Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[DD Martin]

Congrats on breaking the playoff drought! I knew there was some good in this group.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by DD Martin

Congrats on breaking the playoff drought! I knew there was some good in this group.

Thanks! And of course there's something good in them at all times. Mostly what they just gobbled up in the local bakery.

[DD Martin]

Originally Posted by DD Martin

Much more optimistic up north in Tacoma WA. I think this group finally gives you and the Agitator something to enjoy. I think you get that 90 wins, the question is will it be enough to get you to the playoffs.

Looks like they will pass the 90 wins and it was good enough. I should have put some coin down in Vega$ on this.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (87-68) @ Titans (79-76) – September 28-October 1, 2071

Through fears and tears, and toil and toll, the Raccoons had made their first postseason in ten years – but they still had to stay healthy and dodge the wrath of the collapsed Titans in this four-game set … and nothing good had ever happened in Boston. The Titans had gone 9-5 against the Raccoons so far this year, but 9-15 in September to break their little necks themselves. Their homer-happy, no-legs offense ranked seventh, and their pitching was down to the fourth-most runs allowed around the worst D in the CL, for a -30 run differential. And the pile of injuries! Tyler Riddle, Jeremy White, Manuel Garcia, Eddie Marcotte, Tyler Gleason were just the headliners on the DL, although Marcotte and Garcia were likely to return for this series.

Projected matchups:
Tony Gaytan (10-11, 3.84 ERA) vs. Ryan Musgrave (8-15, 4.90 ERA)
Nick Walla (13-9, 2.94 ERA) vs. Bryce Wallace (2-2, 6.04 ERA)
Val Centeno (4-2, 4.17 ERA) vs. Mike Bell (12-7, 3.08 ERA)
Vinny Morales (9-4, 4.08 ERA) vs. Adam McDonald (12-12, 5.17 ERA)

We’d see only right-handed starters here.

The Raccoons’ main goal was on staying in one piece now. For that purpose, all of the top four batters could expect at least two days off down the stretch here. Yocum made the start, sitting down in the opener.

Game 1
POR: LF Humphries – RF Colter – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – 1B Olivares – C Rivas – 3B Hernandez – 2B Morentin – P Gaytan
BOS: LF Lorenzo – RF M. Ford – C N. Dingman – 1B H. Moreno – 3B D. Miller – SS E. Gonzales – CF J. Hawkins – 2B M. Jones – P Musgrave

The Coons began with two outs before Katz walked and then three straight singles led to a pair of first-inning runs, driven in by Olivares and Rivas, respectively. We’d get two outs and then four straight runners again in the second inning, but only one run, singled in by Katz, who scored Humphries. Tyler Wharton reached on an error by Edgar Gonzales, loading the bases, but Olivares struck out. Katz brought home another run by means of a groundout with Humph and Colter on the corners and nobody out in the fourth, and Gaytan got an RBI on a sac fly in the fifth, plating Jordan Hernandez, who had singled, stolen second, and gotten to third on Jesus Morentin’s groundout. On the hill, Gaytan was allowing precious little so far, having put on a pair only once in the second inning, and then had gotten a double play grounder from Morgan Jones to end the spot of bother. Another pair got on base in the bottom 5th after Jeff Hawkins reached on a Hernandez error and Jones hit a 1-out single to center, placing Titans on the corners. Raul Moreno batted for the ineffective Musgrave and hit an (unearned) RBI single, but Vic Lorenzo grounded out and Matt Ford popped out to center to leave the other two runners on base.

Left-handed ex-Coon Juan Sanchez then loaded the bags with the 2-3-4 batters to begin the sixth inning. Olivares struck out, Rivas lined out, and Hernandez flew out to center to score nobody to tack onto the 5-1 score. Gaytan added another two scoreless, if increasingly longer innings with fuller counts, and then was replaced by Dan Graham, who together with Rismiller and Sullivan put the last six outs together without conceding more than one runner per inning. The Titans’ pen held the Coons equally silent in the final innings. 5-1 Raccoons. Colter 3-4; T. Wharton 2-4, BB; Rivas 2-5, RBI; Gaytan 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (11-11)

This was the first game of the year in which Adam Yocum did not appear. He had obviously been the last guy to make it into every contest so far this year.

In the CL South, the Aces took a 1-run lead by beating the Thunder, while the Knights lost their opener to the Bayhawks, who still maintained spoiler chances, but were 4 1/2 games behind the Aces now.

The Raccoons got Jaden Wilson back from the DL for the first time since June 15 after three consecutive injuries, two of them derailing rehab assignments, but he was on the bench to begin with on Tuesday.

Game 2
POR: 2B Yocum – RF Colter – SS Katzman – 1B Olivares – C Brown – LF van Otterdijk – 3B Luebbert – CF Guerrero – P Walla
BOS: SS E. Gonzales – CF Marcotte – C N. Dingman – 1B H. Moreno – 3B D. Miller – LF R. Moreno – RF Beck – 2B J. Hawkins – P B. Wallace

This was Walla’s final regular season start, since he was slated in to begin the CLCS a week from now, although plans for who’d start the regular season finale were at best shady so far. The weather was a concern for this start, as the clouds above were all the colors of a black-and-white TV to begin with and indeed it would rain on and off beginning in the third inning. Walla had issues, being in long counts and not very efficient, but had a 2-0 lead entering the bottom 4th thanks to Katz singling home Yocum in the third inning, and in the fourth Luebbert got on base, stole second, and then scored on Jesus Guerrero’s 2-out RBI single. Walla then whiffed, then proceeded to walk Hector Moreno and Danny Miller to begin the bottom 4th. Raul Moreno’s single loaded the bases, but Justin Beck clapped a soft liner right back to Walla, who snapped a throw to first to double off Raul Moreno for a 1-3 double play. Hawkins then flew out to van Otterdijk to keep the other two runners in scoring position.

Bryce Wallace got two outs from Yocum and Colter to start the fifth inning, but then ran into the same issue again that had bugged Boston in the opener and walked the 3-4 batters and gave up a 2-out hit on Sam Brown’s single, and another RBI single to van Otterdijk before Luebbert popped out, keeping the score at 4-0. The Titans got those two runs back, though, as Edgar Gonzales led off the bottom 5th with a homer to left, and Walla allowed a double to Eddie Marcotte, just off the DL, and that runner got around to score on a Hector Moreno single, cutting the lead in half.

Walla lasted six innings, then was chased by a 47-minute rain delay, but didn’t have more than another inning in him anyway. The score was still 4-2 into the seventh, and Matt Ford pinch-hit and doubled off Cam Jackson to begin the inning for Boston, but Jackson then struck out the 1-2-3 batters in order. Jaden Wilson pinch-hit, whiffed, and then remained in the game instead of Colter in the eighth. Brian Doster did that inning in 1-2-3 fashion for the Raccoons, who were then equally turned away by Jay Krenek in the ninth inning. Pedro Valentin then was ready to enter the bottom 9th to defend the lead and save Walla’s W, but the weather ended up doing it for him, as it started to pour with vigor just as the top of the ninth ended and the tarp came back onto the field. It never stopped raining the rest of the day, and the Raccoons were awarded the victory just before midnight. 4-2 Critters. Guerrero 3-4, RBI;

The CL South repeated the results from the day before, so the Aces now enjoyed a 2-game lead.

Katz and Olivares hugged the bench on Wednesday.

Game 3
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – RF Wilson – CF T. Wharton – 1B Woodley – 3B Hernandez – C Brown – SS McFarland – P Centeno
BOS: LF Lorenzo – CF Marcotte – C N. Dingman – 1B H. Moreno – 3B D. Miller – SS E. Gonzales – RF R. Moreno – 2B J. Hawkins – P M. Bell

Humph got a walk and Yocum got nailed, and Tyler Wharton got the Coons a lead with a 1-out RBI single to left in the first inning. Woodley made it 2-0 with a sac fly, and Hernandez popped out to second to end the inning.

Centeno had been beaten up in his last two outings and was the clear odd man out in the rotation for playoff time, even with the way Vinny Morales had tossed all year. Nothing changed about that assessment on this Wednesday, as Centeno walked FOUR Titans in the first inning and gave up as many runs, also scattering about three base hits, including a game-tying double to Nick Ding(er)man after Lorenzo and Marcotte had already gotten on base. He walked in a run and misfielded a grounder to get a double play that was neither on the plate nor even in the fridge, and only got out of the inning when Yocum snatched a Lorenzo liner, leaping, leaving three Titans on base. Centeno nevertheless walked Marcotte to begin the bottom 2nd, allowed a single to Dingman, then got a double play grounder, 5-4-3, from Hector Moreno… and then walked Miller. Then he walked to the dugout, dismissed after 61 pitches – ALL of them ****. Gutierrez came in to pitch garbage relief (although technically it was only a 4-2 game). The Coons then even rallied; soon enough the fourth inning began with Wharton and Woodley on the corners, and Hernandez hit an RBI double to center. Sam Brown tied the game with a sac fly, but Hernandez was left on base, also because the Raccoons accepted Gutierrez making the third out to get another inning out of him. Yocum and Wharton made it to the corners in unearned fashion in the fifth, but Woodley lined out to end the inning. Gutierrez held the line through the end of the fifth, collecting eleven outs on 20 fewer pitches than Centeno had taken to get FOUR.

Boston took a new 5-4 lead against Gabriel Rios in the bottom 6th as Hawkins doubled and scored on a Lorenzo single. Holzmeister had to work around a throwing error by Hernandez to prevent further run(s) from being scored in the seventh. The Coons got Katz (hitting for Woodley) and Hernandez on base with two outs against Krenek in the eighth inning, then batted Olivares for Brown when Krenek was replaced by Juan Sanchez, but Olivares struck out anyway. Noah Newhard surprisingly managed to retire three batters in order without causing commotion in the bottom 8th, and the Coons were up against Jerry Washington in the ninth inning. Colter batted for McFarland and reached on an error by shortstop Bruce Cutright, Tony Spink flew out to right, and Humphries also flew out … of the ballpark, for a score-flipping 2-run homer…!! The Titans, stunned, then struck out in order with their 2-3-4 batters to take another L. 6-5 Critters! T. Wharton 2-4, 2B, RBI; Woodley 1-2, RBI; Katzman (PH) 1-1; Gutierrez 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

So Noah Newhard lucked into the first victory of his career in his 11th outing in the majors. And the Titans finished their September collapse at 9-18.

The Aces fell to the Thunder on Wednesday, and the Knights finally turned it around as well, so the gap in the South was back to one game.

Danny Huckaby rejoined from the DL on Thursday, and the top four were all in the lineup. It would be the last time in the regular season.

(claws crossed)

Game 4
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – 1B Olivares – RF Wilson – C Rivas – 3B Luebbert – P Morales
BOS: SS Lorenzo – CF Marcotte – C N. Dingman – 1B H. Moreno – RF M. Ford – 3B D. Miller – SS E. Gonzales – 2B J. Hawkins – P McDonald

Vinny issued a leadoff walk to Lorenzo and had a haphazard first inning, but didn’t allow a run and then got better in the next few innings, so the #4 spot of the playoff rotation was already decided on. The Raccoons didn’t do a ton the first time through the lineup, but Humph got on base with two gone in the third inning, stole his 28th base of the year, and then scored on Yocum’s single to left. Yocum stole his 40th bag then, but was left on by Katz. However, the 4-5-6 batters all filled the bases without making an out to begin the fourth inning, including Jaden Wilson drawing a walk after coming off the DL at an 0-for-7 pace. Rivas then crumpled into a 4-6-3 double play, scoring a run for a great cost… but McDonald then hung a cheap one to Nick Luebbert, and even the Rule 5er wasn’t gonna miss that one and hit his second homer of the lackluster season to right!

Morales cruised until he ran into a wall at full speed, giving up FIVE singles to six batters in the bottom 6th to get yanked from the game with three runs already in and the lead down to a skinny run. The barrage started with pitcher Bronson Vanderven, and never really let up, and Brian Doster replaced Vinny with the tying run (Hector Moreno) on second and the go-ahead run on first in Matt Ford. He effortlessly gave up a game-tying double to Danny Miller, then popped out Gonzales. Hawkins’ grounder to third was crapped on by Luebbert for an error, and the Titans took a 5-4 lead before PH Keith Bevilacqua grounded out to short to end the dreadful inning. All runs (four earned) were on Morales – still less ***** than Centeno.

