2032.1 River Monsters Beat (11/20/31)

[Spiccoli]

Imagine opening the door to garage to do some Fall cleaning and having a giant pile of trash bury you after turning the knob and you might have an idea what the River Monster Front Office is facing.

Prior to getting started, frustrated Owner Robin Wells brought in his staff to his office to unload and rehash the failures of the season. He covered topics from plunging crowd attendance to the embarrassment of tying for last place, not just in the Division, but for the worst record in the entire league. For whatever reason, he still wants Juan Jose Mayorga gone. It could be his $9.5M salary and 6.46 ERA, though there are rumors swirling around that Juan Jose may be sneaking around with Mr Wells daughter.

The first hurdle is managing the angry talent in both the minor leagues and the Clubhouse. While reviewing and resigning expiring contracts in the Minor League system, a few potential prospects may be deciding to throw in the towel and try their fortunes elsewhere. The two most notable examples are Liverpool Transplant CL Justin Tyrell and the "Jack of a 1/2 Dozen Pitches" Danny Hudson. To be fair, Danny Hudson has put his time in the Minors and appears ready to make the jump, the question is will he resign with Twin Cities before becoming a free agent.

Closer Juan Suarez stopped by the GM Office, to let Scott Piccoli know he was opting out of the last year on his $1.1M/yr contract. However, by the time he walked out of the building, they had tentatively agreed to a 2 year - $1.5M/YR extension.

SS Matheus Simeo made it abundently clear that he doesn't plan to be back up Mark Wareham next season and wants out to test the free agent market. The Coach isn't happy to see him go, he was a nice utility player with respectable .285 average, playing mostly 2B. Though, he may find the grass isn't greener out there and come back. "Prop Joe" was popular with the team and a good leader, but he let a few clubhouse cancers get under his skin. Speaking of cancers...

Reliever Bertil Hofstra managed to negatively impact the clubhouse with his disruptive attitude far more than on the field during his short time at Twin Cities after the roster expansion. He managed to piss off half the team and has been notified that he's likely going to be released. His former teammates at AAA Duluth seem excited he isn't coming back.

In arbitration news, Pitchers Carlino Omoboni and Jose Ordonez will be offered, but Management might finally cut ties with Stanley Benson, who could never seem to make the jump to the BBA level despite some success in the minors.

Since the future is the only thing to look forward to in Twin Cities these days, fans were excited to hear Spudder Brown had been resigned all the way down in Billings (A) and looks to be heading to AA or AAA next season. Yup, you have search deep for good news as a River Monster fan.

[RonCo]

Twin Cities is an interesting job. It's going to be a tough couple seasons, but there are kids in the pipeline to manage up. Look for the River Monsters to be doing real damage as early as 2033, but more likely 2034.

[Spiccoli]

Yeah, I'm in no hurry. In fact, making snap decisions would probably just lead to further set backs.

The more I look, I do see some solid role players with low salaries, which is good. There just isn't any top talent. And it seems that some players make unforeseen jumps, so I'm holding hope for that... lol

[RonCo]

Here's to hoping you beat the heck out of the Pacific.