[Westheim]

January 21 – Just six weeks after signing a 2-year contract with the Crusaders, 34-year-old 2B Mike DeFusco abruptly retires instead, citing chronic back pain from repeated disc injuries. DeFusco batted .273 with 102 homers and 731 RBI, plus 194 stolen bases, and won a Gold Glove in a 14-year career with the Warriors.
January 21 – The Pacifics sign ex-RIC SP Cory Ritter (70-128, 4.99 ERA) to a hard to explain 5-year, $30.72M contract.
January 23 – The Raccoons sign OF/2B Corey Garmon (.278, 3 HR, 276 RBI), most recently with the Knights, to a $750k contract.
January 24 – Portland also adds left-handed MR Sansao Tyson (26-38, 4.27 ERA, 53 SV) with a $850k contract for the 2065 season. Tyson was with the Titans the previous season.
January 24 – 2B/SS Ryan Spehar (.259, 65 HR, 526 RBI) signs with the Titans for the second offseason in a row despite being traded to New York partway through the 2064 season. The 35-year-old will make $2.32M for his troubles.
January 25 – The Falcons acquire lefty swingman Ryan De Jong (25-20, 4.52 ERA, 15 SV) from the Cyclones in exchange for two prospects.
January 26 – The busy bees in Portland announce the signing of 33-year-old ex-SAL MR Cruz Madrid (50-41, 4.14 ERA, 108 SV) to a 2-year, $3M contract.
January 29 – The Thunder send INF Miguel Veguilla (.279, 90 HR, 607 RBI) to the Condors, along with Rule 5 pick 1B Jon Herbert, for LF/RF Alf Mendez (.279, 47 HR, 280 RBI).
February 14 – The Crusaders trade LF/RF/2B David Milian (.293, 21 HR, 224 RBI) and cash to the Miners in a trade for 1B Mike Velazquez (.272, 30 HR, 143 RBI) and a prospect.

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Garmon was signed as backup outfielder. We specifically wanted a right-handed stick in there since up to that point we had only Kozak for a right-handed batting outfielder that was definitely going to be on the roster come Opening Day. Malcolm Spicer and Jose Corral would probably be on the corners, batting left-handed, with Kozak in center, which was definitely not a great defensive setup. Whether Randy Tallent was going to make it was uncertain, and Marco Campos and Jorge Moreno, who were still lingering on the extended roster, certainly weren’t gonna.

The other two signings were supposed to bolster the bullpen, but I was past being confident of just throwing a functioning bullpen together at this point, so parental guidance would continue to be advised in Raccoons games from the seventh inning onwards in 2065. By the time we signed up Cruz Madrid, the 40-man roster was full and Jorge Moreno ended up on waivers to facilitate Madrid’s addition to the roster.

For former Critters, Dave Blackshire had $2.2M thrown at him by the Thunder … for one season, too! For Ryan Harmer it was $1.14M from the Knights; the Warriors gave $1.76M to Phil Baker, and also took on Nick Robinson, who made only one start for the Condors last season, for two years and $5.2M; Takenori Tanizaki signed with the Condors for $990k; Mike Hall got a round $1M from Sacramento; Adam Peltier also joined the Warriors for $2M;