[Westheim]

2039 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set in parenthesis shows 2038 stats, second set career stats; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Bryce Sparkes, 31, B:R, T:R (19-7, 3.15 ERA | 83-65, 3.60 ERA) – the potential Mark Roberts clone had his best season in his first year in Portland and was rewarded with a 4-year deal afterwards. Didn’t even turn into minced meat afterwards! Of course now we’re putting him into the slot for Opening Day, which has been cursed for a few years, so he’ll probably lose 20 and give up 35 homers in ’39…
SP Ryan Bedrosian *, 27, B:R, T:R (18-11, 3.81 ERA | 48-45, 4.03 ERA) – acquired in the big trade with the Rebels, this right-hander combines very good fastball, changeup, and splitter pitches and keeps it on the ground. Led the Federal League in strikeouts in 2038, and is due an actual big breakout.
SP Bernie Chavez, 30, B:R, T:R (10-12, 4.57 ERA, 1 SV | 81-67, 3.72 ERA, 1 SV) – 94mph, curve, slider, and the tendency to hang something from time to time; by now you know full well what to expect of Bernie Chavez, an ERA somewhere between not-good-enough and oh-dear-it-keeps-growing, 50 walks, 160 strikeouts, and 20+ balls disappearing into a sea of reaching arms.
SP Raffaello Sabre, 30, B:L, T:R (9-11, 3.50 ERA | 69-69, 3.74 ERA) – he won’t ever win a strikeout crown, and by now we’re entirely content with having Sabre being a steady bee working away at the opposition and with a little help from his defense he can be a very good pitcher; and then there’s times where he just can’t get anybody out. Often decent, never good enough.
SP Steve Fidler, 27, B:L, T:R (10-4, 2.61 ERA | 10-4, 2.72 ERA, 1 SV) – had a breakout season at 27, which is usually a bit of a red flag and a sure sign he’s gonna get a “One Hit Wonder” memorial baseball card in a few years. Fastball, slider, change, none overwhelming, but somehow he kept generating poor contact. Whether that translates into lasting success remains to be seen...

LR Jose Alaniz *, 28, B:L, T:L (11-7, 3.63 ERA | 35-24, 3.49 ERA) – acquired from the Miners, Alaniz has ben used as a swingman quite a lot in his career, and it’s not exactly out of the realm of possibilities that he will make starts going forwards. But for the time being he’s going to come out of the bullpen whenever the Raccoons need multiple innings.
MR Travis Sims, 26, B:R, T:R (0-0, 3.92 ERA | 4-2, 3.69 ERA) – fastball, splitter; really mostly a long man due to major control issues that might see him replaced if trouble arises – 50 walks in 78 major league innings might rightfully qualify as “dodgy”.
MR Dennis Citriniti, 30, B:R, T:R (7-2, 3.84 ERA | 13-2, 3.11 ERA, 1 SV) – run-of-the-mill right-hander that got his command issues under control and occupies a low-panic slot in the pen. The tendency to use him when behind anyway is neatly reflected in his lopsided W-L record.
MR David Fernandez, 32, B:L, T:L (4-2, 4.18 ERA, 2 SV | 30-17, 3.06 ERA, 10 SV) – for getting no love from scouts, Fernandez is a remarkably solid reliever that strikes out roughly a batter per inning and can handle both left- and right-handed batters well. The walks are a bit of a problem, but, eh, lefties, huh?
MR Mauricio Garavito, 37, B:L, T:L (4-5, 3.44 ERA, 1 SV | 37-35, 3.20 ERA, 15 SV) – left-hander with balanced splits that was claimed off waivers by the Bayhawks early in the 2029 season when Jeremy Moesker turned out to be a turd. Has it really been this long?? And will he ever go away? The Raccoons were confident enough to sign him to a new 2-year deal when David Fernandez got only one year.
SU Antonio Prieto, 28, B:R, T:R (3-3, 3.12 ERA, 3 SV | 16-14, 3.10 ERA, 7 SV) – steady setup guy that unfortunately took a step back in 2038 with six homers allowed, enabling a blossoming ERA. He also struck out more than 10 batters per nine in his age 24-25 seasons, but has been quite far from the mark in the last two years, whiffing only 52 in 60.2 innings in ’38.
CL Jermaine Campbell, 33, B:L, T:R (3-1, 2.35 ERA, 40 SV | 37-41, 2.66 ERA, 334 SV) – established closer snatched on a 4-year deal prior to last season, and also once the guy that slammed the door shut whenever we trailed the Titans in the ninth. 254 of his saves came with them, only 40 each with the Raccoons and Pacifics. Elite stuff, strong control, and he knows how to win rings, having two of them. We could use more of that sort…!