Boston righty Matt Nelson then had almost as bad an inning in the top 7th. He walked Luebbert, but struck out Morentin. Humph got on, and Yocum hit a single to left-center. Luebbert went home from second, but was thrown out by Lorenzo. However, Nelson walked the bags full with a free pass to Katz with two outs, then walked in the tying run against Wharton. He also would have walked in the go-ahead run against Olivares… but it had already scored on a passed ball charged to Ding(er)man. Nelson was replaced with September call-up and lefty Terry Bradley against Wilson, who in turn got hit for with the Otter… who struck out regardless.

The Coons got scoreless innings from Sullivan and Jackson to keep this 6-5 lead in one piece for the time being, then left Yocum and Wharton on base in the ninth, still against the 27-year-old Bradley. This left no cushion for Valentin in the bottom 9th, facing the bottom of the order. Gonzales grounded out, PH Curt Goodwin struck out, and PH Raul Moreno flew out to Guerrero, who had replaced Wharton in center after pinch-hitting to end the top of the ninth. Now he ended the four-game sweep with a catch in deep center…! 6-5 Raccoons. Yocum 3-4, BB, RBI; Luebbert 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI;

Sweep! Sweet!

The Aces eliminated the Bayhawks by beating the Thunder again on Thursday, although San Fran beat Atlanta, so it looked like the Aces were gonna be our CLCS opponents. They had a 2-game lead with three to play. Vegas had the Condors on the weekend, while the last-place Thunder got shifted to being the Knights’ problem.

Raccoons (91-68) vs. Indians (80-79) – October 2-4, 2071

The Indians had an 8-7 lead in the season series against the Critters. Indy brought the best pitching and a cruddy offense that ranked third-worst in the CL, but they had a +41 run differential and had now taken over second place in the division after being nowhere in particular all season. Matt Martin and Brian Layell were finishing the year on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Jimmy Wharton (15-9, 3.43 ERA) vs. Willie Castellanos (10-7, 3.32 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (11-11, 3.71 ERA) vs. Mike DeWitt (13-7, 2.82 ERA)
Jaquan Riggs (0-0, 3.86 ERA) vs. Victor Perez (15-9, 2.92 ERA)

DeWitt was the last regular season southpaw to contend with.

…and nobody to contend with on Friday, as the game was rained out. Double-header on Saturday! We aligned our lineup accordingly, and Jordan Hernandez was the only regular scheduled to start both games of the double-header … so maybe there’d be all four of the big bats in the lineup after all on Sunday.

Whilst we were idle and mindlessly stuffing our snouts, the Aces wrapped up the South on Friday with a win against the Condors, rallying from behind for a walkoff in the ninth inning, while the Knights lost at home to the Thunder.

Game 1
IND: 2B W. Richmond – SS Valadez – CF Hilario – 1B M. Rogers – C A. Morris – RF T. Torres – LF Menchaca – 3B Kronberg – P DeWitt
POR: 2B Yocum – RF van Otterdijk – 1B Olivares – CF T. Wharton – SS McFarland – 3B Hernandez – LF Morentin – C Spink – P J. Wharton

Alejandro Olivares opened the scoring with a solo homer in the bottom 1st, but Jimmyboy gave up straight 2-out hits to Tony Torres, Eddie Menchaca, and Jon Kronberg in the second inning to give it right back. Oddball hits by McFarland and Morentin, the latter knocking an RBI double, reinstated the Coons’ 2-1 lead in the bottom 2nd, and then Spink walked and Wharton singled the bags full with one out. Yocum slapped the first pitch through the right side for an RBI single, the Otter popped out, and Olivares coaxed a bases-loaded walk out of the Indians’ ace, before Big Wharton grounded out to end the inning, Portland up 4-1.

Yocum’s throwing error to put on Matt Rogers to begin the fourth inning then soon opened the floodgates. Andy Morris doubled home the unearned run. Jimmy struck out the next two, but allowed another unearned run on Kronberg’s single to left, and then Chris Rawlins batted for DeWitt, who ended his season in shambles, and hit another single. Walter Richmond flew out to center to end the inning, Portland still up 4-3, barely. Jimmy did only one more inning, blowing the lead on Jose Hilario’s 1-out double and a 2-out RBI single by Morris. He struck out seven in five innings – but everything that wasn’t rung up seemed to reach base on a hit, of which he gave up NINE. He got no decision, Kao-Kan Ngui holding the Raccoons short in long relief.

After Sullivan’s scoreless sixth, Dan Graham appeared for the seventh, but got battered by pinch-hitters. Jamel Robinson and Hilario reached base, and Alex Gomez peppered a 3-run homer to break the tie. Wickedly, Newhard would replace him and strike out all four batters he faced, but pointlessly while three runs behind already. Tyler Wharton drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 8th, but the Raccoons never got the runner off first base in that inning, and still trailed by three entering the ninth against lefty Ryan Croft, who issued another leadoff walk to Tony Spink for some reason. Humph batted for Rismiller and singled, and the tying run appeared in the box. Yocum grounded out, the Otter lined out, and Olivares chucked a triple into the corner with two outs, getting two runs home! Astonishingly, and while I was ruing that Katz had already been used the inning prior and couldn’t bat for McFarland, the Indians pitched to Wharton … and he flew out to Hilario to end the game. 7-6 Indians. Yocum 2-5, RBI; Olivares 2-4, BB, HR, 3B, 4 RBI; Humphries (PH) 1-1;

Game 2
IND: 2B W. Richmond – LF Menchaca – CF Hilario – 1B M. Rogers – SS Valadez – RF T. Torres – C Sciutto – 3B C. Pena – P W. Castellanos
POR: LF Humphries – CF Guerrero – RF Colter – SS Katzman – 1B Huckaby – 3B Hernandez – C Rivas – 2B Luebbert – P Gaytan

Gaytan struck out four the first time through, but also gave up a Menchaca single and a homer to Matt Rogers in the first inning, so was trailing 2-0, at least until he smacked an RBI double himself in the bottom 3rd to score Gabe Rivas from second base. Gaytan got left on base, though. The relief was short-lived, as Gaytan put more runners on base in the fourth and allowed another two runs. Valadez hit a 1-out single, Tony Torres flew out, but then Andy Sciutto got a four-pitch walk with two gone, and Cesar Pena and Castellanos bashed out back-to-back 2-out RBI knocks before Richmond ended the inning and left them on the corners by grounding out to Luebbert.

Colter and Katz began the bottom 4th with a pair of singles. Huckaby grounded out and Hernandez hit a sac fly, 4-2, but Rivas popped out to short. Gaytan would end up going seven and whiffed eight, but left trailing because every Arrowhead that didn’t strike out seemed to get on base… Big Wharton batted for him in the bottom 7th after Luebbert drew a walk and allowed the alleged slugger to bat as the tying run – but Castellanos rung him up. Colter got on in the eighth, but Katz declined with two outs. Rios, Holzmeister, and McMahan held the game close in the last two innings before the Indians sent out Croft for the second time in four hours in the bottom 9th. Van Otterdijk batted for Huckaby and reached on an error by Richmond, bringing up the tying run again. Hernandez hit a grounder over the bag that Richmond intercepted, but had no play on, and the tying run reached on an infield single. Olivares pinch-hit and lifted one out to center, Luebbert popped out foul, and Yocum pinch-hit for the pitcher and slapped an RBI single. Humph grounded out to give the game away, though. 4-3 Indians. Colter 2-4; Yocum (PH) 1-1, RBI;

These two losses and another Aces victory on Saturday bobbled home field advantage to the Las Vegans.

Game 3
IND: 2B W. Richmond – C A. Morris – CF Hilario – 1B M. Rogers – SS Valadez – RF T. Torres – LF Menchaca – 3B C. Pena – P V. Perez
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – RF Wilson – 1B Olivares – C Brown – 3B Hernandez – P Riggs

The Coons got FOUR base runners in the first inning without hitting a ball into the outfield and scored ZERO runs. Humph walked and was caught stealing before Katz reached on an error, Wharton hit an infield single, and Wilson got brushed… but Olivares grounded out to short to leave the bases loaded. Hernandez’ homer then made it 1-0 after all in the bottom 2nd, and Humph legged out a 2-out triple with nobody on and also wasn’t scored by Yocum, who flew out. Riggs retired seven straight before the 8-9 batters bashed back-to-back doubles to tie the game again…

Yocum also grounded out to keep Hernandez and Humph on base in the fourth inning, and then Riggs, who had no problems with the upper half of the order, got on the face again by the bottom of the Arrowheads’ lineup. Menchaca scratched a leadoff walk in the fifth, Pena singled and a Wharton error allowed both into scoring position, and then Perez smashed another double, and had all the RBI’s in the Indians’ 3-1 lead. Consecutive pops and a groundout by the 1-2-3 batters then stranded him on base. (confused expression)

Fascinatingly, Perez didn’t finish five innings, getting yanked after walking Katz and Wilson in the bottom 5th. Olivares smashed into an inning-ending double play against Jason Rhodes then… Riggs in the sixth gave up another run to the bottom of the order as Pena drove in Tony Torres, 4-1, then ended a frustrating outing by getting hit for with two gone and nobody on in the bottom 6th. Woodley batted and singled, Humph thumped *another* triple, and then Yocum finally got an RBI single to do *something*. Katz grounded out, and the Raccoons remained 4-3 behind after six.

Andy Morris’ homer off Edgar Gutierrez made it 5-3 in the seventh, but a pair of long flies to center by Wharton and Olivares got caught by Hilario in the same inning… Josh C then got the ball by Indy for the bottom 8th. The former Furball issued walks to Rivas, batting for McMahan in the #9 spot, and Yocum, then gave up a 2-out RBI single to Katz, 5-4. Big Bucks Wharton only managed to hit a pop behind short – and Valadez and Menchaca scared each other off on the chase, and the bloody thing fell in for an RBI single…! The game was tied, and Wilson popped out to keep it so at the end of eight. Valentin held the tied score in the ninth, giving up a 2-out single to Hilario before ringing up Rogers. Indy still had Josh C going in the bottom 9th. Olivares singled on the first pitch and Brown failed to bunt long enough to have two strikes on him, then singled and sent Olivares to third base – and nobody out. Hernandez hit a fly to right that Torres caught. Olivares went home – and was thrown out. Not quite what we would have wanted here. Colter pinch-hit and walked, but Humph grounded out, and the game escalated into overtime. Rios axed the Indians in the tenth, but Tyler Wharton prevented the game from dragging on longer than absolutely necessary with a walkoff homer off Ryan Croft! 6-5 Raccoons! Humphries 2-4, 2 BB, 2 3B, RBI; T. Wharton 3-6, HR, 2 RBI; Wilson 2-3, BB; Woodley (PH) 1-1;

In other news

September 30 – Thunder OF/1B/2B Jon Reyes (.312, 4 HR, 57 RBI) extends his hitting streak to 25 games by slapping three singles in a 7-3 win against the Aces. In the same game, Thunder 2B/SS Jose Palominos (.322, 23 HR, 90 RBI) puts out six hits, five singles and a double, and drives in two runs.
October 1 – LAP SP Chris Redmond (7-12, 3.33 ERA) finishes a 3-hit shutout of the Gold Sox for a 6-0 victory.
October 1 – The Aces beat the Thunder 7-2 and end the hitting streak of Jon Reyes (.310, 4 HR, 57 RBI) while they’re at it.
October 1 – CIN SP/MR Jake Grotto (1-2, 2.93 ERA) and CL Steve Keller (0-3, 2.43 ERA, 22 SV) pitch a combined 1-hitter against the Miners to beat SP Brian Jones (19-9, 2.60 ERA) and the rest of Team Green, 1-0. The only Pittsburgh hit is a ninth-inning single by Anthony Schneider (.268, 18 HR, 78 RBI) off Keller rather than the starter Grotto, who had run out of steam after eight no-hit innings.
October 2 – The Loggers win a 6-5, 15-inning game from the Crusaders.
October 2 – Sacramento hands the runaway Warriors a 21-4 thrashing, scoring 5-spots in each of the last three innings.
October 3 – Spot starter Chris Hale (7-7, 4.17 ERA) pitches a 2-hit shutout of the Knights as the Thunder win, 6-0.
October 4 – The Stars chuck seven runs in the fourth inning, but the Pacifics score in seven different innings and come out on top in a (for L.A.) season-closing 16-10 slugfest. LAP 1B Juan Gutierrez (.303, 27 HR, 126 RBI) drives in five runs on three singles and a 3-run homer.
October 5 – In a Monday make-up game, the Stars dismember the Capitals by a football score, 21-7, including a 12-run riot in the fifth inning. DAL C Steve Varner (.287, 19 HR, 85 RBI) and 1B/3B/OF Dallas Stockton (.247, 18 HR, 88 RBI) both drive in five runs, Stockton with the aid of a grand slam.

