Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

1996 WORLD SERIES
Portland Raccoons (108-54) vs. Richmond Rebels (96-66)

Game 6 – Jason Turner vs. Chris O’Keefe

Turner had been horrible in his first start, walking five in less than four innings. He would have a very, very short leash in this game. The fact that Donis had been even more horrible, walking five in 2.1 innings, was everything that kept Turner in this game. Shortcircuiting the rotation by moving up Wade to this game wouldn’t work since one of these still would have to pitch game 7, as I was not hot on the idea on running out the young Jose Rivera on three days’ rest. Scott Wade in game 7 sounded as good as ideas would come once you were 0-3 behind in a best-of-7.

RIC: CF Olvera – 2B Villa – RF R. Vázquez – LF Encarnación – 1B A. Diaz – C Aguilar – SS Gorden – 3B Duke – P O’Keefe
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Salazar – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – 3B O’Morrissey – RF Newton – C Vinson – P Turner

Olvera and Vázquez remained the two guys to watch out for, either slugging almost .600 in the playoffs. And they countered the right-hander Turner, and that was worrisome. And in the first, Olvera doubled, and Vázquez homered. The Coons left a pair on in the first. 2-0 Rebels.

After retiring the next six in order, Turner again faced Olvera with one out in the third. He walked him. That wasn’t gonna work! He was to face Villa, while the bullpen went stirring. Villa singled to left, and Burnett replaced Turner in the third inning. Ken! You GOT to get these guys OUT!

Burnett struck out both Vázquez and Encarnación and now we merely had to patch six innings together with what was left of the pitching staff, and score at least three runs. Huzzah!

Lacombe hit for Burnett to lead off the bottom 3rd and doubled off the wall in right. Brewer grounded out, but Salazar singled to right and Lacombe scored. 2-1, but that was all we got in the third. De La Rosa was then put in, since he could easily go a couple of innings.

Top 4th, Aguilar on second and two out, Duke was batting against Gabby. I decided against the intentional walk to have O’Keefe led off the fifth for them. Duke sent a hissing grounder up the middle, but Brewer got to it! Can he get the out? Zinged to first, bang-bang play, OUT!!!

But things quickly went wrong. After having De La Rosa bat (and end the inning) in the bottom 4th, O’Keefe singled against him to start the fifth. Olvera walked, and Villa tripled both runners in. Down 4-1, the fifth run on third base, and the battery coming up, we were toast. Donis replaced De La Rosa, and while he struck out Vázquez, Encarnación homered. 6-1 Rebels. No way we can make this up.

Well, Brewer hit a leadoff homer in the bottom 5th to get to 6-2, but Salazar and Reece hit into deep outs and we didn’t get more. In the bottom 6th, Kinnear led off with a triple, as time was running thin. O-Mo (batting .152 in October) was walked intentionally to get to Newton (11 RBI in October), and Newton made the dozen full with a sac fly. Vinson singled, which brought up the tying run in Donis, who was hit for with Strong, but Strong popped out. Brewer singled up the middle, loading the bags.

Game 6, 6-3 Rebels, bottom 6th, bases loaded, two out, Salazar against O’Keefe. Grounded out to Diaz.

Santana got two outs in the seventh before Otero took over to go through eight. The offense however was lacking, leaving a runner on in the seventh.

Vicente Rubio faced Luke Newton to start the bottom 8th and walked him. He was instantly replaced with Mark Jones to face Vinson, another walk! We had the tying run at the plate with no outs, as Otero was hit for with Higgins, facing the scarcely used Hipolito Sendim. Higgins’ double play was soul crushing.

Brewer walked, bringing up Salazar as the tying run and he singled to score Newton. 6-4. Reece came up, homerless in October. He went to 0-5 on the day, lobbing out to Olvera. Ban sat down the Rebels in order in the ninth.

Showdown time. Steward came in, facing Weeds, Kinnear, and O-Mo. None of them reached base.

Rebels 6, Raccoons 4 (Rebels win 4-2) – Brewer 2-3, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Salazar 2-5, 2 RBI; Wedemeyer 2-5; Lacombe (PH) 1-1, 2B;

1996 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
RICHMOND REBELS
(1st title)

[pjh5165]

Originally Posted by Westheim

GO COONS!! GO COONS; GODDAMNIT!!!

My thoughts exactly. Let's finish this comeback.

EDIT: Guess I was a bit too late

[Westheim]

Scott Wade should have started game 6.

I suck.

[Westheim]

Getting the offseason started feels the more depressing when you leave behind you a 108-win season but failed to take it all. I deliberately didn’t touch the game for three days after that deflating World Series loss, to get my mind in order before doing anything too hastily.

The offseason, as usual, starts with some dry stuff: financials, and managing your free agency and arbitration cases.

Plus, the Hall of Fame accepts new members. There was one new member in the Hall of Fame this year (bringing the total to a whopping three), as 3B Claudio Rojas was inducted. Rojas logged 2,584 hits, 18 HR, 665 RBI, 204 stolen bases, a .314/.379/.349 line, and won two titles with the 1977 Cyclones and 1985 Gold Sox. Rojas actually spent three separate stints with the Cyclones, and will be inducted as a member of that team.

