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Insiders Say Deal Possible
April 21, 2044: Yellow Springs – With YS9 bringing back a crew that continuously loses in October, the hot stove league was pretty quiet around Yellow Spring this year—with the exception of one question: could the team find a way to keep superstar second baseman Dong-po Thum in YS red and black? According to most team executives, the prospects of this happening were slim to none, and several league pundits suggested trading the kid before losing him for nothing more than a supplemental draft pick in what threatens to be a relatively dire pool.
Thum, Nine Could
Be Close to a Deal
News from Yellow Springs today, however, suggests the two may not be as far apart as originally thought, and that the use of a little financial acrobatics might pave the way to keeping Dong-po under the YS9 Thum for a little bit longer.
“Thum wants six years,” one insider said anonymously. “He doesn’t really care so much about the structure as he does the dollars.”
During the winter months, Thum was said to be looking for upwards of $180M over those six seasons, though most observers expected there was probably considerable wiggle room in that number given that the season was just over and priority for getting a deal done was low. “There’s a flow to these things,” said Baseball Bible analyst Gayle Combs. “So you take everything with a grain of salt in December. But Thum is now in his last season, and things are getting more serious as far as the need to get something done on both sides.”
The club was rumored to be hoping to sign Thum for “$13M a year” GM Ron Collins was quoted on a hot-mic, a number that would roll out to about $80M overall. Obviously, something was going to have to give if a deal was to get done.
Meeting Held
The only thing that we at 9-News have been able to confirm is that Thum’s representatives have met with club officials and at least exchanged numbers—and that those numbers are not as far apart as they once were--and that people close to the negotions were now feeling more comfortable that somewhere in the middle of that $80-$180M range was a sweet spot that could make things work.
Beyond that, all that can be said is that the Nine are in California tonight, and that Dong-po Thum will be hitting leadoff against the Valencia Stars.