[Westheim]

January 1 – The Falcons sign ex-TIJ SP Edgar Mauricio (100-78, 3.29 ERA) to a 7-year, $53.3M contract.
January 3 – Career Warriors 1B Miguel Medina (.283, 188 HR, 827 RBI) lands with the Knights for $18.4M over three years.
January 6 – Loggers SP Carlos Rodriguez is forced into retirement from a frayed labrum at the tender age of 27. Rodriguez made just 56 starts in the ABL, going 20-15 with a 3.95 ERA for the Condors and Loggers.
January 7 – The former Titans SP Joe Chalmers (85-91, 4.10 ERA) gets a $38.4M contract from the Capitals. The contract runs for six years.
January 10 – New York signs 32-yr old ex-TOP LF Jose Ambriz (.281, 55 HR, 390 RBI) to a 2-year, $13.8M deal.
January 11 – The Raccoons sign former Buffos MR Justin Cullum (20-13, 4.48 ERA, 18 SV) to a $650k contract.

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Cullum is the best we could do with our limited resources right now. He’s a hard worker and believes in law and order, which that pen direly needs, even though he keeps hanging curveballs that then get blasted to other realms entirely.

Former Raccoons with new dens: the Scorpions gave Elmer Maldonado $3.12M over two years; Adam Peltier (minor leaguer but a perpetual haunt ever since) signed with the Warriors for $1.04M; Phil Baker joined the Falcons for $2.6M; the Warriors got Jim White for $980k; the Gold Sox gave $1.28M to Mike Hall;

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The Hall of Fame welcomed two new members elected on the 2066 ballot.

Mike McCaffrey spent his entire career in the FL West and except for one last season with the Pacifics all of it with the Scorpions. He dominated the strikeout table for his 17-year career, recording the most punchouts in the Federal League nine times in a 12-year stretch – or every year that injuries didn’t curtail him, with a career-high of 316 K in just 218.2 innings in 2047. He led the league in ERA three times, but never in wins; however, he racked up four Pitcher of the Year awards (2047, 2054, 2056, 2057), three of them in his 30s, and a Gold Glove. Walks crept up on him towards the end of his career, limiting his effectiveness in his last seasons, but overall he was one of the most brutal pitchers on batters that the league had ever seen, going 197-114 with a 2.99 ERA and 3,535 strikeouts in 2,902 innings. The strikeouts rank him fourth on the career table behind Tony Hamlyn, Jose Lerma, and Martin Garcia.

Infielder (mostly second baseman) Jonathan Ban also spent most of his career with one team, the Thunder, before tingling around the Federal League towards the end, and coincidentally also finished with the Pacifics as a teammate of McCaffrey. Ban was an exception defensive centerfielder with eight Gold Gloves, but could also dole it out with the club. While power was not his game – he topped out at 11 for home runs in a season – and speed was limited, he employed his switch-hitting capabilities to great effect and was a perpetual threat to hit that go-ahead RBI single against any pitcher. Batting .312/.372/.399 for his career with 2,815 hits, 91 homers, and 1,053 RBI, Ban slipped himself to two batting titles in 2047 and 2052, and impressed enough to collect three Platinum Sticks. He led the CL in hits three times with a high of 243 in ’47.

Full voting results:

SAC SP Mike McCaffrey – 1st – 93.9 – INDUCTED
OCT 2B Jonathan Ban – 1st – 92.0 – INDUCTED
SFW LF Mario Villa – 2nd – 53.6
??? LF Eddie Moreno – 3rd – 46.8
DEN 3B Ronnie Thompson – 5th – 38.4
IND LF Danny Rivera – 3rd – 26.2
??? SS Alex Adame – 2nd – 13.3
??? CL Mike Lynn – 3rd – 12.9
??? SP Matt Sealock – 6th – 11.4
LVA C Kevin Weese – 1st – 11.0
SAC 1B Steve Wyatt – 1st – 8.7
??? SP Kennedy Adkins – 1st – 8.0
OCT SS Ryan Cox – 5th – 6.1
DEN CF Sandy Castillo – 3rd – 5.3
IND SS Andrew Russ – 1st – 2.3 – DROPPED
VAN SP Terry Herman – 1st – 1.5 – DROPPED
VAN SS Dan Mullen – 1st – 0.4 – DROPPED