To be honest, the HOF requirements seem a bit low to me…

But now, financials. We had some $15.9M available last season (13th in ABL), and will have $16.4M (10th in ABL) in 1997. That does not quite help me at this point. Several of our managerial staff required new contracts, and those didn’t come exactly cheap. Basically, those alone eat up the biggest chunk of that half million extra. But let’s get an overview over the impending departures first.

Arbitration cases (with service time listed in y.ddd, last year’s salary ($99,000 was the minimum), and arbitration estimate):
SP Miguel Lopez (4-2, 4.01 ERA in 51.2 IP due to injury) – 4.073 - $412,500 - $476,438
MR Gabriel De La Rosa (4-1, 1.81 ERA, 5 SV) – 3.008 - $99,000 - $210,000
MR Daniel Miller (4-7, 2.88 ERA, 12 SV) – 4.144 - $160,000 - $176,000
CL Tzu-jao Ban (2-3, 2.98 ERA, 33 SV) – 5.153 - $230,000 - $265,560
C Nori Kondo (.224/.346/.336 in 134 AB) – 3.076 - $99,000 - $159,000
1B Liam Wedemeyer (.263/.310/.516 in 517 AB) – 3.118 - $99,000 - $367,500
INF Marvin Ingall (.305/.358/.396 in 298 AB) – 2.163 - $99,000 - $310,000
LF Vern Kinnear (.250/.346/.403 in 521 AB) – 5.008 - $485,000 - $613,525
OF Royce Green (.326/.404/.567 in 473 AB) – 5.019 - $480,000 - $682,500

Before I start the whining, here are our to-be-free agents (with last year’s salary):
SP Jason Turner (14-9, 3.11 ERA) - $550,000
MR Ken Burnett (6-3, 3.02 ERA, 1 SV) - $250,000
MR Juan Martinez (5-0, 4.27 ERA, 5 SV) - $275,000
INF Jorge Salazar (.261/.336/.335 in 391 AB) - $900,000
OF Jeff Martin (.222/.263/.250 in 36 AB) - $99,000
LF/RF Scott Strong (.315/.419/.459 in 181 AB) - $99,000

Our 1996 payroll came in at – here it gets wonky - $11.1M after all was said and done (OOTP lists $11.2M but that includes the new minimum of $106k already for all that made $99k in fact). With all free agents leaving, and all those estimates above, we will have less than $800k to work with! Raises include $100k apiece for Brewer, Reece, and Saito, and a hefty $350k for O-Mo, who signed that 6-year deal.

Now a few more notes: The last year of the 4-yr, $1.65M deal David Vinson signed will be in 1997, for $450k. It is actually a team option for $100k buyout. We could pay O-Mo with that money. Who will catch us will be a different deal.

I have NOT talked to Jason Turner so far about an extension. I strongly suspect him wanting to talk millions. And we don’t have no millions to give away! And he won’t re-sign for $550k either. As things are right now, we have less than $800k to get a fifth starter up, add a capable outfielder to sub for Royce Green for at least four months next year, and repopulate the bullpen. That is impossible!

What does David Vinson bring to the table? Last season, his OPS was .811, which does sound impressive, but it was also his single best OPS since 1990 when he raped opposing pitching to a .912 OPS. His defense was about as usual, not impressive, with a career-high 13 errors and 15 passed balls. So everything he gained over his endless .720 OPS seasons at the plate, he lost behind it, and while he threw out 28% of base stealers for an almost career high, that is still not a great value. So defensively, you can easily do better for your money, and offensively, most of the years you can do, too. Of course, buying out his contract will not give you compensation and it wasn’t like Nori Kondo set the world on fire for us last year. We don’t really have anybody in the minors screaming to take the job, either.

As we are on compensation already, only two of our to-be-free agents are compensation eligible: Turner and Salazar will both be type A free agents. We have already established that Salazar will not be back at 36, and that Turner can’t be re-signed due to insufficient funds. Nobody needs Jeff Martin. Scott Strong played way over his head in the last two months of the season. How much money could he demand for that? He also is not a great defensive option in right field, which is the open spot with Kinnear and Reece set. Luke Newton would be the defensive and cost-aware option to play in right.

We also have trouble further down the pecking order in the outfield, beyond the starting three. Stephen Buell has shown to be a competent fielder, and projects to be a competent batter – but you can not have him AND Vern Kinnear. Both are leftfielders with horrid right field defense. I don’t talk playing Daniel Hall in right when he was 37 so that Kinnear, young, attractive, and hot, could play in ’93. Buell is WAY WORSE than that.

And one more outfield calamity: Royce Green. His estimate is $682,500. At the very best, he will be able to play for $200k of that chunk of money. Green will be a free agent after the 1997 season, which makes this all worse yet again. How will you evaluate somebody going to demand (literally) millions on – at most! – 200 AB?

I am very clueless at this point.

Quicksand. I’m standing in quicksand. And I’m sinking an inch every minute.

Other notes: Jose Gálvez, the 35-year old “scrap heap pickup” we made after Miguel Lopez went down to injury, but who was never called up, and who went 5-11 with a 3.97 ERA in AAA before blowing out his flexor tendon in his elbow, chose to retire rather than rehab until the summer and end up on the scrap heap once more. He went 59-76 with a 4.60 ERA, mainly for the Miners, between 1984 and 1995.