C Tony Morales, 24, B:L, T:R (.263, 10 HR, 43 RBI | .268, 32 HR, 191 RBI) – keeps turning in just slightly above average seasons, and whenever he looks like he’s about to break out, he gets hurt. He’s also been around for quite a while for turning only 25 at the end of the month. The Raccoons are still hopeful he’ll find another level of power stroke at some point.
C Jeff Kilmer, 27, B:R, T:R (.275, 13 HR, 47 RBI | .247, 20 HR, 85 RBI) – now here was a kid that we were happy for not having drowned in a barrel when it looked like that was all that could end his misery anymore. Kilmer had a breakout offensive season and is actively gnawing and sawing on the primary catcher’s chair that Morales is resting on.

1B/C Danny Monge *, 32, B:R, T:R (.299, 7 HR, 60 RBI | .301, 55 HR, 377 RBI) – the big free agent acquisition of this year is a catcher that can’t catch and is now a first baseman that can’t hit for power. Somehow, first base keeps being an endless repeat of Groundhog Day in this town…
2B/3B/SS Enrique Trevino, 31, B:S, T:R (.353, 4 HR, 40 RBI | .324, 39 HR, 723 RBI) – the magical second baseman was way too busy being on the DL in 2038 (he missed 59 games) to be of any actual help in the push for the division. Solid defender, great on base presence and ideally suited for the #2 hole, with Berto already at second base in the best of all scenarios … IF both of them stay off the DL.
2B/SS/3B Elijah Williams, 33, B:R, T:R (.242, 2 HR, 20 RBI | .260, 19 HR, 413 RBI) – versatile infielder and quirky veteran with great defensive capabilities and a matching defensive shortstop’s bat. New defensive cornerstone on the infield after the subtraction of Dave Myers over the winter. No, the Raccoons don’t know where to get a young and energetic shortstop from. Why are you asking?
3B Alberto Ramos, 33, B:L, T:R (.266, 0 HR, 45 RBI | .302, 20 HR, 543 RBI) – boy, was it ever rough at the hot corner in 2038! Alberto Ramos learned under live fire, which ended predictably badly, him costing the Critters about a win and a half with his defense. There’s no amount of stolen bases that can make up for those shenanigans. Let’s just say, Nick Brown in the olden days would have taken his head clean off. Berto resigned with the team for a quarter of the dosh he made previously, which might make us feel a little easier about his various missteps in the field and onto the DL.
2B/SS Alex Majano *, 35, B:R, T:R (.275, 0 HR, 33 RBI | .306, 29 HR, 690 RBI) – over-the-hill middle infielder that was a Gold Glover during the President Nixon administration and also won a batting title back when the Julian calendar was still in use. Assuming legal guardianship of Majano was required to get a hold of Bedrosian. At least we will only have to deal with his steady 78 OPS+ batting for one season.
3B/2B/SS Joel Hernandez *, 27, B:R, T:R (.280, 4 HR, 34 RBI | .265, 18 HR, 161 RBI) – mainly a defensive replacement and right-handed platoon option for Berto, Hernandez came aboard in a trade with the Bayhawks.