Player of the Week (FL):
Player of the Week (CL):

FL Hitter of the Month: CIN OF Melvin Avila (.300, 23 HR, 93 RBI), hitting .326 with 6 HR, 25 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: MIL RF/LF Carlos Dominguez (.365, 24 HR, 100 RBI), socking .404 with 7 HR, 22 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: SFW SP Alex Diez (20-5, 2.58 ERA), going 5-0 with a 1.15 ERA, 42 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: IND SP Mike DeWitt (13-7, 2.82 ERA), pitching to a 5-0 mark with 1.98 ERA, 29 K
FL Rookie of the Month: DEN 1B Jon Marrero (.239, 5 HR, 24 RBI), batting .292 with 4 HR, 14 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: ATL OF/2B Joel Ehlers (.333, 2 HR, 40 RBI), bashing .431 with 2 HR, 23 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Swept the Titans, but bobbled home field advantage against the Indians – oh well. At least we’re finally in the playoffs…!

There will be some interesting questions about the playoff roster, because there were a number of relevant injuries on September 1 and we may have some wiggle room.

Kind reminder that we lost the season series to the Aces this year, and last year, and four out of the last five, and also lost the last two times we met them in the CLCS, which was in the Jonny Toner era of Raccoons lore.

Fun Fact: No Raccoons pitcher finished top 3 in any stat worth waffling about.

But Nick Walla finished fourth in ERA, only eight points behind the ERA champion Austin LaRosa. He also tied for second in shutouts (more of a novelty stat) behind Matt Crist, who had FIVE. Walla ended up fifth in BB/9 and fourth in K/BB. Him and Gaytan came 8th and 6th, respectively, in strikeouts, and 5th and 7th, in that order, in WHIP. Walla was fifth in pitchers’ WAR in the CL, and Jimmyboy was ninth despite not featuring greatly on leaderboards.

For batters, Humph led the league (by a mile) in walks and came third in runs scored. Yocum finished fourth in the batting title “race” (Dominguez won by 26 points), and fourth in stolen bases.

[UltimateAverageGuy]

The FL Cy Young race looks interesting….good luck in the playoffs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DD Martin]

See all that money spent was well worth it. It might have taken 3 seasons for the payoff but hey sometimes the worth is in the wait.

Go tell that snotty auditor to buzz off next time!

[Westheim]

2071 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (92-70) vs. Las Vegas Aces (93-71)

After ten long years, the Raccoons had made it back to the playoffs, meeting the Aces there for the first time since 2019. There had been three CLCS meetings with them in the past, of which the Raccoons won only one, sweeping Vegas in 1996, but taking losses in six games in both 2018 and 2019.

First up was setting the playoff roster. Due to Tyler Wharton, Jaden Wilson, and Dan Graham being on the DL or on rehab on August 31, the Raccoons had some replacements to do. Jack Hamel had also gone on the DL in September, theoretically offering up a free replacement, although it was gonna be taken by the group above.

The playoff rotation had pretty much set itself with Val Centeno having three horrible outings in a row to finish the season, so he was out of the picture, and we’d go with Walla, Jimmyboy, Gaytan, and Vinny Morales, in that order. Centeno was then left off the playoff roster entirely as the Raccoons went with their regular bullpen through the season: Doster, Graham, Holzmeister, Jackson, McMahan, Rios, Rismiller, and Valentin. The Aces had quite the balanced lineup, so a third lefty reliever was not the worst choice one could make, especially over a righty long man that had piled up a 12+ ERA in his last three outings.

All regular position players besides Jack Hamel were healthy. The lineup regulars and the catchers were obvious selections, but whom was Wilson going to replace on the roster? The options included Woodley, Luebbert (which would be enormously bold), Guerrero, Colter, and van Otterdijk. With the Aces rocking only right-handed starters for the playoffs, removing lefty sticks would be not ideal, and removing the only capable backup infielder was borderline foolish. In the end we kept Guerrero on the roster and removed George van Otterdijk, who was none too happy about his exclusion. This gave the Coons an extra centerfield backup, and more competent outfield D overall, since van Otterdijk was easily the worst in that category.

Apart from that it remained to be seen how much the #4 offense and #3 pitching in the CL could go against the Aces. We brought a +103 run differential and average-to-good rankings in most major team stats, but notably didn’t lead the league in any of those. The Aces had tied for most runs scored in the CL (although the difference between the teams was not huge) and had led the league in stolen bases with 172. They had also allowed the second-fewest runs scored, for a +120 run differential. They didn’t track worse than fifth in any category worth waffling about.

The Aces had however a number of injures: pitchers Ricardo Montoya, who was older than the sun and moon, but still giving the Coons fits whenever they met him, was out for the year, as were relievers Pedro Negron and Roberto Navarro. Outfielder Alfredo Rosado was also out for the year, at least as far as we cared. He had a sprained thumb and was unable to play in the CLCS, but was an option for the World Series.

The real issue I saw was the all-righty Aces rotation and the heavily right-handed Coons lineup… Since Jaden Wilson got put in the lineup for the opener, our bench was comprised of Woodley, Colter, Guerrero, Luebbert, and whichever catcher I felt like putting there, Brown to start the series.

The Raccoons made their 25th playoff attempt, second only to the Thunder (30), while the Aces broke the tie with the Loggers for the bottom spot in the rankings, and made their eighth playoffs. They had won the championship twice, while the Coons had eight titles. Our last set of rings had come in 2054, while the Aces had taken theirs in 2018-19 (see above…).

+++

It’s been a while. The playoff games will be presented in the usual 2-3-1-1 format of old. Note that I have next week off from the soul mill, so if the Coons take the pennant, the World Series will be played Monday, not straight after the CLCS. If the Coons lose, it depends on the mood whether I wrap it up from there today or need some time to foam and froth.

[Westheim]

2071 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (92-70) @ Las Vegas Aces (93-71)

The series started in Las Vegas due to the Aces getting that one extra victory over the Raccoons. we had our rotation all lined up nicely for the occasion, and hoped they could somehow avoid being dismembered by – foremost Chris Haynes (.294, 38 HR, 112 RBI), who looked like asking to get intentionally walked at the first sight of trouble, although ZERO of his homers had come against the Critters. He was by far the most dangerous stick in that lineup, as the next best home run hitter was Matt Rodewald (.284, 14 HR, 86 RBI).

Game 1 – Nick Walla (14-9, 2.94 ERA) vs. Alex Duarte (17-9, 3.59 ERA)

Walla hadn’t exactly finished the regular season brilliantly, and had taken the L in his only start against the Aces this year, which had actually just been a couple of weeks ago, giving up three runs in seven innings. Duarte had made his only start against Portland in the same September series, and had hurled a 5-hit shutout.

POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – RF Wilson – 1B Olivares – C Rivas – 3B Hernandez – P Walla
LVA: 2B J. Williams – RF A. Jones – C Haynes – CF Phelps – SS Hatakeyama – 3B Rodewald – LF D. Perez – 1B McGrew – P A. Duarte

The Coons went in order and fast in the first, but Jimmy Williams rolled an infield single on Walla’s first pitch and stole second base. Adam Jones’ groundout moved him to third, but things looked good after a comebacker from Chris Haynes to Walla for the second out. However, Josh Phelps’ RBI single and Koji Hatakeyama’s RBI double gave the Aces a fast 2-0 lead and I hung my fuzzy ears. Rodewald grounded out to end the inning. Top 2nd, Wharton walked but got doubled up by Wilson in the second, and Danny Perez hit a leadoff single in the bottom 2nd, also stole second – that’s what they did! – and then scored after two productive outs by Luke McGrew and Duarte. This was not looking good.

Next, Walla ****** up bunting after Rivas’ leadoff single and Hernandez getting on base on an error in the top 3rd, and Rivas got tagged out at third base. Humph rolled an infield single to load the bags with the tying runs, though, but that was as good as it got. Yocum popped out to second, and Katz fell to 0-2 before flying out easily to Phelps. The Coons frittered away Wharton and Olivares singles in the fourth inning, and instead Walla put a pair on base by walking Rodewald and giving up another hit to Perez, and then a 2-out, 2-run knock to Williams that made it 5-0 before the fourth inning was over. Walla got batted for with Woodley to begin the fifth inning (in which the Coons went down in order), and that was *our* ace there……..

With Rismiller being asked to go two innings, the Raccoons began the sixth by getting Katz and Wharton on base, and then Wilson hit into another double play. Olivares’ triple scored the Coons’ first run, 5-1, but he got stranded by Rivas, flying out to Perez in deep left. Colter banged a double off the wall batting for Rismiller with one out in the seventh, and Humph edged out another walk against Duarte. Yocum grounded out, and Katz had to do *something* with a pair in scoring position and two outs, but Hatakeyama intercepted his grounder to bring on the stretch.

After Graham got three groundouts to Hernandez in the bottom 7th, Wharton opened the eighth with a single, and for a change Wilson got on base by drawing a walk rather than doing incalculable damage with grounders to short. This knocked out Duarte for righty Chris Derrick, who had walked and whiffed 39 each in the regular season. Olivares hit a drive to center on the first pitch that Phelps caught, and then used to throw out Wharton bidding for third base in a depressing 8-6 double play. Rivas singled, but Hernandez grounded out to Rodewald to strand Coons on the corners. Cam Jackson got around a Phelps single in the bottom 8th, then was hit for with Sam Brown to begin the ninth against Adam Molloy, still down by a slam. Brown grounded out, Humph fanned, and Yocum rolled over to Williams to end the game.

5-1 Aces … Aces lead series 1-0

T. Wharton 3-3, BB; Olivares 2-4, 3B, RBI; Rivas 2-4; Colter (PH) 1-1, 2B; Rismiller 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 2 – Jimmy Wharton (15-9, 3.44 ERA) vs. Luis Ortiz (13-9, 3.84 ERA)

The Raccoons didn’t make changes to the lineup YET for Game 2, although the performance of Jaden Wilson had not been up to my standards. But so Walla’s, and it wasn’t like he was getting scratched for Rios for Game 5.

If we even made it there.

Jimmy had also only made one start against the Aces in September (opposing Duarte), and had been knocked out after four innings and allowing as many runs. Ortiz made three starts against the Critters this season, going 1-1 with a 5.00 ERA. His worst outing had been in September, giving up five runs in four innings. His W had been in April.

POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – RF Wilson – 1B Olivares – C Rivas – 3B Hernandez – P J. Wharton
LVA: 2B J. Williams – RF A. Jones – C Haynes – CF Phelps – SS Hatakeyama – 3B Rodewald – LF Joe Jackson – 1B McGrew – P L. Ortiz

Neither team reached base in the first inning, but Phelps legged out an infield single in the bottom 2nd before being caught stealing. Rodewald then hit another single, but Joe Jackson flew out to Humph at the edge of the warning track to leave him at first base. Ortiz axed the Coons on 29 pitches the first time through, while Jimmy Wharton needed just 23 pitches once through the lineup, but then allowed another single to Williams, who stole second again, then walked Adam Jones in a full count, and then finally got the last out of the third inning when Haynes grounded out to Hernandez.

Ortiz retired ten in a row before Yocum singled over McGrew’s head in the fourth inning. He couldn’t get a jump, but Ortiz balked him to second after ringing up Katz, then put Big Bucks Wharton on intentionally. Wilson then flew out to center on the very next pitch to park a pair. Phelps hit a long F8 in the bottom of the fourth, but nobody reached for the Vegans.

Alejandro Olivares bashed a leadoff double to right in the fifth inning, after which the Aces issued another intentional walk to Rivas, of all people. Hernandez popped out, Jimmy bunted nicely, and the Aces figured that Humph would walk anyway, so they sent him to first to load the bases right away, bringing up Yocum in a three-on, two-out situation. And it didn’t pay off! Yocum slapped a single into left-center, and the Raccoons took a 1-0 lead as Rivas was stopped at third base. Katz ran a full count, but then popped out in foul ground to Rodewald…

The sixth saw singles by Tyler Wharton and Olivares frittered again, while Williams got on base with a leadoff single, but didn’t steal nor score as Jimmy retired the next three batters in order. Hatakeyama got another leadoff single in the seventh and did steal second. Jimmy would lose Joe Jackson on balls – but he also struck out Rodewald, McGrew, and the pinch-hitter Kazuhide Takeuchi to keep the Aces from scoring!

Derrick walked Katz, who was then caught stealing in the eighth, and Jimmy returned to the mound on 91 pitches for the bottom 8th, as the top of the lineup comprised of the switch-hitting pest Williams and the lefty Jones came up. Williams tried to bunt his way on, but didn’t make it, and Jones grounded out to first. The Raccoons then went to the pen, and they went for Pedro Valentin immediately, and did so in a double switch with Tyler Wharton, who was replaced with Guerrero. Valentin got Haynes to 1-2 before giving up a single to left. And then he gave up a homer to Phelps and the entire game collapsed into a pile of shards as the Aces flipped the skinny score.

