[Westheim]

Portland, that little town in the woods. Willamette flowing through steadily. Things going their way.

These things now include seven straight losing seasons for the Furballs.

I got an email from the Mexican Prick in late October. He was as usual not thrilled with my performance, the team’s performance, and everything else, and most things in particular. He was up on the palisades as we hadn’t extended Jesus Palacios’ contract yet. Well, tough ****, Carlosito, I thought, we don’t have no money for that.

The Prick went on to state that the budget would be raised to $19.6M in 2004, but this was in the light of both him and the fan base getting tired of our act. Seven consecutive losing seasons and the like. Well, tough ****, Carlosito, I thought, I am getting tired of your act, too. That will be the second-smallest budget in the sport, which is actually a worse relative position than before.

And I didn’t even know he knew we still had a few fans.

He went on that he expected to see more fans in the park (note 1: forward to Maud; note 2: when has he ever been here for a game? Prick.), and also eventually the team back in the World Series. Well, tough ****, Carlosito, I thought, nobody’s coming to see a bunch of losers play out the string for at best fourth place for the better part of a decade.

Ah, foes! What would we do without them?

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First thing to take care of salary arbitration and free agents. The bad news ahead: Marvin Ingall, Jesus Palacios, Benton Wilson, and Domingo Moreno are all bound for free agency – and none of them is eligible for compensation. Not even Palacios. Well, ****.

We have a whole array of arbitration cases with a total of 11 players lined up to appear there (with service time, old salary, estimate):

SP Nick Brown (10-13, 3.72 ERA) – 3.046 – minimum - $460k
MR Marcos Bruno (5-4, 3.92 ERA) – 3.000 – minimum - $230k
MR Ricardo Huerta (5-4, 3.30 ERA) – 4.091 - $210k - $240k
SP/MR Bob Joly (2-10, 4.39 ERA) – 3.091 - $150k - $230k
MR Manuel Martinez (3-3, 2.47 ERA) – 4.011 - $215k - $240k
CL Dan Nordahl (4-3, 4.14 ERA, 36 SV) – 4.008 - $220k - $250k
C Gary Fifield (.145/.226/.274, 4 HR, 14 RBI) – 3.060 – minimum - $230k
C Pablo Ledesma (.216/.325/.380, 12 HR, 61 RBI) – 4.106 - $850k - $998k
C Mark Thomas (.333/.360/.402, 0 HR, 13 RBI) – 2.157 – minimum - $230k
1B/3B Daniel Sharp (.284/.361/.380, 5 HR, 38 RBI) – 3.073 – minimum - $370k
OF Dale Moore (.266/.316/.380, 4 HR, 21 RBI) – 3.079 – minimum - $230k

And these are our projected free agents:

MR Domingo Moreno (1-3, 2.80 ERA) - $400k
MR Benton Wilson (4-4, 3.11 ERA) - $369k
INF Marvin Ingall (.266/.327/.358, 5 HR, 31 RBI) - $250k
2B Jesus Palacios (.267/.331/.341, 9 HR, 42 RBI) - $1.22M

Given our $19.6M budget (which is just $200k more than the bottom scratching Pacifics will have available), and the contracts we already have on board, it will be difficult to even keep the players we already have and love, and BOY, is that a sentence I hate to keep drumming out.

Off the top of my head, there are three things to save more or less (mostly less) cash with:
• Palacios. He can’t come back, he’s too expensive for a .672 OPS bat. Would have really loved some compensation though. Slacker!
• Ledesma. He’s not getting paid a million to bat .216; if he gets his estimate, and Palacios is not retained, he will be the third-highest paid player on the team after Neil Reece and Clyde Brady. He batted .300 with an OPS well over .800 with the Buffaloes, for crying out loud!
• Right-handed relief, most notably perennial clown Bob Joly. Rockburn can take his spot. He will make the minimum. That of course saves less than a hundred grand. But I am tired of Bob the Clown’s act, and I’ve been for some time.

We might want to focus on keeping the left-handed relievers on board, and after that Marv. Marv will be 35 next year, you can’t bank on many great things to come. And he’s never been a star, but always serviceable.

That defines losing teams. No stars, but everybody’s serviceable.

Another player to dump is Moore. He was pretty exciting the first two months of the season, but soon enough excitement made way for resignation. We barely used him the last two months of 2003. We should not be grumpy (other than with Ledesma), since Moore was always only a throw-in. In the Ledesma trade, no less.

By the way, the Buffaloes didn’t get their money’s worth in that trade, either. They received THREE WILD PITCHES IN ONE AT BAT Juan Diaz, who sucked his way down to AA and was released in May(!), SP Jack Berry, who improved on his 41 home runs surrendered between AA and AAA in 2002, by surrendering 48 between the same two levels this year (I will forfeit the 255 K in 239.1 IP in this case), and Chris Roberson, whom they parked at AAA for 108 AB of .308 hitting very late in the season. Looking at it from this perspective, the Furballs might even be better off than the Hooves-‘n-Horns.

Well. Let’s go about it from a different perspective. Which players to we want to keep 100%? Brown, Bruno, Huerta, Sharp, Nordahl (we can always find a proper closer on the street and have him pitch setup). And at least one between Moreno and Wilson.

