[Westheim]

Originally Posted by DD Martin

I hadn’t noticed that this occurred with players on the DL before. Thanks for bringing this up. If a player is on the 40 man roster (even if they are on the 60 day DL) they should have their assigned number reserved. If they are in the minors, as long as they are on 40 man roster it should be protected. If they are DFA but retained in the organization then I say it’s a crap shoot if that number is available.

Definitely should be added for fixes next year. Thanks for sharing this I will pay more attention to it

It might be by now. The Coons are dwelling in OOTP 16.

+++

Raccoons (49-69) vs. Miners (52-66) – August 17-19, 2032

Here was another team that only hoped that things would end soon. While second in runs scored in the Federal League, the Miners were also second in allowing the most runs. They had a -11 run differential, which probably hinted at them being due a few wins as they came in. Their rotation was however highly crummy, second-worst in the FL, and a decent pen had all their hands full with the starters. These teams had met another last season, too, when the Miners had swept the Coons.

Projected matchups:
Travis Coffee (1-5, 4.30 ERA) vs. Julio Palomo (7-9, 4.63 ERA)
Jason Gurney (6-8, 6.03 ERA) vs. Jonas Mejia (9-9, 4.84 ERA)
Ignacio del Rio (7-12, 5.05 ERA) vs. Joel Trotter (5-7, 5.15 ERA)

Three right-handers; and in fact all their starters were right-handers right now. They could also almost send their best lineup, with the exception of C Keith Leonard, who was out for the season, and shortstop Josh Peddle (.260, 6 HR, 30 RBI) was hobbled with a strained abdomen.

Game 1
PIT: SS Peddle – C Wall – 1B Santillano – 3B Lastrade – RF Palacios – 2B McKenzie – LF Hensley – CF Trawick – P Palomo
POR: 2B Pinkerton – SS Stalker – RF Wallace – 3B Perkins – CF Hooge – 1B Howden – LF Hall – C James – P Coffee

Coffee was spilled in the first, and ferociously so. After Josh Peddle flew out, Kurt Wall, Danny Santillano (25 HR), Omar Lastrade, and Vicente Palacios ripped him for straight hits for two runs and runners in scoring position. Jim McKenzie struck out, and Coffee was this close to getting out with only half his ass shaved, and then threw TWO wild pitches to plate the remaining runners, and then still gave up another two hits to Tony Hensley and Jake Trawick. The Coons picked up a run in the bottom 1st, Wallace with a double and scoring on Perkins’ single, but that was not going to help them, at all. Peddle drew four balls to begin the second, Wall singled to send him to third, and when Santillano grounded out to Howden, nominally, Coffee, the ****ing ass, dropped the throw for an error, so it was 5-1 and still nobody out with two on in the second. Lastrade singled to fill the bags, Palacios hit his 11th homer of the year in slam fashion, and with that Coffee was removed to be beaten to death with a stick in the tunnel to the clubhouse.

The rest of the game was rather sad. Fernandez was abused to pitch three innings and change, but tired in the top 5th and loaded the bags on a single and two walks. He was removed with two outs, with John Hennessy having nothing better to do than to allow all the runners to score on McKenzie’s bases-clearing triple. At that point, nothing mattered anymore, and of course this game also devolved into a Preston Pinkerton pitching appearance in the eighth – no runs on one hit and one walk – and ninth, when he retired the Miners 1-2-3. The Raccoons scored two runs at some point in the game, but for the life of me I couldn’t recount how they did that right now, because I had already gotten my snout stuck in a bottle o’ Capt’n Coma. 12-3 Miners. Wallace 2-4, 2B; Zitzner (PH) 1-1; Anaya 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Pinkerton 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Somebody had written “**** YOU” on Coffee’s locker while the game was still raging. Maybe it was me. I don’t remember, honestly.

Pff, Travis Coffee. Is it me or are guys named Travis nothing but trouble?

And I like booze much better anyway.

