Galaxy Gas 2059.11 – Taking a Walk to Clear My Head

[DugoutDesperado]

After Valencia’s 10 to 3 loss against Des Moines to drop the Stars' Spring Training record to 6-14, myself and the rest of the crew boarded the team bus to head back to the airport. After everyone boarded the plane and the plane lifted itself to the friendly skies to take them back to the homeland of Valencia, there was roughly a few hours for me to ponder on the thoughts running through my mind.

A record of 6-14 does not feel like we are going to keep pace with last season when the team narrowly missed the play-offs. Are too many of the players getting past their prime? Are the additional players added to the spring training roster watering down the talent enough to lose some of those games?

People say that spring training is for evaluating and not about winning. But then I wonder if that is just something that losing teams say. As the plane landed and people started going their separate ways, the I jumped into my truck thinking about the moves that have been made. The fact is, there wasn’t much to be seen. There was only $2.3M available to send on free agents. The lone BBA addition was C Rafael Elias at $1.4M along with about 22 minor league signees. Although there were inquiries from other teams around 2B Miller Shed and SS Tyler Conklin, the plan at this point was to try and keep that tandem together for the 2059 season.

Once on the outskirts of Valencia, I decided to take a walk and clear his head from all of the pondering. All-in-all, the walk covered about 13 miles. During that walk, I decided to stop in at the tavern nearby to have a drink or two.

I noticed a guy at the end of the bar drinking by himself. I asked if he minded some company and he said sure. As I sat down and ordered a drink we started with the normal small talk.

“ Are you from around these parts?”, I asked.

He said, “Indeed.”

I saw that he was wearing a Valencia Stars cap with a MR stitched on the back of it.

I asked, “Do you follow the baseball team?”

“At times I felt like I almost lived it.”

“I see the MR on the back. Are those your initials?”

“Yep”, he said, “You can just call me mister” he said with a smile.

I was amazed about how much he knew about the team all the way down to the minor leagues. We started talking about other things such as families, girls we knew, bad habits and good beer. Every once in a while, it came back to baseball. Being a small world, we found out they with both spent some time in the same organization with the Beirut Cedars, although during different time frames.

As I pulled out my wallet, MR said, “Your money is no good here. These drinks are on me. Take care of that Valencia team the best that you can.”

We drank until the last call at 3 in the morning. At that time we parted ways. I never did catch his name, but I could tell he was a class act.

[trmmilwwi]

The commish was in town and was scouting the team in disguise?!

[RonCo]

Different MR.

[recte44]

Think previous GM?

[RonCo]

This is a Caleca nominee, BTW. Great work.