[Questdog]

Will you be able to sign Royce Green after next year? If you think so, then we gotta suck up and pay him for sitting at home next season. If not, then what's the point of sinking money into him now?

Sure hate to see Turner move on....

[Westheim]

I hate to say it, but I really have no clue whatsoever how we are going to progress after next season. I don't even know how we are going to progress after THIS season.

I hate the thought to let Green go because of the injury. Yes, we will sink half a million bucks into him sitting on the DL, but he could still come back to push in the last 40-50 games of the year. The baseball gods only know what our record will be like then.

If the team (or what I can claw into and hold together from the team) falls on its face in 1997, then we will probably pull an 88 on this one and sell everything that has some worth to it. It worked wonders the last time. Except maybe... well ... I love Neil Reece. And I think Kisho Saito and Scott Wade should retire as Furballs, too.

(Wade has no trade value to other teams anyway, which again is due to OOTP's blatantly wrong assessment of his value on the number of pitches he throws, which is two. To them he is a 35-year old right-handed reliever who's stuff is not exactly over the top, in other words: you can get him in a 4-pack in the discount bin at Walmart. The guy has some 150-ish career wins as a starter, will you PLEASE value him for that!?)

If Brewer f.e. has a decent year, we could certainly haul two or even three prospects for him, since decent for Brewer means something like .330/.440/.460. If they turn out to be Reeces and O-Mos, the better. I would not feel cheap for it, since after next season, we will have paid almost half of the $9M I dished out in that record contract.

In Mike Crowe and Stephen Buell we would have two guys who would take over certain positions for the minimum right now, but I have already committed $6.2M on O-Mo and I would feel dirty to trade that now.

One guy I should try to move this winter is Matt Higgins, who has not done an awful lot the last two years, and is due to collect $234k from our empty coffers. It's a small amount of money, but you can find a defensively adept infielder with speed for the minimum if you don't bother him hitting .240 (or less). Heck! Conceicao Guerin fits that mold (yet only as a shortstop, the position that Marvin Ingall was pencilled in for with Salazar's departure).

Besides. What kind of team is broken up after playing in the World Series a week earlier? Do we look like the Marlins!?

I can't make up my mind ...!

[Westheim]

Service announcement: Obviously, the last update before the forums went bazinga, including salary arbitrations, is gone. I have no backup and no way to restore it, most importantly all the number crunching with extensions. I will try the best I can to put all the information back together, but this will be a frustrating and depressing undertaking and probably won't be done before Friday.

I also did not play on any further in anticipation of the last update missing from the board backup (that's not my first blackout of these kinds, but I never learn my lesson to keep a backup!), so I don't trade players left and right and lose even more info than I already have.

Hang in there with me please.

[Westheim]

Okay, here’s the deal. I tried to put the last post that was swallowed by the Big Blackout of 14 back together as completely and as perfectly as possible, put perfection is not for those that are short of brain power, and so I cursed and gave up a few times, and now I will give up entirely on that and post a quick recap about the important stuff here. Any drama I had posted has gone down the drain for good. Well, pjh read it and replied or liked it, that I know for sure. Chalk this up to history.

Anyway, normal service should resume in the next days. It’s a bit busy at work at the moment. I poisoned the guard dog, climbed along the rain gutter and slid down the downpipe today to escape on time, but that may not work the next few days…

---

Awards:
HOTY: TOP RF/1B Corey Patel (.313, 31 HR, 101 RBI) and IND 1B/3B Matt Brown (.299, 24 HR, 94 RBI)
POTY: NAS SP Dennis Fried (21-8, 2.83 ERA) and MIL Martin Garcia (19-9, 1.97 ERA)
ROTY: SFW 1B Iván Gutierrez (.275, 23 HR, 73 RBI) and LVA 1B Antenor Maldonado (.332, 8 HR, 65 RBI)
GG: LF Vern Kinnear (2nd)

Friggin’ Matt Brown!!!! Also, Dennis Fried was once traded away by me for Raúl Castillo, that outfielder that instantly concussed his way into free agency and early retirement. NOW I know why my parents didn’t trust me with my own set of keys until I was 23.

---

Furball Trivia Time!

Which current or former Raccoon has/had the highest ratio of triples (min. 500 AB)?

You will never guess this one. Never!

---

Short version of my thought process: with Salazar leaving, we MIGHT be able to muster enough dead presidents to keep Jason Turner on board. Contract negotiations were short, really, since he had some crazy $10M vision that he was promoting in the form of an 8-year (or so) deal, and that was just not in the books, Salazar here, Salazar there. So Turner was going to become a (type A) free agent – just like Salazar.

I still did not decide to go into rebuilding mode, especially with $6.2M just shelled out to O-Mo late in the season, despite lacking a starter and an outfielder.

No other to-be free agents were compensation eligible. I tried to collect some more money by signing some of the arbitration eligible players to team friendly, short term deals, which only worked with Vern Kinnear, who signed for $550k for next season, about 10% below his estimate. All the others were bitchy, especially Royce Green.

I also tried to keep Scott Strong and Juan Martinez on board, but none would want to sign a 1-year deal, so both went out of the door at the free agency filing date.

