[Westheim]

Perhaps understandably, the Raccoons calmed down a bit after the winter meetings, dosh being spent and all, although we still crept after a few veteran pitchers™ that would totally not ruin the entire show come April. We were trying to get some valid arms on the cheap without entirely descending down the dented cans aisle…

There were not a lot of savvy trades to swing with some of the sizable contracts behind the expensive three. Nobody was really into J.P. Gallo after his meh season, and then we had $7.7M in total bound up in Jose Corral and Carlos Fumero, both of whom figured to be in different platoons. Neither of these players attracted any interesting offers when dangled throughout December.

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December 20 – The Buffaloes acquire former Warriors CL Cody Kleidon (49-64, 3.23 ERA, 362 SV) on a $6.2M contract for 2070.
December 24 – The Raccoons announce the addition of former Buffaloes SP Ian Lowry (49-89, 4.56 ERA), the 29-year-old getting a $700k contract.
December 25 – The Loggers sign former Rebs SS Casey Ramsey (.297, 107 HR, 833 RBI) to a $2.48M contract for the 2070 season.
December 27 – The Thunder get 2-time World Series champion and reigning FL Pitcher of the Year, ex-Cyclones SP Jose Aguilar (64-34, 3.24 ERA) on a 6-year, $50.6M contract.
January 5 – The Stars land ex-RIC SP Bobby Marceau (70-56, 3.49 ERA) on a 5-yr, $37.3M deal for the 32-year-old.
January 5 – The Raccoons add veteran right-handed MR Victor Ramirez (52-55, 4.27 ERA, 35 SV), who signed for $900k just a week shy of his 38th birthday. Ramirez will be on his seventh team in seven years, the most recent being the Loggers.
January 6 – The Loggers send 3B/SS Rafael Murcia (.261, 17 HR, 163 RBI) to the Bayhawks for OF John Parrish (.240, 32 HR, 154 RBI). The Bayhawks also receive a prospect.

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Okay, I said no dented cans, and I don’t think that Lowry is a dented can. He has NEVER pitched for a good team. He’s been on a WINNING team exactly ONCE. His control is an issue, but he can live off the defense by getting consistent groundballs, and maybe then he’ll put a 4-ish ERA together. I wouldn’t go as far as hoping for a winning record… But he makes a decent enough #5 until we can see where Val Centeno is, which means for at least three months.

Ramirez was completely betrayed by defense for two years in a row, and I am sure that he can be better. I mean, he was on the Loggers last year. Every game against the Loggers went like 10-8.

In all the excitement of the last weeks we totally forgot that there is a HOF vote going on.

Other Coons with new deals: Wally Leggett got $530k from the Indians; aaaand that’s it right now.

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I'm home from tomorrow and for the next two weeks until January 4 or 6 (depends a bit on whether other people in the office get their **** together on when I go back) - anyway, we'll wrap up the offseason the next few days, and once I'm back from the inevitable food coma around the 25th/26th, we'll get the season going and get the Critters churning!