November 2051: A New Era
After 24 seasons as GM and Manager of the Royals (
https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=355474), Colin Stewart was enjoying watching his players continue to excel and was excited to see how their careers played out. After the Royals matched his best regular season record, 122-40, but got bounced in the ALCS, Stewart was intrigued to see what that meant for the squad and wasn’t in any rush to get back into the day-to-day.
When leaving the Royals, he knew he wanted a new challenge and that he wouldn’t take over another team in the American League out of respect to the Royals franchise that had lauded him over the past two decades plus of service, as well as paying him over $40m. He had thought that bringing a first World Series of the save to a team would be a good challenge, which meant that he had a shortlist of six National League clubs that had not won a World Series since 2024:
• Chicago Cubs
• Miami Marlins
• Philadelphia Phillies
• Pittsburgh Pirates
• St. Louis Cardinals
• Washington Nationals
In bringing glory to a struggling franchise, though, four of those ballclubs had not even appeared in the World Series in that time and that is the list of clubs that Stewart expected to be tempted to join if the chance arose:
• Miami Marlins
• Philadelphia Phillies
• Pittsburgh Pirates
• Washington National
So, as the offseason started, Stewart was interested to have a look at the available jobs in Major League Baseball.
Amazingly, or perhaps not based on their lack of success over the last 27 years in this world, three of the four clubs were open to Stewart taking on the GM and Manager roles at their clubs. Miami and Pittsburgh were the greater challenges based on market size, and both were offering a 3-year contract to come on board. Philadelphia offered a huge market with fan interest of a reasonable level but were only willing to give Stewart 2 years of runway to turn the team around. The Marlins (82-80) and the Phillies (85-77) both had winning records in 2051, while the Pirates were a lowly 74-88.
Looking to the future when taking over a team, the state of the farm was an interesting consideration. The Phillies and the Pirates were fairly similar, sitting 11th and 12th respectively, with a couple of top 50 players each and a further three in the top 100. The Marlins had one top 50 and one top 100 to sit down in 22nd.
However, one of the ballclubs with an offering happened to be Stewart’s childhood club and offered an intriguing 4th option. This club has only made the playoffs 7 times since 2022, although they did win the World Series in 2036. More recently, they haven’t made the postseason since 2047, and that year was their only appearance in the last 13 years.
They have a big market and very loyal fans, plus they were willing to give Stewart a 4-year contract. In 2051 they were the worst of the options, going 71-91.
With 5 World Series, Colin Stewart’s manager told him he didn’t need to apply for jobs – the market would come to him. So Stewart check his inbox to see who might really want to see him join their franchise.
Two of Stewart’s shortlist had made offers, the Pirates and his childhood team. The Pirates offered the shorter contract, the smaller market, but had a more successful season. They also had a better farm on paper. But could Stewart turn down his childhood team not knowing if the chance would come again. He simply couldn’t and so, despite their 71-91 record, and their 24th ranked (basically bare) farm system, Colin Stewart was headed to the Bay, to be the GM and Manager of the San Francisco Giants.
Stewart sat down with his new boss, Marquis Quivers, to set out plans for the coming years. Quivers has been the owner of the franchise since 2035. The Giants have made 4 trips to the postseason in the 17 years since, including bringing the ninth title to San Francisco in 2036.
An understanding owner, Quivers does prioritise profit but doesn’t get overly involved in the day-to-day decision making.
After several years of minimal goals from his previous owner, it is somewhat of a shock to Stewart to be presented with seven goals over the coming years!
None of the goals come as a major surprise with the only one that might not align with Stewart’s team building plan the acquisition of an MVP by 2054. The remainder of the goals come down to the simple tasks of acquiring good people and winning baseball games! Stewart doesn’t request any changes to Quivers’ desires so the goals for the years to come are set.
