[Westheim]

December 25 – 35-year-old former Thunder SP Alfredo Llamas (130-111, 3.62 ERA) gets paid, as he signed to a 3-yr, $21.4M contract by the Stars.
December 25 – The Raccoons sign reclamation project SP Tyler Riddle (53-38, 2.99 ERA) to a $2.8M deal for 2060. The 28-year-old former Logger has not pitched since August of 2058.
December 27 – Sacramento adds ex-TIJ LF Tim Duncan (.255, 152 HR, 671 RBI) on a 3-yr, $8.88M deal.
December 31 – 36-year-old C Jose Cantu (.276, 188 HR, 903 RBI) will be on his fifth FL team in 42 months on Opening Day after signing a 2-yr, $9.92M deal with the Gold Sox. He played for the Blue Sox, Caps, Miners, and Pacifics in the last three seasons.
January 1 – A 4-year-deal worth $27.6M puts ex-TOP C Matt McLaren (.282, 181 HR, 622 RBI) on the Crusaders.
January 4 – The Raccoons add two right-handed relievers in one go, signing former Pacifics MR Ryan Sullivan (50-50, 3.15 ERA, 141 SV) and former Wolves MR Ruben Mendez (47-50, 3.50 ERA, 174 SV). The 30-year-old Sullivan receives a 3-yr, $4.4M contract, while Mendez, age 33, joins for $2.8M over two years.
January 4 – The Bayhawks trade SS Eric Cirelli (.268, 6 HR, 53 RBI) to the Gold Sox for CL Bill Goda (24-28, 3.99 ERA, 18 SV).
January 7 – The Loggers send infielder Bill Sostre (.272, 31 HR, 142 RBI) to the Pacifics for OF James Wilks (.231, 5 HR, 29 RBI).
January 9 – 38-year-old 1B/LF/RF/3B Mike Harmon (.267, 195 HR, 895 RBI), most recently with the Thunder, signs a 2-yr, $5.5M contract with the Scorpions.

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Much improved pitching staff! Riddle fills out the rotation nicely, although there was still upgrade potential around Justin DeRose. The two veteran right-handers, both former closers, meanwhile would effortlessly extend tough-as-nails qualities into the seventh and eighth innings *and* got the Raccoons closer to have a bullpen entirely consisting of pitchers whose given names started with R, joining Ricky Herrera and Reynaldo Bravo. Good times!

Together with what was left of the old bullpen – Walters, Ricky “Wins” Herrera, and Bravo for sure, and maybe Rios? – that left one spot for either another left-hander or a long man, or maybe both. For left-handers, we still had three options on the roster in Adam “Peppers” Harris, Elijah LaBat, and Nick Brown Memorial Pick Brad Loveless. Not enough has been said to praise Loveless, which is perhaps up to par for his name, but he made 30 mostly clean appearances out of the pen after the unlikely call-up after three earlier appearances in June. Yes, the walks were up, but somehow he still managed to avoid damage for the most part, and struck out 24 batters against 17 walks. Not awful for a 24-year-old 11th-rounder, but would that be enough to make the Opening Day roster?

If we went for a long man on the roster, then there were plenty of options in Damasceno, Sensabaugh, and Colby Bowen (snickers).

Since there were only $3M left in budget space, we would not spend any more on bullpen upgrades, so the last spots in the pen would be filled from what we already had on paw, especially since we still needed a third baseman, a right-handed outfielder and a backup catcher that could beat Cortez Chavez, a bar so low you could step over it. If we did not want Ben Morris to waste his youth on the bench, then we needed even two outfielders, although one of them might be Kozak or even Todd Oley.

The addition of Nick Fowler took one spot away from the crop of mostly awful middle infielders we had accumulated in recent times.

Contracts for ex-Coons: Victor Salcido took $1.92M from the Blue Sox; Harry Ramsay joined the Caps for $840k;

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2060 HALL OF FAME VOTING

No fewer than five new players would join the Hall of Fame in 2060, including four that were on the ballot for the first time!

5-time Player of the Year Jerry Outram topped the table with the highest vote share (98.3%). Not only did he win MVP honors five times, he also won six batting titles, and eight times in his career led the league in OBP and OPS. The menace won Rookie of the Year honors in 2036 and spent the first 18 years of his career with the Canadiens before a couple of hangers-on gigs in the mid-2050s. Outram was sent to the All Star Game 11 times, won 10 Platinum Sticks, and a World Series championship with the Canadiens in 2038. A rare combination of high batting average, strong power, and for a long time at least solid defense in rightfield, Outram terrorized the CL North in particular with a career .323/.441/.502 slash line, collecting 2,368 hits, 302 home runs, and 1,207 RBI. He also stole 129 bases.