RF/LF/CF Manny Fernandez, 29, B:L, T:L (.289, 10 HR, 87 RBI | .290, 75 HR, 460 RBI) – as close to a 5-tool player as the Raccoons could ever find, especially in a draft. 2036 Player of the Year! Unfortunately he seemed to be gaining weight in all the wrong places and his power dropped badly (he hit half the homers compared to 2036-37) in ’38. Under contract through 2044, so maybe we will want to try and slim him down again…
CF/RF/3B/SS/LF/1B Jesus Maldonado, 25, B:R, T:R (.284, 9 HR, 85 RBI | .265, 18 HR, 164 RBI) – It’s hard to forget this one: .411/.431/.571 and a 2037 World Series MVP award while playing on the losing team. If you can get THAT together, you must at least make it to the All Star Game at some point, don’t you? So far no luck for Maldonado in that regard, but at least he batted above league average for the first time in the regular season in ’38. Very versatile, which is his undoing, since he could probably win a Gold Glove in centerfield if he wasn’t plugging holes elsewhere all the time.
RF/LF Troy Greenway, 27, B:L, T:L (.289, 42 HR, 132 RBI | .289, 121 HR, 380 RBI) – he was the reason people stuffed the ballpark last September – and he didn’t disappoint, rallying late to shatter the Raccoons’ ancient mark for home runs in a single season, which had stood at 38 bombs for over 40 years. With Royce Green now officially a thing of the past, the question is whether Greenway can hit even more bombs than that … and maybe even hit .300 again. Not outstanding as a defender, but he can use a fat person’s shopping scooter out there, we don’t care. Just keep the homers rolling in.
LF/RF/CF Ed Hooge, 29, B:L, T:L (.296, 8 HR, 45 RBI | .269, 36 HR, 194 RBI) – no matter what Ed Hooge does, it’s never enough for a permanent starting assignment, isn’t it? The one time he reached a qualifying number of plate appearances was in 2036, when *everybody* was on the DL. Solid allrounder that doesn’t really excel at any one thing, and so is permanently branded as fourth outfielder.
LF/RF Brad Ledford, 28, B:L, T:L (.270, 10 HR, 50 RBI | .274, 30 HR, 141 RBI) – was mainly used as a pinch-hitter since it is genuinely hard to fit him into the lineup and he’s having the same so-so defense that Greenway brings to the table… but doesn’t hit 40 homers, even if prorated to a full season’s worth of PA.

On disabled list: Nobody.

Otherwise unavailable: Nobody.

Other roster movement:
SP Jared Ottinger, 26, B:R, T:R (7-8, 5.30 ERA | 25-26, 4.31 ERA) – optioned to Alley Cats; the horror with “Ottie” never ended in ’38, even after an assignment to the penal battalion in St. Petersburg. He just kept being whacked around mercilessly, and never found into a groove anymore.
1B Chiyosaku Maruyama, 29, B:R, T:R (.250, 1 HR, 1 RBI | .244, 8 HR, 58 RBI) – waived and DFA’ed (once more); disappointment as a batter, had only a token September assignment in ’38. Like last year, we don’t particularly care whether anybody takes him. That is virtually the same description he got last year.
2B Jose Brito, 24, B:R, T:R (.255, 2 HR, 5 RBI | .248, 3 HR, 10 RBI) – optioned to Alley Cats; we can’t even keep the versatile players around, so there’s definitely no room for the one-dimensional infielders with meager defense…
3B/SS/2B Jon Caskey, 25, B:R, T:R (.139, 0 HR, 2 RBI | .206, 1 HR, 5 RBI) – optioned to Alley Cats; if that was a business card he delivered in ’38 it was hand-scrawled by a three-year-old high on sugar with crayons in all the wrong colors.
1B/2B/CF/LF/SS Matt Kilgallen *, 27, B:R, T:R (.265, 5 HR, 36 RBI | .256, 3 HR, 117 RBI) – waived and DFA’ed; quirky super utility player I’d love to keep on the roster – but that would have required to get rid of Alex Majano, which was not possible. Was claimed off waivers by the Knights two weeks before the season and will doubtlessly be lost on waivers just the same.
LF/RF/CF Alex Castro, 28, B:R, T:L (.391, 1 HR, 3 RBI | .391, 1 HR, 3 RBI) – optioned to Alley Cats; had a flashy major league debut with an incredibly small sample size (27 PA) late in the 2038 season. Good on defense, but his bat has more holes than the .391 average will prompt you to wager for. Way not good enough to break into our outfield.

Everybody not mentioned by now has already been waived or reassigned during the offseason.

OPENING DAY LINEUP:

The Raccoons’ offense was very good last year and we claim that we have refined it for this season. Nevertheless, the lineup stays mostly the same, and there aren’t gonna be any unusual tricks. The major change is actually that a lefty bat (Stedham) is replaced with a righty one (Monge), helping with balance against southpaw starters.

