Pilot Light #6: A New Captain Flies this Plane -- But Who Truly Rules the Skies? [October 27, 2059]

[Lex]

PILOT LIGHT #6: A New Captain Flies This Plane -- But Who Truly Rules the Skies? by Bernardo Silva A good man, a good skipper, fired because of poor results with the best player in baseball (and not much else) on the team. And now a clubhouse full of pilots is left without a captain.

In baseball, these things happen.

Author's Note: If you have a problem with me calling Hashimoto the best player in baseball, find a pile of rocks to kick.

Luckily for the clubhouse and fans alike, baseball is miraculous. With death, so too comes life.

In a matter of days, the São Paulo Pilots have hired their man.

A man few have ever even heard of.

I promise, I'm not bitter about the firing of Murillo (as so many of you, dear readers, have accused me of being).

I'm just completely underwhelmed.

Go ahead. Attack me on Instagram and the artist formerly known as Twitter, like you did for my last blog post.

But I know that deep down in your hearts, you all felt the same way when they announced Mohammed bin Ala'al Din as their new manager.

"I'm thrilled to be here," bin Ala'al Din said at his introductory press conference. "I think it's an outstanding opportunity. To not only get to manage in the GBC, to not only get to manage in Brazil, but to also get to manage one of the premier players in all of baseball? Alhamdulillah."

First of all, the premier player in baseball.

"Why was it you that Lex Clark chose to hire above the other candidates in the pool?" I asked bin Ala'al Din at that very presser.

He replied, "I think more than anything it's about relationships. The last manager here, Murillo, very talented guy -- but from what I'm told there was a lot of butting of heads. I know a lot of the clubhouse, and I'm on good terms with everybody."

"Everybody being Hashimoto?" I followed up.

bin Ala'al Din smiled. "Everybody," he replied. "Next question."

This, of course, leads minds to wonder.

Was Mohammed bin Ala'al Din hired because he gets along with Hashimoto?

Was bin Ala'al Din really Hashimoto's hire to begin with?

Is Lex Clark willing to give that much power to his star player just to keep him happy in São Paulo?

If so, then I like this move. Keeping Hashimoto in a Pilots uniform should be, at this point, the foremost priority of our general manager. And if hiring ++ guarantees that, then yes, this was a great hire, an outstanding hire, in fact.

But if not? If this was meant to be a hire that upgraded the manager, the captain, of our clubhouse?

Then Lex Clark failed.