[Westheim]

December 12 – 33-yr old RF/LF Josh Thomas (.271, 150 HR, 740 RBI), last with the Condors, signs a 2-yr, $1.32M contract with the Rebels.
December 14 – The Crusaders spend $3.56M over three years on ex-LAP SP Jesus Bautista (160-169, 3.92 ERA), who lost 15 games each of his four years in L.A. and never posted an ERA better than 4.42; he’s 34.
December 15 – Ex-TOP CL Ryosei Kato (53-47, 2.50 ERA, 308 SV) signs a big deal for a 34-year old closer, inking with the Capitals for 3-yr, $6.6M, while the team also adds 1B/3B/LF Cesar Gonzalez (.266, 196 HR, 831 RBI) for 2-yr, $4.56M.
December 17 – The Canadiens jump on SS/3B Gary Rice (.263, 63 HR, 397 RBI) for 6-yr, $9.24M. Rice, only 26, was with the Crusaders.
December 17 – Former Gold Sock CL Scott Hood (34-34, 2.08 ERA, 265 SV) signs a 3-yr, $1.92M contract with the Crusaders.
December 19 – The Raccoons add 33-yr old OF Luke Black (.235, 74 HR, 325 RBI). The former Miner receives a 4-yr, $4M deal.
December 20 – The Knights sign ex-OCT Antonio De La Parra (.286, 50 HR, 560 RBI). The 32-year old will get $2.12M over two years.
December 21 – Ex-CIN SP Takeru Sato (120-107, 4.20 ERA), who hasn’t been good in years, wins a 2-yr, $2.68M contract from the Blue Sox.
December 22 – The Bayhawks pick up ex-SFW 1B/C Urbano Cicalina (.293, 93 HR, 638 RBI) for 2-yr, $4.32M. The aches and pains of his 33-yr old body mean that Cicalina will probably play a lot at first base rather than actually catch.
December 24 – The Knights sign ex-POR SP Ralph Ford (69-96, 3.96 ERA) for 3-yr, $4.56M. The Raccoons received the Knights 3rd round pick and a supplemental round pick in the 2007 draft.
December 24 – The Thunder shell out $18.72M on a 6-year deal for ex-VAN SP Daniel Dickerson (81-75, 3.33 ERA). Dickerson, 29, has been out with a torn elbow ligament (not Tommy John, though) since July, and is not expected to pitch before the All Star Game.
December 24 – Ex-CIN/CHA SP George Allen (52-70, 4.67 ERA) gets a 3-yr, $4.68M deal with the Scorpions.

Obivously pissed off that we don’t get a first round pick for Ralph Ford. We could have used it. **** that third round pick…

Now, before you hurl stones (or raccoons) at me (don’t, especially the raccoons, they’re too cute to be thrown), the Black deal is actually pretty sane. Only the first two years (all for $1M) of the deal are guaranteed. The last two years are contingent on him appearing in 120 games. If we ever get Bobo Wood going, he can be disposed of easily.

Black’s average is not very good, although he does not strike out TOO much (just over 20%). He is going to be 34 in June, but he is still very quick on his feet, resulting in a nice share of extra base hits. He slugged .402 while batting .231 for the Miners last year, with almost 50% of his hits for extra bases. That gives me the idea that he keeps being unlucky with singles, which in turn hints at a possibility that he might not actually drop another 50 points of average in Portland like everybody else uses to do. He plays all three positions very well, his arm kills runners, and he’s totally going to be our starting rightfielder. He played for 2.5 WAR last season, 0.1 less than Clyde Brady, while playing 30 less games.

He’s of course the Duke Smack I hinted at. That pitcher I mentioned keeps bitching and moaning and I have dropped him. I have a different starting pitcher in my focus now. He’s from the Fabaceae family.

I also struggled badly to get away with just ten choices on the HOF ballot. I tried hard to not have both Raccoons drop off the ballot with less than one percent of the vote, so in the end I didn’t vote for Carlos Asquabal, whom I assumed to get elected anyway, and rather gave one vote to Scott Wade, but didn’t give one to Jason Turner. (Honestly, none of them should even get close to the Hall of Fame…)

And boy, didn’t it do Asquabal any good! (Don’t tell him, he’s our new A ball manager)

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HALL OF FAME VOTING RESULTS

SFW CL Andres Ramirez – 96.9 – 1st year – INDUCTED
NAS 3B Horace Henry – 79.7 – 1st year – INDUCTED
ATL RF Michel Root – 73.1 – 2nd year
OCT 2B Dave Browne – 57.3 – 2nd year
PIT LF Diego Rodriguez – 56.8 – 2nd year
ATL SP Carlos Asquabal – 49.3 – 4th year
WAS CL Domingo Rivera – 48.5 – 4th year
WAS C Gabriel Rivera – 43.6 – 4th year
IND CL Jim Durden – 41.4 – 4th year
DEN SS Paul Connolly – 34.8 – 3rd year
POR SP Scott Wade – 32.6 – 1st year
CHA SP Manuel Movonda – 27.8 – 1st year
LAP SP David Burke – 25.1 – 4th year
TOP SP Arnold McCray – 23.3 – 2nd year
LAP RF Yoshinobu Ishizaki – 15.0 – 4th year
DAL RF Moromao Hino – 5.7 – 1st year
CHA CL Ricardo Medina – 4.8 – 1st year – DROPPED
DAL SP Kiyohira Sasaki – 4.8 – 4th year – DROPPED
NYC CL Rick Evans – 4.0 – 4th year – DROPPED
RIC SP Harry Griggs – 3.1 – 2nd year – DROPPED
NAS CF Antonio Rodriguez – 3.1 – 2nd year – DROPPED
SFB 3B Roberto Rodriguez – 2.6 – 4th year – DROPPED
TIJ CF Preston O’Day – 1.8 – 1st year – DROPPED
LAP CF Xiao-wei Li – 1.3 – 4th year – DROPPED
IND MR Tim Hess – 0.4 – 1st year – DROPPED
POR SP Jason Turner – 0.0 – 1st year – DROPPED
LVA SP Jou Hara – 0.0 – 1st year – DROPPED

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HOW did Scotty wind up with 32% of the vote? Does the Hall (which now has 15 inhabitants) have a side gallery with curiosities like 2-pitch starting pitchers that survive the times?

30 years ago, Andres Ramirez was that other guy I pondered over regarding first draft pick. Daniel Hall or Andres Ramirez? Andres Ramirez or Daniel Hall? Since we drafted ourselves our own Hall of Fame closer some time later, I think everything came out about right.

And look how happy Horace Henry is upon arriving in the Hall!