[Westheim]

Here is this week’s report. Oh, and you will also… (hurries out of the room, only to immediately return with a sizable portable oxygen cylinder with a squeaking wheel) … need this.

Raccoons (49-43) @ Indians (40-53) – July 19-21, 2021

As the sadly third-place Raccoons trudged over to Indy, any day now could bring the news of a major dismantling of the roster that had utterly and completely failed to conquer a division that had been believed to be wide open before the season. They were 4-5, too, against the measly Indians, who were allowing the most runs in the Continental League (5.1 per game, more precisely, and even 5.9 against the Critters), and would never be able to find enough offense to offset the black hole that was their pitching staff. WELL, TELL ME MORE ABOUT THAT.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (7-4, 4.24 ERA) vs. Jared D’Attilo (4-7, 5.51 ERA)
Michael Foreman (9-4, 2.70 ERA) vs. Dan Lambert (11-2, 3.83 ERA)
Ricky Martinez (0-0, 2.70 ERA) vs. Tristan Broun (6-6, 4.55 ERA)

Right-right-left from the Indians, and Santos-TBD-TBD if we’re really honest from the Raccoons.

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – RF Mendoza – 1B Hamilton – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – CF Stevenson – P Santos
IND: CF D. Morales – 2B B. Reyes – 1B M. Rucker – RF C. Martinez – LF Genge – SS Matias – C T. Delgado – 3B Ventura – P D’Attilo

Ronnie McKnight went deep in the second inning, collecting Margolis and his leadoff single along the way, to give Santos a 2-0 lead early. The drama of uselessness for Santos, however, continued unabated. The Indians had hit a few balls hard right in the first inning, and would get one run right back in the second inning on Tony Delgado’s RBI double that scored constant Coons terror Raul Matias, but they didn’t tie the game until the third, rapping off three singles off a hapless Santos. Both pitchers would single off another in their next time at the plate. D’Attilo’s single game with two outs in the bottom 4th and didn’t end up having a big effect, but Santos hit his to lead off the fifth, a quick bouncer past Bob Reyes into rightfield. After Cookie singled to right center and Yoshi Nomura walked on four pitches, the Coons had the bags full for Mendoza, who was so far 0-for-2 with two grounders to short. To short he went again, this time in pop form, for the first out of the inning. The Coons would be held to one run in the inning as their middle of the order comprehensively failed; he run came in on a Hamilton sac fly.

Making a 3-2 lead disappear was one of Santos’ lesser magic tricks, and while the Indians failed to score Reyes after he got plunked by Santos leading off the bottom 5th, the following inning saw them get going with a Matias double to right center. Delgado singled, and runners were on the corners. Jeremie Ventura popped out, but Nunley then misfielded D’Attilo’s bunt, allowing the tying run to score, with two more on base, and the top of the order coming up. The Raccoons hoped to get relief for their numerous sores, the biggest of which was clearly Santos, by bringing in Jeff Boynton, whose 0-2 to Danny Morales was knocked into play. Nunley redeemed himself at least partially by cutting off the quick bouncer and turning a double play with it, escaping the inning in at least a tie. The Raccoons failed to exploit a 1-out double by Nomura in the seventh and Nunley’s leadoff single in the eighth – the latter extending a hitting streak to 18 games – and in the ninth it was Yoshi Nomura again to reach base, now hitting a single to center. Mendoza was 0-for-4 and I was prepared to smuggle one of the impressively sharp steak knives from the lounge to remove his increasingly DeWeeseian salary commitment from the budget of the next few years when he suddenly did give a ball a headache and creamed a changeup Tony Lino threw over the middle of the plate for a tie-breaking 2-run homer, which also turned out to be the game-winner. The last base runner in the game was Dwayne Metts, singling in Margolis’ spot. Brett Lillis had an 8-pitch bottom of the ninth. 5-3 Raccoons. Nomura 3-3, 2 BB, 2B; Metts (PH) 1-1; McKnight 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

It was the last game of the 2021 Raccoons as everybody knew them.

