[Westheim]

Randy Wilken was also a free agent, but I wasn’t keen lining up for a 36-year-old that had just put up career bests in all slash categories, home runs, and technically stolen bases; tied, the last one, because he had never stolen more than one base in a season. Yes, he had led the league in bombs. But I didn’t feel the desire to turn his third spring into a 4-yr, $20M contract. Never mind the first round pick (#19) that was to be forfeited for the pleasure.

We were talking about the #8 spot in the lineup here, and the question was also whether one of the guys on the roster could play there competently and maybe hit a little. We had four infielders still rolling around on the roster that had spent all or most of the season frolicking around on the roster for no greater gains: Bernie Ortega, Jon Bean, Tony Benitez, and the Rule 5er David Gonzales, all of whom played in both Portland and St. Petersburg. Gonzales did so on a rehab assignment of course, due to the nature of his contract. Their hitting success, collectively, was, despite some hot starts in Portland for Ortega and Bean, decidedly limited (age given for what will be Opening Day in 2060):

David Gonzales (28) – Portland: .262/.305/.335, 0 HR, 12 RBI in 174 PA – St. Pete: .417/.476/.417, 0 HR, 4 RBI in 42 PA
Tony Benitez (27): Portland: .262/.359/.310, 0 HR, 13 RBI in 195 PA – St. Pete: .253/.379/.437, 6 HR, 36 RBI in 233 PA
Jon Bean (25): Portland: .254/.295/.296, 1 HR, 19 RBI in 275 PA – St. Pete: .308/.304/.385, 0 HR, 6 RBI in 70 PA
Bernie Ortega (23) – Portland: .265/.284/.335, 1 HR, 15 RBI in 190 PA – St. Pete: .246/.286/.404, 0 HR, 10 RBI in 63 PA – Ham Lake: .265/.314/.427, 5 HR, 25 RBI in 204 PA

There was a bench player for the new season in that group, and maybe two, but did we really want one of them starting at third base? None of them reached even a 90 OPS+. And then there were defensive limitations, with Ortega and Bean lacking the arm strength to play at third base. The most versatile among them was Gonzales, who could play all positions to the West of first base quite competently. Tony Benitez was really a third baseman and lacked the agility up the middle.

If you put those four together, you had a good defensive infielder (at *some* position) that was hitting .260/.308/.316 with two homers and a really toxic relationship with ball four. Five stolen bases, if you’re lucky. And this left out Arturo Bribiesca, who somehow managed to hit even less than this slash line and didn’t even make it back on the roster in September anymore…

So we did want a new third-sacker, and we definitely did want a new starting pitcher to stuff somewhere in that middle of the rotation.

+++

November 24 – The Crusaders acquire 1B John Rosenstiel (.251, 19 HR, 156 RBI) from the Canadiens for LF/RF Eiji Kinoshiita (.247, 13 HR, 81 RBI).
November 26 – New York also picks up 25-yr old C Curt Goodwin (.271, 12 HR, 58 RBI) from the Aces in exchange for #50 prospect SP Chris Monahan.
November 29 – In a week that was the Crusaders’ oyster, they sign former Miners middle infielder Ryan Spehar (.262, 35 HR, 300 RBI) to a 2-yr, 3.44M contract.
November 30 – The Crusaders (apparently the last team left in the league) sign career Aces 1B/RF/LF Aubrey Austin (.291, 206 HR, 892 RBI) to a 2-yr, $9.44M contract.

+++

Ahead of the Rule 5 draft, the Raccoons’ only moves to protect players was to add Todd Oley back to the 40-man roster and add Miguel Ulloa for the first time, although the 21-year-old outfielder had yet to make it out of Ham Lake. The only other 40-man roster players that had not finished the season on the extended September roster or on the major league DL were thus left-hander Mike Goldfield, first-sackers Joe Agee and Forbes Tomlin, and infielder Arturo Bribiesca.

+++

December 1 – Rule 5 Draft: 15 players are taken across three rounds (thanks, Loggers). The Raccoons are not affected.
December 3 – More New York news: the Crusaders acquire the Canadiens’ right-hander Rafael Flores (9-16, 3.24 ERA, 24 SV) for two prospects, including #96 RF Chris Richardson.
December 6 – San Francisco signs former TOP SS/3B Jesus Nunez (.259, 45 HR, 374 RBI) to a 2-year deal that will pay $6.48M to the 32-year-old right-handed batter.

+++

Finding more starting pitching sounded easy at first, but then the free agency group looked rather thin in that regard. Every team immediately crowded around Alfredo Llamas, the former Thunder being perhaps the best option and going to command an absolute fortune despite being 35 years old and not able to strike out even five batters per nine innings. The Raccoons meanwhile sniffed around some detritus washed off the Loggers roster, where Tyler Riddle had missed all of 2059 with a blown-out elbow after producing four seasons between “good!” (not merely: “good”) and “stellar” from 2055 to 2058. But then, well, the elbow. He had not pitched since August 5, 2058, and there was no guarantee he’d hold it together, but he was a soon-to-be 28-year-old southpaw with a 2.99 ERA in 123 starts, and we should be getting involved somehow.

Since he had not pitched at all in 2059, there was also no compensation attached to him, not that I was going to be as picky as before about the #19 pick now. The Crusaders were seven games away and we had already heavily borrowed on that old farm upstate to ship in Nick Nye. There was no thinking about the children right now. (looks up) Slappy, I really do sound like I worked with Nick Valdes for a few decades, don’t I? – (Slappy nods wisely)

But this still wasn’t going to be enough. Even with Stewart coming back from a blown-out shoulder (hopefully!) and even if we signed Riddle onto the roster, we still had Chance Fox and Justin DeRose fooling around at the back end of the rotation. Fox had led the team in wins, walks, and runs allowed, but there was hardly a calm game with him, and DeRose had somehow felt even more awful despite superficially decent numbers. And all the guys with the long names only led to even longer faces. That still left Bobby – (everybody jumps as the 25-year-old right-hander forcefully sneezes into his food bowl and kibble goes flying all across the room) … yes. That. That’s what the spray charts look like.

(Maud calmly goes to work with the broom)

Bobby Sneeze (gesundheit!) had no chance to make the roster by April. He was outrighted back to the Alley Cats in early December, but that was the only guy from 30 on the roster that could easily be deleted at this stage. Although, in all honesty, some only remained on the roster because they would have to pass through waivers yet again. (cough) Colby Bowen (cough) … Maybe we can swing something at the winter meetings? There’s not much left to trade, though…

And pitching (starters, but also right-handed relievers) wasn’t the only thing still on the shopping list. Our best bet for a backup catcher so far was Cortez Chavez (career: .182, 0 HR, 13 RBI), and it wasn’t hard to identify an opening for a right-handed backup outfielder.

Former Raccoons signing new contracts: Kyle Brobeck went to the Gold Sox for $452k; the Capitals signed Ivan Ornelas for $1.32M; Nick Thomason got $840k over two years from the Knights;