[Westheim]

2007 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set shows 2006 numbers, second set overall; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Nick Brown, 29, B:L, T:L (12-5, 2.66 ERA | 68-49, 3.03 ERA) – our ace missed significant time for the first time in his major league career, two months with a shoulder strain, holding him to 22 starts in 2006. He looks all healthy and ready to axe down batters again with his consistent 9.6 K/9.
SP Kelvin Yates *, 29, B:L, T:R (13-15, 3.30 ERA | 71-86, 3.61 ERA, 1 SV) – acquired in trade for the Condors – and we can’t yet really believe, nor grasp it – we fully expect Yates to extend his streak of four consecutive Continental League strikeout titles, or at the very least, yield only to Brownie. You have to hope for the swings to miss, since contact off him tends to result in high fly balls.
SP Jose Dominguez, 33, B:L, T:R (14-13, 4.31 ERA | 122-138, 4.33 ERA) – acquired in trade mid-season, Dominguez was just one in a long row of failures on the mound for the Raccoons, posting a 5.27 ERA in 11 games with the Coons. Despite this, he will be the second-most expensive player on the roster after Yates.
SP Raúl Fuentes *, 31, B:L, T:L (10-4, 3.16 ERA | 48-45, 4.28 ERA) – control-challenged left-hander that was acquired from the Bayhawks for Rémy Lucas and G.G. Williams in March after all other options fell through. We hope from more than from Tim Webster.
SP Kenichi Watanabe, 30, B:R, T:R (8-16, 4.04 ERA | 12-24, 3.69 ERA) – Watanabe nibbles the corners, which sometimes works, and sometimes doesn’t. If it doesn’t, he’s usually out of the game rather quickly.

MU Kazuhiko Kichida, 27, B:L, T:R (4-5, 3.59 ERA | 7-8, 3.71 ERA) – there’s always that point somewhere in the season where you think Kaz has turned the corner, and then some violent outing happens in which he gets torn to shreds. Just not a reliable guy you can’t trust with a lead. He might snip walkoff singles in long marathon games from time to time, though.
MR Adam Riddle, 25, B:R, T:R (5-1, 2.40 ERA | 5-1, 2.25 ERA) – joined the roster early in 2006 and delivered some solid middle relief. A decent right-hander, every pen needs two or three, and when they make the minimum, the better.
MR Colby Kirk *, 34, B:L, T:L (6-7, 4.91 ERA, 1 SV | 36-34, 4.09 ERA, 14 SV) – Portland is Kirk’s fifth station in five years as he keeps bouncing from one-year deal to one-year deal. We are looking for some 7th inning or situational relief from him. He has vibrant movement that sometimes leads to the strike zone getting ignored by his pitches.
MR Lawrence Rockburn, 26, B:R, T:R (3-0, 2.13 ERA, 3 SV | 7-3, 2.64 ERA, 4 SV) – Raw Lockburn really broke out in 2006, delivering rock-solid relief in front of Marcos Bruno. With those two and Casas aligned, opposing teams had a hard time past the sixth in ‘06.
SU Marcos Bruno, 31, B:R, T:R (3-4, 1.71 ERA, 6 SV | 21-24, 3.07 ERA, 56 SV) – again subbed for an injured Angel Casas early in the season, and was almost completely spotless for the entire season. The strange reason for his struggles when we tried to make him the full time closer years ago remains undiscovered.
SU Ed Bryan, 26, B:L, T:L (6-3, 2.53 ERA, 1 SV | 8-5, 2.38 ERA, 1 SV) – with the departure of Domingo Moreno, Bryan is promoted to a setup role after being mostly used as a situational left-hander before. So far he has not conclusively shown that he can remove right-handers.
CL Angel Casas, 24, B:S, T:R (1-3, 2.45 ERA, 41 SV | 4-5, 2.11 ERA, 72 SV) – by now, Angel has some pattern established of contracting a minor injury in April, getting subbed for in some way or another, then being awesome for the remaining five months of the year.

