New Applicant: Nigel Laverick Ep. 17!?!?!?

[recte44]

First Name: Nigel
Last Name: Laverick
City: Leeds
State: OH
Country: GB
Email: nigel3123@gmail.com
Desired Username: Fat Nige
Date of Birth (MM/DD/YY) for in-game purposes: 09/09/1959
Occupation: Retired MBBA GM
Other OOTP Leagues (with links): Record holder for most MBBA franchises GM'd. I've been away too long from my favourite ootp league but will understand if you've had enough of me lol
I have read the BBA Constitution and agree to abide by its rules.: checked
I own the current version of OOTP, and plan to buy all future versions.: checked
I understand the Participation Point system, and agree to be a contributor on a regular basis to our community.: checked
What interests you about the Brewster Baseball Association?: Greatest Commish and favourite all time ootp league
Do you have any weird OOTP or GM quirks- like you don't believe in making trades, for example?: Not much of a trader, Very disloyal to franchises but can say I always do my best or hold my hands up to Matt
Have you ever answered to the alias "Al Hoot"? (Don't worry, this is just an inside thing that amuses us.): I might well have traded with him in my early dAYS
Tell us more about yourself!: If you have to ask anything about me you haven't been paying attention

[Fat Nige]

Theres always someone lurking

[RonCo]

And the Tal goes BOOM!

[JimBob2232]

Who?

[RonCo]

I think he's the guy from Spinal Tap, right?

[Fat Nige]

Glad to see so many familiar faces still around. And Ron of course whom I stalk from league to league

[RonCo]

Unless they kick Stu out, I'm not going anywhere else.

[Fat Nige]

The Huntsville name might not be found in the roll of honour when the MBBA resumed in 1995 but it was there in it’s first guise as the Chicago Black Sox. The team burst on the scene winning 103 games behind 21-game winner Chet Steadman and securing the Midwest Division by 29 games. They went on to lose only two playoff games as they lifted the shiny new Landis Memorial Series Trophy besting Des Moines four games to one. 1996 saw the franchise repeat their Landis Series win but then came relatively lean years. Just one more playoff appearance was made until Chicago’s star rose in the second decade of the new century, from 2010 to 2015 the Black Sox were a perennial post-season team but only made it once past the Doubleday Series and then only to find themselves swept 4-0 in the Cartwright Cup. It was then that it started to go downhill for the franchise, four JL Midwest pennants looked a distant memory as the fans grew tired of Chicago’s bridesmaid role. When the Black Sox failed to even make the playoffs in 2016 GM Nigel Laverick was sacked after leading the team to 175 wins in 324 games in charge and the decline started.

At the end of the 2010’s Chicago tired of the whole MBBA thing, heavy financial losses were becoming the norm as were on field losses as the City finally got rid of the Black Sox as the new decade started. 2021 saw the franchise relocated to Huntsville as the Huntsville Phantoms but that brought no relief to them as the team lost 102 games and $15 million in their first season in Huntsville. “Times they were a changing” though and 2023 not only saw there first post season appearance since 2015 but a 4-1 series win over Indy Grasshoppers brought them their first Landis Memorial Series trophy since 1996. The Phantoms had arrived! Between 2023 and 2030 they only once failed to win 90 games, only once failed to make the post season, 2027 when Omaha beat them out by five games for the JLW pennant and bounced back by picking up the franchise’s fourth Landis in 2028 beating New Orleans 4-1.

The 2030’s saw the franchise fade downwards again, 2031 was their last post season to date as they made it with only 84 wins driven on by first baseman Fernando Moreno who set team records for OBP, SLG, OPS, WAR, Runs, Total Bases and Homers. Jose Cavazos led the team in wins with 14 and a lot of other records that year but also his 12 loses topped the leaderboards too. The bubble had burst though and over the next two years the Phantoms declined through 73 wins to just 60 in 2033 while going from a franchise high profit of almost $59 million in 2024 to just $7 million last year in 2033. The future is looking bleak once more with the GM post once more vacant and even Louisville papers espousing rumours about the Sluggers in secret talks to relocate to Huntsville and consigning the Phantoms to the depths of the many MBBA’s defunct teams.

This is the backdrop to the franchise once more holding interviews for the GM post for 2034 and one of the most surprising candidates is their former Black Sox GM Nigel Laverick. Last seen as Twin Cities GM in 2031, Laverick was GM of the Omaha Barnstomers in 1995 when the league revived and has been GM of several MBBA franchises since without, it has to be said, much success. On his way in to the selection interview he paused to give a few quotes to the assembled media. “This is a vital time for the franchise, I’ve seen what it’s like when franchises go bad. Once you have lost the confidence of the host city in my experience it is very hard to win it back. It almost always ends in tears as the team has to relocate or fold. If you are to turn the odds you need a fireman like me, I’m known for being parachuted into franchises that have lost their way”. He declined to say just how many of those he had turned round though.