Interlude: trades

Overnight, the Raccoons engaged in a pair of trades with FL East teams that removed five players from the organization, including three from the major league team.

The first trade was struck with the Capitals, who traded for 1B Matt Hamilton (.282, 12 HR, 54 RBI) for 20-yr old A RF/LF Omar Alfaro and 22-yr old AA INF Dave Hendrickson. The latter was a throw-in, but the Riddler was glowing in his admiration for the hitting and especially the power potential of the Dominican switch-hitter Alfaro.

The second trade was a 6-player jumbling with the Blue Sox. The Raccoons sent four players to Nashville: SP Tadasu Abe (4-6, 4.72 ERA), C Danny Margolis (.317, 11 HR, 58 RBI), INF Adam Zuhlke (.264, 5 HR, 14 RBI), and AA 1B Ruben Santiago; they were turned into two prospects with very high ceiling: 23-year old AA SS/2B Tim Stalker and 22-year old AA CL Billy Brotman. Stalker, the #68 prospect according to BNN, was an extremely adept defender who knew how to hit for average and a bit of power, while Brotman was a probable future closer with a 92mph cutter and an almost unhittable curveball. He was also a left-handed pitcher.

All trade acquisitions were sent to the same level they had played at with their old teams, except for Tim Stalker, who was promoted to AAA right away.

Culling four major leaguers also required a flurry of other roster moves, and the Raccoons promoted four players from St. Petersburg: SP Dave Dyer, C Edwin Prieto, INF Guillermo Aponte, and RF/LF Zach Graves joined the team.

Raccoons (49-43) @ Indians (40-53) – July 19-21, 2021

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – RF Graves – CF Stevenson – SS McKnight – C Olivares – P Foreman
IND: C T. Delgado – 2B B. Reyes – 1B M. Rucker – RF C. Martinez – LF Genge – SS Matias – CF Otero – 3B Ruggeri – P Lambert

Zach Graves got an RBI in his first plate appearance of the season, hitting a sac fly with the bases loaded in the first inning. Lambert had stacked them with a Cookie single, hitting Nomura, and an infield single by Mendoza, and this was the only run the Raccoons got in the inning. The 1-0 lead initially held up despite a Stevenson error in the second inning and Lambert by far getting the most of a Foreman offering the first time through the order, hitting a 1-out double in the bottom of the third inning. Delgado’s groundout and Reyes’ foul pop stranded him at third base, but the Indians would get the tying run across in the fourth inning. Mike Rucker and Cesar Martinez hit singles to start the fourth, and Foreman would add Matias to the bases with a 4-pitch walk. Leo Otero stayed out of a double play with a grounder to Nunley at third, allowing Rucker to score, but D.J. Ruggeri grounded out to Yoshi to at least keep the other two runners stranded in scoring position.

While the Raccoons did no hitting to speak of, they sure made more errors. Olivares bobbled a grounder in the fifth inning for their second E on the day, and in the sixth Nunley dropped a foul pop by Rucker that directly led to the Indians taking the lead. Rucker ended up turning around his 1-2 count and near-elimination into a leadoff walk, and came around to score in the inning, putting the Indians 2-1 ahead. Their lead didn’t last long and disappeared surely in spectacular fashion. In the top of the seventh, Ezequiel Olivares hit a soft line to right center, probably a single. Leo Otero wouldn’t even give him that and made a headlong dive for the ball – but completely missed it. The ball gently rolled all the way to the fence while Cesar Martinez could not gain meaningful ground to it and Otero was picking himself from the grass, bit by bit. Olivares turned second, turned third, and scored – inside-the-park-homer for the recently primaried catcher that couldn’t outrun a dead dog if he tried! Lambert was soon in it for the loss, allowing a double to Foreman that led to his removal, and left-hander Killian Savoie conceded a 2-out RBI single to Nomura to put the Coons back in the driver’s seat.

