The Lair Report: 2038.04 – Bucharest Welcomes McDonnell as AGM
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2019 6:37 am
The Bucharest Balauri announced on social media today that long-time Brewster Baseball Association manager Josh McDonnell will join the club as Assistant General Manager. McDonnell joins newly hired General Manager Joe Lederer in a front office hoping to bring a championship culture to the middling UMEBA club.
The tweet heard half-way around the world.
McDonnell, 64, spent over fourteen seasons managing in the BBA, amassing 1,130 wins, good for 13th all-time. In 2023, McDonnell led the Huntsville Phantoms to the team's first Landis Memorial Series championship. McDonnell would see the Phantoms reach the playoffs the next three seasons, including a 107-win season in 2025. Despite that successful run, the Phantoms decided to no longer retain McDonnell's services after 2026, however he was quickly hired by the Des Moines Kernels that off-season. McDonnell would go on to manage the Kernels for ten years before the Philadelphia-native was fired late into the 2037 season amid a 47-91 record.
McDonnell received a few calls during the winter from BBA clubs for lesser roles but ultimately he decided to take the year off from managing and was an analyst for the Baseball News Network this past season.
Despite the year off and a poor managing record during his Des Moines tenure, it is believed Bucharest GM Lederer values McDonnell's championship experience in the BBA. With a roster in disarray, as well as a poorly stocked farm system, the new Balauri front office is expected to start making off-season moves immediately, as well as during the Winter Meetings in two months.
The club will formally announce the McDonnell hiring in a press conference scheduled for later today at the recently fumigated team facilities.
Josh McDonnell, shown managing the Des Moines
Kernels in 2027, is expected to have a hands-on role
in constructing the Bucharest Balauri roster.