[Westheim]

Late October came, and we started picking out the aforementioned bad apples, those putting in little effort and much snout in terms of contributions to the team's success. Justin Gerace and Greg Borg were reassigned to St. Petersburg right at the start of the offseason, and among two players being DFA'ed, Sam Armetta's placement on waivers was for being an unproductive loudmouth and distraction even from the far end of the bench. Adam Cowen was DFA'ed because he came off the 60-day DL and there was no room on the 40-man roster on the very first day of the offseason. He cleared waivers, but would be eligible for free agency since we would not make him an offer in arbitration.

The Raccoons were not normally a team paying much attention to social dynamics, given that no matter which players you'd assemble, they'd always bicker over the piles of food all day long, but maybe it would be good to bring in a real leader personality, which is something we apparently lacked badly right now.

Meanwhile we sampled players off the arbitration list that we intended to not shoot quite yet, extending 1-year deals to Tim Stalker ($425k), Vince Devereaux ($340k), and Jarod Spencer ($277k) by the final weekend in October. Over the following weeks we also signed 1-year deals with Jon Gonzalez ($650k) and Jack Sander ($280k).

There was also a bigger deal to be talked about, precisely a 4-yr, $8.3M extension with SP Mark Roberts. The left-hander had led the Continental League with 30 bombs surrendered, but for the time being he was our ace, unless Rico Gutierrez would extend his 2024 performance into the following years. The deal started with $1.7M next year (which was his final year under team control, and then $2M once and $2.3M twice in the three years of free agency we got from him. He wanted a 5-year deal for eight figures, he also wanted a player option – he got neither.

The Roberts contract was not our longest commitment to any player, the first one to stretch into the 2028 season, surpassing agreements with Cookie Carmona, Dan Delgadillo, and Abel Mora that would all end in '27 (although Delgadillo would remain under team control for longer than that).

There was also a trade and it erased the Raccoons' biggest commitment for the 2025 season!

On November 4, the Raccoons came to terms with their division rivals, the New York Crusaders, for a 4-player trade. The Raccoons sent 34-year-old INF Shane Walter (.305, 52 HR, 627 RBI) and 26-year-old MR David Kipple (7-9, 5.37 ERA, 2 SV) to the Crusaders and would receive 28-year-old LF/RF Jake Williams (.266, 40 HR, 201 RBI) and 27-year-old SP/MR Lance Legleiter (2-1, 3.51 ERA).

I claim, between these four players, we win on five accounts. First, between Shane Walter and Jarod Spencer mostly splitting second base between them, we were not getting enough from either of them. This allows us to place Jarod Spencer at the top of the lineup as everyday second baseman, at roughly one tenth of Shane Walter's price for '25 ($2.48M). David Kipple was wholly erratic, and also a bad apple with low work ethic, dumb, and constantly mouthing off of wanting to play for a winner. Jake Williams, if nothing else, will light fire under Omar Alfaro's bum (and also kills off Zach Graves' Coons career for good, as he was not offered anything in arbitration). We also saved $2.3M in this trade.

That leaves the mystery box that is Legleiter, a 27-year-old swingman that scouts agree has the stuff to be a major league starter, but despite the advanced age, the Crusaders only let him try three times in his career. There were also considerable control woes, but given the Raccoons' starting pitching situation, as bereft of Delgadillo as they were, Legleiter was a cheap case of throwing stuff at the wall until something would stick. Josh Whitaker hadn't in 2024.

This sends Shane Walter to the Crusaders for the second time after two stints with the Coons. We had once gotten him off waivers from them, prior to his first stint.

As a sixth perk from the Walter trade, we now have some real money to play with on the free agent market.

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November 1 – The Blue Sox deal SP Matt Gossen (25-55, 5.05 ERA) to the Warriors for three prospects.
November 1 – The Loggers trade left-handed reliever Mike Homa (12-25, 5.50 ERA, 1 SV) to the Thunder for a prospect.

+++

2024 ABL AWARDS

Players of the Year: SAC LF/RF Doug Stross (.357, 8 HR, 89 RBI) and ATL C Ruben Luna (.268, 31 HR, 95 RBI)
Pitchers of the Year: SAL SP Jorge Beltran (16-9, 2.37 ERA) and TIJ SP Luis Flores (16-10, 2.87 ERA)
Rookies of the Year: LAP C Dylan Allomes (.263, 11 HR, 54 RBI) and TIJ SP/MR Mark Morrison (11-2, 2.35 ERA)
Relievers of the Year: TOP CL Mike Baker (7-4, 1.88 ERA, 40 SV) and TIJ SP/MR Mark Morrison (11-2, 2.35 ERA)
Platinum Sticks (FL): P TOP Jose Lerma, C DEN Matt Harry, 1B SAL Kevin Harenberg, 2B WAS Dave Menth, 3B CIN Eddie Moreno, SS LAP John Hansen, LF SAC Doug Stross, CF SAC Justin McAllester, RF SAC Pablo Sanchez
Platinum Sticks (CL): P SFB Brian Simmons, C ATL Ruben Luna, 1B IND Mike Rucker, 2B ATL Devin Hibbard, 3B NYC Andy Schmit, SS LVA Andres Medina, LF LVA Justin Dally, CF LVA Ron Raynor, RF LVA Cesar Martinez
Gold Gloves (FL): P TOP Carlos Marron, C SAL Armando Galan, 1B PIT Josh Keen, 2B NAS Matt Otis, 3B SAC Jason LaCombe, SS SAC Trey Rock, LF SFW Jeff Wadley, CF SFW Pedro Cisneros, RF SAL Luke Gross
Gold Gloves (CL): P IND Alvin Smith, C IND Tony Perez, 1B OCT John Elliott, 2B SFB Pat Pick, 3B POR Matt Nunley, SS POR Tim Stalker, LF TIJ Omar Larios, CF BOS Adrian Reichardt, RF BOS Adam Braun

Matt Nunley had to grow to the ripe age of 33 before he could get his well-deserved Gold Glove! This is somewhat of a shame that it took this long, especially since his glove work alone was usually worth roughly 1 WAR per season according to the statheads, occasionally rivalling whatever he did with the stick. He is not a bad batter, but he's never been a great one. His OPS+ for his career is 106.

Tim Stalker won the award for the second year in a row, although it's hard to polish over his complete disappearance at the plate in the second half of the year, or actually everything past April. Stalker batted .309 in April. He batted .228 or worse in four of the other five months.