2034-19: Talons Expansion Plans = Who Cares

[jiminyhopkins]

Phoenix, AZ--

There has been a lot of furore recently in the BBA about another league expansion. Plans have been laid out by the league, though much can be said of the somewhat short notice provided by the League Office. Teams are scrambling to figure out their protection lists and commentators are speculating about leaguewide talent impacts.

But not the Talons.

Phoenix has taken a rather nonchalant attitude toward expansion and its effects on the franchise. GM Sean Marko implies that it has to do with a simple fact: Phoenix was an expansion franchise in its own right. "As a team that was quite recently the beneficiary of the expansion process, I think it would be a little weird to suddenly overreact when the process happens in reverse," he said.

"And yes, we had the benefit from drawing from the EBA teams as well," he continued. "But this time it's only two teams. And we can only lose three players. Will those players be valuable? Sure, otherwise the expansion teams wouldn't want them. It's part of the process. 5 years ago we certainly took some good players from teams. We also took some more expensive veterans, guys the fans would recognize and support. It all evens out. I'm not worried. We're a team on the way up and you know what? Next year we will be, too."

Looking ahead, Talons blogs and fanposts seem to agree that the core of the team will remain intact. Players like Mario Deortez (8/9/9/6/7 Talents), Tu-fu Yong (8/8/9/6/7 Talents), Bartolo Ortiz (9/9/10/6/8 Talents), and Bob Corrigan (9/7/7 Talents) obviously aren't going anywhere. However, fan forums have seemed to come to the conclusion that a couple of veterans could be left unprotected, namely Domenic Wyatt (5/6/9/8/2 Talents) and Ignacio Rodriguez (8/7/8 Talents). Wyatt in particular "could provide instant fan recognition and legitimacy to an expansion team," wrote one blog post.

Expansion? Bring it on!