Game 2
PIT: SS Peddle – C Wall – 1B Santillano – 3B Lastrade – RF Bonaccorsi – 2B McKenzie – LF Palacios – CF Hensley – P Mejia
POR: SS Stalker – LF Hall – RF Wallace – 3B Perkins – CF Hooge – 1B Zitzner – C James – 2B Baldwin – P Gurney

I already started this game slightly boozed, so it wasn’t that hard to stomach when Gurney got inevitably whooped around in the second inning. Lastrade drew a leadoff walk, Bonaccorsi singled, McKenzie walked – three on, no outs, wonderful. Palacios doubled in two, Hensley had a run-scoring groundout, and Mejia grounded out to move Palacios to third base, where he was stranded when Zitzner swiped in time to contain a lightning-fast Peddle bouncer, keeping the damage to three runs. And again, a game where it was all about limiting the damage to less than 21 runs. Wonderful!

The Coons crowded Mejia in the bottom 3rd, getting Hall, Wallace, and Perkins on base with two outs on two singles and a walk. Hooge flew out too easily to Bonaccorsi to render the situation any fun though… They *did* get a run in the fourth in the most dispiriting way, though. Zitzner hit a double over Bonaccorsi, but James got rung up for the first out. Baldwin grounded to third where Lastrade fumbled the ball for an error that put runners on the corners, and the lead runner was then plated with a wild pitch that also unhorsed the hapless Gurney at the plate. Oh well, finally a brown stain on the uniform that was not suspiciously near his bum hole… After he struck out, Stalker hit a 2-out single to plate Baldwin, getting back to 3-2, before Hall flew out to center. Top 5th, Gurney did not hesitate before giving away the two runs straight away. Peddle hit a 1-out triple, was singled home by Kurt Wall, Santillano hit a double, and Lastrade found a sac fly to left to make it 5-2. Soon enough, Gurney was yanked in shame and disgrace, as usual, and the Coons got some stingy relief pitching for the rest of the way. The problem was just that the offense never materialized. They never got more than one guy aboard in any inning after the Miners re-upped their lead, and they didn’t score any of them, losing listlessly once more. 5-2 Miners. Stalker 2-5, RBI; Hall 2-5; Wallace 2-5; James 2-4, 2B; Garavito 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Goodness gracious, can anybody on this ****ing team take the ball and not blow the game in the first three innings???

Game 3
PIT: SS Peddle – C Wall – 1B Santillano – 3B Lastrade – RF Palacios – 2B McKenzie – LF Bonaccorsi – CF Trawick – P Trotter
POR: SS Stalker – LF Hall – RF Wallace – 3B Perkins – CF Hooge – 1B Howden – 2B Marsingill – C Ross – P del Rio

Del Rio got licked for four hits (including singles by the first three batters in the game) and two runs in the opening frame, so, nope, there was no common decency on this team anymore. Portland picked up a run on a Hall single and his 10th stolen base, Wallace’s groundout, and then, again, a wild pitch. Sure, whatever works. At least del Rio stopped the bleeding for a bit. He struck out the 7-8-9 batters in order in the second, then navigated the lineup the second time through without any more runs flying onto the board. The Critters got Ed Hooge on in the fourth, he stole second base, then was singled in by Howden to at least tie the score… and then Justin Marsingill swiftly hit into a double play. But on to the fifth, where Jake Trawick opened with a single of the softer kind, was bunted to second base, and then Peddle and Wall both dropped singles in front of no-range Jimmy Wallace, plating the go-ahead run and going to the corners for Santillano, who was surely the most formidable bat in the lineup and had yet to wreak havoc – and still didn’t, grounding a 3-2 pitch to short; with Wall coming from first base, and Santillano not that fast either, Stalker started a 6-4-3 to clean up and keep the difference to one run. Omar Lastrade hit a leadoff double down the leftfield line in the sixth, but the next three batters all flew out right to an outfielder and kept him pinned at second base. In turn, the Critters got Hall and Wallace to the corners with a pair of singles and nobody out in the bottom 6th. Well, maybe NOW… was the time? Was it? Justin Perkins cracked a grounder past Lastrade for an RBI single, tying the game at three, and just when I thought I might not drink myself senseless today, Hooge, Howden, the dumb pig, and Marsingill all made soft outs in the air that prevented anybody from scampering for home to take an actual, ****ing lead.