That lead would not live through the end of the game, either. Cesar Martinez bombed Noah Bricker in the bottom 8th, tying the score at three again. The Coons got hits from Aponte and Carmona in the ninth inning, but couldn’t get anybody across against Tony Lino this time. Aponte made an error in the bottom 9th, the Coons’ fourth in the game, but the Indians never managed to get their free runner Jeremie Ventura past first base, sending the game to extra innings. Martinez would also turn out to hit the game-winner, but it took another three innings of terrible hitting from the Raccoons to get him back to the plate in the bottom 12th, Jeff Boynton’s second inning already. Bob Reyes singled, Mike Rucker doubled, and we were surely going to go down here. Nunley lunged, but couldn’t intercept Martinez’ 1-out grounder to the left side, which escaped into the outfield and allowed Reyes to score in a walkoff. 4-3 Indians. Nomura 2-5, RBI; Graves 2-4, RBI; McKnight 2-3, 2B; Foreman 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K and 1-3, 2B;

Nunley went 0-for-6 (with the error…) to end his hitting streak. Which is fitting – everything else ended a long time ago…

Game 3
POR: LF Carmona – 3B Nunley – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – CF Stevenson – SS McKnight – 2B Petracek – C Prieto – P R. Martinez
IND: CF D. Morales – 2B B. Reyes – 1B M. Rucker – RF C. Martinez – SS Matias – LF Otero – C Mancuso – 3B Ruggeri – P Broun

Both teams had their leadoff man on third base with two outs in the first inning. While Dumbo Mendoza did his thing and hit a ****ty fly to shallow left, the Indians tore apart Ricky Martinez, who had pitched to a no-decision against the Elks in a spot start in May, without much further ado. Cesar Martinez hit an RBI single, and the previous runner scored both on Matias’ RBI double and Leo Otero’s RBI single for an early 3-0 Indians lead. Admittedly, the 3-run homer with which Mendoza would erase the deficit in the third inning was impressive, but I was still sick of him. It also should have been a slam, but Cookie hadn’t picked up the third base coach’s stop sign on the preceding single to left by Eddie Jackson and had gotten himself erased at home by Leo Otero.

Partly it was a rain delay after three innings that was to blame for Ricky Martinez lasting only five innings in this game, but the Indians didn’t get much off him in the four innings after the early onslaught. While they did put Morales and Reyes on the corners with one out in the bottom 5th, Martinez ended his start with strikeouts to both Rucker and his namesake to clean up his own mess. He was employed in the top 6th to bunt Edwin Prieto to second base after the newly-arrived catcher’s leadoff single. From there, the Indians loaded the bases with an intentional walk to Cookie and then a Rucker error on Nunley’s grounder, but Eddie Jackson hit into his second double play of the day to clean up the mess and leave Martinez without a decision. This also cost Mendoza a slam for the second time in the game. Following Jackson in the order, Mendoza hit a leadoff jack in the seventh inning. Chun and Bricker held the fort and handed the tender 4-3 lead to Lillis in the ninth. His first pitch was hit for a single by Lowell Genge, but Otero’s following poor bunt was used by Mendoza to erase Genge at second base. Nolan Mancuso hit a ball sharply to third base, where Brian Petracek had ended up and started a double play no less impressively than Nunley could have done to end the game. 4-3 Coons. Carmona 2-4, BB; Nunley 2-5; Mendoza 2-4, BB, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Nomura (PH) 1-1; Chun 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (1-1);

Interlude: trade

The Raccoons had Thursday off on the field, but not on the open market. Another piece from the Opening Day lineup was deleted in a trade designed specifically to clear space in the lineup for Daniel Bullock, as the Coons traded 30-yr old SS/2B Ronnie McKnight (.267, 6 HR, 40 RBI) to the Crusaders for 32-yr old C Jalen Parks (.311, 5 HR, 16 RBI).

While a net loss for the Coons no matter which way you combed this one, the trade had the benefit of deleting $2.3M in future salary commitments with Parks being a free agent after this season.

