[Westheim]

The Titans winning the championship wasn’t so bad after all. In case we had gotten a little lazy around here, that gave us fresh motivation to spit in our paws and ******* start rolling that rock back up the mountain now! We were pretty far away from a championship after all right now…

Adam Valdes saw the need for resources, although I hadn’t even managed to spend all of last year’s $64M budget, so now I’d get to try with a $66M budget. Maybe throw it at some 38-year-olds and then release them? The increase kept the Raccoons ranked ninth among the 24 teams.

Top 5: Crusaders ($80M), Thunder ($79M), Stars ($75M), Knights, Buffaloes, Titans (all $74M)
Bottom 5: Loggers ($43M), Cyclones ($41M), Wolves ($40M), Falcons ($39M), Aces ($36.5M)

The missing CL North teams were ranked t-13th (IND, $59M) and 15th (VAN, $57M), so we remained third in the division.

While the average budget went us this year, by a healthy $1.3M to $59.7M, the median budget was now $60.5M, which was actually down $1M from last season.

+++

It would be a winter of saying goodbyes though, and the first goodbye was with Lonzo, who had set a new mark for career stolen bases with 752, but after 18 pro seasons and 2,002 ABL games and amidst overall degrading fortunes called it quits. For leading a “career” list of the league winding up its 87th season, he had made a paltry $15M from his Raccoons contracts. Thankfully the shoe company Nice had picked him up years ago and was using him as a vehicle to market running shoes to Dominicans, where they were now called “lonzos”.

And that’s how new words are made, boys!

There were six free agents to talk about besides the departed shortstop, three of which were position players, including fellow middle infielders Jim White and Nick Fowler, and since they were both of advanced age and the Raccoons should really use this point in time to get younger again, neither of whom would be buggered to come back. Malik Crumble was a free agent, had begged for a new deal repeatedly during the season, and was willing to play for pennies on the dollar just to stay employed. His situation was complicated and intertwined with other outfielders on the roster that were an issue for one reason or another, and we’d come back to him later.

Three relievers were also on the list. Matt Walters had fallen apart well before his time and we were kinda grateful that that contract was done. The others were Mike Pohlmann and Jimmy Ding(er)man. They might yet get an offer, although I struggled to see how they were answers to the question who the **** was gonna close games next year given the complete implosion of Josh Carlisle at the end of the year.

There were four salary arbitration cases, all position players. Marcos Arellano was a super 2 case that continued to get no respect from anywhere in the league despite a season-and-a-half of fair success behind the dish for the Critters. Was an upgrade in the cards? Sure. Was I keen on getting offered some run-down 35-year-old backstop by last-place FL teams every other week? No. I hope those last-place FL teams will take note at some point.

Also on the list was Jon Bean, who continued to be an answer to a question nobody dared asking, but given the exodus of players on the infield might yet again wind up with another contract tendered to him for no good reason at all. The others were outfielders Jack Kozak and Ben Morris, and both of them were very … weird cases.

Kozak had played in 144 games this season, but had failed to log enough PA’s to qualify for rate statistics (not that his .244 average begged for comparison). He had hit another 16 dingers, though, second-best on the team somehow. He had started out as a bit of a trade toss-in from L.A. what felt like three rebuilds ago, and had originally been a first baseman that gradually warmed to the idea of playing leftfield. He wasn’t that great in center, though, which was unfortunately where he had played over 350 innings this year to quite rough reviews.

The reason why Kozak was winding up playing center so much was funnily enough our centerfielder Ben Morris. Here was the thing. (puts both frontpaws on the desk and takes a deep breath) Ben Morris from age 22 to 24 (2060 to 2062) posted OPS+ values of 119, 107, and 126. He also never managed to stay on the field in those seasons and only once scratched enough PA to qualify for rate stats (in ’61). In the last two years, he has managed to rack up SEVEN injuries requiring DL-isation. SEVEN. It’s like he’s playing murderball against a team swinging heavy chains and halberds at him! There’s everything in there, too: back, back, knee, knee, thumb, wrist, and knee again. For some guys it’s muscles, or they have a particularly troublesome groin or whatever. (Cristiano snickers in the corner) With Morris it’s everything. His entire skeleton seems hellbent of separating into individual pieces. He’s a ticking time bomb. The Raccoons need to find another solution in center (and it’s not gonna be Kozak). In ’63 Morris made it into just 92 games with his four different injuries. AND he can’t bloody hit left-handed pitchers. We’re just *constantly* planning around this guy, and especially his absences. And he’s only *25*…!

Doesn’t mean he’s not gonna be tendered a contract. But we don’t see him remaining employed beyond his team control years, which would be 2064 and 2065.

The pitching staff needs, besides burning the whole bullpen to the ground, not a whole lot. We have five capable (most of the time) starters assembled. It’s just that our pen was actually tragic for most of the season and has been for a couple of years.