Top 9th, Molloy facing the 6-7-8 batters. Olivares lined out to Williams, and Rivas grounded out to Williams. Woodley batted for Hernandez, fanned, and that was the ballgame.

2-1 Aces … Aces lead series 2-0

Yocum 2-4, RBI; Olivares 2-4, 2B; J. Wharton 7.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K;

(looks like he swallowed an entire ash tray)

[Westheim]

2071 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (92-70) vs. Las Vegas Aces (93-71)

The Raccoons had a day to lick their wounds and then had to hope that Tony Gaytan would have the stuff for the third game of the set, which was already a must-win if we wanted to have a hack at more than packing up while Vinny Morales did his thing.

Game 3 – Tony Gaytan (11-12, 3.76 ERA) vs. Tim Henderson (13-12, 3.87 ERA)

Gaytan had faced Vegas three times, going 1-1 with a 2.29 ERA. He had won his September start, which had also been his worst against them, but the only one in which the Coons’ offense could be bothered to show up. Henderson had gone 1-1 for an 0.59 ERA, losing a 1-0 squeezer on an unearned run in April (that one opposing Gaytan), and taking a comfy W in September.

The Raccoons sent Colter to play right against Wilson, who just was not in shape after three months battling various injuries.

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by Chance Fox, part of the last Raccoons team to make the playoffs and already retired for a bunch of years after his body came apart in his early 30s.

LVA: 2B J. Williams – RF A. Jones – C Haynes – CF Phelps – SS Hatakeyama – 3B Rodewald – LF D. Perez – 1B McGrew – P T. Henderson
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – C Rivas – 1B Olivares – RF Colter – 3B Hernandez – P Gaytan

Jones singled and stole a base in the first, but got stranded, and the Raccoons got Humph on base with a leadoff walk, but Katz doubled him off.

All our hope was on Gaytan bringing his stuff, but he didn’t put anybody away in a 2-strike count until after the Aces took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on Hatakeyama and Perez doubles. McGrew then fanned, but the third out came on Henderson grounding out on an 0-2 pitch. Rivas and Colter went to the corners in the bottom 2nd with a pair of singles, but Hernandez fanned to end the inning, and instead Jones singled again in the third inning, stole second base again, and then got drive in by Haynes with another single on a 2-strike pitch.

Doom.

The fourth was uneventful, and in the fifth Jones hit another single, but before he could attempt to steal with two gone, Haynes hit a pop to short that Katz dropped for an error. Gaytan’s first pitch to Phelps was wild and advanced the runners, and a mound conference was called to sort out the stupid stuff going on. Phelps ran a full count, then drove in both runners with a single and authority. Hatakeyama got rung up, but the Coons were trailing by a slam in the middle of the fifth.

Bottom 6th, and Humph got another leadoff walk out of Tim Henderson, then made it to third base on Yocum’s single to right-center. Katz, 0-for-8 with a stupid error so far, hit a long fly to center, but it got caught by Phelps, holding him to a sac fly, 4-1. Yocum couldn’t get a jump and only reached second base when Wharton got brushed by a pitch from Henderson. This brought the tying run to bat, and Rivas socked an RBI double on the first pitch, and now the Aces’ pen began to stir in earnest. But it took just three more pitches to sort out the inning, as Olivares’ comebacker and Colter’s pop both gave the Coons nothing but more headaches and stranded runners, and I opened a bottle of Capt’n Coma, and another smaller bottle of Capt’n Coma for Honeypaws.

Gaytan struck out Henderson to begin the seventh, then was lifted for Rios, who retired the 1-2 batters. Woodley batted for the southpaw after Hernandez led off the bottom 7th with a single to center… and crashed into a 6-4-3 double play. Humph flew out to right, and then Cam Jackson got bombed for a Phelps homer, and another run on Rodewald and Perez knocks in the eighth inning. Takeuchi further bashed a pinch-hit homer off Dan Graham in the ninth inning as everything crumbled to pieces. Olivares began the ninth by singling off Aces southpaw John Santamaria, but Guerrero pinch-hit and popped out, and Hernandez hit into yet another ******* double play.

7-2 Aces … Aces lead series 3-0

Yocum 2-4; Rivas 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Game 4 – Vinny Morales (9-4, 4.17 ERA) vs. Melvin Guerra (6-8, 4.63 ERA, 1 SV)

The surely final game of the series featured two pitchers that were banished from the rotation for part of the year, Guerra even more so than Vinny Morales, who had pitched in relief only five times. Guerra had made more than half of his 46 appearances from the pen and had only tossed 130.1 innings in total, but he had not allowed a run in his two appearances (one start) against the Raccoons, pitching 8.1 shutout innings for a 1-0 record. Vinny had faced the Aces in April and May, both starts, getting no decisions for 13.1 innings of 3-run ball (2 earned) for a 1.35 ERA.

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by Gus Hopkins, who ran Portland’s most successful shelter for rescue owlets. He did so wearing a homemade owl costume.

LVA: 2B J. Williams – RF A. Jones – C Haynes – CF Phelps – SS Hatakeyama – 3B Rodewald – LF D. Perez – 1B McGrew – P M. Guerra
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – C Rivas – 1B Olivares – RF Colter – 3B Hernandez – P Morales

Williams started Game 4 with a single to center, but was doubled off by Jones, and the Aces went quickly in the second inning. The Coons had gotten Katz on base through four balls in the first, but Wharton had popped out. Olivares’ 1-out single got the team in the H column in the bottom 2nd, but Colter made a meek out. Hernandez added a single with two outs, bringing up Vinny, whee… AND HE SINGLED! Olivares scored, and the Coons took a 1-0 lead! Humph fell to 1-2 before mashing another RBI single to left. Hernandez scored, and Vinny got confused on the base paths and was tagged out in a rundown to end the inning.

The Aces made incessant quick and weak contact in the next few innings, which was fine by me, while the Coons made no contact in the bottom 3rd, wasting walks drawn by Katz and Rivas. Colter and Hernandez went to the corners on singles to begin the bottom 4th, though. Morales swung and grounded out to Williams; Colter held back, and Hernandez moved to second, so in the end it worked just like a boring bunt. Humph got walked intentionally again, bringing up Yocum with the bases loaded and one gone. He smashed the first pitch at Hatakeyama for the easiest double play on the ******* planet.

Vinny gave up a single to Danny Perez in the fifth inning, then picked him off to end the inning. Wharton singled to knock out Guerra after 4.1 innings, but replacement Ignazio Flores walked Rivas before the Aces for once couldn’t turn two on Olivares’ grounder to short. Guerrero batted for Colter, grounded out, then resumed rightfield duties – absolutely not his usual spot.

Jimmy Williams’ usual spot was second base, which in the sixth he reached by a 2-out double, but Jones’ groundout to Yocum kept the Aces off the board. Danny Perez shagged a Hernandez liner with a headlong dive in the same inning, and the Coons were retired 1-2-3 in the bottom 6th.

Top 7th, Haynes singled firmly to center, and Vinny threw a wild pitch. The pen sprung into real honest action at once, even though Phelps then punched a K. Hatakeyama singled to center. Haynes went home, but Wharton hammered him out for the second out of the inning! Hatakeyama scooted up to second base, but Rodewald whiffed as Vinny Morales – of all people – completed seven shutout innings.

McMahan appeared for the eighth inning and gave up a 2-strike leadoff single to the left-handed Perez, but then went on to collect three groundouts from McGrew, Takeuchi, and Williams. Olivares opened the eighth by singling, and Guerrero hit a foul ball to right that Takeuchi dropped for an error, but then still flew out on his second chance. Hernandez singled, as did Jaden Wilson, and the bases were loaded. John Santamaria gave up RBI singles to Humph and Yocum, but Katz (0-for-10 in the series) lined out to Perez in left. Wharton flew out to Phelps. The 4-0 lead then went to Valentin, who this time kept the Aces off the bases and struck out a pair in a 1-2-3 inning.

4-0 Raccoons … Aces lead series 3-1

Humphries 2-3, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Olivares 2-4; Hernandez 3-4; Wilson (PH) 1-1; Morales 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, W (1-0) and 1-3, RBI;

The Miners won the FLCS that day, beating the Warriors in five games. More on that later.

Game 5 – Nick Walla (14-9, 2.94 ERA) vs. Alex Duarte (17-9, 3.59 ERA)

Back to the Game 1 matchup that hadn’t gone good at all for the Raccoons. But who knows, maybe, if we double our runs total for a couple more games, we might actually get somewhere.

So far, though, the Raccoons had not hit a home run, not stolen a base, and it had taken until their 35th batting inning of the season for somebody to get as much as a second RBI……

Jason Holzmeister and Nick Luebbert had yet to appear in a game at all.

The ceremonial first pitch honors fell to former city mayor, the right honorable Arriba Friendly. They/them had made the city such a better place by making Portland the first city in America where swearing in public was banned under the threat of a $50k fine.

Thankfully our ******* office above the playing field didn’t count as ******* public. And we’ll get to the death penalty for littering later.

LVA: 2B J. Williams – RF A. Jones – C Haynes – CF Phelps – SS Hatakeyama – 3B Rodewald – LF D. Perez – 1B McGrew – P M. Guerra
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – C Rivas – 1B Olivares – RF Colter – 3B Hernandez – P Walla

Williams singled on the first pitch of the game and never left that base, being scared into submission by a total of four pickoff attempts by the brown battery while the 2-3-4 batters made outs. Duarte got outs from the Coons’ 1-2, but then gave up a homer to hitless Katz for the game’s first run! Kaaaaatz! Wharton whiffed and Walla walked Hatakeyama, who soon enough did steal second base, but didn’t get around to score on account on more weak outs from the Aces’ 6-7-8 batters. Jones hit a 2-out single and stole second in the top 3rd, but Haynes grounded out to Hernandez to keep him on base. Yocum also did the 2-out single and stolen base routine that inning, and was also left on by Katz.

Walla got a few K the second time through the order, but more importantly came up to bat after a 1-out double by Rivas and not one but *two* intentional walks to Olivares and Hernandez in the bottom 4th (Colter had grounded out to first). Batting with three on and two outs, he fell to 1-2 before snapping a ball up the middle and it went through between the infielders! Rivas scored! Olivares scored! 3-0 lead! Humph singled home Hernandez with another run before the inning ended on Yocum whiffing, but now the Coons had a 4-0 lead…!

…and then it started to go all wrong again. Perez doubled off the wall to begin the fifth inning, McGrew shyly singled, and Walla then walked PH Roy Ben to load the bags with nobody out. Williams’ grounder to second became a fielder’s choice, Ben out at second, as a run scored. Jones hit a sac fly to right, and Haynes thankfully popped out to short to end the inning.

While the Aces were bold enough to then send ex-Coon Cam Bridges for long relief, Walla worked himself up with long counts in the sixth inning. He didn’t allow another run, or even runner, but the Aces got him over 100 pitches and when Colter and Hernandez got on base to begin the bottom 6th, Wilson batted for him. Him and Humph both flew out to Perez for no gains, but Yocum shanked a 2-out, 2-run double up the rightfield line to create some breathing room again! Phelps caught Katz’ looper to shallow center on the run, ending the inning, but a 4-run lead was re-established.

Wharton homered to make it 7-2 in the seventh, but the Coons had hoped for many outs from Gabriel Rios, but got only three in the seventh (for the cost of a walk), and then he walked Williams and gave up a single to Jones to begin the eighth. The Rule 5er Rismiller allowed an RBI single to Haynes and then walked the bags full with Phelps. Suddenly, the tying run was at the plate, and the Aces had yet to make an out in the eighth. Holzmeister replaced him and continued to **** up, allowing a 2-run single to Hatakeyama, but Colter’s throw to the plate also allowed the tying runs into scoring position. Rodewald popped out, Perez walked, and McGrew… hit into a 6-4-3 double play as the Raccoons Houdini’ed their way outta there….! The score was now 7-5.

Danny Ryba walked a pair in the bottom 8th, but didn’t allow a tack-on run, and so the 2-run lead went to Valentin for the ninth, and Takeuchi was leading off as pinch-hitter. He struck out in a full count. Williams – annoying as ****! – legged out another infield single, but Jones grounded to short. Katz, to Yocum, to Woodley at first base! BALLGAME!!