In the accompanying roster moves, Edwin Prieto after only one game was waived and DFA’ed, while Daniel Bullock was promoted to the Bigs as the new starting shortstop.

Raccoons (51-44) @ Thunder (40-54) – July 23-25, 2021

The Coons’ first series after throwing in the towel led them to Oklahoma to play the Thunder, against whom they were 1-2 so far in 2021. The Thunder ranked near the bottom in runs scored in the Continental League, and their pitching was best described as mediocre, a so-so rotation completely unwound by a tremendously terrible bullpen that had run up a 4.80 ERA – by far the worst performance in the CL.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (11-3, 3.61 ERA) vs. Evan Greenfield (11-4, 3.19 ERA)
Dave Dyer (0-0) vs. Randy Jenkins (6-6, 4.01 ERA)
Hector Santos (7-4, 4.28 ERA) vs. Steve Kreider (5-6, 4.37 ERA)

This will be three right-handers to pick pitches against. All Raccoons starters are of course to be taken with a grain of salt at this point – we penciled in the fourth different catcher in four consecutive games after all, and Hector Santos might be pitching in Guatemala on Sunday for all we know.

And Jonny? He would dress as the Raccoons’ starter for the 241st time in his career, but was this his final start as a Raccoon, too?

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – RF Graves – SS Bullock – CF Stevenson – C Parks – P Toner
OCT: SS L. Rivera – LF Hollingsworth – RF Branch – C Pizzo – 1B Madrid – CF Bareford – 3B V. Ramirez – 2B Paull – P Greenfield

The Thunder would take a 1-0 lead on Toner in the fourth inning, owed to a leadoff walk drawn by Ezra Branch. When Branch tried to steal second base, Jalen Parks threw the ball away, allowing him to get to third base and to eventually score on Willie Madrid’s groundout. The Raccoons up to that point had basically done nothing, and the Thunder offense had also been limited to three walks issued by Jonny Toner, but no hits. It only got worse for the Coons from here. Daniel Bullock hit a leadoff single in the fifth, then was caught stealing, and Toner got Vinny Ramirez on a groundout to start the bottom 5th, but then had his back act up and had to leave the game with a no-hitter still in progress. Lorenzo Rivera’s leadoff single off Cory Dew in the sixth inning took care of that footnote to a sad-sack game. Rivera moved up on Steve Hollingsworth’s groundout, stole third base, but was stranded eventually. Ezra Branch struck out, Mike Pizzo walked, and Willie Madrid grounded out to Bullock. The Coons were outright awful against Greenfield, who scattered seven hits, but no runs, in eight innings. The Thunder never added to the Rivera single or their run total, leaving Ryan Corkum’s right arm and 4.40 ERA to cope with the Coons’ left-handed middle of the order in the ninth inning. Matt Nunley drew a leadoff walk – and that was it. Starting with another ****ty groundout by Dumbo Mendoza, the Raccoons went down in order after that. 1-0 Thunder. Carmona 2-4, 2B; Bullock 3-4; Toner 4.1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, L (11-4); Dew 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

This just gets better, day by day.

We are unsure at this point whether Jonny Toner can take his next turn, which would come Wednesday against the Bayhawks. We have an off day after that, though, and enough movable quad-A pitching to shift things around a wee bit to push him into the weekend series against the Knights.

But one step after the other – first let’s get to the major league debut of the #51 pick from 2016, 23-year old right-hander Dave Dyer from Ellicott City, MD. He throws 96, and complements the heat with a good slider and changeup. He was 10-2 with a 3.88 ERA in AAA this year, striking out 83 in 99.2 innings against 35 walks.

