[Westheim]

With the advent of free agency in mid-November the offseason began in earnest. The Raccoons still had 31 players on the active roster, though that included quite a few that were not tipped too hotly for a spot come Opening Day some four months from now, like Matt Hartley, Jose Brito, Jon Caskey, Chiyosaku Maruyama, Francisco Pena… there was quite a list.

One particularly dismal case was that of Colt Willes, who by all accounts and estimates was ready for disposal, but had a valid contract amounting to $1.58M for ’38. The Raccoons would like nothing more than having that dosh available for somebody else. (Maybe Berto suddenly finding some more range to play short productively)

With the books cleared after free agency, the Raccoons had about $1.7M of budget room and roughly $1M cash, which wasn’t a lot, and certainly not enough to get an impact player. Dan Schneller was asking for $6M for example. That was an annual figure.

There were good news though, like the continued improvement of overall team finances, since we got a new sponsor on board in November: Dr. Soffer’s Finest, dry food for cats. And I must say it is a good product, isn’t it, boys? (looks at Hooge, Manny, and Sabre, none of whom can answer because they’re busy shoving their cheeks with the contents of the bowls in front of them) Good deal! Good deal!

Then again, where *do* we need an impact player? We have a solid rotation; not great, but pretty good. The pen was largely blameless, but there was certainly at least one spot open for a right-hander here, and that included counting on Travis Sims to hold down one of the low-key, no-risk spots at the shallow end, which was a bold assumption. Expecting Colt Willes to even pitch garbage innings competently was also a bit much…

In the lineup, we were pretty happy with the *lineup*, just not with how it played on the field. Shifting four regulars around would open the entire left side of the field to opposing team’s shenanigans. Now, we had only one left-handed starter, so teams would be inclined to send all their left-handed pull hitters against us most of the time, but that was only a token consolation.

Well, well, what are we gonna do…

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November 21 – The Raccoons trade 35-yr old outfielder Justin Fowler (.278, 300 HR, 1,084 RBI) and 26-yr old AAA INF Vince Lutch (.212, 1 HR, 2 RBI) to the Capitals for 26-yr old SP Steve Fidler (0-0, 4.09 ERA, 1 SV) and 27-yr old LF/RF Brad Ledford (.275, 20 HR, 91 RBI).
November 21 – The Canadiens trade MR Robby Ciampa (36-31, 3.61 ERA, 30 SV) and a prospect to the Warriors for INF Justin Marsingill (.274, 7 HR, 115 RBI).
November 23 – The Titans acquire LF/RF/1B Jimmy Wallace (.282, 93 HR, 489 RBI) and cash from the Falcons, parting with AAA 1B Joe Payne (.268, 9 HR, 48 RBI) and a prospect.
November 27 – Vancouver adds RF Jacob Kolbe (.317, 8 HR, 96 RBI) in a trade with the Rebels, who receive a decent prospect.
December 1 – Rule 5 Draft: 13 players are selected. The Raccoons lose 22-yr-old AAA SP/MR Roger Arrendell to the Cyclones.
December 1 – The Warriors pick up LF/CF Roger Strand (.259, 1 HR, 24 RBI) from the Buffaloes, parting with 1B Tony Graham (.284, 6 HR, 29 RBI) and a prospect.

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Well, I guess, we have things to discuss.

In the end, the defensive hole that Justin Fowler represented was too big. He wasted almost all his 33 homers on bottomless defense, and there was little reason to hope that he’d even reach a Jimmy Wallace level of competence if moved to leftfield for his final year under contract. The Capitals expressed interest in him right away, no idea what they’re gonna do with him, though. Maybe he’ll make the Senate, I don’t know.

The trade keeps Manny in his Gold Glove position, and opens centerfield for World Series MVP Jesus Maldonado, where he could also operate on a Gold Glove level. Nothing was ever going to happen to Troy Greenway. With Hooge and Ledford behind those two, it looks like our outfield is already set. Yes, four of them are left-handed batters (Maldonado being the only exception), but it looks like a deal we’re gonna take.

Of course, finding a right-handed super utility wouldn’t be bad. Right now we had no such player after letting Preston Pinkerton go. Well, except Maldonado, but the point was to find somebody in addition to Maldonado to put in the lineup against left-handed pitching.

The deal also freed up some close to $3M to blow on jet skis.

That principally left us with the mess of our infield to sort out. At this point, the Raccoons had nine infielders on the expanded roster, three of which (Maruyama, Brito, Caskey) would definitely go back to AAA, and they should take Steve Nickas right with them. That left a starting quartet of, from right to left, Jesse Stedham, Cosmo Trevino, Dave Myers (?), and Alberto Ramos. The only reserve we so far calculated with was Rich Vickers. With the rather modest defensive aptitudes around the infield and Berto’s situation in particular, we were definitely looking for some tough-as-nails defensive third baseman, who also had to play at least shortstop well. It didn’t really matter which side he batted from, as long as he could out-hit Steve Nickas’ .566 OPS. Maldonado was *an* additional option – but not the solution!

The rule 5 loss of Roger Arrendell is not something that irks me too much; there is potential there, but he’s wildly underdone at this point. He walked more than he struck out in 44 relief outings in St. Petersburg last season, posting a 4.46 ERA. I don’t see the Cyclones having much fun with him and he could probably be sent back eventually. We signed the Venezuelan righty in the July IFA period some years back, paying $192k for his services.

Elsewhere, Dave Martinez signed a 2-yr, $600k deal with the Condors; Mark Roberts is not ready to give up – he’ll be 44 next fall, and fittingly signed a $444k deal with the Indians.