[Westheim]

The Raccoons’ pitching plans were more or less complete by December, but the lineup and bench still had certain holes. Only 13 position players were on the not-very-extended roster, which included Harry Ramsay, who’d not be available before May, Jeff Raczka as third catcher, and Naughty Joe as somebody that should stay far away from the major league roster. Not on the roster was AAA 1B Pedro Rojas, so effectively we had 11 position players around, definitely missing two outfielders unless we wanted to add another AAA bum to Prospero Tenazes and sign just one more outfielder.

The problem was not dosh – the problem was that there were on high-profile outfielders available unless we wanted to go back to Ken Crum who’d surely stink defensively in a few years’ time. In any case we made an insurance signing in late December, bringing back Ricky Lamotta, who had spent most of 2050 with the Raccoons after getting claimed off waivers by the Loggers. He hadn’t hit much then, but he was still a valid defensive outfield and third base option. Lamotta had bounced around the CL quite a bit for a decade now, but 2050’s 399 PA with the Raccoons were still the most that he had ever gotten with anybody in a season. His old #12 was no longer available; he was assigned #21 instead and Naughty Joe, who was grimly robbed of the same number, was outrighted off the roster.

All the while I kept sniffing around Charlotte’s Ethan Whitehead – also really a defensive centerfielder – but they were not impressed by the grab bag of failed relievers I was offering, and no deal came together.

All other things failing, Pucks will keep starting in center, but then Lamotta or Tenazes can replace him in the late innings (or Pucks slots to a corner and Brassfield goes home.

Around the holidays, I changed gears. Screw centerfield, we’d keep botching with Pucks and the right-handed soup of the day against southpaws. Let’s grab a corner outfielder. And not a right-hander, because I felt we had enough right-handed batters on the roster: only Waters, Crispin, and Pucks were non-right-handed batters projected to be on the Opening Day roster at this point (not counting thusly Rams and Raczka).

Suddenly Ken Crum was an option again, but he had increased his price to 6-yr, $26.4M and while the dosh was technically there, we were now looking at a 38-year-old Ken Crum staggering around when his D trend was a concern even now. Interesting switch-hitting options were DEN Bill Ramires and SAC Jason Monson, but we didn’t have the prospects to swing for either one of them. Same for left-handed NYC Omar Sanchez. OCT Mike Harmon could *maybe* iced loose from them, but with him you were automatically buying 50 games on the DL, at least. He whacked 22 homers last season, in just 114 games. And then there was free agent Mike Allegood, longtime Falcon. He was 31, a very good defender in the outfield corners and third base, and passable in center in a way that Pucks was passable in center. Allegood had a few really good seasons in the past, but had batted .291 with 8 homers with the Falcons last year.

When I went to the Thunder for Harmon, he immediately invoked his veteran 10/5 rights, so that was that.

There was one more option. SFB Danny Munn was a lefty making $5.9M twice more (2056 was a player option, but let’s be real), and was a consistent 120 OPS+ stick. He had averaged 20 homers from 2049 through 2053 between the Warriors and Bayhawks, but had hit only 14 last year, making only 99 starts. His defense wasn’t much better than Ken Crum’s, but at least he wouldn’t linger until 36+ on our roster; he had just turned 31. His weight was an issue, so it would probably not get better in Portland, the world capital of easily accessible trash cans.

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December 21 – 38-year-old ex-WAS 1B Manny Liberos (.245, 316 HR, 1,254 RBI) rejoins the Buffaloes on a $2.52M contract.
December 22 – The Capitals console themselves with former Condors SP Larry Colwell (84-68, 3.45 ERA), who signs a 5-yr, $23.2M contract.
December 23 – The Raccoons sign ex-TIJ/OCT OF/3B Ricky Lamotta (.273, 21 HR, 175 RBI) on a cheap $650k deal.
December 25 – The Crusaders get pitching help by signing former Caps SP Kyle Turay (123-109, 3.43 ERA). The 31-year-old would make $33.6M over six years.
December 25 – Former Buffos INF Mark Haney (.249, 27 HR, 270 RBI) gets signed by the Capitals on a 3-yr, $9.52M deal.
December 28 – After two years in Vancouver, 35-yr old SP Jesse Bulas (101-95, 3.88 ERA) signs a 2-yr, $8.64M contract to be with the Capitals.
December 28 – Portland signs ex-SFB CF Brent Cramer (.269, 60 HR, 326 RBI) on a $525k deal.
December 29 – Nashville scoops up 39-yr old ex-OCT/WAS 3B/1B Ramon Sifuentes (.282, 218 HR, 1,133 RBI) on a $2.28M deal.
December 30 – The Raccoons acquire 31-yr old LF/RF Danny Munn (.256, 145 HR, 543 RBI) from the Bayhawks for 25-yr old MR Antonio Alfaro (9-5, 4.09 ERA, 1 SV) and 26-yr old AAA MR Jason Mack.

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On board is Danny Munn, and I hope I get plenty of occasion to call him Danny Fun! He will be the rightfield starter, with Brassfield, who was the weaker arm, in left, and Pucks in center. It’s not the greatest defensive outfield for sure, and if you’re a Ricky Lamotta on the roster, you should see quite a few late innings on the field, especially if the team is leading.

Cramer would be 30 in January and in St. Pete in April. Even with a 120 OPS+ for his career, nobody wanted him near his major league team right now and we could try him out down there. But – ssshh! – he doesn’t know about the April part of the plan yet.