[Westheim]

Nothing much happened over the holidays; while I talked to several free agents to round out the roster, we only made one signing and he had no shot at being around on Opening Day, another young Japanese import that would probably be just as great as the last one…

+++

December 21 – The Cyclones pick up ex-SAL SP Brian Frain (56-53, 3.78 ERA, 4 SV) on a 2-yr, $5.16M contract.
December 24 – The Raccoons sign 24-yr old international free agent 2B/SS Yukitsura Hirai to a $300k contract.
December 24 – The Warriors grab former Raccoons reliever Victor Anaya (13-11, 3.74 ERA, 4 SV) for the modest price of $4.38M over three years.
January 1 – 37-year-old veteran ex-SFW 1B Kevin Harenberg (.298, 261 HR, 1,225 RBI) lands another big contract, signing with the Capitals for 2-yr, $3.84M.
January 7 – Former Indians SP Sal Bedoya (72-57, 3.35 ERA) signs a 3-yr, $9.84M contract with the Crusaders.

+++

Other Raccoons with new homes: Billy Jennings inked a 2-yr, $1.92M deal with the Gold Sox;

+++

Only one player made it into the Hall of Fame on the 2035 ballot, 16-year veteran Jason LaCombe, who spent his entire career with Californian Federal League teams, debuting with the Scorpions in 2014 and staying there until ’27, followed by two years with the Pacifics. Along the way the steady defender, who was born in Japan and entered the league as international free agent, won Rookie of the Year honors, five Gold Gloves, was an All Star nine times, and hoisted the 2020 World Series trophy with Sacramento. LaCombe won the batting title in 2017 and led the league in walks three times and OBP twice. For his career he batted .319/.440/.397 with just 31 home runs and 857 RBI, but scored 1,299 runs as a top of the order batter.

Complete voting results with year on the ballot and percentage of votes:

SAC 3B Jason LaCombe – 1st – 84.3 – INDUCTED
??? SP Chris Klein – 1st – 72.4
ATL LF Gil Rockwell – 8th – 39.9
LAP C Errol Spears – 3rd – 25.0
??? CL Jarrod Morrison – 3rd – 23.1
??? CL Ben Marx – 1st – 21.3
??? SP Ernest Green – 2nd – 20.1
??? SP Ian Van Meter – 3rd – 16.4
VAN 1B Ray Gilbert – 10th – 14.6 – DROPPED
NAS C Pat Walston – 4th – 11.9
OCT 2B Emilio Farias – 2nd – 9.7
ATL SS Devin Hibbard – 2nd – 7.5
??? SP Bob King – 9th – 7.5
PIT SP Pedro Hernandez – 2nd – 6.7
SAC SP Brian Simmons – 1st – 6.0
POR LF Ricardo Carmona – 2nd – 4.1 – DROPPED
SAC CF Ray Meade – 2nd – 3.0 – DROPPED
BOS C Tim Robinson – 1st – 3.0 – DROPPED
DAL 2B Raul Maldonado – 1st – 3.0 – DROPPED
??? SP Bryan Hanson – 1st – 2.2 – DROPPED
??? SP Alberto Molina – 1st – 1.9 – DROPPED
??? SP Tadasu Abe – 1st – 1.1 – DROPPED
??? SP Alejandro Mendez – 2nd – 1.1 – DROPPED
??? 2B Jose Gutierrez – 1st – 0.4 – DROPPED