[Westheim]

An off season of doing nothing was ahead of us. With less than $500k available you can only really do nothing.

Maybe try to trade the scum that has accumulated over the years for not-quite-meaningless prospects, but overall, well, you can only really do nothing.

Well, maybe we can line something up.

Nobody wants Mark Thomas.

Nobody wants Dan Nordahl.

Nobody wants Manuel Martinez unless he can unload total scum.

Maybe even rebuilding is not possible. The main problem here is that Thomas has been **** since time immemorial, and right-handed relievers are not an all too valuable commodity. He who wants prospects might want to dig deeper and trade actual contributing players.

Yet nobody wants Clyde Brady.

And nobody wants Eddie Torrez.

And only the Stars want Conceicao Guerin, but only if they can get rid of a 26-year old outfielder who hit over .730 OPS for the first time last year, and immediately got a big check in arbitration.

Funny thing is that rebuilding is not even possible without trading away the few pieces that keep this from being a 100-losses team next year. All our minor league teams finished 59-81 or worse last season. We don’t have crap in the system. Some right-handed relievers. **** them. We can well see how much value they have.

However, nobody wants Chris Beairsto.

And nobody wants Ricardo Huerta.

And nobody wants Albert Martin.

...

November 21 – The Crusaders acquire 1B Luis Soto (.278, 40 HR, 355 RBI), age 29, from the Thunder in exchange for OF Jorge Gonzales (.251, 48 HR, 226 RBI).
November 26 – 30-year old SP Jorge Chapa (137-82, 3.13 ERA) blows the doors off the Boston Bank, signing with the Titans for a new record contract of $22.68M over seven years.
November 27 – Ex-SFB SP Takeru Sato (102-92, 4.00 ERA) inks a 2-yr, $3.28M contract with the Scorpions.
November 30 – Ex-SAL LF/RF Jesus Flores (.256, 73 HR, 413 RBI) signs a 7-yr, $12.04M contract with the Falcons.
December 1 – Rule 5 draft: 22 players are taken over 2 rounds. The Raccoons draft 26-yr old SS/2B Yoshi Yamada from the Wolves. The Raccoons lose MR Rémy Lucas to the Crusaders, MR Scott Boone to the Knights, and MR Aurelio Hernandez to the Rebels.
December 1 – Weather-hardened LF/RF Dale Wales (.317, 170 HR, 1,526 RBI) – at age 41! – signs a 1-yr, $2.08M contract with the Indians after spending the last two years in Denver. Wales needs 30 hits to dethrone career leader Jeffery Brown. The Indians also take on right-handed, 35-yr old Iván Lopez (81-61, 2.65 ERA, 170 SV) for a year and $740k, unsure whether to use him in the rotation or bullpen.
December 1 – Former Blue Sox closer Jose Escobar (30-40, 2.69 ERA, 260 SV) signs up with the Capitals for 3-yr, $3.68M.
December 3 – The Scorpions hook up with ex-SAL SP Dan Moriarty (99-98, 4.11 ERA) for 7-yr, $19.28M.
December 3 – Former WAS INF Jose Lopez (.265, 157 HR, 694 RBI) inks with the Gold Sox for 6-yr, $10.72M.
December 4 – Cincy snaps up ex-LVA CL Ian Johnson (22-26, 2.84 ERA, 75 SV). The 25-year old southpaw will earn $3.9M over three years.
December 5 – The Wolves also lose their closer Javier “Baby Bull” Navarro (70-70, 2.51 ERA, 399 SV). The 35-year old righty signs a 3-yr, $3.36M deal with the Rebels.
December 7 – Career home run leader LF/RF Raúl Vázquez (.306, 411 HR, 1,506 RBI) returns to the Continental League and signs with the Bayhawks for 2-yr, $4.48M. Vázquez is 38 and probably won’t have 500 in him.
December 7 – Ex-SAC LF/RF Aaron Jenkins (.298, 179 HR, 1,249 RBI) signs a 2-yr, $4.88M deal with the Gold Sox at age 36.
December 8 – The Wolves land ex-WAS SP Steve Rogers (130-112, 3.69 ERA) for 5-yr, $9.6M.
December 9 – 38-year old 1B/C Arturo Aguilar (.258, 141 HR, 869 RBI) returns to the Capitals, where he was part of the early-90s dynasty, in a trade with the Loggers, who receive 26-yr old MR Tim Poe (14-12, 4.03 ERA, 4 SV) and #60 prospect CL Enrique Mesa.
December 12 – Ex-DAL Gabriel De La Rosa (45-51, 2.40 ERA, 209 SV) returns to the CL North by signing a 2-yr, $1.42M contract with the Titans.

A mediocre pitcher like Dan Moriarty will make more in seven years than the Raccoons’ entire budget for next season will encompass. We are that deep down.

What else? Gary Fifield got a $188k deal from the Capitals. Good for him. My scalp ain’t worth as much.

Next year’s team will have Double-Yoshis. And probably not much else. A franchise, broken beyond repair.

Embrace oblivion.

I should talk to Maud about putting that on caps and T-shirts.