2044.03 TWC - Twin Cities First Ever Drafted Player Resigns - Team Captain 2B Xue-qin "Gorilla" Man - Hired as Manager

[Spiccoli]

Xue-Qin "Gorilla" Man

Career Stats
.303 BA / .769 OPS / 377 2B's / 99 3B's / 365 SB's / 27 WAR

Awards
3 Gold Gloves (FL - 2B)
2 All Star Appearances (FL - 2B)
Geoghegen MVP (2033)

Xue-Qin Man was drafted #4 Over-all (1st Round) by Twin Cities in 2029, the Franchise's First Ever Franchise Draft Pick...

A solid character guy and offensive spark plug, Xue-Qin was a great player early in his career before fading by his late 20's. His peak year was 2033 where he hit .332 and lead the league with 58 doubles, 18 Triples and 231 Hits... finishing the season with a 6.7 WAR. He barely missed the Gold Bat at 2B that season to the great Emilio Morales who also had a 6.7 WAR... but had 45 home runs.

For almost a decade, Gorilla Man and Mark Wareham were teamed up in the middle infield (SS and 2B) and hit #1/#2 in the batting order. Not coincidentally, Twin Cities late 2030's decline corresponded with Man's fading batting abilities. Unfortunately, the Front Office had just signed Man to a long term extension during this time... which hamstrung the Team's ability to work around his contract.

However, Gorilla Man was still a great Clubhouse Team Captain and solid defensively. He was a natural fit to transition in the manager role as the Team offered him the position at Rookie League Cheyenne. He'll be joined by Ray Cooper as Hitting Coach who also retired this season as well.

While Ray Cooper was inducted as Twin Cities' first Franchise Hall of Fame Player, there's been a small, but vocal group of fans insisting that Xue-Qin Man needs to join Ray Cooper as well. Time will tell if the Team and TWC Fans decide if the Gorilla Man will make the grade.

[Ted]

The title of this news was so long I clicked on it because I thought it was a Marco post I had to comment on.

Man seems to have set the stage for the Twin Cities tradition of early career lumping. Maybe now that he's retired it will finally stop?

[RonCo]

Throw the kid straight into the deep end.

[Spiccoli]

The title of this news was so long I clicked on it because I thought it was a Marco post I had to comment on.

Man seems to have set the stage for the Twin Cities tradition of early career lumping. Maybe now that he's retired it will finally stop?

Matt talked about that in the league settings he changed to slow down early development and stop position players from being BBA ready at 19 and 20 and push them back to 22 to 23 or so (I think). Hopefully to stop some of the position players from lumping before they're even 30. And in Man's case, lumping at 27 or 28.