Del Rio somehow lasted seven innings of 9-hit, 3-run ball after maneuvering around a Trawick leadoff single in the seventh. That still could give him the win (snorts) if the Critters scored in the bottom 7th. Ross, Rodriguez, and Stalker were retired in order. Hennessy wiggled through the eighth against the meat of the order, also got rid of Bonaccorsi in the top 9th, and Wise did the rest. That set up the Coons for a walkoff, facing Ricky Ohl, their longtime setup man, now with a 6.19 ERA, but over 10 K/9. Leading off was Howden, the dumb pig, who ran a 2-0 count before nailing a ball to left and sending Bonaccorsi back, and further back, and this was no good – this one was OUTTA HERE…!! 4-3 Critters!! Hall 2-3, BB; Howden 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Raccoons (50-71) vs. Loggers (59-62) – August 20-22, 2032

Here came the Loggers, against whom we led the season series, 6-5, at this point. They were in third place, but well beaten at 17 games out. They were stuck with no offense whatsoever and last in runs scored (barely 3.6 runs per game), negating their very good pitching staff that was surrendering the third-fewest runs in the league.

Projected matchups:
Bernie Chavez (2-4, 4.06 ERA) vs. Francisco Colmenarez (6-7, 2.53 ERA)
Dave Martinez (0-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. John Nelson (3-5, 4.32 ERA)
Travis Coffe (1-6, 5.74 ERA) vs. Cody Chamberlin (4-3, 3.91 ERA)

Colmenarez was their only southpaw. Their list of injured players was quite long, too, including two starting pitchers in Alfredo Casique and Mike Hodge, as well as starting catcher Jim Young and outfielders Danny Valenzuela and Mike Wheeler. They had picked up Josh Wool after his release from our ramshackle team. He was batting .238 for them after hitting .181 for us.

Well, was it ever any different?

Game 1
MIL: 3B Meehan – 2B Sessoms – SS W. Morris – RF J. Stephenson – CF Creech – 1B M. Monroe – LF Wheeler – C Wool – P Colmenarez
POR: CF Pinkerton – SS Stalker – 3B Perkins – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – RF Rodriguez – 2B Marsingill – C Ross – P Chavez

Nobody quite knew what it was, but whenever Bernie Chavez got close to an ERA in the 3’s something dumb would happen. In the second inning that was a leadoff double by Josh Stephenson on which Pinkerton didn’t look good, coming in before going back out, then hustling into the gap, and ultimately missing the play altogether, with Miles Monroe cashing the run with a single. That erased the Coons’ 1-0 lead from the bottom 1st, attained on Pinkerton and Stalker doubles before the middle of the order had collectively flunked out. That was all the scoring through five innings, with Bernie stalking around leadoff singles in the third (Colmenarez……) and fourth (Wayne Morris). He struck out four against as many hits. He also hit a double in the bottom 5th, but that didn’t lead anywhere pretty… Chavez struck out the first two batters in the sixth, and continued to retire another seven without allowing any Logger on base, those second outs coming on grounders and pops. And what did the Coons do to get him in line for the W? Absolutely nothing, regrettably, amounting to seven hits and two double plays through seven innings. Bernie’s spot was up to begin the bottom 8th, so we sent a pinch-hitter. Nate Hall struck out, and so did Pinkerton and Stalker against the left-hander Colmenarez, giving him 9 K against Chavez’ six. Top 9th, Wise issued a leadoff walk to Jamie Meehan, who was run for by Willie Ojeda, who casually stole two bags off the rather useless Toby Ross, then scored on a Morris single to put the Loggers on top. The bottom 9th saw the meat of the Critters’ order (kinda rotten and full of maggots) against right-hander George Barnett. Perkins lined out to Aaron Sessoms, but Wallace rolled a single up the middle in much softer fashion. That tying run advanced on Howden’s pinch-hit groundout, and then a wild pitch. Ed Hooge batted for Rodriguez with two outs… but grounded out to the pitcher. 2-1 Loggers. Pinkerton 2-4, 2B; Wallace 2-4; Marsingill 2-3; Chavez 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K and 1-2, 2B;