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – RF Graves – SS Bullock – C Parks – CF Metts – P Dyer
OCT: SS L. Rivera – 2B Becker – RF Branch – C Pizzo – 1B Madrid – CF Bareford – 3B Paull – LF Hollingsworth – P Jenkins

The Critters drew two walks from Jenkins in he first, but in general couldn’t get the ball out of the infield and left the runners stranded. Dyer retired the Thunder in order in his first big league inning, requiring only eight pitches for the job, and retired the first five batters he faced overall before Andy Bareford reached on a Nunley error – the third error this week for the third baseman. The Coons had hit into an inning-ending double play in the second, and would do so again in the third inning, which started with Dyer singling in his first plate appearance. Cookie forced him with a grounder, but went to third as Yoshi singled, only for Nunley to continue in his systematic deconstruction of another game with a grounder to Jeff Becker that the Thunder turned for two. The first base hit off Dyer would turn out to be a 1-out double by none other than the opposing pitcher in the bottom 3rd, and it was only one of three extra base hits the Thunder had in the inning. Rivera plated the run with a double, was caught stealing after that, but Jeff Becker tripled and scored on Branch’s single for a 2-0 Oklahoma advantage that grew to 3-0 the following inning on Eric Paull’s home run.

The Coons, contrary to popular belief, were still taking turns at-bat, and actually scored a run in the fifth inning. Parks hit a leadoff single and was scored by Cookie with a 2-out single, but that was as much glory as the Critters would allow themselves in this inning. They wouldn’t tie the game until the following, sixth, inning, despite that one beginning with hasty groundouts by Nunley and Mendoza. After that the youngsters hit two singles and were driven in by veteran Jalen Parks with a double into the corner in rightfield. Dyer didn’t make it through six, reaching 105 pitches in 5 2/3 innings. Sugano replaced him when left-hander Cory Starmand batted for Jenkins with two outs and Eric Paull on first base. Starmand singled, but the inning would end anyway: Zach Graves threw out Paull at third base, which was a move too aggressive for a poor runner on this easy pickings single.

Eddie Jackson batted for Graves in the seventh inning, in which the Thunder’s left-hander Jeff Kearney had trailed against every batter he had faced and had walked two. Jackson ran a full count with two outs, but eventually grounded out to strand the runners. Jeff Boynton in turn had already soaked a loss this week and was soon on the hook for another. He allowed a pinch-hit single to Bobby Marshall in the bottom 7th, and his replacement, Kaiser, allowed a 2-out bomb to Pizzo that put the Thunder ahead, 5-3. Bullock would get on base in the eighth with a leadoff single, which only led to another inning-ending double play down the road, this one hit into by pinch-hitter Ezequiel Olivares in Metts’ spot. The Coons were down to their final out in the ninth against Corkum before their noses twitched once more. Yoshi singled with two outs, and Nunley worked a full count into a walk, bringing Mendoza up with the tying runs aboard, which was PERFECT, since I wondered what he was getting paid for anyway. Sensing doubters in the crowd, Mendoza sure showed me, spanking a harmless 2-0 offering into a 3-run homer to right, robbing the Thunder of their victory and sparing Boynton going down to 0-6 on the season. Only one of those developments turned out to be permanent, however… with Brett Lillis allowing singles to Marshall and Becker right to start the bottom 9th, with Marshall to third, the hole was tremendous already. Ezra Branch struck out, but Chris Evans’s groundout scored Marshall with the tying run, and the Thunder walked off on Willie Madrid’s sharp single to left. 7-6 Thunder. Nomura 2-3, 2 BB; Bullock 2-3, BB; Parks 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

At this point, every day the fans back home in Portland woke up and expected the next horror news – another terrible loss aside – but the weekend remained calm. No further trades were announced by the Coons on Sunday, either.

Game 3
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – C Parks – SS Bullock – RF Jackson – CF Metts – P Santos
OCT: SS L. Rivera – 3B B. Marshall – RF Branch – C Pizzo – 1B Madrid – CF Bareford – 2B Becker – LF Hollingsworth – P Kreider

