenberg – 1st – 13.2
PIT C J.J. Henley – 3rd – 12.5
OCT SS Alex Serrato – 1st – 10.1
WAS C David Lessman – 2nd – 8.2
??? SP Ernest Green – 10th – 7.4 – DROPPED
NYC 3B Andy Schmit – 1st – 6.6
ATL SP Mario Rosas – 1st – 5.8
TOP CL Mike Baker – 6th – 5.4
SFW C Mike Thompson – 3rd – 3.5 – DROPPED
WAS 2B Dave Menth – 2nd – 3.5 – DROPPED
BOS CF Adrian Reichardt – 1st – 3.1 – DROPPED
??? SP Tommy Weintraub – 2nd – 0.8 – DROPPED
ATL 2B John Johnson – 1st – 0.0 – DROPPED
CIN CF Nando Maiello – 1st – 0.0 – DROPPED