Diamonds and Pearls 2042.4 - No Man's Land

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Diamonds and Pearls 2042.4 - No Man's Land

Post by tallywood » Fri May 08, 2020 9:23 am

-Manama Tribune
August 18th, 2042

The Manama Pearls find themselves in no man's land. 15 games back in the BURT, and 8.5 games back in the BURT Wild Card, the Pearls have a decision to make, and they need to make it soon.

No man's land is land that is unoccupied or is under dispute between parties who leave it unoccupied due to fear or uncertainty. In the Pearls' case, the land they find themselves on is the unoccupied space between gunning for a championship and retreating to reload for next year. The Pearls' record is good enough to keep fighting (only one game under .500) and their young stars are finally rounding out into form (CF Joshua Koka has hit 6 HR in the last 7 games). However, is the strength of the BURT this year just too much for the young Pearls, who's ace pitcher, SP Johan Trojka, is fighting every five nights out on the mound with a 3.2 WAR (good for third in the BURT)?

So far this season, the Pearls' season could be described as a dilapidated raft that once all the holes and leaks are plugged, three new ones sprout up. But no bigger leak has been reappearing more than the struggles of 2040 BURT MVP 3B Jose Roman. Since winning the MVP in 2040, Roman has put up a combined 1.4 WAR in the last two seasons, and has hit only .248 and .243 after leading the league with .299. The Pearls have attempted to plug the hole by placing him lower in the lineup (to keep his still great glove on the field), and even benching him to get team-leading HR-hitter, RF/3B Laurent Fernandez some more at-bats... but Fernandez' glove has been horrible at the hot-corner. The Pearls have even signed ex-BBA third-baseman Rob Thomas to find a comparable glove with a consistent bat. Well, the third-base problem still isn't fixed, but Thomas' bat has been hitting with enough contact to remain viable at the DH, but the power has not been tapped into yet.

Another ingredient that makes the decision of whether to make moves for a late-season push or sell for next year incredibly difficult, is that the Pearls' front office is extremely high on the prospects coming up through the farm system. Scouts have the following players making their season debut for the Pearls either later this year or next year:
As you can see, the Pearls think they have a squadron of prospects ready to vie for starting jobs and make immediate impacts. Now, this will present more problems for the Pearls' front office as they will need to offload the stars that have solidified UMEBA starting jobs like 2B Divino Pedrulho and RF Damien Mayne, or risk losing them to free agency.

One name that is missing from that list of probable 2042/2043 debuts is 21-year old, #1 Pearl pitching prospect, SP Norman Chivers, who is pitching lights-out in Double-A ball with a 6-1 record and 2.75 ERA. Chivers suffered a torn flexor tendon in July of this year and is expected to miss 16 months. This was a tragic ending to a great season, and only time will tell if he comes back strong enough to not mess up the timetable he was on. The Pearls were excited to see the one-two punch of Trojka and Chivers in 2043, but they hope that is only pushed to 2044 or 2045 at the latest.

The Pearls need to make these hard decisions by the trade deadline in 3 days, but fans should not be shocked if the Pearls double-down on their current roster and wait to make the hard decisions when the prospects start knocking at the door in Manama.
Valencia Stars GM: 2043-

Manama Pearls GM: 2040-2043
BURT Division Champions: 2040
BURT Wild Card: 2041

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Re: Diamonds and Pearls 2042.4 - No Man's Land

Post by RonCo » Sun May 10, 2020 11:36 am

It's the conundrums that make life fun ... say people who's biggest decision is whether the summer in the Hamptons or on the Riviera.
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Re: Diamonds and Pearls 2042.4 - No Man's Land

Post by johnd2442 » Mon May 11, 2020 11:09 am

I'm with you, and we are caught in the same situation of no man's land, especially being just a game and a half away from each other in the standings.

The difference between us is that I wasn't too concerned with Cairo's record this year. Even though I would have liked to have finished .500, I had no idea when I took over the team if they were capable of that. I still don't know if they are, but I'm treating this season as a training ground to get used to OOTP, and of course UMEBA. So I'm a little less frustrated with you, but I am still pretty frustrated in Cairo's slide down the standings and have no real idea why it happened. Maybe that's what this season is for, to gain more understanding about that and so many other aspects of the game that I don't know. But hopefully we can both get out of no man's land eventually!
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General Manager: John Diaz

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