C Craig Bowen, 26, B:S, T:R (.252, 10 HR, 30 RBI | .217, 25 HR, 94 RBI) – leading the team in moustache, and being the best catcher we’ve had in some years (yes, really), wins Bowen the primary job.
C Bob Wood, 26, B:R, T:R (.199, 1 HR, 14 RBI | .211, 5 HR, 45 RBI) – the Raccoons were really, really committed to Wood as the catcher for the next few years to get other stuff sorted out, but at some level even commitment knows limits. He will be the backup until we can make an upgrade.

1B Adrian Quebell, 24, B:L, T:L (.269, 12 HR, 77 RBI | .275, 12 HR, 78 RBI) – Quebell won the Gold Glove, but we’d rather have preferred a 25-HR season. His rookie campaign may not have been completely unheralded, but it was not the kind of offensive production we had envisioned when we dumped Al Martin to make room for him.
1B/2B Ieyoshi Nomura, 23, B:L, T:R (.288, 2 HR, 50 RBI | .282, 4 HR, 75 RBI) – while around him people fell and rarely rose, Yoshi kept swinging away and chipping lots of singles and also 35 doubles for some strong production from the keystone. He’s also getting much better at defense.
SS/3B/2B Victor Flores, 28, B:R, T:R (.283, 6 HR, 53 RBI | .278, 16 HR, 268 RBI) – Vic did a splendid job in 2006, playing shortstop almost every day. We really could not have hoped for much more from him. He’s in a contract year.
1B/3B Daniel Sharp, 29, B:R, T:R (.236, 3 HR, 43 RBI | .282, 40 HR, 300 RBI) – everyday third baseman, shaky defense or not, Sharp fell into a hole last Opening Day and never crawled out – a shocking development for a former incredibly steady player, who is now in a contract year.
SS/2B/3B Yoshi Yamada, 29, B:L, T:R (.152, 1 HR, 4 RBI | .201, 3 HR, 39 RBI) – he can run, he can field, but he surely can not hit a lick, even if his life would depend on it.
1B/3B Juan Gusmán *, 28, B:R, T:R (did not play | .360, 0 HR, 5 RBI) – sometimes you make an Opening Day roster because the guy your team prefers, just doesn’t sign his contract. Gusmán, claimed off waivers, might not stick around for long, but he might add to his 25 career at-bats, all collected before 2004.

LF/1B Matt Pruitt, 23, B:L, T:R (.325, 3 HR, 16 RBI | .325, 3 HR, 16 RBI) – played well enough last September to stay on the roster (and in a prominent spot); defense is not really his strong suit; he has to make a living with the bat, which is rumored to contain up to 30 homers a year.
LF/CF Tomas Castro, 23, B:S, T:R (.298, 11 HR, 67 RBI | .299, 18 HR, 102 RBI) – acquired in mid-season from the Stars, Castro dropped his power stroke upon arrival. A surplus of leftfielders moves him to center, where his limited range and arm might cost some, but it’s the only move we can make without sitting either him, Pruitt, or Quebell. He can steal bases, too, nabbing 28 between Dallas and Portland last year.
RF/LF/CF Luke Black *, 33, B:R, T:R (.231, 13 HR, 64 RBI | .235, 74 HR, 325 RBI) – his bat has lots of extra base hits in it, and he doesn’t quite strike out as often as his low batting average would indicate. Despite the advance age, Black is still an excellent defender with a murder arm, and was brought in mainly because of batting right-handed, something this team – strangely – desperately needs.
CF/RF/LF Santiago Trevino, 24, B:L, T:L (.247, 0 HR, 14 RBI | .247, 0 HR, 14 RBI) – excellent defensive centerfielder with an uninspiring bat.
RF/LF/CF Jose Carlos Crespo, 26, B:S, T:R (.266, 8 HR, 56 RBI | .267, 8 HR, 58 RBI) – Crespo filled out every hole he was stuck in, playing all over the place, even in center, where hadn’t played before 2006, but he was very ineffective out there. The bat was steady and good for a surprise or two.

On disabled list: Nobody.

Otherwise unavailable: Nobody.