Vs. RHP: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – C Morales – 1B Monge – SS Williams – P
(Vs. LHP: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – CF Maldonado – RF Greenway – C Kilmer – 1B Monge – LF M. Fernandez – SS Williams – P)

Joel Hernandez for Berto will be a regular variant against lefty starters, probably with Maldonado and Monge sliding up the lineup. Hooge and Ledford will still due frequent starts in the outfield. Maldonado is the main replacement for Monge at first base, and while Danny Monge brings catcher’s gear, he will not be counted upon to actually start behind the dish as long as either Kilmer or Morales can still crawl out there at the start of an inning. It is possible though for him to get behind the plate during a game for additional pinch-hitting and double switch flexibility.

OFF SEASON CHANGES:

BNN has declared the Raccoons to have won the offseason, packing on a sturdy 10.9 WAR through a series of painstaking moves, although there’s a couple of asterisk attached. For starters, Alex Majano counted for 1.2 WAR, which meant he cost more than a million per extra win and I remained wickedly unhappy with his presence on the roster. Kilgallen, who was put on waivers during the roster crunch, was worth 2.4 WAR and will probably be lost to some wayward fifth-place team, maybe in our own division…

Top 5: Raccoons (+10.9), Condors (+9.2), Thunder (+5.3), Warriors (+5.0), Cyclones (+3.8)
Bottom 5: Rebels (-4.7), Wolves (-6.1), Miners (-6.9), Knights (-7.6), Buffaloes (-8.7)

The rest of the division hovered around the midfield. The Titans, Loggers, and damn Elks all lingered at around +2 WAR. The Crusaders lost as many WAR, and the Indians lost four.

If WAR wasn’t such a useless stat I’d be confident to actually match the damn Elks this year.

PREDICTION TIME:

I should stop predicting 102 wins for the team, because they’re never gonna get there with the rotation still filled out with guys that we’ve seen go ho-hum and occasionally bust for a number of years now. BNN is of course pulling the same stunt, so I’ll just point there and shrug.

There’s such a big IF behind the rotation again this year that it’s hard to be confident. The subtraction of Yeom Soung also hurt the bullpen. The lineup is pretty much the same and there is every reason to expect them to put up similar numbers as they did last year. But it was not enough to out-hit the pedestrian pitching last time round, and it probably won’t be this time, either.

The worst thing is that the damn Elks won a title and the Raccoons can’t fit all the pieces together and pretty soon will tumble into the abyss again, laden with badly-aged contracts and with very few prospects that instill any hope…

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

The Raccoons slipped a bit in the farm rankings, which comes as such a shock. We are rated 13th this time around. Our seven ranked prospects (three in the top 100) from last year are down to six, and only two in the top 100.

Last year’s #41 Jon Loyola was traded away in the Bedrosian trade, and #97 Jon Caskey is no longer eligible. #151 Ivan Cantu was in the package for Jose Alaniz.

2nd (+3) – AA SP Nelson Moreno, 20 – 2035 international free agent signed by Raccoons
85th (new) – INT SP Jose Arias, 17 – 2038 international free agent signed by Raccoons
137th (+36) – A SP Matt Kaplan, 21 – 2037 second-round pick by Raccoons
153rd (-28) – AA SP Vince Burke, 22 – 2037 first-round pick by Raccoons
190th (new) – AAA MR Zack Kelly, 23 – 2035 fourth-round pick by Raccoons
200th (-62) – AAA OF/2B Cory Cronk, 25 – 2032 third-round pick by Raccoons

Kelly was taken by the Scorpions in this year’s rule 5 draft, but was returned on Opening Day.

The franchise top 10 are completed by INT C Ruben Gonzalez, 17 (IFA, 2038), AAA CL Brent Clark, 24 (5th Rd., 2036), INT C Jose Ortiz, 18 (discovery), and AA SP Jake White, 21 (2nd Rd., 2038);

The top 5 overall prospects this year are:

#1 CHA AA SP Pablo Vazquez (was #3; also was #1 in ‘37)
#2 POR AA SP Nelson Moreno (was #5)
#3 CHA AA SP Emmanuel Lizarraga (was #11)
#4 SAC A 1B/LF/RF Eddie Moreno (was #16)
#5 WAS AAA RF/LF Eduardo Avila (was #7)

Last year’s #1, Oklahoma righty Sebastian Parham exceeded rookie limits while posting a 2.58 ERA for the Thunder in a swingman role. The same was true for his teammate, C Jesus Adames, who was ranked #4 in last year’s edition. #2 corner infielder John McDonell remained with the A-level Farmington Cosmos of the Scorpions, dropping to #13.

Next: first pitch.