7-5 Raccoons … Aces lead series 3-2

Yocum 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; T. Wharton 2-4, HR, RBI; Rivas 2-4, 2B; Hernandez 1-2, 2 RBI; Walla 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (1-1) and 1-2, 2 RBI;

Back to Vegas, baby!

[Westheim]

2071 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (92-70) @ Las Vegas Aces (93-71)

The Coons had sent the series back to the desert and debauchery of Las Vegas, but they had to win another two games without bobbles if it was to mean something of substance.

Game 6 – Jimmy Wharton (15-9, 3.44 ERA) vs. Luis Ortiz (13-9, 3.84 ERA)

For Game 6 we got back to Jimmyboy, who had been blameless in the Game 2 shambles. Jimmy had pitched 7.2 shutout innings before **** hit the fan, aided by Pedro Valentin.

POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – C Rivas – 1B Olivares – RF Colter – 3B Hernandez – P J. Wharton
LVA: 2B J. Williams – RF A. Jones – C Haynes – CF Phelps – SS Hatakeyama – 3B Rodewald – LF Joe Jackson – 1B McGrew – P L. Ortiz

Humph got nicked and then neglected and stranded at first base in the opening frame, in which Williams also legged out ANOTHER infield single – and then was finally caught stealing by Rivas, who had the much better throwing arm between our pair of lefty-hitting catchers. Rivas also was thrown out at second base in the second inning, trying to stretch a leadoff single into a leadoff double, a request that Joe Jackson respectfully declined. Colter hit another single with two outs and was stranded, and Matt Rodewald hit a homer to left off Jimmy in the bottom 2nd, and now the Coons were on the clock. Down 1-0, seven innings to go.

It got worse in the third, when Williams hit another single and scored on a Jones double into the rightfield corner. The ease that Jimmy had shown in Game 2 was nowhere to be seen, and now the Coons were down 2-0, and only had six innings left to do something.

Ortiz issued a free pass to Tyler Wharton to begin the fourth inning, followed by a high drive to left hit by Rivas – but it came down in Jackson’s mitten on the warning track. A wild pitch and Olivares’ single put the tying runs on the corners for Colter, who hit a screamer up the rightfield line himself now and got an RBI double out of it. The Aces liberally continued to issue intentional walks, putting Hernandez on first with one out, but Jimmy hit a sac fly to left on the first pitch he saw, at least getting honors even. Humph hit a sharp grounder, but right at Hatakeyama to end the inning.

And then Jimmy Wharton got torn up for good. Hatakeyama opened the bottom 4th with yet another single. He lost Rodewald in a full count, Jackson hit an RBI double, and McGrew singled home a pair, Jackson hurting himself on the play at the plate and being replaced with Takeuchi after the inning. Ortiz bunted badly to get McGrew forced out, but Williams then smashed a double like it was nothing, and Wharton got yanked down 5-2 and with a pair in scoring position after 3.1 ****** innings. Dan Graham came in to get a sac fly from Jones, 6-2, and then Doster took over for long relief, ringing up Haynes.

The Critters then stranded pairs of runners in the next two innings, as Wharton got hit and Rivas walked in a 9-pitch battle against Ortiz in the fifth, and Colter singled and Humph walked in the sixth, but then only poor outs were made afterwards. The Aces even sent an invitation in the seventh by bringing in Bridges again, but when he walked Wharton, Rivas followed that by poking into an inning-ending double play.

Doster pitched 3.1 scoreless innings in relief, but it looked an entirely pointless endeavor as the score remained 6-2 through eight, the 6-7-8 batters making straight outs against CAM BRIDGES in the eighth inning. Luke McGrew then took McMahan deep to left in the bottom 8th, 7-2, and Ben and ******* Jimmy Williams also got on base. Cam Jackson came in with two outs and failed another three ******* runs on the board before getting Rodewald out. The Aces entered the ninth ahead by EIGHT runs. Santamaria faced Guerrero to begin the inning and rung him up. Humph singled to right. And Yocum smashed into a double play.

10-2 Aces … Aces win series 4-2

Colter 3-4, 2B, RBI; Doster 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K;

[sarona]

What an absolute train wreck to close the season on.

Convince that tightwad owner of yours to increase the budget (not for donuts or fried chicken) for next season.

[Westheim]

2071 FLCS

Over in the FLCS, the Warriors enjoyed home field advantage after winning 101 games during the regular season. They led the FL in batting average, runs allowed, and both starters’ and bullpen ERA, and packed a +181 run differential. They looked like a FORCE, entering with three pitchers with ERA’s under three. Alex Diez (21-5, 2.49 ERA), Harry Poteat (21-7, 2.31 ERA), and Mike Mingione (15-11, 2.91 ERA); and they also had three batters with 20+ homers hitting behind a few guys with batting averages well over .300, most notably David Jankowski (.344, 11 HR, 91 RBI) being followed in the lineup by Jordan Lopez (.287, 21 HR, 74 RBI), Steve Millen (.344, 26 HR, 113 RBI), an David Johnson (.270, 24 HR, 91 RBI), with Miguel Medina (.243, 17 HR, 67 RBI) as reinforcement to the power department. Half the lineup was left- and right-handed, as was the rotation. They made the postseason for the 20th time, and the fourth year in a row, but had gone out to the Cyclones each of the last three seasons.

They had to thank the 98-win Miners for that, who knocked off the thrice-defending champs from Cincy quite convincingly in the end. They had finished fourth in runs scored and second to the Warriors in runs allowed, with a +138 run differential. The team was mostly solid, but lacked in the power department, failing to hit 100 homers, and producing only one player, catcher Jonathan Contreras (.302, 21 HR, 94 RBI), who hit over 20 homers OR for a .300 batting average. The bottom of the lineup looked rather pedestrian somehow, and in the rotation they had only one ace character, Brian Jones (19-9, 2.60 ERA), who struck out an astonishing 287 batters this season. It was hard to find many superstars besides Jones on the roster, and they had lost regular second-sacker Matthew Selep to injury for the playoffs. The Miners made their 19th playoffs, and their first since 2056.

The Miners had never won the championship, the only team so afflicted. The Warriors had three championship titles. Sioux Falls’ last title run was all the way back in 2034, though.

There was only one former World Series between the four teams in this year’s playoffs, which was 2054, when the Raccoons had knocked off the Warriors.

+++

PIT @ SFW … 10-7 … (Miners lead 1-0) … PIT Norm Chapman 2-5, 2B, RBI; PIT Ed Kline 2-5, RBI; PIT Anthony Schneider 2-4, 2B, RBI; PIT Justin Dowsey 2-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI; PIT Jonathan Contreras 3-5, HR, 2B, RBI; SFW Eddie Contreras 5-5, HR, 2 RBI; SFW Jordan Lopez 4-4, BB, HR, 2 2B, 3 RBI;

Eddie Contreras and Jordan Lopez pour their little hearts out, but the rest of the team has only four hits between them and they get outslugged by the Miners.

PIT @ SFW … 3-0 … (Miners lead 2-0) … PIT Anthony Schneider 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; PIT Aldomiro Campion 9.0 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, W (1-0)

SFW @ PIT … 6-2 … (Miners lead 2-1) … SFW David Jankowski 1-3, BB, 2B, 3 RBI;

SFW @ PIT … 1-3 … (Miners lead 3-1) … SFW Alex Diez 8.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, L (0-2); PIT Brian Jones 8.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (2-0)

SFW @ PIT … 1-2 … (Miners win 4-1) … PIT Norm Chapman 3-4; PIT Carlos Castro 1-3, BB, 2B, RBI; PIT Aldomiro Campion 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K;

Carlos Castro (.222, 0 HR, 4 RBI) eliminates the Warriors for the fourth straight year with a walkoff double off Matt Guadagno (0-1, 13.50 ERA).

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2071 WORLD SERIES

The Miners enjoyed home field advantage for their first World Series since 2056, while the Aces had not reached this stage since their last championship in 2019.

Pittsburgh appeared to have the advantage as they could get some more lefty sticks to bear on an entirely right-handed rotation that the Aces brought. The same was not true the other way round, as the Aces’ lineup was somewhat balanced, but righty-leaning, but the Miners had three right-handed starters. Then again, maybe the Aces could just run circles around the Miners; they had stolen nine bases off the overwhelmed Raccoons in the CLCS *and* had mashed five homers, both far outpacing the Miners.

Matthew Selep remained the Miners’ only injury. Vegas was still missing a bunch of pitching, but they got outfielder Alfredo Rosado back for this series.

And then there needs to be another reminder that the Miners were the only team to never win the World Series, so the neutral fans of the sport were naturally flocking towards them. The Miners were YEARNING to at least join the club of single-title teams including the Buffaloes, Knights, Condors, and Falcons.

+++

LVA @ PIT … 3-2 … (Aces lead 1-0) … PIT Hector Gomez 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; PIT Brian Jones 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 10 K

The Aces only break through to win in the ninth inning against John Faughnan (1-1, 3.38 ERA, 2 SV). Chris Haynes (.333, 0 HR, 4 RBI) singles in the winning run.

LVA @ PIT … 11-2 … (Aces lead 2-0) … LVA Jimmy Williams 2-6, 2B, 3 RBI; LVA Adam Jones 3-6, HR, RBI; LVA Josh Phelps 3-5, 3 2B, RBI; LVA Koji Hatakeyama 4-5, RBI; LVA Matt Rodewald 2-4, BB, 3 RBI;

PIT @ LVA … 0-5 … (Aces lead 3-0) … LVA Adam Jones 2-4, 2 RBI; LVA Luis Ortiz 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, W (2-0);

PIT @ LVA … 2-0 … (Aces lead 3-1) … PIT Brian Jones 7.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (3-0);

The 25-year-old Brian Jones (3-0, 2.32 ERA) guts out 129 pitches on three days’ rest to buy the Miners a new lease on life.

PIT @ LVA … 3-4 (12) … (Aces win 4-1) … PIT Jonathan Contreras 3-5, HR, 2B, RBI; LVA Koji Hatakeyama 3-5, BB; LVA Alex Corpus 1-3, 3 RBI;

The Miners almost lose in nine innings before backup infielder Carlos Arteaga (.333, 0 HR, 1 RBI) clicks a 2-out RBI single to plate Jonathan Contreras (.225, 2 HR, 4 RBI) and tie the game at three against the Aces’ Adam Molloy (0-0, 1.80 ERA, 2 SV). In the 12th, the Miners get Norm Chapman (.279, 0 HR, 1 RBI) and Anthony Schneider (.257, 0 HR, 4 RBI) into scoring position on a single, intentional walk, and wild pitch, but backup outfielder Vicente Mastache (.000, 0 HR, 0 RBI) can’t get them home, and then lose in excruciating fashion in the bottom of the inning as Josh Phelps (.273, 3 HR, 8 RBI) singles on the first pitch of Miners pitcher Jay Williams (0-1, undefined ERA), who gives up another single to right in a full count to Koji Hatakeyama (.455, 0 HR, 6 RBI). Phelps runs for third base with the ring-clinching run, and then it is Mastache, who didn’t get the runners home in the top of the 12th, who unleashes a terrible throw to third base that skips past everybody, and allows Phelps to turn for home and score on the error to end everybody’s season.

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2071 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
Las Vegas Aces
(3rd title)

[Westheim]

I asked Adam Valdes’ office for another $8M of budget room to really put together a strong team that could win more than the hunchbacked division … but at least $6M.

I got $3M and the sage advice that we could get even more budget room by cutting down on cupcakes and Cristiano. No word about Honeypaws, oddly.

The Coons with their new $66M budget moved from a tie for 15th to a tie for 12th (with the Buffos) in the league budget rankings.

Top 5: Titans ($91M), Knights ($91M), Warriors ($91M), Stars ($84M), Capitals ($80M)
Bottom 5: Indians ($57M), Condors ($56M), Aces ($56M), Wolves ($49.5M), Falcons ($47.5M)

Three of the top 5 had their budget reduced. The biggest budget last year actually was with the Thunder, who finished last in the CL South and for that they paid with a 20% axing down from $94M to $77M…! I imagine they might be open to trade offers to be able to pay for laundry going forwards.

Don’t fret for the Aces. They just won a title while tying for the second-tiniest budget at $52M.

The remaining CL North teams could be found tied for 6th with the Thunder (NYC, $77M), 11th (VAN, $69M), and 16th (MIL, $60M). The Loggers also took a $9M hit to their ability to keep the team together and were a solid bet for last place in 2072.

The average budget this year only went up a scant $200k to $68.16M. The median budget went up $2M to $66M.

