[Westheim]

2027 had arrived but a new catcher had not, and as January kept progressing the Raccoons became more and more accepting of Elias Tovias being the new (and old, and before that even, the new) starting backstop. And to be fair, there were also upsides to that. Tovias was still relatively cheap, he was a switch-hitter, and his defense was pretty good, and he was calling a good game, and the pitchers generally liked throwing at him. Wait, is the last one good or bad?

But we still needed a backup catcher, and it was not going to be Jake Burrows (.141/.225/.219 in 34 games in 2026), and it was not like we had any other options in the minor leagues. Since we were also already spending all the budget we had, we had to work out some form of trade for a backup or free up some money from scouting or youth development and pick through the destitute leftovers on the free agent market. Also someone basically willing to work for free.

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January 6 – The Pacifics add a first baseman in well-travelled veteran Mike Rucker (.258, 348 HR, 1,173 RBI), who will be 40 years old by the time the season will start. Rucker receives a $1.54M deal for the 2027 season.
January 9 – 30-year-old ex-CHA SP Doug Moffatt (65-66, 3.98 ERA) lost 20 games in '26, but this did not dissuade the Crusaders from signing him to a 4-yr, $10.56M contract.
January 11 – The Pacifics add more experience in 39-year-old left-handed SP Tristan Broun (124-143, 3.83 ERA), who signs a $2M deal for '27. Broun was with the Aces the previous season.
January 19 – The often surgically fixed body of OCT OF Dave Garcia (.297, 245 HR, 907 RBI) needs another adjustment; in particular Garcia is experiencing range-of-motion issues from the elbow he fractured in August and has to have it operated again. The Thunder now expect him to miss the first two months of the 2027 season.
January 19 – The Aces trade for the Buffaloes' C Josh Motley (.240, 20 HR, 149 RBI), sending MR Adam Rosenwald (0-0, 4.38 ERA, 1 SV in 8 games) and a prospect to Topeka.
January 20 – The Miners acquire OF Omar Alfaro (), cash, and A-level OF Angel Vaglienty from the Raccoons for 23-year-old #19 prospect MR Dan McLin (3-6, 4.37 ERA).
January 26 – The Crusaders announce a 6-yr, $20.4M extension with SP Mike Rutkowski (79-50, 2.90 ERA), the reigning CL Pitcher of the Year.
January 29 – 28-year-old relief expert Vince Devereaux (27-22, 3.65 ERA, 27 SV), coming off a season with the Rebels, signs a 3-yr, $4.18M contract with the Buffaloes.
January 29 – The Cyclones pick up 35-year-old ex-WAS SP Alejandro "Ant" Mendez (170-143, 3.36 ERA) on a 1-yr, $640k deal.
February 1 – The Loggers announce with regret that 27-year-old CF Ben Adams (.239, 29 HR, 208 RBI) will move into their administration after being left with an unstable knee following multiple operations after initially tearing his posterior cruciate ligament near the end of the 2026 season. Adams, who played all of his 552 ABL gams with the Wolves, had signed a 2-year deal with Milwaukee this winter, but had to retire without ever playing for them.
February 1 – The Raccoons sign 28-year-old Taiwanese free agent C Jing-quo Liu to a 1-yr, $280k contract.

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Garcia, 32, is one of the saddest ABL cases of recent decades. Whenever the Bayhawks or Thunder have been able to pry him off the stretcher, he has been absolutely amazing, but the problem is that he only amounted to 1,410 games in 12 seasons he started on the Opening Day roster. Nine-time All Star, twice the Player of the Year, also a Gold Glove for good measure. Is he finished this time? Would be a shame because this was another Hall of Fame career undone by injuries. I compare this to Daniel Hall's similar attendance record in his days…

Now, the Alfaro trade was utterly necessary because the Omar Alfaro saga had really run its course at this point and there was no reasonable way to keep him on the roster and dump an infielder (and yes, this includes Daniel Bullock into our infield concoction, but it's not like he has much value to pick up a prospect). McLin will no longer be a prospect when the season begins because he pitched a full season with the Miners this year, but we like his 94mph sinker and cutter, and the groundball action he generates. He is right-handed and makes the minimum. The Miners selected him with the #15 pick in the 2022 draft. Vaglienty, the third-rate prospect included in the deal, we found rather nondescript and had no big problems including him at the Miners' request.

McLin fills the fourth and final right-handed slot in the bullpen as we will continue to carry three southpaws in Brotman, Boles, and Kearney (unless things develop, y'know…). Before, the slot would have gone to some scrub between Nick Derks, Jonathan Fleischer, and Steve Costilow, or whoever else we felt like inserting into runaway games in September, usually to grim results.

Finally, ex-Coon Graham Wasserman signed a $316k deal with the Capitals;