Goings, Comings, not goings and goings (2038-2)

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Goings, Comings, not goings and goings (2038-2)

Post by Fat Nige » Mon Mar 04, 2019 11:57 am

November 2037

As the 2037 season closed it’s door for the final time there was much coming, going and not going in the Louisville franchise. Manager Abe Colbert and assistant GM Liam Hopkins left after their contracts weren’t renewed while the Sluggers took the opportunity to freshen up their minor league management structure. Bill Wordsworth (Double-A Fire), Bill Brandon (Caracas) and Lightning Hopkins (Bowling Green) all left while Missouri Manager Roy Wright was assigned as Louisville Fire’s Manager. Missouri also lost Hitting Coach Benjamin O’Rorke as, so GM Laverick claims, he was offered the role of Sluggers Managers after the night of a drunken staff farewell party. This left a few vacancies to fill over the off season and Louisville got to work on this straight away. 45-yr-old Italian Quintino Bendinelli accepted his first manager’s role when he was offered the role at SS-A Caracas while Sluggers were quick to give the vacant role of Hitting Coach in Missouri to the team’s former legend Brian ‘Ol Big Head’ Clough after he announced his retirement from playing. Somebody in the league offices also let slip that Louisville were intending to retire Clough’s number next season. Talks are ongoing about the still vacant posts of Manager at Missouri and Bowling Green; the Front Office has announced though that it has no intention of filling the role of Assistant GM at the big club.

There was also the normal movement at minor league level through retirements and releases as well as a few from Louisville. The emergence of 23-yr-old Ricardo Tavares at Second meant the Sluggers were able not to extend Gabriel Talamante, the 30-yr-old veteran of seven seasons & 802 games had only got into 50 games in 2037. He had been asking for over $11 million a year in a multi-year deal which had just been a non-starter. Two pitchers will also leave, 28-yr-old Ramon Gazza earning $3.5 million who started 29 games in 2037 thanks to injuries (9-12 record) and 29-yr-old Felipe Chavez who was 2-0 in 23 appearances out of the bullpen, both were not offered arbitration. The one leaver the franchise really wanted was outfielder Desiderius Kirshbaum who refused to opt-out of his albatross of a contract and settled comfortably into his armchair for another year of buck raking. Lefty pitcher Dylan Schmidt who had 74 BBA outings in 2035/36 split between Madison & Louisville spent the year in Triple-A and was not offered a new contract. Nobody else from the minors leaving has any BBA experience and are all 25-yrs-old or more except 24-yr-old pitcher Dante Amato who refused a MiL contract and unsuccessfully held out for an offer of a major league contract.

In a meeting between owner Millard Dovale and the Sluggers’ GM Nigel Laverick, Dovale insisted that Laverick reduced the payroll to $95 million after Sluggers recorded their first loss since 2026 and second biggest overall. Laverick pointed out that the only way to do this was to coax another BBA team to take Kirshbaum’s or perhaps Sean Maguire’s contract which would mean giving up a probably considerable package of prospects. In reply Dovale just shrugged and declared the meeting closed. On his return Laverick instructed the Front Office staffers to look into possible willing participants in a deal like that. “Phone Wichita, they’ll take any old Slugger” was the general thought but one pointed to the latest press release out of Brooklyn where they announced they had plenty of cap space available for bad contracts and only pointed out the availability of lefty pitcher Ken Bates who had a 30-34 record in six BBA seasons, perfect to challenge Doug Clement for a rotation lefty spot? A congenial chat with GM Elhers later and Louisville had a new lefty pitcher and had cleared the decks of over $30 million salary.

If only it was that easy, in order to achieve that we had to pay the piper, heading to Brooklyn along with Kirshbaum & Maguire were five of our better prospects. The departing five were 22-yr=old Douglas Wils who went 0-4 in his first ever stint at BBA level last year, two Missouri bullpen arms, 23-yr-old Felix Garcia & 22-yr-old Xavier Marot (both in their first year at Triple-A level), 20-yr-old outfielder Antonio Cordero who had shone this year in the Florida Prospect League and 19-yr-old catcher Mzee Kiango who was in the International complex. A big haul true enough but we feel we have cover to replace the bulk of those, Wils being the biggest loss, and the clearing of the salary cap space was just so much more important to Owner Dovale. Now perhaps we have the tools and financial space to start the re-invention of the Louisville Sluggers, more importantly I was able to send security down to the clubhouse to roust Kirshbaum out of his comfy sofa and bring him to me so I could hand him his travel pass and send him on his way. It was a shame to lose Maguire but we were paying him $18 million for 42 starts last year and another 30 odd appearances off the bench.
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Re: Goings, Comings, not goings and goings (2038-2)

Post by 7teen » Mon Mar 04, 2019 3:07 pm

I clicked on Dylan Schmidt fully expecting him to be 35 by this time. Needless to say he wasn't. His BBA career is likely done and to never be heard from again.
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Re: Goings, Comings, not goings and goings (2038-2)

Post by Fat Nige » Mon Mar 04, 2019 3:31 pm

Yes, I thought he might develop but he found it difficult to get an ERA below five even at Triple-A. It just wasn’t worth the roster spot to try and force it anymore once he passed 25. Maybe someone will have time to work on him but like you I suspect he won’t ever get another BBA appearance
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Re: Goings, Comings, not goings and goings (2038-2)

Post by RonCo » Sat Mar 16, 2019 2:18 pm

Nice overview.
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