+++

Let’s start the offseason with some positive news – the Raccoons had already signed a big new contract entering the new financial period, and it was of course with a player already on the team. Jimmy Wharton got locked up for his last four years of team control, plus another FOUR seasons after that (including a team option), all for the cheap price of $28.2M. This was a design to keep costs down for 2072, as the $1M he’d get this coming season was potentially well under what he could have gotten in super-2 arbitration. He’d get $1.4M in ’73, then $2.1M, and then $1.1M more each year until reaching $5.4M in the 2077-79 seasons. His was now the new longest-running contract on the team, replacing Katz and Walla, both being signed through ’75.

And that would be *it* for good news.

The Raccoons began the offseason already $3M under water. The $66M budget was not gonna pay for anything to be added to the roster, and we were absolutely screwed when it came to lefty relievers, which we’ll get to in time. But the $3M were not even enough to pay for pay rises in the contracts of our players already on the roster (not even including Jimmyboy), as for 2072 we had to pay the following rises: Katz got the biggest at $2M more, and then there were Walla ($600k), Yocum ($500k), Gaytan ($500k) to pay. That’s already $3.6M.

And now let’s get to the salary arbitration and free agency topic. Get the tissues out.

The Raccoons had ten players to talk about: six arbitration cases (woulda been seven with Jimmy), three free agents, and a team option, but let’s group them a bit differently to make the catastrophic issue become more apparent.

First, Alejandro Olivares and Jordan Hernandez had always been 1-year rentals. Olivares was slated a type B free agent, and we wanted that draft pick of course, but they were not gonna be back. We had THREE left-handed first basemen (including Dan Gomez) to sort through, and right now a cost-saving measure would be moving Katz to third base and have McFarland dabble with short on a $385k minimum salary.

Among the arbitration cases was Vinny Morales, who still wasn’t worth a million bucks after four+ years of major league service and at 30 years old. With a budget, we would have gone starting pitcher hunting to replace him. It looked like he’d be back in the rotation by default, and despair. Jason Holzmeister was perhaps not as bad as I always made it sound, so he had to stick around, and Gabe Rivas didn’t mesh well with Sam Brown as both were hitting left-handed, but he had at least been worth 2.1 WAR and worst case he was trade bait.

Then there were two of our rotating door rightfielders, Jamie Colter and George van Otterdijk, none of whom had set the world on fire in a half-season’s worth of at-bats, neither of whom had value with the glove, and both were going to make some money to hug the bench behind Jaden Wilson, who was probably not tradeable and signed for two more years.

But the real neck-breaking issue: left-handed relief. Ricky McMahan, who had made $1.1M, was a free agent, and I had already been forbidden to re-sign him during the season. Dan Graham had a $1.1M team option (with a $250k buyout) for 2072, which I couldn’t pick up. And Gabriel Rios had started enough games to earn a $1M increase (!) to a $1.68M arbitration estimate, even though he couldn’t be used as a starter.

The Raccoons were going to lose ALL OF THEM. Antonio Pacheco would be the best left-handed reliever in the organization. Antonio Pacheco (5.13 career ERA), and then John Reynolds (7.02). There were another four left-handers in AAA – all promising to be even worse than that.

Dark days.

[Westheim]

The first couple of days after the World Series were for being resentful and bitter about not getting the money required to piece a team together that could out-do the $52M Aces over seven games, and then I got to work. It was not a secret that the Raccoons were open to trading one of their big contracts. For 2072 it was $9M promised to Tyler Wharton (and $27M in total for the rest of that contract); $8.1M to Yocum ($24.3M); and $7.2M to Humphries ($21.6M); all three of these contracts would expire after the 2074 season, but 2074 for all of them was a player option. We had dangled both Wharton and Humph quite openly during the previous winter, so nobody was too surprised to see us do it again this winter, for sure.

The team was very much on the edge of the gaping abyss. Sometimes drastic amputations had to be made to safe the patient.

You had to find the right trading partner though, because those 30+ players with huge deals required a team that had the budget room, considered themselves in contention to win, and could also give up something in return that would need our assorted needs: a starting pitcher, an ace reliever, a third baseman maybe? If we traded Wharton, we were also without a centerfield solution, since Jaden Wilson couldn’t be trusted to stay on the field, and beyond him was yet more darkness. Jesus Guerrero? Oy. Jesus Morentin could hold down the position with the glove, but the Cuban had batted .196/.272/.241 in 125 PA with the Coons.

Starting pitching was a real need. Walla and Jimmy Wharton were very fine starters, Tony Gaytan had his moments… but beyond that we were squishy. It was not a big secret that I was not exactly thrilled with Vinny Morales. Val Centeno had been awful. We did have FIVE ranked SP prospects, but four of them had started this year in Aumsville and only one had made it to Ham Lake (#34 Jalen McCorkle). #115 Crispino “Crispy Bear” D’Urso had made his first 19 starts in AAA and had been *fine*, but wasn’t considered for a call-up quite yet. He'd be 23 in June, so it was far from too late, although his 6-pitch arsenal lacked a wipeout pitch and his control was iffy. Looking at Opening Day, he was not a solution. Since Centeno was not being considered either, we definitely had a spot open in the rotation.

Third base also remained a construction site. If it felt like the Raccoons were running out a new guy at third base at least every other year, then that’s because it was true. Jesus Maldonado held down the position from 2045 through 2048, and then it was very much soup of the day for the last quarter-century. Except for Ed Crispin (four years) and Rich Monck (three; playing at short for a few years, too), the Raccoons had not had a guy get most starts at third base for more than two seasons in the last 23 years. The long list of discards, some of which you’d expect to have been picked up at a charity auction at the local church, began with Eddy Luna (long forgotten), and continued through Travis Malkus (yikes!), Anton Venegas, Kyle Brobeck (!), Juan Ojeda, Nick Fowler, Nick Fox, Vic Morales, Diego Mendoza, J.P. Gallo, and now Jordan Hernandez. Would be nice to find some stability. Then again I had the crazy idea of finding a shortstop instead and move Katz to third base, which was a better position for him. Short was in fact the worst position on the infield for both Katz and Yocum.

True: leftfield didn’t look much better for most-starts-in-a-season since the Manny Fernandez era ended in ’44, but in some cases that was due to left/right shuffles, and in some cases due to injuries. F.e. Humph had only led the position in starts *this* season. Apart from that the leaders at the position had been: Derek Baskins (45-47), Matt Watt (48, 50), Mike Preble (49), Ken Crum (51, 53-54), Juan del Toro (52), Trent Brassfield (55, 59-60), Chris Kirkwood (56), Josh Abercrombie (57), Alan Puckeridge (58), Ben Morris (61), Malik Crumble (62-63), Jack Kozak (64), Malcolm Spicer (65-66), Justin Dowsey (67), Marquise Early (68), Benito Otal (69-70), and finally Humph. Brass and Pucks went back and forth between positions especially, but them aside it was quite the horror house out there, and Humph wasn’t gonna live forever.

Was it obvious that we were gonna (try to) trade Tyler Wharton?

We only needed to find a victim. Wharton had been a giant disappointment with the bat until a late rally this year, and even then only hit a paltry 13 homers (fourth on the team). He missed 63 games. And then there were Semchez and Cristiano and their sorry faces, explaining to me in no uncertain terms how his defensive rating was collapsing and that he’d be even worse in ’72. Let’s not talk about the other two years on his contract after that…!

The receiving team had to be gullible, needed budget space, and perhaps be a bit desperate to win. They should also be able to offer something in return that would tickle my fancy.

+++

October 28 – The Miners and Raccoons shake things up as Pittsburgh sends 29-year-old SP Aldomiro Campion (34-34, 3.62 ERA) to Portland in exchange for 33-year-old superstar CF Tyler Wharton (.323, 339 HR, 1,361 RBI) and A SP Angelo Resendiz, an unranked prospect.

+++

Settle down please. I would have liked to bring in Anthony Schneider alongside Aldomiro Campion, but the Miners weren’t having *that*. They had already been ruined enough with this trade. Campion is a very fine starting pitcher with three-and-a-half pitches, maybe a bit reliant on the excellent curveball. Strikeout totals weren’t high, but he kept the traffic down through very good control. The right-hander was possibly our new #2 or #3 starter, either before or behind Jimmy Wharton. Campion, or probably “Aldo”(*), certainly qualified as a late bloomer, as he had only broken into the Miners’ rotation full-time in mid-2069, when he was already almost 27 years old. That didn’t have to mean he wasn’t good *now*…!

Resendiz was an unranked prospect, listed second-highest among outside-the-top-200 in the organization. He was also barely sixth on the chart for starting pitchers, so trading him meant next to nothing to us. Semchez’ last report had not been great, but OSA loved him.

This trade of course sliced right through the knot in our budget. It cleared the $9M owed Big Bucks Wharton off the books, and Campion was eligible for arbitration for the first time, with a $1.4M estimate. Suddenly we can also entertain the thought of retaining our left-handed pitching – no offers had been made so far to McMahan and Rios, nor had a decision been made on Dan Graham’s team option.

Suddenly we had at least $4.4M of budget room (including arbitration estimates, but not Graham’s $1.1M option). Suddenly the days didn’t look quite as dark anymore…!

Of course Aldomiro Campion was not the first Brazilian to wear the brown shirt. From 2021 through 2027, Daniel Bullock had been a recurring backup infielder for the team (and got into 31 games with the Aces later on), but for his career batted only .234 with four homers in 1,289 at-bats.

A total of 11 Brazilians had played in the ABL so far, including some blink-and-you-miss it candidates like outfielder Sebastiao Bloomingdale, getting NINE career at-bats with the Cyclones in the 2050s. Besides Campion, 1B Belchior Fresco had perhaps been the most notable, playing 16 seasons from 2053 to 2068, mostly in the FL, and taking three Gold Gloves, two Platinum Sticks, and a ring with the 2065 Stars. He hit .269 with 191 homers and 905 RBI and twice led the FL in walks. Both Fresco and Bullock had been switch-hitters, but that was about the only common thing between them.

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*Sentimental throwback to some late-2000s Football (as in: Soccerball) Manager save I had where I played Werder Bremen and owned the Champions League with Cristiano Ronaldo and a generated Brazilian striker named Aldo.

[Westheim]

Even though it didn’t sound like it initially, the Raccoons had other problems than just money getting into the offseason, most notably both corner infield spots (Katz at third?) and after the Tyler Wharton trade now also centerfield. With just $4M in the bank it would be hard to fill all those spots from the outside, so what did the inside look like?

Well, there were certainly enough bodies around at first base, and they all batted left-handed. First off, and not having made any appearances for the Coons in 2071, was Dan Gomez, who’d been signed off the trash heap some seasons back, would be 27 on Opening Day, had passed through waivers during the season, and had batted .273 with five homers in 81 big-league games in 2069-2070. He didn’t have power in AAA either, and was solid as a defender at first base, and he was also not gonna get the job.

Josh Woodley had been taken as a Rule 5 pick last winter and had gotten into 99 games behind Alejandro Olivares during the season, batting .247 with five homers, including a dramatic walkoff homer on Opening Day that would probably end up on his card as biggest career achievement. He’d be 24 on Opening Day, and throughout was just a better batter than Gomez. There was still some power potential there hoping to be tapped (the five homers came in 166 at-bats, so about 15 for a “full” season).

Then there was our #47 pick from 2066, Danny Huckaby, who was about to turn 23 in November. He was the least comforting on defense, actually had some speed (but had not attempted steals in the majors yet), and had only 72 at-bats between the last two Coons seasons, batting .222 with two homers. But he had hit 13 for the Alley Cats this year, and projections had him comparable to Woodley. But the Raccoons couldn’t go with two left-handed first basemen on the roster (the Olivares/Woodley combo had been awkward enough), so we had to make *some* decision here.

There was a fourth player worth mentioning, the #36 pick from 2069, Justin DiMartino. He had hit .234 with 14 homers in 127 games in Ham Lake and then gave AAA a go in September while turning 23. He hit just .197 with a pair of dingers in 17 games, so was definitely not in the conversation at this point. He wasn’t even in our 20 best prospects, either. The thing he had going for himself right now was that he was batting right-handed.

Since we’re talking about prospects – let’s remember that we had ranked tops in the country in prospects to begin the season with 17 ranked prospects. All of them were still in the organization – but only two of them had started the year above Ham Lake, the Rule 5er Rismiller (who had run out of eligibility now) at #62, and Noah Newhard at #130, who had made scattered appearances, but had only 37 days of major league service time and was thus still eligible for rookie rankings. The other 15 had all been in the lower minors, if that: six in Ham Lake, eight in Aumsville (including four of the five highest-ranked ones), and one even in the international complex (#45 Jose Espino). So nobody expected a train of rookies to arrive last season and maybe not even in 2072. At least some progress had been made, because of those fifteen prospects in the lower minors, ten had moved up a level this year (including Espino turning pro in Aumsville).

