[Westheim]

March 2 – The Raccoons sign injury-addled ex-Warriors reliever Brad Fales (30-37, 3.13 ERA, 156 SV) on a $1.31M contract for 2071.
March 28 – The Buffaloes sign ex-OCT SP Alfredo Picun (65-47, 4.12 ERA) for $24M over four years.

+++

Fun Fact: last year the Warriors paid more per inning pitched by Fales than the Coons shoveled dosh into Tyler Wharton’s snout per home run.

It’ll be fiiine.

The signing put the Raccoons on just under $50M of payroll, which was as much as could realistically be squeezed out of a $63M budget without entirely abolishing the scouting department.

Only the odd minor league signing took place on our side at the end of the offseason, like 22-year-old Cuban shortstop Ramon Mata, who after signing for nothing but promises was assigned to Ham Lake. And Oscar Semchez was particularly enthused with a 16-year-old Mexican he took off the streets. Moises Gamez was a speeding outfielder with high OBP and power potential, and you’d never hear of him again.

The last medical update on Ron Rismiller, our incapacitated Rule 5 pitcher who had turned 23 since being taken on December 1, was a bit more optimistic than before and Luis Silva opined that he would be able to go on rehab in late May now, but we’d of course give him the full 30 days in St. Petersburg after that. It’s not an exploit, it’s called strategy.

Some former Raccoons also got new employment late in the offseason: Ramon Archuleta signed with Dallas for $610k; Tetsu Kurihara landed a $910k deal from the Knights; the Loggers gave $550k to Wally Leggett;