The only other contract signed was with Daniel Miller, who was extended for four years, getting paid a team friendly $1M for his prime years.

We also made one minor trade with the Falcons, to remove one of four catchers on the 40-man roster, sending Bob Armstrong to them in exchange for a young borderline pitching talent in SP Kelly Fairchild.

---

Furball Trivia Time!

Which current or former Raccoon has/had the highest ratio of triples (min. 500 AB)?

Jayson Bowling (10 triples in 696 AB, 1981-1984)

---

And that brought up the salary arbitration date. We offered the following monetary values:
Lopez $480k; De La Rosa $210k; Ban $270k; Ingall $300k; Weeds $380k; Kondo $150k; Green $650k

Now, we hit five out of seven, which ain’t bad. Kondo got $159k (which is possibly a hard base value, 50% over the minimum of $106k? I honestly don’t know!), while Green got a whopping $820k for healing most of next season. Well, that was a blow. Blow number one.

We also offered arbitration to Jason Turner and Jorge Salazar as part of cashing in on compensation for losing them. This is where blow number two comes from.

Salazar took us to arbitration.

He got $945,000.

[Questdog]

You, uh, want I should take care of him, boss? This,uh, Salazar character?

[Westheim]

You mean like, sending him to a long vacation. Right?

Ah, why is life so hard ...?

[Westheim]

November 9. We are broken.

The fact that Salazar liked it so much here in Portland – I should switch shortstops more often – has blown our budget all around. Even by the most generous calculation and not signing anybody and not taking any salary on in trades, we are now over $300k overbudget. And this comes with the following things missing:

• Right-handed 6th/7th inning reliever
• Left-handed situational reliever
• Starting outfielder (RF), preferrably left-handed batter
• Backup outfielder (must be CF), preferrably right-handed batter

In this I assume the following guys being on the 25-man roster come April:

SP: Saito, Lopez, Wade, Donis, Rivera
RP: Ban, De La Rosa, Otero, Miller, Santana (2 left)
C: Vinson, Kondo
IF: Wedemeyer, O’Morrissey, Salazar, Brewer, Ingall, Higgins (no room for Guerin)
OF: Kinnear, Reece, Newton (2 left)

There are really two areas where everything is set, and that is starting pitching and the catchers. We won’t even go into discussing those. Let’s start looking at in-house solutions for the bullpen then.

There is still Cesar Salcido around. He is a candidate for the lefty specialist job (with Burnett gone, I expect Santana to handle the 7th/8th inning duties from the left side). Last year, as a callup, he failed, walking 16 batters in 16.1 innings pitched. He also walked about 4.5 per nine in AAA. That was his worst season for control at ages 24/25. We can not put up with a 9 BB/9 guy in our bullpen. We are still shooting for a division title. We can’t allow somebody to walk a batter every inning.

What else do we got? We have two left-handers in AAA in 23-year old Fred Carlton and 25-year old Kokei Kondo (no relation to Nori Kondo), who have the same walk numbers as Salcido had. Kondo lacks stuff, too, so the only sensible option to even consider would be Carlton, who was promoted to AAA early in the 1996 season, posted a 1.11 WHIP and 2.13 ERA in 12 IP at AA Ham Lake, but those numbers rocketed to 1.53 WHIP and 4.47 ERA in 44 IP in AAA St. Petersburg. All the red lights are on. We may still better off with Salcido.

Let’s look at right-handers. At AAA, there is still Day Grandridge, who was dismal on the ’95 Coons and last year in St. Pete. The only semi-decent option would be 26-year old Edgar Matthews, a former 11th-round draft pick. He had a 2.95 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in AAA last year. Since Grandridge has sucked for two straight years, Matthews may be the first choice.

In the infield, we have the issue that there is no place for Conceicao Guerin, who was pencilled in as starter at shortstop whenever Marvin Ingall wouldn’t be playing there (be it for rest or subbing elsewhere on the infield). That won’t happen, since we have Salazar here for another year (and I could kick myself for greeding those compensation picks), unless we can move either Salazar or Higgins, both of which have 10/5 rights.

So it more looks like Weeds – Brewer – Salazar or Ingall – O-Mo again on the infield, from first to third. In other words, like last year, just for more money. Our six infielders (excluding Guerin) are slated to carry home $4,259,000 alone! (For comparison, our rotation will cost us $1,962,000 only, and Kisho Saito will make a clean million alone)

Which leads us to the third are where there is mess, the outfield. Coming out of the expanded roster of September, we still have five outfielders on the roster. These include Vern Kinnear and Neil Reece, who are set for playing left and center every day (more or less). Royce Green would be the rightfielder, but he will labor on his labrum until July or August, and shall not be included in these considerations at all. The other three are Stephen Buell, Luke Newton, and Joe Lacombe.

Short words about our two surviving studs. Kinnear is 27, .265/.363/.431 with 61 HR, 334 RBI and 13.0 WAR for his career. Neil Reece is 30, .319/.376/.466 with 95 HR, 464 RBI and 36.7 WAR for his career (and he didn’t become a regular until 1991). Kinnear has two Gloves, Reece has one. Neither plays right field above beer league level.

