Exclusive to The Yellow Springs Journal
by Erwin Wardman
April 14, 2053
Yellow Springs Nine fans were shocked and disappointed to learn that when the first lineup card was sent out on April 1st, 2053 at Omaha, that stone-handed infielder Evan Warburn was given the reigns at shortstop. Here were a sampling of comments on unsocial media:
"Great April Fool's Joke! Now who's actually starting?"
"If this is the best team we can field, it's going to be a long year."
"My grandmother has more range, and she's got two artificial hips!"
"Deport McMonigal!"
"Fire McMonigal!"
"The disrespect McMonigal is showing to the rest of the team disgusts me."
And those were just the ones that were printable.
The decision turned heads among the rest of the BBA as well. One general manager, speaking on anonymity, called Walburn the "worst defensive shortstop in the entire universe" while another questioned if McMonigal had merely forgotten to ask Dong-Po Thum to move over from his natural second base to the other side of the diamond, as Walburn's numbers at second, while not great (zone rating in 2052 in AAA of negative 2.3 versus a brutal negative 11.3 at short), could possibly be survivable.
But no, the idea apparently was for Warburn to, well, burn things left and right behind the young pitching staff. The experiment lasted 7 games, at which point Warburn was moved to the bench, and after two weeks he was exiled to AAA Indianapolis, with former Seattle infielder Alejandro Cordova brought in from the GBC, where he'd spent the past 3 years) signed to replace him.
Mercifully, the experiment came to an end, with the team managing to hold on to a 5-7 record, a minor miracle given all that was going on with the team this early on in the season. But how did it happen? Speaking on background, because so many people internally were upset by the decision, I have a lot of details that McMonigal would prefer not see in public.
Too bad.
Mistake Number One: The Offkilter Off-Season
As I wrote in a prior column, McMonigal botched the off-season, being too cautious and watching as potential players came off the board and onto other teams, while he had money to spend. With the Hernandez deal, that became even more egregious.
"McMonigal knew he had no good internal options. But he kept staring at the names we gave him and wouldn't commit, saying something about overpaying, low stats, and other phrases. It was maddening," said the person I'll call Source D. "And then when he agreed to the trade, I just about lost it. We could have had Owbridge and be set at short for years! Years!"
"I don't want to badmouth the boss," said Source A. "But he had a stumbling block about what he was willing to pay certain players. It was like the fear of the Salary Cap paralyzed him."
A third source, A, told me that "I really think what it came down to was that he was convinced the team was better than 2052 indicated and was loathe to change anything Ron had done. And well, while I agree to some degree that's true, McMonigal didn't improve the team. Like at all. And he's going to regret that if he doesn't make changes fast."
Was there meddling from the owner? I asked Bo Jordan about that, point blank.
"No, not at all, said Jordan. "McMonigal had his full cap funds available. I trust that he chose not to spend them on purpose."
Let me tell you, the look on the owner's face was Not Good.
Source D again: "I think McMonigal wasn't ready for the Brewster and how it operated. But I think he'll do better in 2053-2054. The trouble is, we're kinda screwed right now."
Mistake Number 2: Arguing with the Manager
Spring Training can be contentious, especially when a team has its first losing season in forever and is used to being at the top of the heap. There was pressure on McMonigal to fire Gilberto Pacheo and get his own man. But he didn't. And apparently, that came into play. I was given an audio recording from source C, who is no longer with the team.
McMonigal: We're going to go with Walburn at short.
Pacheo: The hell we are! He's a butcher in the field.
McMonigal: The bat plays, Gilberto."
Pacheo: The bat is unproven. There's still people out there, still time, In the interim, Moore can handle -
McMonigal: I said no. And that's final. Unless you'd like to try to find a BBA manager job less than a week before the season begins.
Pacheo: You have 2 rookie pitchers out there. They need a player with range that's longer than the nose in front of a player's face. For God's sake, Rob, you can't do this. We can't do this.
McMonigal: We'll bring Moore in as a defensive sub as soon as we have a lead. This can work. It HAS to work. MAKE it work.
Pacheo: You'll regret this.
McMonigal: I'll take full responsibility. I promise. And if it doesn't work in the first week, we'll get someone else out there. But if he hits, we keep him. Deal?
Pacheo: You're the boss.
I am sorely indebted to my source for that snippet of information and will be curious to see how McMonigal deals with it, as he's been silent so far on the change.
Mistake Number 3: Moore Wasn't Less
The third mistake was a bad internal evaluation of Rich Moore, who had a ten game trial in 2052 with the Nine that admittedly didn't inspire confidence. He batted .182 with one walk to 9 strikeouts. When Warburn got his cup of coffee in 2051, he hit .281. He also had a better 2052 at the plate in AAA, with a .302 average and 15 HR, good for a 1.9 WAR despite the lack of defense. Moore had only a .262 average and .4 WAR. But again – at that point, neither is a proven hitter. If you're going to lack a proven BBA player at short, which again I feel was inexcusable, then logic says you take the offensive hit and go with the glove.
But the worst part of all is that not only was Warburn bad with the glove, he couldn't hit for crap in his trial as a starter. He batted .167 in his 6 starts, with only 4 hits and 1 walk. He hit exactly 1 double. Meanwhile his 5 starts at short were unbelievably bad. In just 22 chances, he may have only had 1 error, good for a fielding percentage of .955, but his zone rating was already negative 1.2 and his efficiency couldn't even get to 900, clocking in at .867. Meanwhile, Moore is batting .318 since taking over at the key defensive position, thriving in his chance to show he can do the job when called upon. A chance he was very nearly not given.
Now I'm not one to say that short sample size matters. But it's clear Moore might have been able to help the Nine snag an extra win in the early going, had he been starting from day 1. At this point, he'll be backing up Cordova, but that's always been his proper position. If only he'd been given the chance sooner to show it.
The Aftermath – and Implications
While McMonigal did move swiftly to correct his mistakes in the Walburn debacle, he made his players and support staff, right up to the manager, question his decision-making ability. They got hung out to dry to start the season and while no one would speak badly even off the record, I know from the looks when they declined to talk to me that there wasn't a single member of the Yellow Springs Nine who didn't resent the fact that Walburn was starting, except maybe for him. With the popular Hernandez shipped off, questions surrounding the veterans on the team and their standing abound.
In other words, what's been reported as a tight, friendly, happy clubhouse may soon devolve into questions and pointed fingers.
But it gets worse: Agents will think of McMonigal as being a penny pincher, knowing if they can talk to another team, they can get a better deal, using his ideas to set the floor for their clients.
And here's the ugliest part: If fans remain this unhappy, Bo Jordan's extremely profitable bottom line since taking over in 2051 (and the team's financial success in general) is in jeopardy. Season tickets were already down by 4,000, though fan interest reportedly remains high. They could abandon this team quickly for hiding in cornfields, a popular pastime in Ohio.
Jordan may say he has faith in McMonigal, but more of these debacles will surely cure that. I'm already fielding some calls from potential candidates asking me if McMonigal's seat is hot, if Collins may return – or if they should be brushing up resumes and trying to hit up Jordan for lunch. If I were McMonigal, I wouldn't buy a home around here.
