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Westheim · 11-27-2016, 02:27 PM

While I was digging our lineup versus right-handed pitching, left-handed pitching – with or without R.J. DeWeese – would give us a nightmare in 2016. Between Cookie, McKnight, Nunley, and Young – whom do you sit so that you don’t send four or five left-handed bats out there?

Our right-handed batting options were not exciting at all. Bergquist and Canning. Sandy Sambrano. Margolis. There was not a whole lot of upside to be had here. A right-handed bat for the outfield would be a great thing to have, to split time with Ron Richards, so we’d like a strong arm.

The reserve outfielders were not settled at all at this point. Brandon Johnson was a nice defensive alternative, but he was a left-handed batter, too, and so were Chisholm and Ochoa. We still had Jimmy Fucito stowed away in AAA, but if things go according to me, he’ll stay stowed away there. 22-year old Alex Duarte would start the season in AAA, but even then there was nothing hinting at him being any help in this coming season.

How much help do the Raccoons need, and how much can they afford?

The cheaper option might be looking for a hand change in the defensive outfielder and supplant Brandon Johnson with a right-hander or switch-hitter. This one was actually tougher than it sounded, especially considering only free agents. The hits were few and far between, and if a player generally fit the criteria of being decent-to-good on all outfield positions and not batting left-handed, then they were usually 38 years old like John Hudson.

The Condors’ Ryan Feldmann would be an interesting option, but he was a key part of a first-place team and the cost of acquiring him for what few prospects we had was probably prohibitive. It didn’t hurt asking, but let’s just say that GM Gabriel Villanueva was asking for more than my pain threshold. No deal without either Nunley, or Cookie, or Tadasu Abe.

But that’s okay. After all I’m not looking towards adding a starter (since the DeWeese chase was still hot), but just a defensive backup to nibble up a few dozen starts against left-handed pitching. Still, options were scarce. You quickly ended up with players like Dylan Grindstaff, who was almost 31, had barely over two years of service time, and when he had played a full season with the 2014 Wolves, had batted .203 with eight homers.

There were also relievers to add to the roster, which still saw the recently acquired John Korb as perhaps the fourth-best right-handed replacement for canned starters. That had to change!

In mid-January, Zack Entwistle was still unclaimed, which certainly had nothing to do with his pitiful performance last season which didn’t match his salary expectations at all. There was another ex-Raccoon available, Adam Riddle. He had been merely okay when he came up with the Coons in the mid-2000s, and we had traded him to the Capitals with last-rounder Danny Zigay to gain the services of Juan Barrón after the 2007 season. He had basically done fairly okay for his career, but he was now 33 and had a bank account to fill. To that end, he insisted on a 4-year deal, and the Raccoons backed out of negotiations fairly quickly.

I made offers to two veteran 7th/8th inning relievers on the 18th, which was just the wrong moment. That afternoon, R.J. DeWeese’s agent called and informed me that the Thunder were packing bundles of dollar notes into suitcases to win his client’s favor.

Two days later, the Crusaders picked up outfielder Winston Jones, which was big news for us, since they were paying Jones a lot of coins and I was highly doubtful that they would continue to pursue DeWeese after that, since they still had perennial Player of the Year Martin Ortíz, and neither of the three made a good impression in center.

One way or another, our outfield situation didn’t resolve until February…

+++

January 7 – The Bayhawks add ex-SFW C/1B Pat Eaton (.254, 30 HR, 251 RBI) for 2-yr, $1.14M.
January 9 – The Raccoons acquire 32-yr old OF Juan Medina (.293, 2 HR, 92 RBI) from the Canadiens in exchange for 28-yr old SP Marco Gomez (0-3, 9.13 ERA) and 23-yr old AA MR Tim Patton.
January 9 – The Condors trade 27-yr old C Cory Roland (.268, 15 HR, 72 RBI) to the Warriors for 28-yr old 1B Mike Gershkovich (.299, 16 HR, 82 RBI).
January 11 – Former Warriors closer and reigning Federal League Pitcher of the Year Arturo Lopez (55-57, 2.37 ERA, 341 SV) stays in the FL West, signing a 3-yr, $6.84M deal with the Pacifics.
January 20 – Big signing in Washington, as the Capitals ink ex-LVA SP Jaquan Wagoner (73-70, 3.87 ERA) to a 6-yr, $19.24M contract.
January 20 – The Crusaders sign ex-RIC LF/RF Winston Jones (.289, 119 HR, 72 RBI) to a 2-year deal. The 32-year old will earn $3.76M as part of the deal.
February 4 – The Raccoons confirm the addition of 29-yr old ex-CIN LF/RF R.J. DeWeese (.249, 193 HR, 621 RBI) on a 7-yr, $23.1M contract. The Raccoons forfeit their second-round pick.
February 4 – 39-yr old ex-POR SP Kenichi Watanabe (66-91, 4.17 ERA) signs a 1-yr, $242k deal with the Canadiens.
February 4 – The Crusaders sign 37-yr old ex-WAS 3B Alex Rivas (.244, 53 HR, 256 RBI) to a 1-yr, $940k contract.
February 13 – The Aces have a new closer, adding 35-yr old ex-TOP Jose Medina (15-19, 3.97 ERA, 51 SV) for three years and $1.83M.

