[Westheim]

Randy Wilken would have been a great addition to the Raccoons right now, with third base basically a walk-on position with open tryouts. He had batted .265 with 26 homers for the Caps this year, was an excellent defensive third baseman, and was known to be a hard worker and work others hard. The only problem was that he was a type A free agent, and the Raccoons were not bloody quite in the “to heck with draft picks!” part of the endless “you win some, you lose some” cycle.

We lost plenty in 2052.

Other sensible options were prickly, too. Since we had dosh and no talent to spare, the free agent market was where I threw out my bait. Steve Diaz, 31, and mostly a Federal League veteran except for his debut with the Baybirds, was available. He played all infield positions well enough. He hit well enough for contact. Well enough for power. Had a well enough eye. To be honest, his scouting report was full of 10’s and 11’s and the dullest thing you’d ever see. Not so dull was his expectation of a 6-yr, $15M contract. The Coons might have thrown $2M a year at him, but not until his age 37 season. We’d just been through that.

Much cheaper was well-travelled village mattress Travis Malkus, well known from his time with the Elks, but since then he’d seemingly swung away at the baseball in a different place every other month. 2052 those places had been Nashville and … Unity? The Sox’ AAA team, the Grizzlies. Not sure exactly why they banished him to there for 60 games, but he hit .285 with two homers for the Sox in 68 other games. He still had some life in him at the hot corner at age 33 (by May), and was much more willing to talk about a 1-year deal.

And really, the thing here was not so much that we didn’t have dosh – we had eight figures to toss out – but that I didn’t want to bury the team with a 6-year deal for a decidedly average player.

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November 15 – The Loggers send RF/LF Craig Sayre (.247, 12 HR, 102 RBI) to the Blue Sox for super utility Jose Rodriguez (.246, 46 HR, 271 RBI) and a prospect.
November 15 – Sam Turner (.231, 16 HR, 104 RBI), who worked the Knights to a pennant, is acquired by the Buffaloes, along with a prospect, for 36-year-old RF J.P. Angeletti (.271, 185 HR, 941 RBI), in one of the first “wait, what?” transactions of the offseason.
November 17 – Boston sends OF Adam Bumpus (.233, 2 HR, 32 RBI) to Sacramento after his rookie season, picking up #186 prospect OF/1B Israel Santiago instead.
November 18 – The Scorpions get MR Mike Lane (4-4, 4.30 ERA) along with #187 prospect CL Kyle Zanni from the Miners instead, parting with outfielder Diego Mayorga (.281, 5 HR, 43 RBI).
November 21 – INF Mario Coto (.249, 36 HR, 198 RBI) is sent from Dallas to Topeka, along with a prospect, for 1B Victor Cruz (.311, 18 HR, 112 RBI).
November 23 – The Buffaloes keep adding, signing ex-SAC LF/RF/1B Nate Culp (.275, 182 HR, 598 RBI) to a 2-yr, $8.8M contract.
November 29 – 29-year-old former Capitals 3B Randy Wilken (.245, 118 HR, 406 RBI) signs a 3-yr, $3.72M contract with the Stars.
November 30 – The Canadiens throw $13.2M over two years at 38-year-old middle infielder Tony Aparicio (.290, 238 HR, 1,285 RBI), formerly of the Buffaloes.
November 30 – Richmond signs ex-LVA SP Chris Cornelius (59-44, 3.84 ERA) to a 2-yr, $3.74M deal.
December 1 – The Thunder win the bidding for ex-POR/SFW SP David Barel (103-87, 2.81 ERA). The 31-year-old southpaw will net a staggering $37.18M over six years.
December 1 – In turn, Oklahoma trades SP Elijah Powell (65-75, 4.78 ERA), who lost 18 games in 2052, to the Gold Sox for two prospects.
December 1 – The Buffaloes also add 34-yr old LF/RF/1B Eddie Moreno (.276, 353 HR, 1,224 RBI) from their division rivals, the Miners, for a 2-yr, $8.16M contract.
December 1 – Rule 5 Draft: 15 players are taken in the draft. The Raccoons draft 23-year-old right-handed AAA CL Antonio Alfaro from the Scorpions. The Warriors draft 25-year-old right-hander MR Políbio O’Higgins (3-5, 5.26 ERA) from the Raccoons.

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Maud, why did Wilken sign for so cheap…?? – Really? In his basement? – Well, *how many* bodies?

I can’t wait to see where that $6.6M/year contract for a 38-year-old middle infielder leads the damn Elks. It’ll probably still be enough to beat the Raccoons, I fear.

Alfaro will be 24 by January, but he looks like a nice midde-innings piece for a team that doesn’t have any tangible ambitions for the next year or three. As far as O’Higgins is concerned, the Raccoons used a whopping 50 players in 2052, 25 of them pitchers, and he was not one of them.

Matt Glodowski was soon signed by the Aces for $360k and will now hit six homers against Portland annually;