[Westheim]

The Raccoons kept looking for improvements. The known weak links in the lineup were third base and catcher, and we've been over those, but there was also a specific weakness to the outfield. Despite nine outfielders on the expanded roster, we had only one right-handed batter among them, Greg Borg, and he had collected half a season's worth of at-bats with a .603 OPS. Alfaro was the only switch-hitter that going to make it onto the Opening Day roster, with Juan Magallanes and Justin Gerace more on the outside looking in. Gerace had the power, but also had giant holes in his swing, and despite hitting more homers than Jon Gonzalez if prorated, had only made it to a .699 value in terms of on-base plus slugging.

Time to find an improvement for any of those problems. We were looking for the sort of bat that had made Eddie Jackson a non-starting, but invaluable piece of the last remotely good Raccoons teams at the end of the 2010s. In 500 games (225 starts), Jackson had batted .267/.350/.384 for the Coons, always ready to drop in a fatal pinch-hit double. And we really needed a right-hander to have some good options for platooning against left-handed pitching, which the Raccoons had played .420 ball against last season.

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December 18 – The Buffaloes sign ex-SAL RF/LF Travis Benson (.278, 130 HR, 565 RBI). The 33-year-old left-handed batter receives a 4-yr, $7.12M contract.
December 19 – The Raccoons try to find improvement in a trade with the Rebels, trading for Richmond's 1B/OF Rafael Gomez (.265, 75 HR, 361 RBI) while parting with MR Vince Devereaux (24-15, 3.63 ERA, 9 SV), 3B Mike Grigsby (.244, 3 HR, 16 RBI), and AAA SP Felipe Delgado.
December 19 – The Cyclones pick up 35-year old former Pacific LF/RF/1B Ray Meade (.280, 239 HR, 1,134 RBI) on a 2-yr, $3.64M contract.
December 20 – A veteran closer is signed by the Wolves as they pick up 38-year-old ex-PIT CL Dusty Balzer (81-78, 3.26 ERA, 263 SV) on a 2-yr, $3.44M contract.
December 22 – 32-year-old SP Diego Mendoza jr. (125-111, 3.75 ERA) jumps FL East clubs, signing a 4-yr, $14.4M contract with the Cyclones after being with the Rebels for 2 1/2 years.
December 24 – The Miners splash big with the acquisition of ex-WAS SP Tadasu Abe (115-103, 3.71 ERA) for 2-yr, $7.68M.
December 24 – The Crusaders trade INF Shane Walter (.304, 56 HR, 675 RBI), 36 years old, and a prospect to the Bayhawks for 33-yr old LF Roger Allen (.236, 120 HR, 489 RBI).
December 27 – Portland picks up 30-year-old swingman Alvin Smith (19-27, 4.52 ERA; 1 SV) from the Indians for Smith's peer OF Dwayne Metts (.238, 6 HR, 57 RBI).
December 27 – Richmond acquires 25-yr old LF/CF Nick Cobb (.232, 0 HR, 29 RBI) from the Knights for 34-yr old MR Alex Silva (56-48, 4.07 ERA, 136 SV) and a second-rate prospect.
December 29 – In a trade no one saw coming, the Titans send OF/1B Adam St. Germaine (.268, 10 HR, 135 RBI) to the Stars in exchange for 1B Gus Gasso (.291, 32 HR, 118 RBI) and a second-rate prospect.
December 31 – The Raccoons close the year with the addition of veteran left-hander and former Cyclone MR Jeff Kearney (24-30, 4.85 ERA, 27 SV) for 2-yr, $1.4M.

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I really hate to see Vince D go – but ultimately right-handed relievers are replacable, and we goddamnit need the offense. Now, Gomez had that one terrible season and some injury hiccups last year and was demoted in a slump in May, but ultimately he projects to be very much like Eddie Jackson and a more than capable fourth outfielder. The terrible season in 2024 can be filed away under "Act of God" as he played a full season with the Bayhawks while hitting it into the maws of the defense at a .237 BABIP rate. .237!

It is safe to say that he will start against all the right-handers, and probably Alfaro will, too, and whoever slumps out of the starting three, you can flick Gomez into the lineup at any time.

Funny thing – that was not the only deal for Vince D, Grigsby, and a minor leaguer (Delgado was about #7 on our starting pitching depth chart, though) we could have done. The other player in question was ALSO involved with the Bayhawks, 3B/OF Jaden Booker. That would have given the option to put pressure on Matt Nunley (a left-handed batter) as well, while Jon Gonzalez was right-handed and unfazed by recent developments. He had hit .300 in a qualifying amount of playing time this year, but that was his first ever good season at age 27, and I was somewhat deterred by some fielding numbers that didn't really match the scouting report. Of course, with Vince D traded, the Booker deal was off.

While that deal made Matt Nunley more secure, we now had TEN outfielders standing around and gnawing on each other's ears.

The Alvin Smith trade was partially fueled by the outfield glut and also by our apparent lack of depth in terms of starting pitching. Problematic BABIP indicates that Smith is better than that 4.52 ERA, but overall his mix of pitches doesn't scream out for him to throw in Game 7. However, Smith is out of options, so he will have to be squeezed through waivers when the season starts. But at least Metts is gone, and this time for good, I swear!

Here is a fun one – all three trades we have done so far have been of negative WAR gain for us. And yet I feel that all three make the team better! Kearney was worth 0.8 WAR, but I also think that he will make the team better (or at least not worse than with Justin Hess in that roster spot).

The final addition in the dying year was Jeff Kearney, who had been with the Thunder for a few years, but had never been on a CL North team before. His numbers didn't look that great from a distance, but Chad and me had watched tape for about 16 hours … although Chad had worn the full costume with the head and I think he snored for the last 15 hours of the tapes … and they weren't actually tapes, it was a video library compiled by Cristiano Carmona… but in the end we watched 16 hours of tape of Jeff Kearney and ultimately were convinced that he was the archetypical Manobu Sugano type of left-hander. Lethal against same-sided batters, but don't ever let him face a righty. Maybe a blind one. Perhaps the pitcher, with the bags empty. But dear lord, never send him to see Stanton Martin with the bags teeming with runners. He was a groundballer, though, so you could actually bring him in with men on base, especially with a good defensive infield.

The only real downside to Kearney was that he was in the Matt Nunley category of team distractions. Nunley was a straight-working little bee, that much was true, but he was also well known and feared for raiding his team mates' lunchboxes, a constant point of contention in our clubhouse, sadly…

The only other former Raccoon that has not yet been talked about one way or another to find a new employer in the latter half of December is perpetual reclamation project Frank Kelly signing with the Elks for $312k;