Twin Cities.. it's,,,it's..it's ALIVE!
We are on the eve of the 2051 season and there is a fresh excitement all around the league. Every team is in first place they say. It's an old trope said by a bunch of losers since the beginning of time. Within the next few weeks we are going to see preseason predictions, team previews, and a media guide continue to bury the Twin Cities River Monsters, 'cuase well, it's the easy thing to do. Nobody, not even a computer program 23 years in the making, has the technology to look at this wasteland of 50-60 rated players and see success. Well, almost nobody...
Music playing in background wrote:Breaking apart, torn at the seams, sanity fails
Just swallow the dirt
And breathe in the dust
Now savour the taste
Tread by the edge, pushed into hell, never again
Never again, constant pushing, provoking reactions
Manager Marcos 'Pep' Canavezes enters the office of GM Alan Ehlers Canavezes: Boss, is it ok if I come in...
Ehlers: Sure thing Pep, what's on your mind.
Canavezes: You know, this off season was perhaps the wildest one in the history of the BBA. New GM's bringing fresh energy and trading stars, a mega class of free agents, and a contracted UMEBA/EBA/UBC/BBC/OPP/U.N.I.T.Y. whatever you want to call it dropped 3-4 fresh young twenty something 70 potential pitchers on the daily. This was a huge moment for us to make the next leap. Yet here we are again with a bunch of washed up 60 somethings and many more 50's that will never be.
Ehlers: Are you talking about measuring players by overall and potential combination scores? What kind of lazy shit is that? Take Bert Cleaver for example. Overall and Potential penalize him for not being able to bunt and running slowly. The freak'in guy has 11 power. I don't want him bunting, and I could give two "YS9 in the playoffs" how slow he trots around the bases.
Canavezes: I think you are missing the point. We had a chance to get true superstars. Impact players. yet we still settled for mediocrity.
Ehlers: So what do you want me to do? Give Rex Foster $100 million that we don't have so he can spend the summer drinking Mai Tai's in the Cayman Islands while rehabbing his "back spasms"? Meanwhile we are stuck with the same dregs that have made this a futil franchise for the past half decade? That's not how it works. That's not how any of this works.
Canavezes: Well, maybe not him, but there were others. What about Felipe Vega?
Ehlers: Whoa whoa whoa, that is a low blow. Nobody wanted Vega here more then me. Do you know how hard it was to sever my heart from my brain and avoid acquiring him the past year? But still, he is just one guy, 31 years old and required a long term deal. It just didn't make sense for us. We are far from 1-2 players away.
Instead I brought in 9 Major League free agents and counting. 10 if you count Alomar(who is almost like a free agent). We are going to have to win the old fashioned way. 27 guys pulling on the same rope.
Canavezes: Look, that may have worked where you are from in the Atlantic, but this is the Heartland, the big leagues of BBA baseball. Every team in our division got better this winter. Cyclones, pitching platoons or whatever other kind of bullshit you have up your sleeve won't fly here. If you don't believe me, ask the other GM's in the Division. They will be happy to tell you how great the Heartland is.
Ehlers: I may be a lot of things... scared is not one of them. Every team has a weakness and we intend to find them. Last season I was shoulders deep in GM functions. This year I am going to be more hands on in managing this team. Cause if I can be honest for a second, you did a shitty job last season. Be lucky you still have a job.
Canavezes: How do you expect to do that? You do realize this is a computer game right? I'm not really here. I'm just an underdeveloped piece of Ai that is going to mess up your bullpen usage when you least expect it. I'm going to pinch hit a lefty versus a lefty in a big spot and drop a suicide squeeze down with the tying run on 3rd in extra innings.
Ehlers: WTF man, are you on Nashville's payroll or ours? I'm supposed to be the mad scientists in this team news. Now know your role and shut your mouth.
Back to business. Before every series we are going to do a thorough scouting of each opponent and look for any weakness they may have or advantage we may gain. It's a long and tedious process. One of the main factors for my hiatus and a likely reason why my run in Twin Cities may be a short one. The process can be agonizing. Changing sliders every week, juggling the pitching staff to get best matchups, calling up and demoting players based on changing needs and the constant mixing and matching of lineups to find the best balance on any given night. I'm not in the business of being in 4-5 leagues and mailing it in. My commitment is all or nothing. And after a year of setting things up, the all part starts right now and it will not end till Twin Cities wins the Brewster. Let the madness begin.....