Other roster movement:
MR Ward Jackson *, 29, B:L, T:L (did not play | 6-3, 4.49 ERA, 1 SV) – DFA. Was acquired from the Condors along with Kelvin Yates as the Condors tried to dump his contract, stowing him away in AAA all of 2006.
MR Sergio Vega, 26, B:R, T:R (0-2, 5.79 ERA | 0-4, 5.52 ERA) – DFA. Made eight appearances (two starts) in an unconvincing manner in 2006. His career BB/9 is almost nine.

Opening day lineups:
Vs. RHP: 2B Nomura – SS Flores – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – 3B Sharp – P Brown
Vs. LHP: 2B Nomura – SS Flores – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – 3B Sharp – C Bowen – 1B Quebell – P Brown

OFF SEASON CHANGES:

We dropped some of the Avatars of Losing, with Brady, Ford, and Moreno leaving via free agency, and the ballclub was selectively, but convincingly improved. It doesn’t quite show in the numbers, but the Raccoons gained 0.5 WAR in the offseason, 11th overall.

Top 5: Rebels (+9.2), Crusaders (+7.6), Stars (+6.8), Warriors (+5.6), Aces (+3.7)
Bottom 5: Canadiens (-5.6), Bayhawks (-6.1), Indians (-6.4), Scorpions (-6.9), Blue Sox (-7.0)

PREDICTION TIME:

It’s been ten years. Ten years of losing.

This year, it will end. The Raccoons will win. They will not compete for anything related to October (watch those Crusaders closely!), but they will get over the hump.

We have the best 1-2 punch in the league as far as starting pitchers are concerned. The lineup consists of many young, hungry players with obvious talent, although they aren’t always placed in the best defensive spots for their ability. The bullpen was one of the best in the league and will remain so. Finally, our bench is not final, we STILL have an offer out there to Kunimatsu Sato, who is so totally a lot better than Gusmán.

Of course, we make a few assumptions here. One is that Matt Pruitt, still a rookie(!), will click in the cleanup spot. That’s a lot to ask from a boy with 91 at-bats.

This team has an 85-77 finish in it. I believe that. (I have to).

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

The Raccoons’ farm system remains middling, dropping slightly from 12th to 13th overall, with a noticeable drop in ranked players from 13 to just 10.

The following ranked players from last year are no longer eligible: #40 Adrian Quebell (service time), #53 Adam Riddle (service time), #70 Luis Beltran (age), #166 Bob Mays (service time). Also from the top 200 fell: #95 Matt Cash, #134 Ted Reese, #184 Cody Bryant.

18th (new) – A SP Dave Self, 19 – 2006 supplemental round pick by the Raccoons
19th (new) – A SP Hector Santos, 18 – international discovery by Vince Guerra
58th (+74) – AAA SS Ryan Miller, 22 – 2002 first round pick by the Titans, acquired in trade with Christian Greenman for Mark Thomas, Manuel Martinez, and Freddy Rosa
67th (-32) – AA CL Pedro Delgado, 22 – 2002 first round pick by the Titans, acquired in trade with Bill Corkum and Rémy Lucas for Manny Gabriel and Dale Moore
87th (-24) – AAA 3B Ricardo Martinez, 21 – international discovery by Pacifics, acquired in trade from Titans with Jose Carlos Crespo and Cássio Boda for Albert Martin and Glen Barnes
97th (new) – A OF Jimmy Eichelkraut, 18 – 2006 first round pick by the Raccoons
120th (-33) – AAA 2B Jose Gutierrez, 22 – international discovery by Condors, acquire in trade from Pacifics for Curt Cooks
128th (-18) – AAA SP Brendan Teasdale, 22 – 2005 first round pick by the Raccoons
138th (new) – AAA SP Cássio Boda, 22 – 2001 eleventh round pick by the Buffaloes, acquired in trade from Titans with Jose Carlos Crespo and Ricardo Martinez for Albert Martin and Glen Barnes
188th (-5) – AAA SP Cesar Lopez, 24 – international discovery by Knights, acquired in trade with Jesus Palacios, Manny Gabriel, and Butch Kaustrop for Marvin Ingall and Manuel Reyes

The #1 prospect in the country is 18-year old SS Tom McWhorter, the second overall pick by the Miners in 2006.

Next: first pitch!