[Westheim]

Should the Raccoons sign a left-handed hitting outfielder for cheap? That was my main concern in January. Candidates would be the usual over-30-year-olds like Nick Crocker, or even ex-Coons like Nelson Mercado. We only had three lefty batters on the roster at that point (Luna, Crispin, Suzuki), plus two switch-hitters (Watt, Waters). Alan Puckeridge was a left-handed batter, but all he other filler candidates in AAA were right-handed, except for the switch-hitting Roberto Medina, although in his case switch-hitting meant that he didn’t hit a lick from either side of the plate with his big league career slash of .233/.270/.326 across 137 plate appearances.

Ultimately I decided against that, as well as a lefty first baseman. Who needs roster fillers when they have Evan Van Hoy in AAA?

But 2050 would be a lull year, probably with 90 losses no matter what we do, until we get some more reinforcements from below. All those 1-year additions last year were utterly tragic, and this year we’d go with just the tragic that was already assembled. That also meant largely ignoring that pile of roughly $11M of unused budget space that was lying around in the other room and had to be regularly checked for diving ducks.

It’s a hard job, isn’t it?

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January 15 – The Canadiens ink former Thunder SP Danny Orozco (130-134, 3.90 ERA). The 39-year-old warrants a 2-yr, $8.32M contract.
January 15 – Quirky infielder Andrew Russ (.286, 11 HR, 343 RBI) signs a 6-yr, $18.96M contract with the Crusaders after spending the last nine years as part of the division rival Indians.
January 19 – The Knights pick up ex-NYC/RIC LF Joe Besaw (.306, 133 HR, 782 RBI). The 33-year-old signs for 4-yr, $14.96M.
January 22 – The loaded Gold Sox get even more loaded with the addition of former division rival OF Tylor Cecil (.314, 183 HR, 1,062 RBI). The 31-year-old former Dallas Star signs for 6-yr, $33.08M.
January 27 – LF/RF Billy Hester (.263, 122 HR, 634 RBI), so far a career Knight, joins the Blue Sox on their 3-yr, $8.4M offer.
January 29 – San Francisco signs ex-RIC 1B Mark Cahill (.279, 178 HR, 830 RBI); the 34-year-old lefty hitter will make $2.92M over two years.
February 1 – The Rebels pick up former Dallas SP Justin Roberts (99-94, 3.75 ERA) on a 2-yr, $9.76M offer.
February 4 – The Raccoons announce the signing of ex-OCT SP Elijah Powell (44-40, 4.58 ERA) on a $1.6M contract for 2050.
February 15 – The Canadiens sign up former POR/RIC RF/LF/1B Bryce Toohey (.263, 179 HR, 681 RBI) with a 2-yr, $3.68M contract.

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Powell, 30, is a decent righty going at an affordable rate for a team that temporarily has no ambitions to pursue. He’s a groundballer, doesn’t give up too many bombs, and will hopefully fill the hole in the rotation without causing me too much agony.

What else? Nate Norris went to the Thunder for $910k; aaaand – scene.