[Westheim]

First a correction on the last bit of waffle: Nick Fox signed for $1.6M … *per year for two years*, so $3.2M in total. Luis Silva is very concerned that I am getting a bit doo-doo in the head. – Oh, leave me alone, Luis! My mental capybaras are undemonetized!

Anyway. Winter meetings. Let’s see for how big a pile of grapefruits we can trade Bobby Ricky Herrera.

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December 5 – The Crusaders acquire 26-year-old righty MR Alex Flores (13-16, 4.01 ERA, 16 SV) from the Aces for two prospects.
December 5 – The Falcons deal 2B/1B Jorge Caballero (.266, 4 HR, 46 RBI) to the Warriors for OF Alvin Huerta (.242, 17 HR, 118 RBI) and #79 prospect C Jerry Sandoval.
December 6 – The Raccoons sign ex-SAL C Tim Fuller (.271, 46 HR, 302 RBI) to a 1-year contract that will pay the 32-year-old experienced backup catcher a $1.3M salary.
December 6 – The Titans sign up ex-DEN LF/RF Bill Ramires (.275, 115 HR, 540 RBI) to a 2-yr, $3.54M contract.
December 6 – Veteran LF Juan del Toro (.320, 216 HR, 1,095 RBI) commits his age 36 season to the Rebels for $1.42M after two years with the Knights.
December 7 – Indy acquires SP Aaron Sciuto (22-25, 4.04 ERA) from the Stars for a package including INF Ricardo Vargas (.245, 8 HR, 68 RBI) and a prospect.
December 14 – The Titans scoop INF/LF/RF Jacob Bratlien (.277, 24 HR, 265 RBI) off the Blue Sox along with almost $1M in cash for MR Dave Parra (0-1, 5.17 ERA) and a prospect.
December 16 – Atlanta signs up 34-yr old ex-WAS SP Troy Ratliff (95-114, 4.05 ERA) for 2-yr, $9.76M.
December 20 – San Francisco splurges big on ex-DAL 3B/1B Dan Sandoval (.286, 103 HR, 473 RBI), luring the 29-year-old with a 7-year, $41.5M contract.
December 21 – The Knights acquire CL Alex Rios (7-5, 4.12 ERA, 12 SV) from the Aces for a prospect.
December 23 – The Indians sign up ex-POR SP Zach Stewart (73-74, 3.78 ERA) for 2061, paying him a $3.6M salary.
December 23 – Milwaukee adds SP Bob Ruggiero (65-95, 4.15 ERA) on a 2-yr, $3.04M contract.
December 25 – L.A. signs former Gold Sox closer John Penington (37-46, 4.47 ERA, 86 SV) to a $1.48M deal.
December 31 – The Scorpions bring in 36-yr old ex-WAS 1B Jay Rogers (.271, 194 HR, 770 RBI) on a 2-yr, $9.2M deal.

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The Raccoons’ bid for the services of Cory Ritter fell through when the right-hander resigned with the hopelessly buried Miners on December 19, inking a 4-yr, $16M contract, and while I had been willing to throw some dosh at that turnaround lottery ticket, eight figures hadn’t been on my mind. It’s not like we were devastated by this development, because the Ritter bid began before we clawed Nick Robinson from the Gold Sox, and since he didn’t look like a big upgrade (or maybe even a small upgrade) over the bottom pair in the rotation now, we didn’t raise our bid anymore. I am sure Justin DeRose and Chance Fox were quite happy with that development. That long relief slave job still beckoned.

J.J. Sensabaugh might just win that, but the Raccoons were still looking for essentially a Ryan Sullivan replacement, a right-hander that would not embarrass himself in the seventh and eighth inning. Bryan Erickson didn’t look like that kind of pitcher. But once again we had a squeeze of left-handed relievers with Ricky H., LaBat, Adam Harris, Curt Therien, as well as in AAA Brad “11th Round” Loveless, Mike Goldfield, and a couple of starters that weren’t hacking it as starters: Freddy Castillo, a $24k July IFA signing, and supplemental-rounder John Marshell, who had spent five years in Ham Lake.

There were a few more right-handed relievers with elite stuff out there, but they were either type A free agents (Jason Posey), or had offers on the table for $4M and up … PER YEAR! … That was not the sort of money the Raccoons even had available anymore. Steve from Accounting reported only $1.5M left in the budget, and there was $2.6M in cash lying around as a buffer that wasn’t supposed to be spent on salaries.

Nick Leigh, a 26-year-old that had gone 6-1 with a 2.04 ERA and one save for the Pacifics in 2060, promised to solve several issues. First, there were not enough Nicks on the roster, and second, he was making the minimum while having a 95mph heater and a befuddling curveball that made hitters lose their pants trying to whack it. Thing was that the Pacifics had it in their head that he was their new closer, and weren’t going to give him up for anything reasonable. Only unreasonable returns (Joel Starr) were acceptable to them.

Tim Moore, a career Scorpion with 331 saves (but only 18 of them in the last five years), looked like something that could help us out to bridge Sullivan’s absence, would cost only $1.28M for the last year on his contract, and the Stingers weren’t particularly attached to him at age 36 anymore, but Moore was to them and invoked his 10/5 rights.

Other ex-Coons with new contracts: somehow Ivan Ornelas fleeced the Cyclones for $4.26M over three years; Takenori Tanizaki joined the Miners for $900k; the Knights were the newest team to blow seven figures ($1.36M) on Steve Watson; Harry Ramsay stubbornly hung on to a job in the majors with a $492k offer from the Loggers; similarly, Pucks joined the Wolves for $530k;

Oh, and there’s a Hall of Fame ballot! …not that it fills me with much excitement.