A well-pitched loss… Bernie has only two wins in 12 starts despite not pitching like stale ass …

Game 2
MIL: LF W. Ojeda – 2B Sessoms – SS W. Morris – RF J. Stephenson – CF Creech – 1B M. Monroe – 3B Parten – C Wool – P J. Nelson
POR: SS Stalker – CF Hooge – RF Wallace – 3B Perkins – 1B Howden – LF Hall – 2B Marsingill – C James – P Martinez

Dave Martinez continued to be extremely aggravating, allowing a single followed by a walk in each of the first three innings. He escaped damage twice, but the third time – after a single to Ojeda and a walk to Sessoms with no outs – Wayne Morris snipped an RBI single to plate Ojeda with the first run of the game. Two strikeouts and a grounder to Perkins ended the inning after that. The royal mess cost Martinez a whopping 69 pitches through three innings, while Nelson faced the minimum on *22* pitches! The Raccoons didn’t even reach base until the fifth inning, when Perkins reached second base on Jason Parten’s throwing error, then was heartlessly stranded like everybody else. Martinez lasted five and two thirds on eight hits before being knocked out by a Parten single on his 104th pitch. Fernandez struck out Josh Wool to end the top 6th, leading into another catcher from the Raccoons’ Opening Day roster hitting a leadoff double to right in the bottom 6th. That was Giovanni James of course, and that was the first base knock for the home team. The Coons stranded him, too, on three ****ty groundouts by Rodriguez, Stalker, and Hooge…

The Coons pen was impeccable. Anaya struck out the side in the seventh, Stone got around a leadoff walk in the eighth, and Garavito was without blemish in the ninth. None of that would score a run for the Critters, who were again trailing the Loggers by a tiny run going into the bottom 9th, and again faced George Barnett, this time with the pitcher’s spot up. Pinkerton was sent to pinch-hit, ran a full count, but flew out to Mike Wheeler. Stalker ripped the first pitch to left, up the line, into the corner, and parked himself on second base with a 1-out double. Hooge fell to 0-2 before poking the ball to short, which helped nothing at all. Wallace hit a fly to center, rather deep, but not deep enough. Gabe Creech mad the catch, and the Coons’ offense remained fantastically moribund. 1-0 Loggers.

Yay, all our hits went for extra bases.

Yeah, well, shucks.

Game 3
MIL: LF W. Ojeda – 2B Sessoms – SS W. Morris – RF J. Stephenson – CF Creech – 1B M. Monroe – 3B Meehan – C Wool – P J. West
POR: SS Stalker – CF Hooge – RF Wallace – 3B Perkins – 1B Howden – 2B Marsingill – LF Pinkerton – C James – P Coffee

Joe West (4-10, 4.11 ERA) took the start with the sophomore Chamberlin skipped. Travis Coffee donated him a 3-0 lead right away as he continued to take it not only with bats or clubs, but with chains, whips, and sledgehammers, too. Ojeda hit a leadoff single, scored on a 2-out single by Josh Stephenson, and then Creech homered to left. Monroe drew a walk before a nightmarish first ended with a Meehan K. Nothing got better after that. The Coons still couldn’t their hairy bums in the dark without an intervention, and Coffee continued to have little bits floating at the top. Top 3rd, Stephenson doubled, Creech hit an RBI triple, Coffee walked Monroe, and then Meehan legged out a grounder to break up a double play attempt, allowing the runner from third to score two, 5-0. A sign of life came from Giovanni James with a leadoff jack in the bottom 3rd, which was his 10th of the year, and only one bomb off the team lead, which was another one of those sad facts that mm-mmmgm-ggmmmm (has the Capt’n Coma bottle’s neck shoved halfway in his mouth)

