[Westheim]

The Raccoons may have finished 84-78, but their pythagorean record was 91-71. One game BETTER than in their 1983 playoff season!

Anyway, we did not get a budget increase this year, with the budget actually being CUT to just over $11M. Well, thanks, Carlos. Why don’t you sell the team to somebody with money?

The Raccoons do not have any players bound to free agency this year. We still have a bunch of arbitration cases, though:
- MR Carlos Moran, who pitched 81 innings in long relief with a few starts; he’s doing quite well in that role with a 3.21 ERA, but he is out of options; current salary $110k, estimate $115k;
- C Sam Dadswell (super-2 case), suffered through a terrible second half of the season, and defensively he was no less a burden than any catcher before him; still, I believe he’s a dynasty’s cornerstone; cs. $72k (min.), est. $230k;
- 1B Tetsu Osanai, home run king, batting champion, enough said; cs. $72k (min.), est. $275k;
- INF Edgardo Gonzalez, was a utility player for some years now, but was demoted to AAA last season; cs. $98k, est. $110k;
- OF Ricardo Gonzalez, was a pleasant surprise as versatile outfielder, also batting .281 with 21 home runs; cs. $200k, est. $241k;
- OF Rodrigo Lucero, a solid performer in a utility role and against lefty pitchers, batted .242 in that role; cs. $110k, est. $121k;

Eddie Gonzalez won’t be needed no more, since we have enough infielders capable of batting more than .200, or his .159; Moran’s case is tricky, since we could also use Bentley in his role and free up a spot for somebody from AAA, where we had an option or two. The other four players will of course all get offers, and we will try to strike a long-term deal with Osanai and Rick Gonzalez right away.

Provisionally, we submitted $210k for Dadswell and $120k for Lucero, and the estimates for Moran, Osanai, and R. Gonzalez.

September 30 – SFW INF Pat Graham (.344, 5 HR, 57 RBI) and POR 1B Tetsu Osanai (.340, 26 HR, 106 RBI) are batting champions. (Osanai batted 62 points less with the Coons than with the Canadiens…)
October 21 – The Rebels trade infielder Marihito Ohayashi (.236, 6 HR, 34 RBI) to Pittsburgh for C Angel Potter, who batted only .201 last year in 234 AB, and a prospect.
October 26 – First huge deal of the winter: the Condors send 1B Wayne Baxter, who has 84 HR and 376 RBI in his 575-game career, to Topeka in exchange for outfielder Rich Wright (.257, 24 HR, 200 RBI in career) plus pitching prospect Vicente Guzman.
October 28 – The Knights address their pitching problems by adding veteran reliever Carlos Martinez (3.69 ERA) from the Gold Sox for utility player Angelo Alicea.
October 30 – Big deal: the Canadiens trade outfielder Seitaro Ogawa, 28, with 630 H, 61 HR, 350 RBI to Tijuana for SP Luis Cruz (86-81, 3.92 ERA).
November 1 – Raccoons remain empty-handed as Gold Gloves are distributed. The Canadiens take four, including all in the outfield (Herrera, Ramon Gonzalez, and the just traded Ogawa). Ex-Coon Ben Simon takes his fifth glove while with the Cyclones. Three of his gloves came with the Coons.
November 2 – Dallas 1B Andres Serna (.295, 6 HR, 73 RBI) and Indy SP Robert Vazquez (15-8, 2.85 ERA) are Rookies of the Year.
November 3 – Pitchers of the Year are announced: PIT David Burke (21-8, 2.31 ERA) and CHA Juan “Mauler” Correa (20-9, 2.13 ERA) are winners. Burke takes his second title, while Correa at age 35 wins his seventh!
November 4 – MVP titles go to DEN Roberto Rodriguez (.313, 2 HR, 65 RBI) and ATL Michael Root (.324, 25 HR, 104 RBI).
November 7 – Ex-Coon Pedro Hermundo and his 813 career hits are sent from Tijuana to Pittsburgh, along with a minor leaguer, for 25-yr old OF Paul Dundee, a career .309 batter with 18 HR in just over two seasons.

I tried to get a deal done for Topeka’s SP Cristo Negron, sending over Christopher Powell (to offset Negron’s salary) and a combo of other players, but Powell vetoed the trade through his 10/5 rights. This was not a complete surprise, but further complicating things. It especially made a trade for Negron impossible, since we could not absorb his $800k+ salary that way.

At least two goals for this off season were accomplished quickly, saving a bit of money for next season, as we inked Tetsu Osanai and Ricardo Gonzalez both to 5-yr contracts. Osanai received $1.75M, Gonzalez $1.4M. I’m surprised Osanai was to be had that cheaply. His first demand was well beyond $3M over six years!

This makes the reduced 1986 budget really, really tight now with only $320k available in budget room (but we had spent quite some excess cash for scouting and development last year, cutting some of which would not hurt anything).

To make matters worse, the salary arbitrators decided in favor of Sam Dadswell and for a $287,500 salary for him in ’86, taking another slice out of the budget.

It’s November 16. The Raccoons are cash-strapped thanks to some penny-pincher as owner, have a problem with their rotation, a problem at third base, and generally no idea how to improve now.