[Westheim]

It was February, the new schedule was out, and the Raccoons still didn’t have an infield that looked like it could pour itself a cup of water – outside Joel Starr and Rich Monck of course. There were four more jobs on that infield that needed filling.

And so far we still only had a clumsy third baseman, a Japanese import, a Rule 5er, and potentially the other youngster we had picked up from the Warriors but not added to the actual extended roster. That was a total of 73 ABL games of hitting .248 with two homers – all on Vic Morales – and 27 RBI. Max Peck was chipping in three of those.

There were more talks with the Wolves for switch-hitter Alberto Bonilla, but they were after Alba or Morales, and I was not biting.

So that was that. The Raccoons blundered into the new season with no infield to speak of. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

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February 6 – The Thunder bring back 35-year-old ex-SFB SP Mike Chartrand (112-114, 4.10 ERA) on a 2-yr, $7.76M contract.
February 6 – The Loggers deal infielder Chris Sullivan (.262, 16 HR, 184 RBI) to the Rebels for 2B/SS Devin Willoughby (.257, 7 HR, 51 RBI).
February 21 – The Thunder deal OF J.D. Johnson (.276, 16 HR, 72 RBI) to the Warriors for LF/CF Rick Miles (.265, 25 HR, 195 RBI).
February 24 – Former Gold Sox outfielder Jose Consuegra (.296, 29 HR, 288 RBI) joins the Thunder on a 2-yr, $6.88M deal.
March 17 – The Capitals throw $7.2M over three years at ex-NAS/POR MR Jimmy Dingman (32-46, 3.95 ERA, 107 SV).
March 28 – Washington also adds former Indians LF/RF/1B Trent Brassfield (.274, 107 HR, 574 RBI) for $6.8M over two years.

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Trent Brassfield was still lingering on the free agent market when training camp began in March. I was tempted to offer him a 1-year deal (but no more!) but he already was mulling several multi-year offers.

Days before the season was slated to begin, the Thunder – in win now mode – went after Angel Alba again, offering bit-part infielder Daniel Richardson (not to be confused with the Daniel Richardson that did a wholly unremarkable season with the Decade of Darkness Raccoons). Not sure why we would trade Alba for another right-handed ham-and-egger when we already had three of them on the roster…

Cont(r)act details for former Critters: Mike Pohlmann got 2-yr, $4.56M from the Gold Sox; the damn Elks signed Ken Sowell for $2.44M; the Knights got Hyun-soo Bak for 2-yr, $2.64M; Mike Lane signed for $590k with the Stars; the Miners got Nick Fowler for $520k; Ricky Herrera went to the Titans for $496k; Reynaldo Bravo signed for the Gold Sox for $480k; Phil Baker went to Sacramento for $3.52M; the damn Elks signed Raffy de la Cruz for $570k; Boston added Dave Blackshire for $490k; the Loggers inked Juan Ojeda for $620k;