Coffee pitched four and two thirds in despicable fashion before being lifted following a 2-out Monroe double in the fifth… and that was after a Wayne Morris jack had given the Loggers a 6-1 lead. Fernandez got Meehan to fly out to end the inning, collecting the garbage again. The bullpen would again do a good job about being stingy, but with a 5-run deficit I had long lost hope and as a revenge for all the sorrow they were inflicting on me had raided the snack cupboards in the locker room and was not engorging myself on their cookies while watching the “rally” in the seventh that consisted of Pinkerton and Stalker base hits and but a single run. The Loggers failed to add, but still led comfortably enough into the ninth, which southpaw Chris Myers started against the bottom of the order. Pinkerton, James, and Baldwin… all flew out easily. 6-2 Loggers. James 2-4, HR, RBI;

In other news

August 16 – In their makeup game from Sunday’s postponement, DEN SP Michael Frank (15-4, 2.75 ERA) 2-hits the Crusaders for a 5-0 win.
August 16 – SFW SS Jesus Matos (.308, 9 HR, 46 RBI) might miss most of the remaining regular season with a strained anterior cruciate ligament.
August 18 – OCT RF/LF Luis Sagredo (.248, 15 HR, 64 RBI) could miss the rest of the month with a sore wrist.
August 19 – NYC 3B/SS Guillermo Obando (.332, 0 HR, 39 RBI) gets his 2,000th base hit in a 2-for-5 performance on Thursday. The Crusaders lose 7-4 to the Rebels, despite Obando’s two hits for four bases. The milestone hit is a fifth-inning triple of RIC SP Joe Hicks (12-7, 3.57 ERA). Obando, the #3 pick in the 2018 draft by the Capitals and by now 32 years old, is a Gold Glover and 4-time All Star that led the league in stolen bases three times and in triples four times in the 20s. He has 130 career triples, so hitting one for #2,000 was not out of the ordinary. He is a career .295/.363/.381 batter with 23 HR and 630 RBI as well as 480 stolen bases, the latter mark ranking him third all time in ABL history.
August 19 – L.A.’s 33-year-old swingman Bobby Morris (5-0, 1.01 ERA) is set for Tommy John surgery with a partially torn UCL and will miss the next 12 months.
August 21 – TOP 2B/SS Alex Majano (.307, 1 HR, 26 RBI) is out for the season with a ruptured UCL, but will probably not undergo Tommy John surgery.
August 21 – RIC RF/LF Keith Damron (.249, 15 HR, 62 RBI) could miss the rest of the season with back spasms.
August 22 – LAP OF Justin Fowler (.295, 28 HR, 91 RBI) provides the only offense with a home run in the Pacifics’ 1-0 win over the Scorpions .

Complaints and stuff

I mean, the entire season is gruesome. The entire season is one bad date where you get grabbed between the legs despite not even bringing flower while the chainsmoking lady alternates between her puffs and the oxygen mask in her other hand. But the Loggers set was something special. ANOTHER series where we only got off three runs in three games.

Not that we *fixed* our pitching, but the rancid offense is sure the bigger concern right now. And the pen is indeed pretty strong right now. The rotation is definitely not. Coffee has a 22+ ERA in his last few starts, but I don’t even know who to call up anymore.

Who is in the AAA rotation right now? That would be Draper (ack), Steve Russell (that one-and-done waiver claim), Darren Brown (seriously underdone prospect with 100 walks already), and Ian Wilson (2027 supplemental rounder, just promoted from AA). Various guys were cycling through the fifth slot.

As we are on prospects. Anybody remember last year’s #5 pick? Manny Fernandez had been moved to Ham Lake in May and was batting .304/.365/.486 in 66 games there. That didn’t look completely ****. I don’t think we’ll see him in September (that would be rushing it), but he might get the move to St. Pete in September to fill up the roster there when we call up additional players to Portland.

Fun Fact: Pittsburgh first-sacker Danny Santillano has led he Federal League in OPS in the last five seasons. He also won the batting title every year, and the triple crown in 2030.

He is also only 26 years old, yet he already has 619 RBI on 169 homers. Also a career .354 average and a 1.000 OPS. There isn’t really anything not to like about this kid, who the Miners signed for $510k in the July 2022 IFA period.

Not that the Coons were idle – that was the year we spent $362k on Berto. Also $95k on Dave Martinez, and $172k on three more players that never saw the light of day.