[Westheim]

December arrived, and the Raccoons were not ultra-active on the market… except that they hung on Armando Herrera’s tail. Everybody around the office could easily tell whenever his agent called again, because I would then whine and whimper at max volume for at least an hour, and Maud was busy running back and forth and making fomentations for me.

It was A LOT of money that the Herrera camp was asking for. But we had to have him – he was the perfect fit, and we had already dumped Ayala for him … speaking of Ayala…

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December 2 – The Titans ink ex-POR 1B/LF/RF Sal Ayala (.271, 94 HR, 554 RBI) to a 1-yr, $1.62M contract. The Raccoons receive a second-round pick and a supplemental round pick for compensation.

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Well, that sucked. Especially since we’d – what is it, Maud? Please don’t tell me they’re on the phone yet again …! – I don’t have any more millions to promise!!

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December 3 – The Raccoons sign ex-SAL CF Armando Herrera (.314, 21 HR, 552 RBI) to a 6-yr, $28.2M contract. The Raccoons forfeit their #22 pick in the 2045 draft to the Wolves for the 30-year-old centerfielder.
December 3 – Denver inks ex-LAP SP Roberto Pruneda (168-127, 3.66 ERA) to a 2-yr, $9.2M contract.
December 3 – The Bayhawks add left-handed closer candidate Jake Bonnie (32-34, 3.60 ERA, 63 SV) in a trade with the Wolves that sends two prospects to Salem.

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Our #22 and Denver’s #24 pick were in fact the first first-round picks to be signed away this offseason. The first six type A free agents to sign all did so for bottom-half teams that forfeited second- or even third-round picks. Guess what, the Loggers got hung with a third-round pick once again…

…and while I tried to sneak a team option into Armando Herrera’s contract for the 2050 season, his camp had none of it. All the dosh had to be guaranteed! And so the Raccoons signed him for six slates of $4.7M and prayed their dearest he would run head-first into a fence before the end of April… Paying $4.7M for a centerfielder was bad enough. Paying $4.7M for a centerfielder in a wheelchair was even worse.

Cristiano, what’s the glare for?

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December 5 – The Crusaders sign 32-yr old ex-TIJ/DAL RF/1B Willie Ojeda (.321, 182 HR, 1,063 RBI) to a 4-yr, $17.6M contract.
December 6 – The Titans add ex-NAS/ATL 2B Juan Encinia (.262, 6 HR, 183 RBI) on a 1-year, $1M contract.
December 8 – The Indians acquire 2B/1B Logan Arnold (.276, 26 HR, 226 RBI) from the Rebels, along with cash, for MR Aaron Iten (5-6, 4.55 ERA, 3 SV) and a prospect.
December 9 – INF Chris Rose (.289, 5 HR, 84 RBI) is traded from the Condors to the Loggers for MR Cesar Perez (46-37, 4.37 ERA, 50 SV) and a prospect.
December 14 – The Wolves deal 3B/SS David Reid (.279, 11 HR, 73 RBI) to the Pacifics for a pitching prospect.
December 15 – Former Blue Sox 1B Chris Delagrange (.267, 245 HR, 1,002 RBI), an 11-year veteran, joins the CL for the first time in a 2-yr, $7.92M contract with the Knights.
December 22 – Dallas takes in former Scorpions RF/LF Joreao Porfirio (.268, 138 HR, 567 RBI), signing the 31-year-old for 6 years and $20.64M.
December 24 – The Condors sign ex-SAC LF/SS Jesus Banuelas (.293, 46 HR, 476 RBI) for $22.84M over seven years.
December 24 – The Bayhawks come to terms with ex-DEN SP Matt Hose (128-116, 3.96 ERA) on a 3-yr, $9.4M contract.
December 24 – 35-year-old SP Bill Quintero (150-153, 3.64 ERA), also last with the Gold Sox, signs a 2-yr, $8.76M deal with the Pacifics.
[b]December 24 – The Raccoons add former Thunder INF Al Martell (.257, 48 HR, 324 RBI) to a $500k contract for the 2045 season.

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Martell gets us a backup infielder that might actually hit. I tried to find somebody in a trade for a veteran reliever, but nobody really bought into the idea of, say, Jon Craig. So a cheap free agent it was. Martell had been a regular on the Thunder when he was just 21, but had been pretty much sorted to the side by 27. He was definitely glove-first, but he was also hitting lefty, which gave us another option to tilt the lineup against righty hitters (in Jimenez’ spot f.e.).

With that, de Wit and Gutierrez were out of luck for a roster spot in 2045. In the outfield, it looked like we’d send Van Anderson and Gene Pellicano back, and apart from that we looked pretty much set. Ruben Gonzalez would also go back to AAA. The only thing I was still working on was maybe a bullpen shake-up. I wasn’t hellbent on it, though.

Who else? Jonathan Dykstra, a Coons farmhand that was traded for Kurt Wall a decade ago, returned to the CL on an $870k deal with the Indians; Cosmo Trevino signed with the Pacifics for $500k;

Also, the Hall of Fame ballot is out. Find all the Titans on it that vexed us for a good decade or so.