So, what do the other three guys bring to the table. Lacombe, 28, was a scrap heap signing last season and only played very rarely. He only got 24 AB. He had an .874 OPS in St. Pete. His big league numbers are stemming from 105 total at-bats: .257/.355/.390 with 1 HR, 10 RBI and 0.4 WAR. His biggest asset is that he fields all three outfield positions very competently. That is not a lot of praise.

Luke Newton has very good defense all around the wide open areas. He played in a backup role, with a bit more exposure late last season once Royce Green went down, both of the last two seasons. The 25-year old Canadian has only 346 career AB. Career numbers at the plate are poor: .240/.330/.327 with 2 HR, 33 RBI and -0.1 WAR. He has more defensive upside, but also more offensive potential than Lacombe. Both will play for the minimum.

And there is Stephen Buell. The 21-year old, also from Canada, was an international signing in 1992. He progressed through our system at a quick pace, and made his debut last season. He has the highest offensive ceiling of all three players, plus speed on the base paths and good range in the outfield. His career numbers at the plate are the most limited, with only 97 AB in 1996: .299/.397/.454 with 1 HR, 11 RBI and 1.1 WAR.

The fatal flaw is the mesh of bones and flesh dangling from Buell’s right shoulder. His throwing arm is very weak. It renders him mostly useless at any position other than left field. And we have a 2-time Gold Glover in left field that is not going anywhere. We would have to put Buell in right. He is scouted a 6 (out of 20) there. You can do A LOT better.

Lacombe bats left-handed, Buell right-handed, and Newton is a switch-hitter.

What is going on at AAA in terms of outfielders? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. We don’t need to discuss that area. All guys that are still there had terrible seasons (or a string of such). Kevin Savary, whose name has been thrown around for a few years, batted .181 and was hurt all the time. He was about the best of the bunch.

You would probably get a nice haul by trading Vern Kinnear, getting a good player plus maybe a prospect in return. Then Buell could play left. But this ain’t gonna happen, or it will only happen once my body is cold and dead. Kinnear STAYS. So does Reece. There’s gotta be a way to make this work without trading either.

By the way, Salazar is going to invoke his 10/5 rights on any deal, it seems. Matt Higgins may be moved. That would open a spot for Guerin and remove $234k from the books (still not breaking even though). By the way when I say we are $300k to $400k overbudget, this means we are with 34 players on the secondary roster. We have yet to get past the rule 5 draft. There are at least two, more likely four players I need to protect, instantly shooting us to somewhere around $700k of budgetary deficit. I am not the U.S., I can’t mint my own money.

Do we have to trade David Brewer? (dramatic music)

[Westheim]

On November 15, 1996, the Raccoons and Matt Higgins parted ways after eight and a half seasons.

I shopped Higgins around, and there were only two teams that showed interest, the Rebels and the Gold Sox. The Rebels actually had a few interesting players they were willing to send over. With an apparent surplus on pitching, they threw in a pair of starters they had pencilled in for relief roles for next season, but offered both of them: 21-yr old Junior Diaz and 31-yr old Jose Ramos. Both were well suited for either role, and both were right-handers. Normally, I would go for the young gun, but Diaz had unsolved control issues, while Ramos (49-39, 4.49 ERA in 122 G / 109 GS) would instantly solve a second issue with our roster, that of the missing right-handed reliever. He was also cheaper than Higgins, and we were going to save (a paltry) $70k with the deal.

That was not enough for me and I managed to smuggle failed prospect Kevin Savary into the deal, in return getting 19-year old A level outfielder Julio Escalante, saving more money, since Savary was on the 40-man roster and was going to make the $106k minimum.

Ramos can also pitch in long relief, or in other words, every fifth day when Antonio Donis has exhausted his 80 effective pitches in four innings.

With Higgins, there goes the franchise leader in stolen bases with 220 bags pilfered. He is also 18th all time in the ABL.

[pjh5165]

Might as well start etching the name 'Matt Higgins' on next year's MVP trophy.

Sad to see him go.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by pjh5165

Might as well start etching the name 'Matt Higgins' on next year's MVP trophy.

I expect nothing less than a .400 season.

Originally Posted by pjh5165

Sad to see him go.

Me too, but ...

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Furball Trivia Time

Which dubious achievement have the following players in common: Glenn Johnston, Ben O'Morrissey, Jorge Salazar, and Steve Walker?

See this revealed in the next update.

[Westheim]

Furball Trivia Time

Which dubious achievement have the following players in common: Glenn Johnston, Ben O'Morrissey, Jorge Salazar, and Steve Walker?

All made the final out in one of our World Series losses. Walker in ’83, Johnston in ’89 (he made also the error that lost the final game in the first place), Salazar in ’91, and O-Mo last year.

---

An offseason where you can’t do anything … sucks. Any trade that I would do should shave salary, but we don’t have a lot of pieces that are expendable. A trade should bring in a rightfielder, preferrably making the minimum, and then I still wouldn’t know whom to trade.

I am living in hell.