Having to pick between Moreno and Wilson, you’d go with Moreno. He’s three years younger, and his career record so far is very consistent. Wilson posted ERA’s north of six in back-to-back seasons 1999-2000. Moreno can also pitch two innings if the enemy insists on loading the lineup with left-handers and the starter goes six or less. Wilson is a short man, a situational lefty. Of course you would prefer to keep both. But this is not Make-A-Wish. Although with the Coons, the medical report is grim…

But I was able to get a few things done before the end of October. Nick Brown signed a 1-yr, $440k deal, and Marcos Bruno agreed to exactly half that price, which saved thirty grand total. But we totally ripped off Daniel Sharp, whom I think will have a rising value in the near future. He agreed to a 4-yr, $2M contract, with only $350k paid next year. That’s little gain again in 2004, but it might pay out well in the longer run. The deal buys out all his arbitration years and one year of free agency.

After those deals we had just a hair over $2M available from the budget, but that was with several managerial positions in the organization not filled. The actual number was probably a quarter million lower.

Pursuing Moreno was not an easy task in itself. He was insisting on a 3-year deal. I had two years on my mind. But he had pitched so well for us the last two years, and he was only going to be 30 years old next season. So I buckled and gave in to his demands. I am getting old and weak.

We also signed Dan Nordahl to a $250k deal for 2004. That estimate seemed too low to me even for a sieve with a tail on the mound.

October 26 – The Thunder acquire 26-yr old INF/OF Max Nixon (.238, 18 HR, 90 RBI) from the Wolves in exchange for LF/RF Freddie Jones (.298, 25 HR, 418 RBI), who’s 31.
October 31 – Loggers fans are excited to hear that 30-yr old LF/RF Bakile Hiwalani (.287, 161 HR, 930 RBI) will wear the black hat for seven more years, getting paid $16.24M.
October 31 – The Canadiens trade 33-yr old MR Bubby Cannon (30-18, 4.23 ERA, 8 SV) to the Bayhawks for three low-level, low-upside prospects.
November 4 – The Raccoons and MR Domingo Moreno (17-10, 2.92 ERA, 14 SV) agree to a 3-yr, $1.365M extension.
November 7 – MIL OF/1B Jerry Fletcher (.289, 5 HR, 73 RBI) also hooks up with the team for longer. The 32-year old will receive $4.24M over two years.
November 8 – Another trade between the Canadiens and Bayhawks: Vancouver unloads OF/1B Jorge Durán (.304, 8 HR, 266 RBI) for two more prospects, including A OF Dave Strickland, 20, who looks like he should make the prospect list in a prominent spot this spring.

2003 ABL Award Winners:

Most Valuable Player: TOP SP Tony Hamlyn (21-5, 2.51 ERA) and IND LF/RF Ron Alston (.310, 39 HR, 122 RBI)
Pitchers of the Year: TOP Tony Hamlyn (21-5, 2.51 ERA) and BOS Jason O’Halloran (21-8, 2.63 ERA)
Rookies of the Year: DAL OF Cesar Morán (.290, 12 HR, 70 RBI) and POR OF Edgardo Torrez (.271, 17 HR, 56 RBI)
Relievers of the Year: TOP Arthur Joplin (4-2, 0.55 ERA, 23 SV) and NYC Leonardo Sosa (4-2, 1.19 ERA, 41 SV)
Gold Gloves (FL): P NAS Dennis Fried, C WAS Miguel Torres, 1B NAS Cesar Gonzalez, 2B DEN Jose Correa, 3B NAS Bob Townsley, SS DEN Armando Rodriguez, LF DAL Robinson Perez, CF DAL Cesar Morán, RF DAL Artie Barnes
Gold Gloves (CL): P LVA Anibal Sandoval, C POR Pablo Ledesma, 1B BOS Masaaki Matsumoto, 2B MIL Bartolo Hernandez, 3B BOS Mark Austin, SS BOS Daniel Silva, LF NYC Martin Ortíz, CF CHA John Hudson, RF SFB Paco Javier
Silver Sluggers (FL): P DAL Veit Koell, C RIC Rob James, 1B DAL/MIL Mac Woods, 2B TOP Georg Spinu, 3B DEN Zak Davidson, SS SAL Dave Hutchinson, LF LAP Ken Potter, CF CIN Will Bailey, RF CIN Dan Morris
Silver Sluggers (CL): P ATL Tynan Howard, C IND Jose Paraz, 1B POR Albert Martin, 2B MIL Bartolo Hernandez, 3B OCT Takahashi Higashi, SS MIL Tom Johnson, LF IND Ron Alston, CF BOS Rudy Garrison, RF BOS Gonzalo Munoz

Chris Beairsto finished second in the rookie voting! That’s a statement for our youngsters. Well, a rookie, a glove (even if unsuspected), and a bat. We’ll take that and hope to build on this. No, I’m actually buzzed over Torrez’ award, I didn’t see that one coming at all.

Further (mostly depressing) notes in early October:

• The only notable players to retire after the 2003 season were journeyman reliever Jared Chaney (56-56, 3.00 ERA, 181 SV), who mostly pitched for the Crusaders, but won a ring with the Titans in 2001, and grand old man Vernon Robertson (227-167, 3.72 ERA), who mostly pitched on the Canadiens and joined the Capitals in time for their third title and his only ring. He won the 1990 CL POTY award.
• The Warriors would offer Dave Heffer, capable second baseman and career .748 OPSer, in a trade for Dale Moore. Sadly, Heffer will make $1.76M next year, which we kinda don’t have.
• Why did we never give Gabby De La Rosa a chance to close for us? The last five years with the Stars, he has saved 167 games while maintaining miniscule ERA’s. It was him all the time, the successor to Grant West. And I dealt him. For what? Cesar Gonzalez. Who? Exactly.

I can't do anything right.