[Westheim]

Indeed, the numbers Cristiano compiled showed that Maldonado’s defense in centerfield had eroded to the point of costing the Raccoons half a win on defense this year. He had competently played six positions in his defensive prime, but by now should be kept off the prime defensive positions of shortstop and centerfield. Now, the next-smartest plan we came up with was to let Sal Ayala walk, move Maldo to right, Toohey to first (which between those two was the better defensive alignment still), and find a new centerfielder.

That could either be Derek Baskins, or if we didn’t resign Manny Fernandez either, we could move Baskins to left, and chase a free agent – and I already had my eye on somebody, just down I-5. Salem’s Armando Herrera was a serial Gold Glover in center, an also a serial .300 hitter, doing it from the right side (I’d prefer left). For his career he was a .314/.366/.404 hitter, and this year he had hit for that slash line almost precisely. He was also good for 20 stolen bases; he’d be perfect for the #2 hole, assuming we’d ever find a leadoff hitter. If Manny hung around, Baskins wasn’t gonna be it, because there would not be room in the lineup for both Manny and Baskins. Herrera was gonna be 31 on Opening Day, but I’d rather blow the millions on him than give them back to Nick Valdes.

Even keeping Manny would not preclude going after Herrera. The actual problem was probably somebody else: Mal Phinazee. While he had come up with a number of clutch hits in the playoffs, Phinazee had largely been a disappointment during the season, hitting only .241 for the Coons. The thing was that his about-average production came with a very much above-average contract. He was signed for three more years, for a total of $5.22M. Shifting that kind of dosh would indeed be hard in the offseason.

Meanwhile we were taking the buzzsaw to the arbitration class. Alex Ramirez was non-tendered. The 35-year-old had ended up in AAA during the season and would cost at least $1M in 2045. That was a bit much for a right-handed pitcher that had walked 38 batters in 47 innings, especially when we had a host of minimum salary replacements available. The question was whether to axe Jon Craig, too – or Nate Norris, although Norris had fewer homers and more strikeouts on his ledger, was younger, and had been rated better by the departed Josh Busing, too.

There was a real urge to non-tender both Omar Gutierrez and Jay de Wit, .210-ish hitters with limited skillsets. Gutierrez at least had good defense at multiple infield positions, while hitting lefty; de Wit was a switch-hitter, but with questionable defense. The fact that we utterly lacked prospects on the infield beyond Waters and Carreno, who were already established here, might keep those two bums around on really cheap contracts. The personnel in AAA on the infield? Nick Lando, Phil Haley, Brian Snyder all were here at some point and none impressed. Ricardo Bejarano was one of those failed first base prospects we liked to pile up (but on the 40-man, like Snyder). Tommy Markiewicz had versatility around the infield, but was already 26 and had never been near a call-up. That left John Castner, a second-sacker taken at #17 in the ’41 draft. He had been promoted to AAA this year, batting .266/.329/.395 in 72 games, then had gotten beaned badly in September and was still lingering with a bad concussion. That was the extent of our AAA infield options. The odd Omar Gutierrez sprinkled in there wouldn’t hurt!

What about actual improvements? We didn’t end up with any starting pitcher with an ERA even near 3-flat, although the overall package was not horrendous, either. Wheatley got run around the courtyard towards the end of the year, but was he ripe for disposal and replacement by Victor Merino? On the plus side, the assembled rotation as it was had a top earner of Jake Jackson for a mere $1.5M for the next four years (after frontloading a contract to him when the Raccoons were in their lean years). The whole rotation would cost less than $4.5M for the season, with Mathers headed to arbitration.

Brent Clark had some problematic stats, like a 1.30 WHIP that was rising, and 4.3 BB/9. On the other paw, he had led the league in K/9 with 8.3; he still had struck out only 171 batters thanks to untimely exits and only 185 innings pitched. It was hard to find faults with Okuda and Mathers and Jackson, except that none of them was Nick Brown, c.2009 …

Behind the dish, Kilmer was somewhat overpaid and Zarate was a free agent. Ruben Gonzalez had not exactly rubbed his bum in our faces with his cups of coffee this year, hitting .191/.216/.234 (with a .243 BABIP) in 51 plate appearances. He had batted .279/.347/.413 with 12 homers in 111 AAA games. Talent was definitely there; we just wondered whether he’d be better up with another start in AAA.