Dallas outfielder Tylor Cecil didn’t have the longevity, but he sure had the week, winning three Player of the Year awards in the Federal League. Debuting with the Stars at 21, he spent a decade with that team before joining the Gold Sox, but then had his career unraveled by persistent injuries, and didn’t manage to put a qualifying season together after age 31, and retired when he was 35. Three times he led the Federal League in RBI and slugging, and once won the home run crown with 38 home runs in 2047. He took home the 2040 Rookie of the Year award, two Gold Gloves, four Platinum Sticks, and four World Series rings, one with the Stars and three with the Gold Sox.

Jesus Adames was a career Thunder, appearing for them in 18 seasons, although that included two with just one or two appearances. When he was a roster mainstay, he would catch up to 144 games a year, and often challenged for the batting title, without ever winning it. He took home a home run title in 2043, though, and twice led the CL in slugging and once in OPS in the mid-2040s. A three-time Player of the Year, Adames was a regular at the All Star Game, with 11 appearances there, and won seven Platinum Sticks and two Gold Gloves along with a championship in 2053, his final season as a regular. He hit for a career slash of .301/.382/.467 with 2,229 hits, 278 home runs, 1,163 RBI.

Hugo Acosta played in the league for 20 seasons, starting with a decade in Dallas white before tingling through eight different cities in the second decade of his career. A stick-first second baseman, he won four batting titles in his first six full seasons, which also included leading the FL in triples four times (five times in his career), and in stolen bases twice. His 76 stolen bases in 2038 are still the single-season record in the ABL. Never a threat to win a Gold Glove, he took home four Platinum Sticks and five All Stars, while being consistently underappreciated for his lack of home run power – he never hit more than seven home runs in a season. He also never won a championship despite purchasing nine different tickets. His career left him with a slash of .333/.383/.437 with 3,055 hits, 30 homers, 1,141 RBI, and 476 stolen bases. Acosta is now the first player in the Hall of Fame, alphabetically, both him and Adames replacing Blue Sox third baseman Jim Allen at the top of the list.

Jesus Maldonado was a career Raccoon, debuting at 21, and lasting 18 seasons with the team in a Swiss Army knife role. Partaking in the Raccoons’ triplet of championships in the mid-2040s, Maldonado was an All Star seven times and won three Platinum Sticks, all at third base, although for the first half of his career he was mostly used as an outfielder. Maldonado never took home a Gold Glove, mostly because he never hung around at one position, especially early in his career when he put appear at as many as six positions in a single season. He played in 2,282 ABL games, but no more than 753 at any one position (third base). A solid centerfielder in his younger years, he was eventually relegated to first base and rightfield as his body developed all sorts of aches and pains. He batted .289/.350/.436 with 2,359 hits, 210 home runs, and 1,165 RBI for his career, and also stole 146 bases.

Full results:

VAN CF Jerry Outram – 1st – 98.3% – INDUCTED
DAL CF Tylor Cecil – 1st – 95.0% – INDUCTED
OCT C Jesus Adames – 1st – 92.9% – INDUCTED
DAL 2B Hugo Acosta – 1st – 92.5% – INDUCTED
POR 3B Jesus Maldonado – 3rd – 84.2% – INDUCTED
SAL C Morgan Kuhlmann – 9th – 12.0%
??? RF Juan Benavides – 1st – 11.2%
NYC C Fernando Alba – 1st – 10.8%
??? 2B Mario Briones – 1st – 10.0%
BOS SP Rich Willett – 8th – 10.0%
??? SP John Kennedy – 1st – 7.9%
ATL SP Brian Buttress – 1st – 7.5%
CHA CL Josh Livingston – 2nd – 7.5%
??? SP Juan Ramos – 1st – 7.5%
PIT SP Roberto Pruneda – 7th – 5.8%
DAL SP Eric Weitz – 9th – 4.6% – DROPPED
??? SP Brad Santry – 4th – 4.1% – DROPPED
PIT C Giampaolo Petroni – 2nd – 2.9% – DROPPED
SAC LF Mike Preble – 2nd – 1.2% – DROPPED
??? CF Alex Marquez – 1st – 0.8% – DROPPED
MIL SS Ted Del Vecchio – 2nd – 0.8% – DROPPED