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Small but Significant Changes Coming to the Pearls

Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2021 5:12 am
by hetz23
General Manager Ryan Hetzer of the Manama Pearls held a press conference yesterday. It was the first major press conference since the club was defeated for the second straight season with a UMEBA championship on the line. Hetzer was quick to move the conversation along from this topic:
"We had a great season, to be up 3-1 and then lose the series stings, our guys are all very upset about it. All we can do is work on getting better. That will start with the fundamentals in Spring Training"

When asked about any plans for change for the 2046 Pearls, Hetzer started with a rather canned and expected answer but then dropped a bit of very surprising news: "You'll see a lot of the same things we relied upon last season. When you win over 100 games you don't necessarily look to go around and change up a bunch of things. One thing we are planning to do is flip flop two pitcher's roles. Our plan will be to move Edwin Harney into the rotation and Manuel Camacho into the closer's role. We feel this will benefit our pitching staff top to bottom. Harney will be allowed to fully develop his four pitch repertoire. Camacho, on the other hand, will be able to hopefully harness his big time strikeout potential by going all out for shorter stints rather than saving himself for 6 or 7 innings".

The news sent a bit of a shockwave through the Pearl fanbase as Harney just came off a season where he was named UMEBA Reliever of the Year and UMEBA Rookie of the Year. To take a guy who had success in one role and change it shows that Hetzer is a man of conviction and not afraid to make a decision that he believes will improve the team despite what might serve as conventional wisdom. One wonders how long this plan will be followed if Harney struggles early in a starting role or Camacho blows a few early saves.

The Pearls made one significant free agent addition, signing 1B Nacho Mendez. Mendez has the potential to be a very underrated, savvy move by the Pearls front office. 1B was a position that was presumably going to be manned by Gary Schneider, the 34 year old veteran who signed with the team mid season and was only called up very late due to an infield reshuffling. Schneider impressed in his short stint, but in Perez the Pearls are bringing in a 25 year old who in the BBA in 2044 posted a 27 homer, 95 RBI season. He did that at 23 years old. His 2045 was something of a disaster, Mendez finished under the Mendoza line, was a below replacement level player, and ultimately made expendable and available. At his young age, however, there is a lot to like about his potential moving over to the UMEBA.

Re: Small but Significant Changes Coming to the Pearls

Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2021 4:16 pm
by RichY
I like that Nacho signing. A lot of upside at a reasonable price.

Re: Small but Significant Changes Coming to the Pearls

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2021 10:41 am
by Dington
Don't forget to link...you might realize your new star player's last name is different...

Re: Small but Significant Changes Coming to the Pearls

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2021 1:46 pm
by tylertoo
Nacho Mendez's agent issued the following statement, "We are disappointed that the Pearls front office can't get Nacho's name right, but as long as the checks don't bounce, we're good."

Re: Small but Significant Changes Coming to the Pearls

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2021 2:22 pm
by hetz23
Let the record show that the article naming Nacho Mendez incorrectly was written by a reporter covering the team and was not at all attributed through a quote from a member of the Pearls front office staff nor General Manager Ryan Hetzer. The reporter who made the error has apologized for his slip up. The online version of the article has been corrected.

Re: Small but Significant Changes Coming to the Pearls

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2021 4:48 pm
by Dington
Manama always doing shady shit.