[Westheim]

With the signing of Brian Shan, a type A free agent, the Stars sent the #23 pick back to the Gold Sox at the end of January, just the same place where they had got it from in the first place when Denver had signed Omar Gonzalez in December. Not that it was the original pick of any of those two teams – it had originated with the Knights, who had forfeited it in the first place when they signed Dave Hils even earlier.

And the Coons? Still picking third, still not knowing what to do with themselves.

In February, the Coons still sat on eight figures of budget space and tried to figure out how to make a deal for an older veteran with a big contract, that could still contribute, while also somehow snatching a prospect, and while themselves only parting with spare bits and pieces. It was asking for a lot, really.

The Titans had gone into rebuilding mode, and had repeatedly offered a group of players for all of last year whenever I dangled a warm body, including Tony Lopez, who had turned 30 last May, but had won three straight Gold Gloves in rightfield at this point. There were quite a few things I didn’t like about Tony Lopez; he struck out like no tomorrow, and at the same time had never hit 20 homers. He had never hit better than .265, so he’d probably hit .195 as a Coon… But he put up 100+ OPS+ values for four straight years, and that with a Gold Glove subscription, and at least some speed, although he didn’t swipe a single base in ’52 after taking 15 in ’51. His contract was also ludicrous: $3.6M in the coming season, and $4M in ’54, after which he’d be a free agent. He was a right-handed hitting rightfielder that would take Oscar Rivera’s spot for sure.

The Titans also routinely shopped Larry Rodriguez, who was a pretty, pretty good first baseman, but the Coons had committed to Harry Ramsey. Ramsay? Something like that. I’ll probably learn at some point.

Oscar Rivera had batted .256 with five homers in regular appearances in September, 148 PA in all in 2052. But he was already 27, and he was an atrocious defender. Given the chance, he’d probably also win a strikeout title (makes unsure paw movement) like Lopez already had. Oh yes, he had power; he had also hit 20 homers in St. Pete last season. But he was a lazy foul-mouthed bum… and Lopez had a reputation as a team leader. So that’s an improvement right there.

And the problem here wasn’t getting *Tony Lopez*. They’d take a Lonzo or a Pucks. But they didn’t ask for them. The Titans would send you your personal engraved copy of Tony Lopez for any of the following: Kevin Hitchcock, Aaron Brewer, Ed Crispin, Brett Lillis jr., Mikio Suzuki, various other backbenchers on the extended roster, our ******* Rule 5 pick, the ominous Guido Kauffman again, or a warm meal with two eggs. One egg if you drove a real hard bargain.

It was just the silly old man at the trade lever again, insisting on getting outfield prospect Matt Gilmore in the deal. It wasn’t working – unless we included Phil Baker in the deal… who wasn’t one of my hard no’s, but the idea was to add young talent.

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February 1 – The Condors sign on former Thunder closer Dale Mrazek (49-44, 3.43 ERA, 280 SV). The 33-year-old right-hander will make $6.84M over three years.
February 10 – DAL 2B Sergio Quiroz, who batted .302 with 8 HR and 49 RBI last year, took a fall while hoverboarding with his kids and is out with a broken leg. He is not expected to return before May.
February 10 – The Rebels acquire INF Todd Dau (.238, 31 HR, 238 RBI) from the Bayhawks, along with cash, for 2B/LF Nick Roseto (.256, 6 HR, 60 RBI) and a prospect.
February 21 – The Raccoons acquire OF Tony Lopez (.247, 107 HR, 536 RBI) and MR Steve Watson (3-2, 3.83 ERA, 2 SV) from the Titans for C Aaron Brewer (.271, 9 HR, 42 RBI) and MR Justin Johns (50-63, 4.33 ERA, 32 SV) going to Boston.
February 23 – The Thunder shift custody of C Sean Suggs (.307, 127 HR, 580 RBI) to the Knights in exchange for MR Gustavo Chapa (16-18, 3.35 ERA, 39 SV) and #32 prospect SP Pedro Mendoza. It’s the third time Suggs gets traded in 19 months.

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Watson was an uncontrollably wild mess. Elite fastball and changeup, and hard to hit – but every other pitch seemed to either hit the batter in the elbow or his own catcher in the groin. He’d be in AAA to start the season despite spending the entire 2052 season on the major league roster. So he wasn’t even eligible for prospect rankings anymore, either!

That trade was already an L!

With the trade, the back end of the pen was reduced to the pair of Kevins. Lillis, Larson, and Flores would be on the roster for sure, but who else? The Coons had Wheats, Taki, and Raffy in the rotation, guaranteed, but the rest was all a bit of a mess. There were four pitching jobs left to give away, and on the major league roster, extended version, alone there were another nine pitchers whining for attention, including at this point Watson. The others were Phil Baker, Cameron Argenziano, Victor Salcido, Mike Snyder, Antonio Alfaro (the Rule 5 pick), Ryan Harmer, Eric Reese, and Raul Medrano – and except for Salcido (and Alfaro, who could not be moved to the minors), they all had options.

So a good first step would be to make up your mind whether Salcido was going to start or be used in garbage relief. Again, 2-8 with a 5.57 ERA last year, and that ERA was only partially salvaged with 11 relief outings late in the season. He had walked 7.1/9 in the majors, and 3.8/9 in the minors. He had also pitched two no-hitters earlier in his career. He was 27, which was a weird time to hit the *******.

Since the Coons were unlikely to compete for anything nice, I tended to give him April in the rotation, and if the results were similarly grim as last year, kick him into long relief until he’d be entirely untenable. And yes, several trades this winter did not come to fruition because the Raccoons wouldn’t let go of Victor Salcido. Oh, this one was gonna be interesting to watch …!

Also interesting: with the departure of Justin Johns, age 34, to Boston, there was currently not a 33-year-old or older player on the roster. Travis Malkus would turn 33 in late May, and the only other 32-year-olds were Wheats and Waters, the last two mainstay holdouts from the glory days. (Again, Hitchcock also had two rings, but had only made a combined 40 appearances for those, including three in the playoffs, where he got on the snout)

Other Critters with new employers: Cullen Tortora signed with the Wolves for $446k; the Thunder spent $490k on Rikuto Ito;