Decisions, decisions.

+++

October 27 – The Buffaloes acquire SP Leo Iniguez (2-14, 4.33 ERA) from the Condors for #26 prospect OF Brian Blackburn.
November 4 – The Loggers send right-hander Bobby Freels (27-27, 4.51 ERA, 3 SV) to the Knights. The 25-year-old brings them two prospects.
November 7 – The Indians acquire 1B Miguel Barrientos (.264, 12 HR, 73 RBI) from the Capitals, with two prospects to Washington.

+++

The Raccoons were merely busy with extensions at this pre-arbitration time – much depended on the availability of Armando Herrera otherwise.

But we were taking players off the arbitration list at a steady rate. In October, extensions were signed with Nelson Moreno ($555k), Zack Kelly ($380k), and Nate Norris ($540k) for next season, and also long term deals with two other players. Josh Rella had his arbitration years and two years of free agency bought out for a total of $4.75M, starting with $500k next season, and then adding $250k every year until the last two years paid $1.25M each.

Bryce Toohey didn’t come quite that ******* cheap: he asked for 8 years and $21M – given that he was already 29 a bit too progressive for my taste, but he was also bluffing, and quickly settled for a more modest offer of 6 years and $14M, starting with $1M next season, then $1.5M and $2.5M and three stacks of $3M – the last of which was contingent to a team option worth $700k.

But the main excitement for the Portland fan base came only on November 1 when the Raccoons sent out the announcement that they had come to terms with Manny Fernandez on a new 4-yr, $6M deal. The contract was flat for his age 35-38 seasons; the last year was a vesting options, requiring 120 games played in 2047.

After that, there were only more 1-year deals; Jon Craig signed for $560k; Jonathan Dustal, still nursing the knee, got $450k; we finally also signed 1-year deals with Omar Gutierrez ($400k) and Jay de Wit ($365k), although neither of the two were really planned in for next season.

Sal Ayala would decline arbitration and head for free agency, doing so as a type A free agent. Armando Herrera also became a free agent, with the same type A tag.

My whiskers twitched.

+++

2044 ABL AWARDS

Players of the Year: SAC 1B/LF/RF Eddie Moreno (.324, 40 HR, 130 RBI) and SFB 3B/1B Ramon Sifuentes (.327, 29 HR, 100 RBI)
Pitchers of the Year: DEN SP Edward Flinn (23-4, 2.85 ERA) and ATL SP Brian Buttress (13-11, 2.72 ERA)
Rookies of the Year: CIN INF/LF Chris Delgado (.308, 14 HR, 83 RBI) and ATL SP Brian Buttress (13-11, 2.72 ERA)
Relievers of the Year: PIT CL Rich Kappel (5-5, 1.98 ERA, 37 SV) and VAN MR Ruben Vela (8-3, 1.51 ERA, 4 SV)
Platinum Sticks (FL): P LAP Mike LeMasters – C NAS Jorge Santa Cruz – 1B SAC Eddie Moreno – 2B NAS Felix Marquez – 3B CIN Jesus Burgos – SS WAS Chris O’Keefe – LF TOP Dave Lee – CF CIN Dan Mathes – RF LAP Juan Benavides
Platinum Sticks (CL): P ATL David Farris – C OCT Jesus Adames – 1B ATL Doug Levis – 2B VAN Dan Schneller – 3B SFB Ramon Sifuentes – SS CHA Tony Aparicio – LF IND Danny Rivera – CF VAN Jerry Outram – RF POR Bryce Toohey
Gold Gloves (FL): P DEN John Kennedy – C DEN Ricky Rodriguez – 1B TOP Shuta Yamamoto – 2B NAS Felix Marquez – 3B NAS Brad Critzer – SS SAL Josh Jackson – LF TOP Dave Lee – CF SAL Armando Herrera – RF CIN Celio Umbreiro
Gold Gloves (CL): P MIL Ruben Guzman – C VAN Julio Diaz – 1B CHA Ed Haertling – 2B NYC Randolph Nash – 3B SFB Ramon Sifuentes – SS NYC Alex Adame – LF CHA Joe Besaw – CF ATL Brian Oliver – RF CHA Archie Turley