Today in the CBO
News and Notes - Reports from around the Commonwealth
by Nat Wright-Kowalski
17 June 2296 - Party Boys Ship Gourd to Shaw HS
Fans in Nordhagen Beach woke up this morning to learn that their team had traded 25-year-old reserve LF Rocky Gourd to the Shaw HS Knuckle Punchers. In return, the Party Boys will receive 30-year-old RHP Sia Abber and 17-year-old LF Pablo Rivera.
In nine appearances, Abber has allowed 11 earned runs on 14 hits with seven walks and eight strikeouts in 11.2 innings for an 8.49 ERA. Abber was the 14th-round pick of the Knuckle Punchers, number 322 overall.
Rivera has appeared in 16 games for the Knuckle Punchers. He never started a game, so all appearances were as a pinch hitter. In 19 at bats, he had five hits, all singles, for a .263 average. He scored five runs, walked once, struck out four times, and stole a base.
17 June 2296 - CBO Makes Major Announcements
The Commonwealth Baseball Organization held a press conference today at the Great Green Jewel in Diamond City. The news was big, and we only have bits of information, but I am looking to reveal as much information as I can. We had hoped to gather these stories and publish them separately, but we need to tell the basics now. There is a lot of information, so here is what we know:
It has been a poorly-kept secret, but it has been obvious ever since Nuka-Cola and Nuka World owner John-Caleb Bradberton visited that there have been more changes in the works for the CBO. Commissioner Nate Howard confirmed the biggest of those changes today after "all pieces came together."
That announcement is this: there will be a minor league system in place starting next season. Simple fenced-in fields have been constructed throughout the smaller settlements in the Commonwealth. Later, Howard will help have seating constructed for those places as well as a vow for "free" baseball for fans. Also, Howard stated that the non-trade agreement system, which is not working as he had intended, will be tweaked for the 2297 season. He said that the minor league system should solve that problem.
There will be an influx of players, available from some of the youth leagues as well as newcomers from other parts of the Commonwealth who were not eligible to play in the CBO this season. Howard is expecting somewhere around 300 new players available for the 2297 season, meaning that teams will have a minor league squad that should have about the same number of players as the CBO.
The minor league has not yet been named, but we have been able to gather some of the locations. One of the leagues will be in the area of the Brotherhood League and will include Greentop Nursery, Breakheart Banks, Taffington Boathouse, and Malden. Speculation is that General Atomics Galleria and Outpost Zimonja could be the other two teams to represent the Brotherhood League. Some of the other locations that currently have a fenced-in baseball field include Charles View Ampitheater, Corvega Assembly Plant, Mystic Pines, the Cabot House, C.I.T. Ruins, and Postal Square. Some places have been clearing out space, including Bunker Hill, College Square, Haymarket Mall, Boston Common, and Trinity Plaza.
We do not have confirmed reports because these areas are a bit far southwest of Boston proper, but there are also reports of fields constructed at Fiddler's Green Trailer Park, Forest Grove Marsh, Mass Pike Interchange, Natick Banks, and Poseidon Reservoir.
In addition to the announcement of the minor league system, Howard also announced that they had accumulated a pool of sponsors, though some will not begin their official sponsorships until the new baseball year in January or February of 2297. Those corporate sponsors added to the pool are ArcJet Systems, BosCom, Curie, Inc., and Slocum's Joe. Related to the next announcement, there will also be some changes in sponsorship.
The change here is two-fold. First, we know already about Pipercom becoming BosCom and investing in Fairline Hill Estates with plans to purchase the Yao Guai franchise outright.
Also, Kasumi Nakano has made a deal to purchase the Jamaica Plain Treasures outright. We have a follow-up story on that, which we will publish next week following the games. Nakano has released a statement regarding the purchase. Basically, she is pulling her sponsorship of the Nordhagen Beach Party Boys so that Jamaica Plain's stadium will carry the Red Rocket Stadium name.
With the change in sponsorships, Nordhagen Beach and Salem are currently without a sponsor. There are rumors that a few more teams will enter the sponsorship carousel, but we do not know which at this time.