Danny Bullock took one for the team in the first inning, accepting a Kreider offering into his lower side to push the first run of the game across. Previously, Cookie and Yoshi had both singled and reached scoring position thanks to Hollingsworth’s fielding error, but between strikeouts collected by Nunley and Parks and Mendoza being halfheartedly walked had remained parked on base. Jackson grounded out to Marshall to end the inning. The Thunder were on Santos right from the start, with Rivera and Marshall hitting sharp singles before the middle of the order made loud outs in order, one ball hit to each outfielder. Branch’s drive that sent Cookie back with nobody out was the most scary one, but the Coons would better add runs for the chronically overmatched mustached launchpad wearing #33 on the mound…

There was no hope for Santos, clearly. After two outs to center (and not shallow) in the bottom 2nd, Hollingsworth belched one over the fence to tie the score at one. The Thunder kept hitting fly balls galore off Santos in the next innings without getting a ball out of here again. The top 5th saw leadoff singles from Cookie and Yoshi again. This time they reached scoring position on Nunley’s groundout, after which Mendoza was actually intentionally walked this time around, bringing up Parks with the bases loaded again, and he struck out again, too. Bullock hit a 3-2 pitch to left, but Hollingsworth made it over to the line in time to deny the Coons the runs they didn’t deserve anyway. Hollingsworth’s leadoff single in the bottom 5th sent the defense scrambling again to prevent a defenseless Santos from getting rolled – which worked for the third inning in a row! – and then it was Hollingsworth again front and center in the top of the sixth, which Jackson led off with a fly to left that Hollingsworth took a route so disastrous to that he played a casual F7 into a 2-base error. There was no way giving Jackson a double on that one – it was the most grievous error seen in a while.

Santos was lifted in the seventh after a pinch-hit single by Cory Starmand and a pinch-walk drawn by R.J. DeWeese (.212, 4 HR, 17 RBI) with one out. With left-hander Chris Gosnell pinch-hitting for Kreider, Manobu Sugano broke free from bullpen confinement, K’ed Gosnell, and got Rivera to fly out to Cookie. Sugano then had a chance for the W in the game, with the Coons starting their eighth inning with Parks singling and then a Bullock double over the head of DeWeese, who had replaced Hollingsworth, WHICH WAS SO CONSOLING. When Zach Graves hit for Jackson, the Thunder walked him intentionally to give the Coons three on with nobody out. And what shall I say? It worked well! Manny Gomez struck out both of our centerfielders that were actually employed as such before Branch couldn’t get to the floater hit by the centerfielder moonlighting in a power position for years now. Cookie had a single, two runs scored, Yoshi walked, and then Nunley grounded out to continue a rotten week for him.

At this point, the Raccoons flicked their usual end-of-bullpen assignments. Left-handers figured to be up in the eighth, and right-handers in the ninth. So Lillis got the eighth, and Bricker would get the ninth. In continuation of things just not going to plan, ever, Lillis walked Branch, however, then got a pop from Madrid to end the eighth, but that already turned the ninth into a potpourri of whatever for Bricker. Despite the Coons scratching out an add-on run in the ninth after Parks hit an infield single and Petracek ran for him quick enough to score eventually, Bricker was in trouble right away after a leadoff double by Eric Paull. Jeff Becker struck out, and R.J. DeWeese did not suddenly start hitting, either, grounding out to Yoshi. Chris Evans’ fly to center ended the game. 4-1 Raccoons. Carmona 3-5, 2 RBI; Nomura 2-4, BB; Graves (PH) 1-1, BB, RBI;

