[Westheim]

Chris Maresh did not go to arbitration with the Raccoons, and instead entered the free agent market with type B compensation attached, which would mean a supplemental round draft pick for us. Free top 50 pick, nothing to sneeze at.

Besides him, Zach Stewart and Oscar Caballero also became free agents, as well as a few guys from triple-A, including Cameron Argenziano, now 32 years old and with semi-regular appearances in the majors, usually out of despair, throughout the 2050s. Vernon Hudalla, who had hit .140 in 28 games for the 2059 Coons, also elected minor league free agency, as did catcher Matt Stanton, who last appeared with the Coons in 2058 in all of six games, Craig Kniep (2059, 3 games), Richard Anderson (2058, 31 games), and Carlos Solorzano (2059, 12 games). I’d live.

At this point, 30 players remained on the extended roster, including Ryan Sullivan, who would miss all of next season in all likelihood, so in fact, 29 players remained on the extended roster: 5 starters, 9 relievers, a singular catcher, nine infielders, and five outfielders – with Jack Kozak lumped in with the infielders, although he was getting most of his playing time in leftfield.

So, well. How are we gonna improve on that 92-win season that got us nowhere in particular? The rotation was an obvious construction project with the five remaining starters being Tipsy Bobby, Tyler Riddle, and then the perpetually infuriating Justin DeRose, Chance Fox, and Duarte Damasceno, who might be better employed as long man after all.

Otherwise we had Walters, Mendez, Ricky H., LaBat, and Bravo for competent or at least potty-trained relievers, although Bravo’s stats were getting more and more yucky with more than five walks per nine innings in both of the last two seasons. That was too much for a right-hander, but we also had only four healthy right-handed relievers on the 40-man right now, so he wasn’t getting fired just yet.

And then I had an innocent question – how could a team, which for the season employed players hitting roughly league-average OPS or better at seven of eight positions end up scoring the second-fewest runs in the CL?

It can’t possibly be Lonzo’s fault. Lonzo is amazing.

But there was no way to upgrade over Brass, Cas, Nye, or Starr. Perez was doing fine. Christopher was doing well enough in the leadoff spot. And Fowler had at least had a good half.

Okay, maybe we can just stop giving up any runs. Doubtful with the infield defense and age, but let’s pretend for a moment. The Raccoons, realistically speaking, needed a starting pitcher, and as usual I tried to get around burning our first-round pick.

Cory Ritter was a 27-year-old right-hander from Hawaii (aka Brownie Island) that had made his ABL debut at 22 and had since then… well, he had been abused a lot. He was a staggering 36-73 with 5.35 ERA for the Stars (shoebox factor) and Miners. The thing that looked off about his stats page was the BABIP column. Not once had he pitched to a BABIP better than .313, or .320 in a qualifying season. His career BABIP was .324. He was a groundballer – not that this saves you from giving up 20 dingers a year in the Dallas Thunderdome – with everything that wasn’t hanging and teasing people’s primal urges being hit on the ground. Did the Raccoons have the defense to exploit that low-hanging fruit? Well, not that low-hanging after all – he thought he was worth $3M a year. Last season with the Miners he had been 11-14 with a 4.47 ERA and 2.6 BB/9 and 6.3 K/9. 13 dingers – same as Tipsy Bobby. 3.78 FIP, which was not remotely close to Tipsy Bobby. And worse than DeRose, but ahead of Foxie Brown.

Another type B free agent would be Art Schaeffer, coming off 11 seasons with the Falcons. He was almost 35, and his walks were creeping up to 3.9/9 while whiffing his usual six per nine. Yes, he had superficially the better stats, like a 2.96 ERA last year, but in turn he had seen a .277 BABIP behind him on a team with two Gold Glovers. Also, his curveball was losing curve. It was more like … just ball.

If I could be convinced to be less of a draft pick hoarder, we could make a move for Ryan Musgrave (maybe, if we could save a million here or there on other projects), although he had shockingly low strikeouts. The 5.9/9 from his rookie season was the second-highest mark of his career. He had won an ERA title in ’58, and he was genuinely tough to hit around. Also didn’t engage in walk orgies like some other pitchers that may or may not be on the roster. (looks at DeRose and Fox).

In the end we were looking at groundballers in all three cases, which made my concerns about Ritter kinda moot. What BABIP’s had the five starters that were still on the roster posted with Portland in 2060? It wasn’t *that* bad. Three times .300 right on the mark, one .292, and only Fox was off at .319. Stewart had also been slightly high at .314.

Oh dear, decisions, decisions. Maud, I think I’ll need the magic eight ball…