+++

After almost three months of counting coins, R.J. DeWeese is here! Finally! That $23.1M contact is flat, $3.3M per year, with the last year in 2022 a player option. There are also incentives because who can live off $3.3M these days?

… and then he immediately pissed off his newly-won team mates, announcing at the press conference for his introduction that this was a deal that would settle him for life, and it came from a pathetic team that had recognized that only a player of his caliber could save them from their misery. His bat alone would lead them to the playoffs. When baited by Jim Palehose from the Agitator about whom on the roster he admired most, DeWeese calmly announced that he alone was worth admiring on this roster.

Immediately after that could-have-gone-better presser I made sure that I had enough ammo for the gun in my top drawer to shoot me once for every million I had signed him for; Nick Brown had sent an email after seeing the press conference online that clearly stated his intention to consume DeWeese’s lunch every single ****ing day; and Maud, usually the only sane one around the premises, but now with her bun undone, took seven Aspirin with a healthy dose of Jack Brainloss whiskey and laid down face-down on my couch.

Maud, we gotta make some ****ing bobbleheads for DeWeese. – Maud? – Nah, she’s dosed off.

Medina is a cheap solution to the defensive outfielder thing. He’s 32 and will be under team control at least until he’s 34, but it was the best thing you could get for little to put on the table. Gomez stinks, and Patton’s prospect status extinguished basically as soon as we took him in the eighth round of the 2013 draft. Medina is a switch-hitter, who has been roughly even against right-handed and left-handed pitching in what little major league exposure he has managed to get.

It required talking to someone with moose breath, but I’m proud of that deal.

The hunt for right-handed relief goes on, although the options get scarcer. I was after Clyde Henderson, who had several stints with the Knights, but he rejected a 2-yr, $1M offer, longing for three years or more. I pulled back the offer, and he eventually had to sign with the Aces for 2-yr, $672k. I continue to entertain offers, but setup relief could be a weak spot…

+++

What else? Ralph Ford signed a $350k deal with the Stars, who also added Raúl Hernandez for $246k. The Aces picked up John Alexander for $850k. Vic Flores got a $312k gig from the Bayhawks. Nelson Chavez joined the Capitals for $284k. The Thunder have signed Daryl Anderson for $267k. The Titans will bring back Matt Pruitt into the division for $236k.

Poor Pruitt spent the entire 2015 season in the minors, batting .314 with six homers in 74 games. His last big league stint was with the 2014 Indians, where he batted .271 with seven homers in 369 AB.

+++

I’ve been slow with things recently. This has nothing to do with the Raccoons. Bought a lot of gaming stuff the last few months, didn’t like any of it. Nothing tickles my fancy. Joyless gaming here, and a job that slowly consumes my soul (although I’d blame certain people around the premises more than the actual work – consulting, accounting, taxes) I just find it hard to get excited by anything recently, and I have watched a lot of TV stuff from the olden days, in passive mode, without OOTP open on the side. ‘Olden days’ in my case would be stuff from the 80s or so. Golden Girls mainly, some Star Trek, and also a whole bunch of episodes of ‘Tatort’ [‘Crime Scene’], which is a police drama that is virtually unknown in the States although I do know that it used to run on obscure channels over at your end of the pond with subtitles. Some of those episodes will rip your guts right out. Watched a few of those as well recently.

Yeah, I don’t know. Slow days ‘round here right now. Opening Day should be somewhere in the middle of this week anyway. But I’m not excited.