In other news

July 21 – The Titans engage in two trades, sending LF/CF Mike Cesta (.325, 1 HR, 29 RBI) to the Buffaloes for MR Pat Slayton (2-1, 2.32 ERA) and a prospect, and LF/CF Josh Baker (.262, 0 HR, 21 RBI) and a prospect to the Aces for 1B/LF/RF Adam Flack (.286, 0 HR, 8 RBI), the 2020 CL batting champ who has fallen on hard times in 2021.
July 21 – The Wolves have only three hits, but one of them is a home run by LF/RF Alfredo Quintana (.341, 12 HR, 38 RBI), which is enough to beat the Stars, 1-0.
July 23 – The Stars may not get back RF/LF Justin Dally (.293, 17 HR, 73 RBI) until early September at best after the 33-year old suffered an abdominal strain.
July 24 – The Falcons put eight on the Canadiens in the top of the first inning, which turns out nowhere near enough on its own to beat them in a wicked game in which Vancouver scores in each of the first six innings, and the Falcons just barely manage to come out on top, winning 14-11 eventually. CHA RF/LF Travis Benson (.288, 18 HR, 66 RBI) has four hits, including a home run, and drives in two runs in the game.
July 25 – The Buffaloes trade SP Mario Alva (6-10, 5.21 ERA) to the Stars for C Alex Ferrales (.225, 2 HR, 16 RBI).
July 25 – CIN SS Andrew Showalter (.333, 16 HR, 65 RBI) will miss the rest of this month and all of August with torn ankle ligaments.
July 25 – RIC SP Jorge Gine (1-3, 4.85 ERA) who had already been on the DL for two months with a partial tear in his labrum this year returns swiftly to said DL with recurring back spasms. He should return only in September.

Complaints and stuff

Many sleepless nights in Coon City this week, I guess, despite the team not even being physically present there, and not many that left Portland for the road trip will make it back there.

The $2.3M saved in future salaries to Ronnie McKnight are joined by whatever Matt Hamilton would have made in arbitration this fall, and his salary had already been $1.52M this year, so you can probably expect the total savings to be more than $4M. The other traded players had been due for free agency after the season anyway.

You may now well ask why we have so far only traded the secondary staff and Jonny Toner, Hugo Mendoza, Cookie Carmona, Brett Lillis, and Yoshi Nomura are still here, also Noah Bricker and Matt Nunley. Shouldn’t they also yield prospects galore? Technically yes – but I have not been able to get an appealing offer for any of them. For Toner and Mendoza especially, a #68 prospect isn’t gonna cut it. That #68 (Tim Stalker) was the highest-ranked prospect we trade for this week, but nevertheless three of the four additions to the farm are already among our top 10 in the organization, which probably said more about the organization than the prospects. Said organization is also already going to ‘lose’ its top prospect for next year – that had been #30 Jesus Chavez.

We have a number of further players up for free agency after the season in Santos, Parks, Jackson, Chun, Bricker, and Sugano – ordered by their 2021 salary, in total just over $5M, of which we are paying roughly $4.3M. We still have our four most expensive players: Mendoza, Toner, Cookie, and Yoshi – in that order (although Toner will be the top earner in ’22). You can also call them Core Four right now (by extension I would add Foreman and Nunley right now and call them Sweet Six). If you start trading one of them, you can just as well trade them all and start at square one. With that in mind and also the fact that the Raccoons will have a lot of money available in the offseason (unless the Prick interferes, and we all know that interfering is his favorite pastime), I may not conduct a hasty trade right now that leaves us with half of nothing, and a pile of ashes. The offseason may be a better spot to rearrange these pieces if it turns out that the money will be insufficient to basically build a completely new pitching staff between Toner and Lillis (which WILL be necessary!)

Another dynasty that was not meant to be.

Sadness.

Sadness and no end to it.

ABL CAREER STRIKEOUT LEADERS
64th – Francisco Garza – 1,967
65th – Vernon Robertson – 1,961
66th – Fernando Cruz – 1,949 – active
67th – Ricardo Sanchez – 1,948
68th – Fernando Chavez – 1,946
69th – Jonathan Toner – 1,934 – active
70th – Jim Harrington – 1,907
71st – Andres Ramirez – 1,895 – HOF
72nd – Jorge Chapa – 1,886
[…]
83rd – Alfredo Collazo – 1,827
84th – Dave Crawford – 1,816
85th – Manuel Ortíz – 1,815 – active
86th – Raimundo Beato – 1,791
87th – Samuel McMullen – 1,766 – active
88th – Hector Santos – 1,760 – active
89th – John Collins – 1,758
90th – Ramón Jimenez – 1,743
91st – Pedro Alvarado – 1,738 – active, free agent