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Griever20 · 02-27-2025, 02:14 PM

Office of the Owner

October 12th, 2021

Rich Buchanan is a tolerant, non-meddling owner of a baseball team that he inherited from his father in the summer of 2020 and that he handed to a young GM that looks like me… Still, he checks in from time to time, and I noticed that he was in the park for the whole of last week, watching a 3-3 week for us to finish the season. And here am I, in his office on the day after the tiebreaker for the WL Wild Card finished.

“Now KC, the season is over. How do you rate your performance?” I felt obligated here to remind him of 2020. “We won 14 more games than last year, and our farm system is #1 in baseball with a good number of prospects. And, we did all that with our best player in Dan Hinton on the IL for most of the year. So, I personally think it was a decent enough year given the circumstances.”

He looked at me with a wry smile. “I expected more of a .500 season. I expected the offense and OBP to come up. And, I asked for a Pitcher of the Year Award winner to come over. How do you look on those goals?” I knew that would be coming, and I came prepared. “The offense was a train wreck, I agree with you fully. We had hopes that Vinny Roman could lead the group, but he came out to be a liability, and the young bats of Karl Ferguson and Ian Messer did not deliver the quality we expected. As for the Pitcher of the Year winner, those guys don’t grow on trees, unless you want a washed up 38-year old that can’t pitch anymore.”

Buchanan blinked three times and then leaned back in his chair a bit. “You sure are a handful to argue with, I give you that. I still would love to see a star pitcher here in Montreal. That discussion point aside, I have seen you work now for a year, and I’d put it this way, I like your style. You don’t do bull****, you work hard, and you put together a roster that was well rounded and deep, avoiding 100 losses while adding talent to the minor league system- But, the true test will be, can you turn this franchise into a contender? And when?”

A mighty good question there. “I think we are at least one, more two years away from a playoff berth. The main problem here is hitting, and looking at the free agent market, there is no easy fix available here. Too many injury prone 30-year olds that demand a lot of money for one, maybe two good seasons before they become a liability. We had too much of that here lately. Growth has to come from within, or via trade. Within takes time, trade takes minor league talent. I’m no wizard. I can make good deals, I made some bad deals, but nobody is going to give us a 8.7WAR player like Omar Vega via trade for a bag of balls.”

A smile. “That is true, but there is a draft every year. You went heavy on high school talent, and while Tyler Dean is the #2 prospect in baseball, he and the whole draft is years away from the majors. I hope by god you hit that one, and the next one as well. I want a winner here in Montreal again. See you, KC, you will get my new owner goals as soon as the World Series is wrapped.”

---

Transactions:
Pitchers Victor Lopez, Jeremy Oldt and Andy Pelletier passed through waivers without issue and were sent to AAA again.

02-27-2025, 02:14 PM	#86
Griever20 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Dortmund, Germany Posts: 3,557	October 12th: Office of the Owner Office of the Owner October 12th, 2021 Rich Buchanan is a tolerant, non-meddling owner of a baseball team that he inherited from his father in the summer of 2020 and that he handed to a young GM that looks like me… Still, he checks in from time to time, and I noticed that he was in the park for the whole of last week, watching a 3-3 week for us to finish the season. And here am I, in his office on the day after the tiebreaker for the WL Wild Card finished. “Now KC, the season is over. How do you rate your performance?” I felt obligated here to remind him of 2020. “We won 14 more games than last year, and our farm system is #1 in baseball with a good number of prospects. And, we did all that with our best player in Dan Hinton on the IL for most of the year. So, I personally think it was a decent enough year given the circumstances.” He looked at me with a wry smile. “I expected more of a .500 season. I expected the offense and OBP to come up. And, I asked for a Pitcher of the Year Award winner to come over. How do you look on those goals?” I knew that would be coming, and I came prepared. “The offense was a train wreck, I agree with you fully. We had hopes that Vinny Roman could lead the group, but he came out to be a liability, and the young bats of Karl Ferguson and Ian Messer did not deliver the quality we expected. As for the Pitcher of the Year winner, those guys don’t grow on trees, unless you want a washed up 38-year old that can’t pitch anymore.” Buchanan blinked three times and then leaned back in his chair a bit. “You sure are a handful to argue with, I give you that. I still would love to see a star pitcher here in Montreal. That discussion point aside, I have seen you work now for a year, and I’d put it this way, I like your style. You don’t do bull**, you work hard, and you put together a roster that was well rounded and deep, avoiding 100 losses while adding talent to the minor league system- But, the true test will be, can you turn this franchise into a contender? And when?” A mighty good question there. “I think we are at least one, more two years away from a playoff berth. The main problem here is hitting, and looking at the free agent market, there is no easy fix available here. Too many injury prone 30-year olds that demand a lot of money for one, maybe two good seasons before they become a liability. We had too much of that here lately. Growth has to come from within, or via trade. Within takes time, trade takes minor league talent. I’m no wizard. I can make good deals, I made some bad deals, but nobody is going to give us a 8.7WAR player like Omar Vega via trade for a bag of balls.” A smile. “That is true, but there is a draft every year. You went heavy on high school talent, and while Tyler Dean is the #2 prospect in baseball, he and the whole draft is years away from the majors. I hope by god you hit that one, and the next one as well. I want a winner here in Montreal again. See you, KC, you will get my new owner goals as soon as the World Series is wrapped.” --- Transactions: Pitchers Victor Lopez, Jeremy Oldt and Andy Pelletier** passed through waivers without issue and were sent to AAA again. __________________ MLB 2012 - The Toronto Ban Jays The Montreal Expos... Exposing the New MLB? MLB 2015 - Being the Brewmaster(ended) MLB 2013: The Blue Jays That Never Were(concluded)