11-27-2016, 02:27 PM	#2095
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,954	While I was digging our lineup versus right-handed pitching, left-handed pitching – with or without R.J. DeWeese – would give us a nightmare in 2016. Between Cookie, McKnight, Nunley, and Young – whom do you sit so that you don’t send four or five left-handed bats out there? Our right-handed batting options were not exciting at all. Bergquist and Canning. Sandy Sambrano. Margolis. There was not a whole lot of upside to be had here. A right-handed bat for the outfield would be a great thing to have, to split time with Ron Richards, so we’d like a strong arm. The reserve outfielders were not settled at all at this point. Brandon Johnson was a nice defensive alternative, but he was a left-handed batter, too, and so were Chisholm and Ochoa. We still had Jimmy Fucito stowed away in AAA, but if things go according to me, he’ll stay stowed away there. 22-year old Alex Duarte would start the season in AAA, but even then there was nothing hinting at him being any help in this coming season. How much help do the Raccoons need, and how much can they afford? The cheaper option might be looking for a hand change in the defensive outfielder and supplant Brandon Johnson with a right-hander or switch-hitter. This one was actually tougher than it sounded, especially considering only free agents. The hits were few and far between, and if a player generally fit the criteria of being decent-to-good on all outfield positions and not batting left-handed, then they were usually 38 years old like John Hudson. The Condors’ Ryan Feldmann would be an interesting option, but he was a key part of a first-place team and the cost of acquiring him for what few prospects we had was probably prohibitive. It didn’t hurt asking, but let’s just say that GM Gabriel Villanueva was asking for more than my pain threshold. No deal without either Nunley, or Cookie, or Tadasu Abe. But that’s okay. After all I’m not looking towards adding a starter (since the DeWeese chase was still hot), but just a defensive backup to nibble up a few dozen starts against left-handed pitching. Still, options were scarce. You quickly ended up with players like Dylan Grindstaff, who was almost 31, had barely over two years of service time, and when he had played a full season with the 2014 Wolves, had batted .203 with eight homers. There were also relievers to add to the roster, which still saw the recently acquired John Korb as perhaps the fourth-best right-handed replacement for canned starters. That had to change! In mid-January, Zack Entwistle was still unclaimed, which certainly had nothing to do with his pitiful performance last season which didn’t match his salary expectations at all. There was another ex-Raccoon available, Adam Riddle. He had been merely okay when he came up with the Coons in the mid-2000s, and we had traded him to the Capitals with last-rounder Danny Zigay to gain the services of Juan Barrón after the 2007 season. He had basically done fairly okay for his career, but he was now 33 and had a bank account to fill. To that end, he insisted on a 4-year deal, and the Raccoons backed out of negotiations fairly quickly. I made offers to two veteran 7th/8th inning relievers on the 18th, which was just the wrong moment. That afternoon, R.J. DeWeese’s agent called and informed me that the Thunder were packing bundles of dollar notes into suitcases to win his client’s favor. Two days later, the Crusaders picked up outfielder Winston Jones, which was big news for us, since they were paying Jones a lot of coins and I was highly doubtful that they would continue to pursue DeWeese after that, since they still had perennial Player of the Year Martin Ortíz, and neither of the three made a good impression in center. One way or another, our outfield situation didn’t resolve until February… +++ January 7 – The Bayhawks add ex-SFW C/1B Pat Eaton (.254, 30 HR, 251 RBI) for 2-yr, $1.14M. January 9 – The Raccoons acquire 32-yr old OF Juan Medina (.293, 2 HR, 92 RBI) from the Canadiens in exchange for 28-yr old SP Marco Gomez (0-3, 9.13 ERA) and 23-yr old AA MR Tim Patton. January 9 – The Condors trade 27-yr old C Cory Roland (.268, 15 HR, 72 RBI) to the Warriors for 28-yr old 1B Mike Gershkovich (.299, 16 HR, 82 RBI). January 11 – Former Warriors closer and reigning Federal League Pitcher of the Year Arturo Lopez (55-57, 2.37 ERA, 341 SV) stays in the FL West, signing a 3-yr, $6.84M deal with the Pacifics. January 20 – Big signing in Washington, as the Capitals ink ex-LVA SP Jaquan Wagoner (73-70, 3.87 ERA) to a 6-yr, $19.24M contract. January 20 – The Crusaders sign ex-RIC