November 17 – 33-yr old, often injured LF Dale Wales (.316, 118 HR, 1,022 RBI) signs with the Condors after spending all of his 15-year career with the Gold Sox. Wales will make $2.07M over two years.
November 17 – Ex-MIL INF Bob Grant (.287, 40 HR, 400 RBI) inks a 5-yr, $5.27M contract with the Thunder.
November 17 – 3B/SS George Waller (.285, 41 HR, 376 RBI) is traded for the third time in 15 months, as the Condors send the 27-year old to the Stars for 31-yr old Carlos Guzmán (.295, 33 HR, 199 RBI). Since the start of the 1995 season, Waller has also worn the unis of Boston and Las Vegas.
November 22 – Ex-IND MR Tim Hess (50-48, 2.33 ERA, 93 SV) is picked up by the Wolves. The 33-year old will make $864k over two years.
November 23 – The Pacifics agree to terms with ex-POR SP Jason Turner (109-69, 3.35 ERA). The 31-year old signed a 5-yr, $4.77M contract. The Raccoons receive the Pacifics’ first round pick (13th overall) for the 1997 Amateur Draft and a supplemental round pick.
November 23 – Former Condor OF Paul Theobald (.334, 17 HR, 351 RBI), aged 27, joins the Rebels on a 6-yr, $6.24M deal.
November 24 – The Titans take on ex-TOP OF/1B Dave Reid (.277, 57 HR, 320 RBI) for 4-yr, $4.19M.
November 27 – The Rebels and Blue Sox strike a deal that sends 25-yr old INF Tom McAndrew (.269, 2 HR, 75 RBI) to Virginia and 32-yr old LF/RF Jose Madrid (.295, 69 HR, 514 RBI) to Tennessee. Madrid is reportedly not happy about the deal.
November 28 – One-time Raccoon MR Richard Cunningham, 37, finds a new home in Las Vegas, as the Aces sign the former Falcon with a 85-71 record, 2.82 ERA, 171 SV, and 1,211 strikeouts to a 2-yr, $782k deal.
November 29 – The Rebels keep shoveling out the money, as they sign ex-BOS INF Jack Burbidge (.257, 44 HR, 464 RBI) to a 4-yr, $3.71M deal.
November 29 – The Indians acquire 25-yr old SP Roberto Herrera (0-1, 5.95 ERA in 4 G) from the Capitals, sending over INF/LF Claudio Ayala (.279, 92 HR, 841 RBI), aged 32, and a prospect. Looks lopsided? It is.
November 29 – The Knights get themselves 33-yr old OF Jesus Arias (.246, 139 HR, 648 RBI) and a minor leaguer from the Blue Sox for 26-yr old fringe player 1B Martin Walden.
November 29 – The Blue Sox grab a way better first baseman, too, trading for the Gold Sox’ (and ex-Coon) 1B Esteban Baldivía (.276, 20 HR, 164 RBI) and a minor leaguer for 30-yr old OF Raúl Castillo (.270, 6 HR, 68 RBI).
November 29 – The Loggers grab MR/CL Steve Galloway (5-9, 5.01 ERA, 2 SV) from the Falcons for 1B Dane Thompson (.262, 5 HR, 100 RBI).
November 30 - The Falcons sign ex-NAS C Duane Smith (.263, 37 HR, 305 RBI) for 3-yr, $2.37M.

So, in a way, while we lost Jason Turner, we got the max return in terms of draft compensation with the #13 pick. Our own first round pick is #24 (last). The top 12 picks are protected. I am a bit mad though that he signed for about half of what he wanted from me. Unthankful brat. I will miss him regardless.

I looked at Galloway about a year ago. I was interested in him, but didn’t press a trade. He’s now on the Loggers, so I will bet all I have that he will close 50 games for them next year.

It is now November 30, and I will have to end here, because I have a trade worked out with the Miners that would axe another longtime Raccoon for a dubious gain:

We would trade 31-yr old C David Vinson (.249/.367/.394, 82 HR, 422 RBI) for the Miners’ 29-yr old RF Matt Smith (.264/.351/.433, 55 HR, 311 RBI) and the #36 prospect in the ABL, C Ethan Thomas, 20 years old.

The trade is almost salary neutral, but adds a rightfielder that is capable both at the plate and in the field. Thomas projects to be a future top notch hitter while also being very good at calling a game. Smith bats left-handed, making Joe Lacombe redundant. At the same time, if Buell doesn’t start here, there’s no reason to keep him here, so he could go to AAA, and we could still go with Lacombe.

But do I want to axe David Vinson for such a marginal gain? On the other hand, Vinson will be a free agent after 1997. Smith will also be a free agent.

Aah!! My brain hurts!

[Westheim]

After spending a day thinking about it, I called off the Vinson trade. It would not be a bad trade in itself, but it is a bad trade in our circumstances. We would not gain enough (Matt Smith as solid RF, C prospect Ethan Thomas) for giving up Vinson, while taking on $20,000 of salary in the deal. Smith and Buell might work out roughly equally efficient with Buell having the better bat but the terrible defense, mostly due to his weak arm. But Kondo would still be a downgrade over Vinson as a starting catcher.

Or would he?

Ah, it just doesn’t make any sense …!

