Question: With another season of failing to be named the champions, the team is a year older, and the window is closing, what’s next for Omaha?
Question: Despite the disappointing end to the season, you have to be proud of the effort by Nakamura.“First off. We don’t believe our window is closing or ever is going to close. That’s not a shot at the other teams in the Heartland, because by God are they run by fantastic individuals. That’s just a mindset that we have. We aren’t a slow, long-drawn-out rebuild type of team. At the end of 2030, when I took over the team, they were finishing up a 56 win season, and had won just 49 games the season before. By 2033, we won 82 games, and in 2034, we were in the playoffs. That means by our third season, we were over .500. And winning 30 more games than they had in prior years. We aren’t going to experience a 50 win season again in Omaha during a rebuild. We are going to rebuild while being competitive. In our last minor rebuild, not many noticed it as we won 82 games, and won a minimum of 70 each of those seasons where we were strategically building our farm system while fielding a competitive team. So don’t ask me about the window closing.”
Question: Are you in long term contract negotiations with Nakamura currently?“Of course. He was phenomenal all year and was shown that respect by fellow GM’s in the league when he was awarded the Nebraska award at year's end. This is the first Nebraska award winner we have had since taking over, and it means a lot to us to be recognized as a top pitcher in what some view as an extreme hitters park.”
Question: Wait, so you’d really send the reigning Nebraska award winner to AAA?“Actually we aren’t. The league rules obviously say he has to have 5 years of service time. He is sitting at exactly 4 years right now and 0 days as he made his debut on opening day of the 2021 season. We actually haven’t had negotiations at this time, but we have informed him of the likelihood he is going to spend a few weeks in AAA this coming season.”
Question: Can you touch on the impact Orlando Ordonez had last year and his career for your team?“It’s not whether we’d do it. It’s more of a matter of When are we going to do it. As many know, we are loyal to our players here, and they are loyal to us in return, typically. At the same time, the league obviously has a salary cap we have to tip toe around. By sending him down for a few weeks, obviously we pick up control for the 2056 season, which is extremely important to us based on our current salary cap futures."
Question: What about Du Wu?“No, I don’t need to. The GM’s who awarded him the Sawyer Silk spoke enough about the impact he had on the team. He was our highest WAR player of all time in any given season last year, and he is our highest now by far in Omaha history for a career. He is by far the best international free agent pickup we have ever had, and I’d argue he is the best international free agent pick up of all time. He has a real shot at 100 WAR for his career, in addition to maybe getting to 700 homers before it’s all said and done. Not only that, but he has an absolute chance to hit 600 stolen bases and 600 home runs in his career. He’s incredible.
Question: With about 13M in cap space this year, what is your team viewing as the biggest need?“What about him? He came out of his shell last year after finally being given a chance at the plate full time. He thanked us with 55 home runs."
“We’re constantly trying to figure that out. We might surprise some and not go for our biggest need, but rather who’s the best player we can get with that money. Only time will tell which direction we head.