LF/RF Winston Jones (.289, 119 HR, 72 RBI) to a 2-year deal. The 32-year old will earn $3.76M as part of the deal. February 4 – The Raccoons confirm the addition of 29-yr old ex-CIN LF/RF R.J. DeWeese (.249, 193 HR, 621 RBI) on a 7-yr, $23.1M contract. The Raccoons forfeit their second-round pick. February 4 – 39-yr old ex-POR SP Kenichi Watanabe (66-91, 4.17 ERA) signs a 1-yr, $242k deal with the Canadiens. February 4 – The Crusaders sign 37-yr old ex-WAS 3B Alex Rivas (.244, 53 HR, 256 RBI) to a 1-yr, $940k contract. February 13 – The Aces have a new closer, adding 35-yr old ex-TOP Jose Medina (15-19, 3.97 ERA, 51 SV) for three years and $1.83M. +++ After almost three months of counting coins, R.J. DeWeese is here! Finally! That $23.1M contact is flat, $3.3M per year, with the last year in 2022 a player option. There are also incentives because who can live off $3.3M these days? … and then he immediately pissed off his newly-won team mates, announcing at the press conference for his introduction that this was a deal that would settle him for life, and it came from a pathetic team that had recognized that only a player of his caliber could save them from their misery. His bat alone would lead them to the playoffs. When baited by Jim Palehose from the Agitator about whom on the roster he admired most, DeWeese calmly announced that he alone was worth admiring on this roster. Immediately after that could-have-gone-better presser I made sure that I had enough ammo for the gun in my top drawer to shoot me once for every million I had signed him for; Nick Brown had sent an email after seeing the press conference online that clearly stated his intention to consume DeWeese’s lunch every single **ing day; and Maud, usually the only sane one around the premises, but now with her bun undone, took seven Aspirin with a healthy dose of Jack Brainloss whiskey and laid down face-down on my couch. Maud, we gotta make some *ing bobbleheads for DeWeese. – Maud? – Nah, she’s dosed off. Medina is a cheap solution to the defensive outfielder thing. He’s 32 and will be under team control at least until he’s 34, but it was the best thing you could get for little to put on the table. Gomez stinks, and Patton’s prospect status extinguished basically as soon as we took him in the eighth round of the 2013 draft. Medina is a switch-hitter, who has been roughly even against right-handed and left-handed pitching in what little major league exposure he has managed to get. It required talking to someone with moose breath, but I’m proud of that deal. The hunt for right-handed relief goes on, although the options get scarcer. I was after Clyde Henderson, who had several stints with the Knights, but he rejected a 2-yr, $1M offer, longing for three years or more. I pulled back the offer, and he eventually had to sign with the Aces for 2-yr, $672k. I continue to entertain offers, but setup relief could be a weak spot… +++ What else? Ralph Ford signed a $350k deal with the Stars, who also added Raúl Hernandez for $246k. The Aces picked up John Alexander for $850k. Vic Flores got a $312k gig from the Bayhawks. Nelson Chavez joined the Capitals for $284k. The Thunder have signed Daryl Anderson for $267k. The Titans will bring back Matt Pruitt into the division for $236k. Poor Pruitt spent the entire 2015 season in the minors, batting .314 with six homers in 74 games. His last big league stint was with the 2014 Indians, where he batted .271 with seven homers in 369 AB. +++ I’ve been slow with things recently. This has nothing to do with the Raccoons. Bought a lot of gaming stuff the last few months, didn’t like any of it. Nothing tickles my fancy. Joyless gaming here, and a job that slowly consumes my soul (although I’d blame certain people around the premises more than the actual work – consulting, accounting, taxes) I just find it hard to get excited by anything recently, and I have watched a lot of TV stuff from the olden days, in passive mode, without OOTP open on the side. ‘Olden days’ in my case would be stuff from the 80s or so. Golden Girls mainly, some Star Trek, and also a whole bunch of episodes of ‘Tatort’ [‘Crime Scene’], which is a police drama that is virtually unknown in the States although I do know that it used to run on obscure channels over at your end of the pond with subtitles. Some of those episodes will rip your guts right out. Watched a few of those as well recently. Yeah, I don’t know. Slow days ‘round here right now. Opening Day should be somewhere in the middle of this week anyway. But I’m not excited. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 94 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.