Five ended the year in AAA: #25 INF Omar Vigil, #82 RF/LF Isaac Bishop, #115 SP Crispino D’Urso, #150 SS/2B Ramon Mata, and #195 2B Roberto Pena; but most arrived late and didn’t hit a lot, although Pena did decently enough. D’Urso pitched *fine*, but the spot start on Closing Day went to Jaquan Riggs instead. Was any of them in the running for a job on the Opening Day roster? Not really.

There was no true third base prospect anywhere close in that pipeline at all. #24 prospect SS/3B Danny Reyes (age 20) had spent all year in Aumsville and *might* move up to AA to begin the new season. He hit .268 with no homers in 102 games. He had speed, but zero power. His D was very good, though. But in any case he was more than two years away. So we’d have to find some other solution there. More 1-year rentals?

For centerfield there was a cheap solution. After trading Tyler Wharton and with Jaden Wilson’s body having already declined the assignment, we could maybe resolve the traffic jam on the corners by sending Jack Hamel there. That would fill the position (not on a Gold Glove level, but competently), cost us the minimum, and spare any dumb inquiries by the Agitator about how that #5 pick of ours was doing on his perpetual vacation to St. Petersburg. As a reminder, Hamel had batted .171 in AAA in 2070, had been sent to Ham Lake again, then had batted .246 with one homer in 31 games before being called up to the majors. Here, he played in 65 games, batting .296 with seven homers, exceeding subdued expectations. Jesuses Guerrero and Morentin were drawing even rougher reviews.

Brian McFarland made an injury-induced debut this year at short, and could play both middle infield positions *fine* and third base in a pinch. He had hit .241 with no power in 58 games, but had some speed and might just end up being the starting shortstop if we found out that we couldn’t even afford a 1-year rental at third base this time around and Katz moved there indeed.

There was another position that was going to be held together with little more than duct tape and a healthy dose of hope, and that was rightfield. Both Jamie Colter and George van Otterdijk had hit for roughly a .760-ish OPS, and both were defensively inadequate for the position, Colter even costing -0.1 WAR despite hitting .288 with 6 homers. Since they were opposite-handed, they might just get tucked together for a platoon for the time being. Star sluggers weren’t in the budget.

Speaking of arbitration cases, which the pair were: the Raccoons began November by announcing 1-year deals with Aldomiro Campion ($1.4M), Vinny Morales ($800k), Jason Holzmeister ($640k), and Gabe Rivas ($625k) – AND also an extension with Ricky McMahan, who signed a 3-year, $4.8M (flat) contract, the third year being a player option!

The rightfield duo signed a few days later for new 1-year deals, as George van Otterdijk got $750k, and Jamie Colter got $580k.

There was a trade with the Crusaders on the table to exchange Jaden Wilson for Kyle Reber, who would fill the third base hole, but he was promised $4.48M in the final year of his contract (those 1-year rentals…!) and the Crusaders didn’t have cash to help the Raccoons with their budget crunch.

The Coons did not reach an agreement with Gabriel Rios, who wanted $2M, and we chose to go to arbitration – except that Rios chickened out before the actual hearing and accepted the team offer of $1.5M, which was still bloody expensive. Alejandro Olivares declined arbitration, making the Raccoons eligible for a compensation pick in the supplemental round if another team signed him.

Dan Graham’s team option got voided and he was paid $250k to leave the team. In a rosier budget situation, we would have kept him.

Critters that elected minor league free agency included relievers John Reynolds and Mike Davis, who had 29 total appearances between them, and none very memorable. Victor Chavez made six starts for the Coons between 2069 and 2070 or a 6.44 ERA, and also took minor league free agency. Infielder Manny Arredondo was also in this group, getting into 101 total games with the Critters, but almost all of them came before 2069.

+++

November 15 – The Bayhawks pick up SP Eric Stengel (62-60, 4.09 ERA) from the Rebels for #100 prospect OF/1B A.J. Rolfes.

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Three CL North teams lost their very good and/or longtime centerfielder to free agency: Eddie Marcotte (BOS) was the headliner, but Bill Davidson (NYC) and John Parrish (MIL) were also there. The Coons had no money.

Taking stock real quick as far as the extended roster was concerned, the Raccoons were in the comforting position to have a full and competent rotation together with Walla, Jimmyboy, Aldomiro Campion, Gaytan, and Vinny Morales. The pen had a solid seven relievers there including: Valentin, McMahan, Rios, Holzmeister, Doster, Cam Jackson, and Rismiller. There were still reserves: Centeno and Riggs for starters, and Sullivan, Gutierrez, and Newhard for relievers. Those five were not expected to make the Opening Day roster, but the Coons were set up so well here, that trading a “solid seven” for a bat was actively being considered.

There were still three catchers on the roster, of which Rivas and Brown had hope to make Opening Day, but Tony Spink did not. For infielders we had the icky combo of Huckaby and Woodley at first, and then Yocum and Katz for starters elsewhere. McFarland and Luebbert were the only backups. In the outfield, Humph was undisputed in left. Hamel might just win the centerfield job. Colter, the Otter, and Wilson figured to be on the roster. Guerrero and Morentin looked like the odd ones out.

But we still needed a third baseman OR shortstop for sure, and finding the best deal there was now paramount. The two best-ranked free agents (at third base) had already been Critters: Carlos Fumero (who asked for $6M and was thus not available to us), and J.P. Gallo; but there was at least one intriguing option in Edgar Gonzales, who had come off the Titans and was a type-B free agent (so what did we care?). He had hit .286 with nine homers in 93 games for Boston, missing two months with a broken hamate bone that had since been discarded. He had won a Gold Glove at shortstop in 2065 with the Miners. He was just 28 years old, though, and his asking price was around $2.5M.

There was also a 21-year-old Cuban that had just made over from the island in a banana peel that *could* be a long-term solution to the hot corner, but there were a couple red flags around Ronaldo Rivera, and a 7-figure asking price to ripen in the high minors was only one of them.

…or find a way to make that Reber deal work for us.

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2071 ABL AWARDS

Players of the Year: SFW RF/LF Steve Millen (.344, 26 HR, 113 RBI) and LVA C/1B Chris Haynes (.294, 38 HR, 112 RBI)
Pitchers of the Year: SFW SP Harry Poteat (21-7, 2.31 ERA) and BOS SP Mike Bell (12-7, 3.14 ERA)
Rookies of the Year: SFW MR Juan Arreola (6-2, 2.06 ERA, 1 SV) and IND OF/2B Walter Richmond (.265, 10 HR, 63 RBI)
Relievers of the Year: SFW MR Jesse Dover (6-2, 2.81 ERA, 8 SV) and CHA CL Orazio Cecere (7-4, 1.78 ERA, 29 SV)
Platinum Sticks (FL): P DAL Jarod Nesbit – C DAL Steve Varner – 1B WAS Armando Curiel – 2B PIT Matthew Selep – 3B LAP David MacFarlane – SS DAL Brian Hills – LF DEN Miguel Sandoval – CF SFW David Jankowski – RF SFW RF Steve Millen
Platinum Sticks (CL): P POR Jimmy Wharton – C LVA Chris Haynes – 1B ATL Kris DiPrimio – 2B MIL Fidel Carrera – 3B LVA Matt Rodewald – SS OCT Jose Palominos – LF POR Steve Humphries – CF VAN Dan Moore – RF MIL Carlos Dominguez
Gold Gloves (FL): P RIC Jayden Beck – C TOP Pat Cohen – 1B TOP Orlando Reyes – 2B SFW Josh Mireles – 3B DEN Beau Metz – SS SAL Tyrese Armstrong – LF PIT Norm Chapman – CF PIT Anthony Schneider – RF RIC Rick Atkins
Gold Gloves (CL): P NYC Paul Egley – C TIJ Robert Alvarez – 1B LVA Adam Jones – 2B SFB Mario Flores – 3B LVA Matt Rodewald – SS ATL Tomas Guangorena – LF NYC Tony Griffin – CF MIL John Parrish – RF SFB Jake Ward

Heyyy, awards! It’s the third time in three years that the Raccoons take home one of the more “oh well” pitcher awards, as Vinny and Gaytan took the Platinum Stick and Gold Glove, respectively, in 2069. But finally a Platinum Stick for a POSITION PLAYER.

Here’s a fun quiz for you – who was the last position player to win a Platinum Stick for the Critters? NOAH ******* CASWELL. In *2059*!!

Joel Starr also won his only Platinum Stick in 2059, but evoking Noah Caswell is more dramatic. Besides Gaytan, Tyler Riddle also took the pitchers’ batting award with Portland in 2064 in the interim.

For completeness: last position player Gold Glove for a player on the brown team? Rich Monck, 2067, at third base.

[Westheim]

For curiosity, when the Raccoons dangled Tyler Wharton around, they actually had several other offers on the table with teams that had dosh and a general intention to still win games next season. The Pacifics’ closer David Wright would have been an option, as would have been the Knights David Mendoza or Tomas Guangorena, but all of them would have required at least one other player that named Angelo Resendiz, usually Gabriel Rios. The Warriors would have parted with Jordan Lopez if we would have tossed in Katz. So yeah, I think we did pretty good for ourselves with Aldomiro Campion.

Perhaps there were more deals to be made. The Raccoons reached out to the odd free agent, and there was a trade on the table with the Crusaders, who tried to get rid of chiefly corner infielder Robert Ortiz. I wasn’t taken by Ortiz or his contract (two years at $2.76M each, including a player option), and the Crusaders were also not content with getting some of the loose bits around the roster like Jaden Wilson or Edgar Gutierrez.

+++

November 20 – The Thunder get RF/INF/CF Jared Robichaud (.263, 41 HR, 235 RBI) and cash from the Rebels in exchange for two prospects.
November 23 – Boston acquires SS Josh Kovach (.285, 3 HR, 34 RBI) from San Francisco in exchange for 1B Keith Bevilacqua (.328, 3 HR, 37 RBI).
November 25 – Longtime Blue Sox RF Austin Gordon (.306, 344 HR, 1,179 RBI) signs with the Thunder. The almost-35-year-old takes a 2-year, $12.2M contract offer.
November 25 – The Scorpions sign ex-Capitals LF Ian Streng (.274, 105 HR, 474 RBI) to a 2-yr, $13.2M contract.
November 27 – Vancouver spends big to get hooves on former Thunder 2B/SS Jose Palominos (.322, 132 HR, 521 RBI, who commands a 7-year contract for $51.8M.
November 27 – The Raccoons pay a $1.22M signing bonus to 22-year-old Cuban arrival UT Ronaldo Rivera, who projects as a strong and versatile defender with some pop in his bat.
November 28 – The Titans sign up former Knights SP Erik Lee (132-133, 3.76 ERA) on a 2-year, $11.6M contract.
December 1 – The Knights get back at the Titans by snatching up longtime Boston CF/LF Eddie Marcotte (.262, 298 HR, 952 RBI) on a 2-yr, $14M deal.
December 1 – The Thunder lure former Falcons C/1B Oscar Matos (.282, 121 HR, 623 RBI) with an offer of $10.32M over three years.
December 1 – Washington signs ex-PIT CL John Faughnan (53-44, 2.75 ERA, 260 SV) to a 1-year deal worth $3.96M.
December 1 – Rule 5 Draft: 16 players are selected. The Blue Sox draft 25-year-old C Vinny Pagan from the Raccoons. The Buffaloes draft 23-year-old OF Eddy Valdez from the Raccoons.
December 2 – The Titans are thrilled to sign former Stars UT Carlos Fumero (.310, 37 HR, 555 RBI) to a 4-yr, $19.36M deal.

+++

Rivera was assigned to Ham Lake, but we’d watch closely and if it looked like he was readily hitting AA pitchers, he’d get to AAA rather quickly.

The Coons also got a Korean left-hander on a minor league deal from the international free agent market. 23-year-old Chi-Hyeon Shon had our pitches, none of them standing out. He got assigned to Ham Lake as well.

We were also nibbling on Edgar Gonzales, who would fill in at third base really nicely, even though he was “only” a league-average hitter, and there were multiple teams in the race to sign him, which meant the Raccoons might run out of budget before long.

