[JayW UK]

2030 Off-Season

At the Winter Meetings the final details for the two expansion teams were released, The Omaha franchise would have the nickname “Braves” and play their home games at the Lone Tree Dome. The teams minor league affiliates were also announced, with franchises in Portland (Foresters, AAA) Fresno (Riders, AA) Sioux City (Chiefs, A) Pensacola (Pilots, SA) and Tallahassee (Indians, RL). The Baltimore franchise would use the nickname “Bulls” (the name chosen via a fan vote) and call the 40,000-seater Beltway Park Stadium home, their minor league affiliates were based in Savannah (Skyhawks, AAA) Canton (Kestrels, AA) Gainesville (Gators, A) Yakima (Beavers, SA) and Texarkana (Bulls, RL). Baltimore owner John Rockwell also announced that the new franchise had come to terms with former San Jose GM Brian Halliday, to be the Bulls first General Manager, Rockwell hoped that Halliday could turn his eye for talent to good use and build his expansion franchise into a winner. Halliday had left San Jose in a strong position with a young talented roster, headlined by LF Gregg Bambridge and a farm system with several more youngsters on the verge of breaking through and while Halliday had always been able to find talented players his issue in San Jose had been identifying a manager to harness that talent and deliver consistent winning baseball. San Jose’s search for a new General Manager didn’t take long as former Boston GM Larry Westheim was named as Halliday’s replacement, many observers felt this move spelt the end of manager Dan Stone’s tenure (as Westheim was the man who had sent him packing in Boston), this notion was debunked at Westheim’s first press conference when he backed Stone as his manager for 2030 and beyond.
Several managers were released at the end of 2029 including St. Louis Reds Daniel Donnelly who was fired after the teams disastrous 54-win campaign and Sanfrancisco’s Bruce Weaver, who stepped away from baseball after his contract expired to spend some time with his family. While in a somewhat surprising move, Seattle skipper William McDonald stepped down from his position after several heated discussions with owner Frank Hartmann over the direction of the franchise. Hartmann moved quickly to replace McDonald hiring Ken Buckner, a career minor league manager who had spent part of 2018 as San Jose’s manager. Sanfrancisco chose Jorge Castro as their new skipper, Castro who had not managed for ten years since leaving Minneapolis, was hired from Phoenix where he had been working as their bench coach. St. Louis promoted from within naming bench coach Joe Barron as manager on a three-year contract while Indianapolis were rocked when Ron Edwards, on the advice of his doctor, stepped down after being taken ill, caught out by Edwards’ sudden departure the Racers scrambled to fill his position. In a fortuitous turn of events, former New Orleans and San Diego skipper Leonard Miller became available when he quit at Stanford University, the Racers wasted little time in approaching Miller who jumped at the chance to manage at the NABL again and was duly named as Edwards replacement.
Headlined by pitchers Marc Birstall (HOU) and Matt Powell (SEA) along with 2B Dustin Polk (PHO) the 2030 free agent crop certainly had some top talent available. Las Vegas made the early headlines when they announced that Marc Birstall would be calling Sin City home for the next six years on a bumper $136M deal, Birstall would join Holden Willis and Dave Cahill to form a truly dominant rotation. St. Louis got in on the act soon after, signing pitcher Matt Powell for six years at $116M, Oklahoma City were busy as well, adding 2B Dustin Polk for 4-years on an $80M contract, former Washington slugger Joey Buhler for a bargain 2-year $17M deal and keeping veteran pitcher Anthony Barrett around for one more year at $1.6M. Division rivals Denver added former San Diego starting pitcher Pedro Escobar for four years and $75M while also signing superstar Dixon Bodean to a 3-year $64M extension, Minneapolis also added starting pitching, in the form of veteran Max Castle from Las Vegas on a team friendly 3-year deal. Kansas City lost two of their stars when 1B Michael Jennings signed with Seattle for two years and Washington poached SP Jose Roa away on a three year $41.5M deal. Washington, after picking up Roa were unable to persuade starter-turned-closer David Gonzalez to re-sign with them instead losing him to Charlotte who also lost one of their own stars when 3B Wes Lauderdale left town to sign with Sanfrancisco on a 3-year $42M deal. Las Vegas were also busy in the trade market, sending RF Dave Baker to Washington for 3B Michael Byrd and pitcher Shannon Hendricks to San Jose for infielder Jose Rodriguez and a 7th round draft pick. Charlotte and Boston got together for a trade involving two veteran stars with the Pilgrims sending CF Raul Escobar to the Express for SS Eduardo Ruiz, while on the eve of the draft Boston added starter Earl Stone (who was still recovering from a ruptured UCL) on a 1-year 880K deal, if Stone was able to reach full fitness again, he would provide the team with veteran pitching help or in the best-case scenario, be a solid starter for the Pilgrims, all on a cheap deal. Another team adding a veteran pitcher was Phoenix, who signed 37-year-old Carlos Correa (who just had endured a career worst 3-14, 5.09 ERA season in Philadelphia) on a one-year deal.
The 2030 amateur draft was top heavy on high school talent, with pitchers Lester Swindell, Rick Sauer and Eugene Fey along with 2B Michael Clarke and LF Kyle Van Obendorf gaining most of the plaudits. The top college prospects were LF Daron Murphy from UCLA and pitcher Adrian Knapp from Florida. St. Louis, owners of the first overall pick surprised no-one when they chose high contact, high power hitter 2B Michael Clarke, Minneapolis with the second overall selection chose to bolster their pitching with high school prospect Lester Swindell (although there were rumours that he would forego the NABL and attend college) Denver chose speedy outfielder Kyle Van Obendorf third while Phoenix also chose a speedy outfielder fourth when they took high school prospect Damon Woodrush, this pick was panned by many experts as a reach. The first college star chosen was pitcher Adrian Knapp who was taken 7th by Austin while fellow college standout LF Daron Murphy fell to eleventh where Charlotte took him. San Jose picked Rick Sauer ninth overall ahead of many experts favourite high school pitcher, Eugene Fey, who fell all the way to Los Angeles at 13, after the draft, BNN named Fey as No 4 and Sauer as No 41 on their annual top 100 prospects list seemingly confirming most draft analysts view as to who was better.
In the annual pre-season predictions, the Atlantic division was once again expected to belong to Washington, with Boston and New York predicted to push them and be in the running for the EL wildcard spot. On the back of their run to the World Series Indianapolis were once again prime challengers for the Central division, but how the team would perform for new manager Leonard Miller was an unknown factor, waiting in the wings for any stumble were both Detroit and Chicago. In the Southeast, the young Miami Everglades, the surprise of 2029, would no doubt push for a second consecutive division crown with Tampa Bay (with the EL’s highest payroll, an aging team, and with their championship window rapidly closing) once again in the mix.
In the WL, the Midwest division looked to be Kansas City’s to lose, as despite the Tornadoes losing several key veterans to free agency none of the other teams appeared quite ready to challenge them yet, in the Southwest division defending champions Dallas would have their work cut out for them to repeat as Las Vegas, after the addition of SP Marc Birstall to their already dominant rotation, were the bookies early favourites for the WL Pennant. The Pacific division would likely come down to a three-way fight between San Diego, Seattle and the up-and-coming Sanfrancisco Gold.