[Westheim]

The other day me and our scout… Hernandez… Martinez… Ramirez something… watched Jimmy Wallace in the cafeteria as he chased a meatball that had rolled off the top of his food bowl all over the room, underneath three tables, knocked over a few chairs, including one that Ed Hooge was sitting on while he deposited a lasagna in his snout, leading to hissing, and finally Wallace galloped into the kitchen counter and had to be taken to Dr. Chung with a nosebleed while Gurney, Zitzner, and Pinkerton began to pose, hiss, and claw over the meatball in the middle of the room before Hooge came back, dashed in, and stole the unclaimed foodstuff before being chased out of the room by the other three.

I turned to the scout and asked him whether he thought Jimmy Wallace had any position on the field at all. He bluntly replied “nope”. We are probably going to have him field some balls at first base, but I have a hunch that that’s not gonna be the solution to the problem of our soon-to-be-26-year-old Black Glover with a career .739 OPS in some 1,100 at-bats…

And with that the winter meetings had arrived. Not that we had much business there. I doubted that I could get an ace either from the bargain bin or from another team that didn’t know what it was doing. Neither of those two quite materialized

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December 2 – The Warriors add veteran pitching in 38-year-old ex-DAL SP Mark Roberts (168-115, 3.14 ERA), who signs a 2-yr, $4.16M contract.
December 3 – The Crusaders add 35-yr old ex-PIT C Keith Leonard (.285, 48 HR, 515 RBI) for two years and $2.64M.
December 3 – Two years and $2.64M also lands the Buffaloes a new infielder in ex-RIC INF Dan Cobb (.288, 49 HR, 439 RBI).
December 5 – The Crusaders sign ex-LAP SP Gavin Lee (106-57, 3.35 ERA) to a 2-yr, $4.48M contract.
December 5 – The Scorpions continue their rebuilding project by signing ex-RIC SP Guillermo Regalado (88-81, 3.85 ERA) to a 1-yr, $1.38M contract.
December 5 – The Knights send 35-yr old SP Tim Wells (139-144, 4.02 ERA) to the Cyclones for 1B Adam Avakian (.283, 2 HR, 13 RBI) after half a debut season, plus a prospect.
December 6 – The Condors grab C Jimmy Wood (.250, 41 HR, 214 RBI) from the Bayhawks for MR Mike Simcoe (7-8, 3.47 ERA, 6 SV) and #100 prospect CL Austin Holt.
December 6 – In an intra-division trade, SP Victor Govea (49-58, 3.62 ERA) is sent from Vancouver to Indianapolis for three prospects. The package includes #54 prospect CF/INF Rich Arvizu, who is traded for the second time this year.
December 7 – The Canadiens send OF Danny Tessmann (.254, 20 HR, 171 RBI) to the Crusaders for another prospect.
December 8 – The Raccoons acquire 28-yr old OF Billy Jennings (.256, 44 HR, 241 RBI) from the Cyclones in exchange for 27-yr old SP Dave Martinez (27-26, 4.16 ERA).
December 10 – In another trade, the Raccoons pick up 30-yr old C Fernando Garcia (.266, 63 HR, 294 RBI) from the Canadiens for 29-yr old C Toby Ross (.235, 43 HR, 175 RBI) and 22-yr old AA 1B Jakobe Lambeth.

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Here we traded from a position of glut at the end of the winter meetings. The Cyclones didn’t really know what to do with Jennings, who had not been extremely effective as a full-time player, while the Raccoons had plenty of starting pitchers of Martinez’ stature. I just hope he will take all the little Odilon idols with him when he packs up his ****…!

This trade probably sends Ed Hooge back to the minors to begin the season, but it’s not like his bat was much of a revelation in his age 23 campaign. I can get a player for a .610 OPS almost anywhere…

The deal with the disgusting Elks upgrades our catcher, and Lambeth wasn’t a prime prospect either. Garcia makes just over $1M this year and will be under team control for 2034, so that’s something to keep in mind. He was worth 4.5 WAR in ’32, but then again WAR is a useless stat.

I also feel like we need another guy to sort out the clubhouse.

There is also a Hall of Fame ballot out, and the moment of truth has arrived – this is the year Jonny Toner makes his debut on the ballot. For those needing a refresher, he was nothing more than the greatest pitcher in the game during a 7-year span from 2014 through 2020. He won two triple crowns, four Pitcher of the Year flower pots, led the CL in ERA and strikeouts five times each, and in K/9 six times. Then injuries gradually took him apart. His last three years in Portland were decent, but pedestrian, and then he trundled through four different teams in the next four years with no discernible success. If he is elected, which I am championing for, then it is on the first half of his 15-year career, which was *outstanding*. It wasn’t his fault that he never wound up in a World Series game. The Raccoons made the postseason three times during his stint, and lost in the CLCS every time while he went 4-2 with a 3.20 ERA. None of the other teams he played for made the postseason, although two finished second in their division.