Things will be hard for the Phantoms though, the stars of ’31 are spread around the league. Moreno is in California, Cavazos is in Louisville, Bob Sanderson, the lights out closer, now saves in Montreal and finesse pitcher Gerardo Fajardo lives in Yellow Springs. As the 2034 season winds down they have just 48 wins with just 45 games left to play. Juan Hernandez leads the team with just seven wins and three of the rotation have already posted double-digit losses. The closer Juan Cano has only a 75% save record, an ERA north of 6.00 and a WHIP approaching 2.00. It’s going to be hard to turn that ship around, will you get any help from the batters? 21-yr-old DH David Hall has slugged 20 homers from the third hole and clean-up man, Dave Wilfer has added 10 more long balls and between them they have driven in 119 runs but power is lacking elsewhere in the line-up. No-one else is threatening to post double figure homers and few will breach the 30 RBI plateau. About the only stats the team are respectable in is in their 1038 runs (good enough for 6th overall in the JL and their 232 bag steals are the fourth highest in the JL. That at least is one thing Laverick won’t have to worry about if he gets the job, he is known to favour a defensive outlook and smallball approach with speed on the basepaths. Armando Santos (Omaha) and Milt Linacre Jr (Atlantic City) are two of the players that Laverick has developed, they rank ninth & 12th on the MBBA’s all-time list of bag swippers. The defence will need work on, regular left fielder Jose Olivarez has an amazing -16.7 ZR and in right Juan Solis isn’t far behind with a -8.4 ZR. The middle infield of Gerardo Guzman (-5.9 ZR) and Dave Wilfer (-3.1 ZR) look shaky but elsewhere the team produces passable attempts at defence. This though is often where critics of Laverick also points out his teams fail. His defend and run edict often comes at the expense of power and average which has rarely led to successful teams but often to quick dismissals. His most successful time was at Atlantic City where after five years the Gamblers had been turned from low riders to high challengers.

The Huntsville farm doesn’t offer a lot of hope either, the system is 19th ranked one with only two players in the top 100 prospects list. The majority of batting prospects are working their way through A ball and Double-A but all the seven rated bowling prospects are all toiling away at Triple-A Carolina. None of them are doing particularly well and perhaps raises fears that they have been rushed through the levels a bit too fast? Certainly, they’re not showing much signs of providing much help to the MBBA team anytime soon. A rebuild of the farm along with the 25-man roster is needed and the dwindling band of Phantom fans (with 25 home games left they have attracted just 1.6 million fans, a long way from the 2033 figure of 2.5 million) cannot really hold out any hope of a quick fix no matter who gets the GM opening. It would take a master trader to turn the Phantoms round with speed and that is not what Laverick is about. He is known to build via the amateur draft, free agency and Rule V draft, a strategy which builds a solid foundation to the franchise but often frustrates the fanbase before the master plan comes to fruition. The payroll is not currently expected to drop much below $100 million, with a current budget of $130 million, for around two to three years yet so while there is a little wiggle room where payroll is concerned it would look better for the offloading of a few aging well-paid veterans. 35-yr-old Luis Espinoza, currently out until late 2035 at the earliest with a torn UCL, has a guaranteed two years left at $15 million a year will obviously be hard to shift but perhaps takers many be found for the infield duo of Guzman & Wilfer whose salary and defensive frailties may not please Laverick but would be a glinting diamond in the rough to a team looking for a bit of offensive help.

Time will tell as the media await the puff of white smoke that will announce the appointment of a new GM to lead the franchise through the second half of the decade. Currently holding a top 10 drafting position in 2035 the upward trend could begin there but fans had better get used to the idea that it may well be 2040 before the MBBA counts a solid all-round Huntsville franchise as a contender.

[felipe]

I'm not sure I know this guy...

[aaronweiner]

A graph of Nigel's involvement with the league:

main-qimg-2bb8de1a1fe8de7c425457a2e275a9a1.png (14.21 KiB) Viewed 1188 times

[Fat Nige]

It’s true I’m afraid, I have often suffered from something which feels akin to what attention-deficit span must feel like. I haven’t always been the best of GM’s but I’d like to think I’ve improved a few franchises along the way and my loyalty to the league should never be questioned. I’ve always be up front and honest with Matt about my comings and goings. I’ve always bowed out gracefully rather than hang about damaging the franchise.
As I’ve got used to my new career as a retired bum I think I’ve got better with my commitment and I hope I get the chance to prove it

[RonCo]

Nigel may yo-yo, but he works his butt off in the process.

[aaronweiner]

It’s true I’m afraid, I have often suffered from something which feels akin to what attention-deficit span must feel like. I haven’t always been the best of GM’s but I’d like to think I’ve improved a few franchises along the way and my loyalty to the league should never be questioned. I’ve always be up front and honest with Matt about my comings and goings. I’ve always bowed out gracefully rather than hang about damaging the franchise.
As I’ve got used to my new career as a retired bum I think I’ve got better with my commitment and I hope I get the chance to prove it

You know if we didn't like you we wouldn't needle you this way. Or keep giving you a team.

[Fat Nige]

You haven’t . . . . . Yet



Any . . .


Please . . . .