December 1 – Rule 5 draft: 26 players are taken. The Raccoons lose AAA SP Alonso Lopez to the Salem Wolves in the first round.
December 1 – Boston signs 35-yr old 2B/3B Horace Henry (.284, 173 HR, 1,138 RBI) to a 3-yr, $2.91M contract.
December 2 – The Loggers trade OF Gates Golunski (.253, 40 HR, 294 RBI) and a minor leaguer to the Capitals for MR Jeff Hodge (17-11, 3.25 ERA, 10 SV) and a minor leaguer.
December 3 – The Aces trade for Topeka’s SP Rob Griffin (52-62, 4.78 ERA), sending LF/RF Michael Sanders (.316, 17 HR, 156 RBI) and a minor leaguer to Kansas.
December 8 – Veteran SP John Douglas (189-199, 3.89 ERA) signs a 3-yr, $2.43M deal with the Wolves. Douglas, who is 36 and has thrown 3,323 innings in an 18-year career, has missed huge parts of two of the last thre seasons due to injuries.
December 10 – The Rebels just keep piling up the studs. Their latest signing is ex-BOS SP Doug Morrow (86-72, 3.83 ERA), who gets a 6-yr, $6M deal.
December 10 – SP Vicente Navarro (17-29, 4.11 ERA), who was traded from the Blue Sox to the Titans last June, and who pitched a no-hitter in July, is now traded back to the Blue Sox for a pair of prospects.
December 16 – And another one! The Rebels sign ex-ATL RF/CF Jesus Gonzalez (.281, 25 HR, 260 RBI)! The 28-year old receives a 3-yr, $2.31M contract.
December 17 – The Capitals add ex-IND SP Vernon Robertson (136-99, 3.56 ERA) for 4-yr, $4.71M.

There really was nothing to do for me. Just watch and see all those players get signed, and I can’t do anything, since I would need to trade one of these first:

David Brewer (no way!)
Kisho Saito (no way!)
Neil Reece (no way!)
Ben O’Morrissey (no way!)
Vern Kinnear (no way!)
Royce Green (DL)
Jorge Salazar (10/5 rights)

Bummer.

[pgjocki]

How much did the rebels add in salary this off-season? Seems they are going all in.

[Westheim]

The Rebels’ payroll last season was $12.4M, and they are up to $15.4M for next season already, currently the highest in the league. Their budget is $20.6M (3rd in ABL). For comparison, our $16.4M budget ranks 10th, and our current $13.0M payroll ranks 7th. And those two numbers already illustrate well, what kind of squeeze we are in, especially since players on the 40-man roster are NOT included in those figures. [I hate OOTP for doing that…]

As I already stated, this offseason is boring as hell, since we can’t do anything.

Well, that’s not exactly true. We could do something dumb, like that Vinson trade I had on my mind a while ago. That’d be very, very dumb. And while it would be possible to trade Neil Reece for a one-legged bat boy, it would not be exactly a smart thing to do either.

So, no business to be done for the Raccoons, since Jorge Salazar wears a hat prominently displaying “10/5 guy” these days. Why did I want to have these draft picks? Just why…….

As things are, we have to put up with Cesar Salcido pitching out of our pen in 1997. This may go wrong.

For outfielders, more and more I’m on the Buell-in-right (not to be confused with the Bill of Rights) path. It might be very ugly defensively. The kid is 21. Vince Guerra thinks that his ceiling his quite high. There is an opening, and while Luke Newton would be a better option defensively, he won’t move anything along at the plate. Still, Newton will be on the roster as backup to everybody, pinch-hitter, and pinch-runner. That leaves one spot open in our outfield.

We are still sitting on Joe Lacombe. He’s 28. His upsides are limited. His trade value may be as well. IF we can work out a trade for a left-handed reliever, there would be no replacement at AAA that would not completely embarrass himself day in, day out. So Lacombe may stick around come Opening Day solely because we are broken and over the last few years the farm burnt down. To be precise, Buell is the last outfield crop from the fields.

Ah. Many words, no actions. Other teams that were less broken moved people around though:

December 19 – The Titans acquire 30-yr old SS Raúl Rodriguez (.277, 21 HR, 260 RBI) from the Crusaders, sending over 28-yr old INF/RF Jose Ramirez (.260, 13 HR, 330 RBI) and a minor league pitcher.
December 22 – The Pacifics sign 34-yr old SP Manuel Paredes (100-126, 3.81 ERA) for 3-yr, $2.01M. Paredes was with the Falcons in 1996.
December 24 – Ex-SAC CL Cory Maupin (26-30, 2.83 ERA, 159 SV) signs a 1-yr, $670k contract with the Aces.
December 25 – Veteran OF Preston O’Day (.286, 165 HR, 813 RBI) joins the Loggers for 4-yr, $3.28M. O’Day spent all of his 12-year career with the Condors so far.
January 1 – Ex-BOS CL Javier Navarro (29-30, 2.55 ERA, 166 SV) remains in the CL North. The Indians pick up the 27-year old for 1-yr, $810k.
January 2 – Has 35-yr old SP Arnold McCray (173-163, 3.36 ERA) signed his last contract? After pitching for Oklahoma and Washington in ’96, McCray joins the Warriors for 3-yr, $2.28M.
January 9 – INF/LF/CF Rory Gorden (.248, 55 HR, 439 RBI), who suffered through an injury-riddled campaign with the Rebels last year, joins the Condors on a 3-yr, $2.33M deal.
January 15 – The Rebels add another veteran arm with MR Jose Sotelo (33-24, 3.64 ERA, 10 SV), who was with the Aces, for 2-yr, $1.01M.
January 23 – Grizzled veteran SP Bill Smith (214-198, 3.51 ERA), last with the Capitals, joins the Titans’ team on a 2-yr, $1.57M. The contract covers the age 39 and 40 seasons for Smith, who made his debut in 1977 with the Pacifics.