[Westheim]

December 3 – In the pursuit of happiness, the Warriors help themselves to former Knights closer Erik Swain (62-58, 2.73 ERA, 472 SV) on a 3-yr, $13.68M contract. Swain, 35, is the active career saves leader, and ranks 16th all-time.
December 4 – Vancouver signs former Loggers SP/MR B.J. Butrico (32-41, 4.55 ERA, 40 SV) to a 3-year, $5.36M contract.
December 7 – The Canadiens sign ex-SAL SP Guido Branco (51-50, 3.60 ERA) to a comparably cheap 3-year, $5.8M contract.
December 7 – The Loggers deal 2B Randy Fisher (.270, 1 HR, 23 RBI) and a prospect to the Condors for LF/RF Ken Frank (.114, 1 HR, 5 RBI).
December 8 – Vancouver also adds ex-BOS SP Adam McDonald (76-90, 4.30 ERA) on a 2-year, $3.84M deal.
December 9 – Veteran SP Ricardo Montoya (232-118, 2.90 ERA, 44 SV), who will turn 42 in May, signs a $4M contract with the Knights. Montoya split 2071 between the Canadiens and Aces before having surgery to remove bone spurs removed from his elbow, but took home the first ring in his career now extending into its 20th season.
December 10 – Boston trades for Topeka’s 25-yr old SP Angel Suarez (31-44, 4.24 ERA), parting with 2B/1B Jeremy White (.269, 102 HR, 492 RBI) and a prospect.
December 11 – The Gold Sox send 28-yr old SP Ryan “Boomer” Furlong (9-10, 3.73 ERA), who was a rookie in ’71, to the Bayhawks for two prospects, including #105 CL Roberto Godinez.

+++

Numerous teams tried to raid our treasure trove of prospects during the winter meetings, but invariably offered wildly uninteresting players for Jalen McCorkle and/or Jose Espino and/or all our cash. The Falcons were the exception, dangling closer Orazio Cecere for no less than five prospects: #24 Danny Reyes, #34 Jalen McCorkle, #45 Jose Espino, Jaylen Etienne (unranked but just inside our top 20), and single-A infielder Mike Ramos. Yeah, no, thanks.

Another highlight were the Blue Sox, asking for five prospects (three ranked) for faltering closer Kody Mello.

+++

We also had a Hall of Fame ballot to fret over. There were only a couple of new arrivals, and none of them had been on the Critters.

[Westheim]

December 16 – The Titans sign ex-MIL OF John Parrish (.237, 59 HR, 310 RBI) to a 4-year deal worth just $6.48M.
December 18 – Dallas signs up former Caps CL Jon Dominguez (62-75, 3.22 ERA, 395 SV) to a 3-year, $8.52M contract.
December 21 – 35-year-old lefty SP Edwin Moreno (121-124, 3.71 ERA) joins the Warriors for two years and $15.1M after six years with the Blue Sox.
December 23 – The Capitals add switch-hitting ex-VAN LF/RF Roberto Lozada (.285, 156 HR, 738 RBI) for $38.5M over seven seasons.
December 24 – The Blue Sox have a new catcher, former Scorpions backstop Ryan Rogers (.255, 102 HR, 472 RBI), who joins for $8M over three seasons.
December 24 – Another former Scorpion, outfielder Mike Pinault (.229, 123 HR, 549 RBI), signs a $12.6M contract over five seasons with the Buffaloes.
December 25 – Vancouver inks ex-PIT SP Jay Williams (96-105, 4.05 ERA) for just two years and $4.08M.
December 25 – L.A. presents former Warriors INF Jared Duhe (.259, 79 HR, 520 RBI), the 34-year-old having signed a $9.52M deal over two years with the team.
December 26 – The Miners acquire SP Shane Utting (25-27, 4.54 ERA) from the Scorpions for #43 prospect Kevin Anderson.
December 26 – The Titans lure OF Bill Davidson (.232, 104 HR, 481 RBI) away from their New York division rivals with a 4-year contract worth $15.2M.
December 29 – The Raccoons announce the addition of 28-year-old former Boston INF/LF Edgar Gonzales (.276, 51 HR, 385 RBI) on a 4-year, $13.25M contract.
January 1 – The Miners start the new year by signing former Falcons SS Trent Taylor (.254, 98 HR, 589 RBI) to a 2-year, $7.12M deal.
January 1 – The Blue Sox and former Rebs CL George Kehoe (18-18, 3.50 ERA, 90 SV) sign a 3-year, $13.92M contract.
January 7 – L.A. wins the services of ex-OCT CL Jon McGinley (59-63, 3.00 ERA, 312 SV) for $7.08M over two years.
January 9 – The Warriors announce the addition of former Raccoons 1B Alejandro Olivares (.289, 133 HR, 783 RBI). The 35-year-old signs for a 2-year, $7.08M contract. The Raccoons receive a supplemental-round pick as compensation.

+++

The Gonzales signing came about twice as expensive as the first offer, since we had to add a fourth year to get ahead of the competition, partly because we needed the first year to be cheaper. The contract was slightly backloaded for $3.5M annually *except* for the 2072 season where he’d make only $2.75M.

Although Gonzales had won the Gold Glove at short with the Miners, third base was his best position and where he’d be parked up now, so Katz remained at short. It was a bit of an odd situation now in that we had three quite capable infielders between those two and Yocum that could all play multiple positions and up the middle, but all of them were weakest at short. Neither Brian McFarland nor Nick Luebbert were defensive wizards at the position, either, so perhaps a strong defensive shortstop, the type that tended to hit .230 with no power, but came in a sixpack for a twenny, wouldn’t be the worst addition in the second half of this offseason.

More recently, the Stars have dangled RF/1B/LF Victor David Morales (not: ex-Coon Victor Hugo Morales) to us. The switch-hitting slugger had a .271 average and 18 homers last year, and stole ten bases. He had been worth 2.8 WAR last season, more than any Raccoons outfielder besides Steve Humphries. In ’69 he even led the FL in steals, but he was 32 by now. He cost $3.8M per year through ’74 and promised to be a better rightfield solution (though his defense was best described as “mid”) than the Colter/Otter platoon we had currently fumbled together. But here we had two teams with no money trying to strike a deal…

For former Furballs, there were these new contracts to report: Malcolm Spicer got $760k to continue his tour of CL North teams with the Crusaders (only Loggers and Titans to go!); Dan Graham did well enough for himself with a 2-year, $2.52M contract with the Pacifics; 42-year-old Nick Robinson goes back for another year with the Loggers at $1.04M; Lorenzo Marquez signed with the Knights for $620k;

+++

2072 HALL OF FAME BALLOT

There would not be a grand induction ceremony at the Baseball Hall of Fame this year, as nobody managed to get elected to the Hall of Fame (or get even close) on the ballot that was with electors for consideration this winter.

Full voting results (with number of years on ballot and vote share):

CIN LF Juan del Toro – 2nd – 38.9%
CHA RF Danny Ceballos – 3rd – 31.3%
LVA RF Aubrey Austin – 1st – 30.2%
??? SS Julio Moriel – 4th – 18.1%
LAP RF Matt Diskin – 6th – 14.6%
IND LF Danny Rivera – 9th – 13.2%
??? CL Jason Posey – 3rd – 9.0%
ATL C Marco Nieto – 1st – 8.7%
IND CL Tommy Gardner – 4th – 8.3%
??? CL Mike Lynn – 9th – 8.0%
CHA C Luis Miranda – 2nd – 5.6%
NAS C Jose Cantu – 3rd – 5.6%
??? SS Alex Adame – 8th – 5.6%
??? CL Ben Lussier – 3rd – 4.2%
RIC 1B Mario Delgadillo – 1st – 3.1% – DROPPED
LVA LF Ken Hummel – 1st – 2.8% – DROPPED
IND 3B Bobby Anderson – 2nd – 2.8% – DROPPED
NAS SP Travis Baker – 2nd – 1.7% – DROPPED

[Westheim]

January 13 – The Stars trade 32-yr old RF/1B/LF Victor David Morales (.271, 94 HR, 428 RBI) to the Raccoons for 35-yr old OF Jaden Wilson (.276, 85 HR, 568 RBI) and 30-yr old 1B/LF/RF/3B Jamie Colter (.275, 17 HR, 97 RBI).

+++

The Raccoons were now officially out of money for the 2072 season, and that was after I did my royal best to induce as much outfielder salary in the deal for Morales as the Stars would take. Morales was owed $3.8M annually through 2074, which for our pockets was considered substantial.

The departure of Wilson meant that the Raccoons now had to keep one of the Jesuses (Guerrero or Morentin) on the roster as backup for Jack Hamel.

Hamel changed numbers again, back to #5, which he had briefly worn in his first cup of coffee in reference to his draft position before having to take #51 last year since Wilson had gotten #5 already.

The rightfield platoon was thus off, and V.D. Morales was the primary starter there, and George van Otterdijk had to contend himself with a bench spot – although in fact Morales, a switch-hitter, had his weaker side against left-handers, so the Otter might take those assignments anyway.

There was an issue with the bench though, as between the Otter, Morentin/Guerrero, McFarland, and Sam Brown there was only a single lefty stick, and it was the catcher’s. Nick Luebbert was still an option as a poor man’s super utility, and he was also a switch-hitter, but he had also batted .182 in 71 games last year. But having money was over (we were in fact $800k overbudget and living on cash already), so either the last bench spot was the second of the two left-handed first basemen after all (no decision had been made quite yet on whether we’d go with Woodley or Huckaby), or we had to look at AAA.

Roberto Pena was hitting lefty, but he was also only playing second base. There was a pair of outfielders hitting lefty, Benito Otal (well known and having fallen off a cliff so hard in ’71 that he passed clean through waivers and was off the 40-man) and Dave Falquez, the latter having missed a September call-up due to injuries. Falquez had hit .293 in AAA last year, but he had no power and no glove. Only Otal would be a centerfield backup over Morentin/Guerrero, and he would cost an additional minimum salary (same for Pena).

So was it better to keep the unholy pair of left-handed first basemen on the roster, figure Luebbert as CF backup, and send down the fifth outfielder (Morentin/Guerrero), or even McFarland?

Were here any salaries on the payroll that might be deemed luxurious? (eye falls on the $2.4M going to Brian Doster)

+++

January 19 – The Raccoons acquire 30-year-old OF Phil LeVan (.266, 50 HR, 302 RBI) from the Blue Sox for a pair of right-handed relievers: Brian Doster (46-51, 3.57 ERA, 82 SV) and Edgar Gutierrez (2-2, 2.96 ERA), as well as $400k in cash.
January 24 – Topeka signs former Capitals OF Tyler Chenette (.288, 50 HR, 303 RBI) to a 3-yr, $10.6M contract.
February 8 – The Scorpions sign 31-year-old Japanese free agent SP Taka Suyama to a 6-year, $17.48M contract.

+++

LeVan would be on his fifth ABL team in a career that had only begun in late ’65, and was relatively cheap at $1.62M this season and $1.72M next, the final year of his contract. This fixed several issues with the roster, especially the left-handed stick thing, and now we wouldn’t have to use the two left-handed first basemen, a specter that had been hovering heavily over me for the last couple of months.

I’d like to point out that with more money available we wouldn’t have traded Doster, who was a very good right-handed reliever and would have been of good use this year. We were now probably looking at Todd Sullivan making the roster instead.

Ex-Coons with fresh working papers: Ryan Musgrave (age 40) goes back to the Baybirds for $1.14M; the Falcons inked Ian Lowry for $620k; Mike Roberts got $600k from the Titans; J.P. Gallo heads to Topeka for $660k;

[Westheim]

The Raccoons were quite done with the offseason. Unless somebody offered, oh, I don’t know, ace Alex Diez (led the FL in victories and ERA once each in the last two seasons), $2.5M to pay for him, and would be content with a pair of outside-the-top-100 prospects, we were done until April.

No, that didn’t happen. But it would have been nice.

+++

February 20 – The Rebels sign 29-year-old Korean international free agent SP Seong-hyeon Park to a 5-year, $8.9M contract.
March 11 – The Thunder trade C Martin Bohannon (.261, 76 HR, 474 RBI) to the Scorpions for SP Luis Briseno (74-67, 3.73 ERA) and #43 prospect SP Kevin Anderson.
March 26 – The Knights send 3B Jon Schomer (.273, 74 HR, 471 RBI) and a prospect to the Stars for SP Andy Canada (104-69, 3.68 ERA).

+++

Andy Canada? Hails from Kansas. Which is not in Canada. (looks up and clamors to the baseball gods) Make it make sense!!

More employment opportunities for Critters-no-more: Tetsu Kurihara got $1.46M from the Titans for two years; Elijah Labat also joined the Titans for $700k; Ramon Carreno went to the Thunder on a 2-year, $1.87M deal; the Miners signed Juan Sanchez for $1.92M over two years; Angel Alba got $1.86M over two years from the Capitals; the Condors took in Jose Corral for just $600k; the Titans signed Jesse Dover for a petty $990k;