January is over. What else has happened? Joe Lacombe has zero trade value. Ex-Coon Pat Parker got traded to Denver. There are a few big names on the market as the year hits February.

Not that I could do anything else than look at them and sigh.

[Westheim]

Two more months of doing NOTHING meaningful ahead! Yay!

February 6 – The Capitals land 30-yr ex-VAN INF/RF Michael McFarland (.297, 9 HR, 421 RBI) for 4-yr, $2.88M.
February 11 – SP Pat Cherry (48-72, 4.25 ERA), the former Knight, signs a 4-yr, $2.8M contract with the Warriors.
February 18 – The Loggers sign OF Benny Carver (.268, 137 HR, 555 RBI) for 5-yr, $3M. Carver, 31, made his career with the Wolves thus far.
February 21 – 37-yr old ex-Coon SP Alejandro Venegas (69-64, 3.90 ERA) heads to Las Vegas on a 1-yr, $400k contract. Venegas spent the last season with Charlotte.
March 14 – The Raccoons send 26-yr old AAA OF Winston Witter to the Wolves for 19-yr old AA SP Tyler Sullivan.
March 15 – The Loggers add ex-WAS 1B/3B Haruki Nakayama (.269, 26 HR, 259 RBI) on a 3-yr, $1.71M contract.
March 23 – The Loggers then pick up former Raccoon MR Juan Martinez (41-22, 2.83 ERA, 25 SV) for 1-yr, $186k.

Don’t you get excited about our mega trade. I just got rid of a dead bat on the 40-man roster. Sullivan is anything but a prospect. Consider this a sneaky way of getting rid of $106k worth of dead bat.

I picked up some released non-prospects in March, too, none worth mentioning though.

Interestingly, Ken Burnett and Juan Martinez, our former long-tenured relievers, remained free agents in March. Martinez went late to the Loggers, and Burnett didn’t go at all. He was unsigned. If Salcido doesn’t cut it (which is my fear), then I will reach out to Burnett in April. The knack is, he would have to accept a minor league deal…

The most positive thing I can say is that we have rather pleasant news from the medical staff. In early March, they estimated Royce Green’s ETA to early-to-mid June, rather than July or August. Now add 20 days of batting in AAA (which I intend to give him in full, unless he’s batting .500 with a dozen homers after half the stretch), and he could be here by July 1.

In late February I casually talked to the Knights GM, who knew we were in the horse dung financially, and who tounge-in-cheek offered to relieve us of the burden of David Brewer’s salary. I checked their roster, but then came back to sense and politely declined.

I had to slash a bit of scouting and player development ($134k and $100k respectively), but that still won’t help us get into the black. My owner will make minced meat of me, so can the regular season please roll around, so I can get other things on my mind?

[Westheim]

Payroll table time. Be assured this ain’t pretty. The following is our payroll structure on the eve of the 1997 season. As usual, players on the minimum are omitted. Players that either have more than six years of service time or have less than 1 1/2 years of service time are omitted from the appendix.

1B/2B David Brewer - $1.5M ($6.2M through 2000)
SP Kisho Saito - $1M ($2M through 1998)
OF Neil Reece - $950k ($4.2M through 2000)
INF Jorge Salazar - $945k (will be free agent) #
3B/1B Ben O’Morrissey - $900k ($6.2M through 2002)
-
OF Royce Green - $821k (will be free agent) #
LF Vern Kinnear - $550k (will be free agent) #
SP Miguel Lopez - $480k (will be arbitration eligible) *
C David Vinson - $450k (will be free agent) #
1B Liam Wedemeyer - $380k (will be arbitration eligible) *
-
MR Andres Otero - $350k (will be free agent) #
INF Marvin Ingall - $300k (will be arbitration eligible) *
CL Tzu-jao Ban - $270k (will be free agent) #
SP Scott Wade - $270k ($550k through 1998)
MR Gabriel De La Rosa - $210k (will be arbitration eligible) *
-
MR Daniel Miller - $200k ($1M through 2000)
MR Jose Ramos - $164k (will be free agent) #
C Nori Kondo - $159k (will be arbitration eligible) *

* Service times (y.d): Ban (5.153), Ramos (5.077), Green (5.019), Kinnear (5.008), Lopez (4.073), Wedemeyer (3.118), Kondo (3.076), De La Rosa (3.008), Ingall (2.163)

In addition to that, the following players will be (or could be under the super 2 clause) arbitration eligible: Salcido (1.153), Newton (1.116 – unlikely)

We will have 17 players on a minimum contract. Total payroll amounts to approximately $11.8M (plus $1.8M for staff), which is too much for a $16.4M budget to remain competitive in the “soft” areas of scouting and development. I will have $2.9M in those and we are still overbudget.

Hard year ahead, and don’t even get me started on the flock of players that will stretch their open hands out to me once fall kicks in.