[DD Martin]

I started out the meeting with Mr. Bouquet Jr. looking back at the season and the near miss we had of bringing back the GLBL title to Chicago. He wasn’t necessarily impressed. Despite our season on the field, I had let him down and he let me know it. We made a small profit of $4.6 million on the season but that didn’t count the revenue sharing which in fairness is part of the overall picture. With the revenue sharing we actually lost $3.2 million and Mr. Bouquet was not easing up on that fact.

Mr. Bouquet Jr. - Look DD I appreciate that we have been to the Fall Classic 2 years in a row, unfortunately we lost. Last season we made a tidy sum and I expected the same this season. You did not live up to your end of the bargain. While I am giving you a $178 million dollar budget for next year, I expect at least a $10 million dollar profit on next year’s team. I don’t care what the math looks like, I am just interested in the bottom line and that bottom line better have room for 7 zero’s in it. I hope I am making myself clear.

I am sure you feel this is harsh given the close near misses on the field, but this is a bottomline business. I expect us to be profitable every season. I am not like Bruce Joyes in Thunder Bay who doesn’t seem to care if his team is profitable or not! He lost $50+ million this year and for what, so he can get a ring and make the little people happy. I don’t need a championship to buy a ring, and it sure as hell will cost less than that to buy it. I want this team to be profitable, no make that highly profitable and if you can’t do that I will find someone else who can. Now you go do what you need to do to potentially make the playoffs again, I am not against that. Just do it in a fiscally responsible way!

Now I need to meet with my tax accountant and see if I can use this financial loss to avoid paying taxes on any other income I have or can “create” this year.

After my dressing down, I got to work on making the 2056 club a GLBL Champion.

Next year's starting lineup
C Juan Duran
1B Reagan Osborn
2B John Lambert (all OF, 1B, 3B)
SS Pablo Farrulla (2B)
3B Thomas Arnaud
LF Matt Graves
CF Cris Luna
RF Jim Ashley
DH Jose Aranda (OF)

Backups
C Chin Lee
1B Cruz Torres (3B)
U Larry Davis (2B, 3B, 1B)
OF Samuel Amsden (2B)
MI




SP Jose Cedeno
SP Yale Hulburt (likely June)
SP Val Imbert
SP Joe Johnson
SP

CL Pat Wright
SU Larry Stott
MR Ken Shannon
MR
MR
RP JJ Walker
LM Bill Lutz

We really have 4 spots and maybe at most undecided for next season. We need a back up middle IF that can play SS. Now the perfect solution is prospect Cristo Sandoval is ready to assume the SS job. That would move Farrulla to our primary middle IF backup at both 2B and SS. That would be in an ideal world. Sandoval was up for a cup of coffee and played mostly against Milwaukee, Detroit and Traverse City in the 12 games he appeared in. While he did hit his first career home run he only managed 1 other hit in 29 at bats. He recorded 0 walks and had 16 K’s in those 29 at bats. That indicates to me his bat is not big league ready, but maybe using that experience, hard work in the off-season and a good spring he will change my mind. That makes me rethink my Lefevre position that maybe a cheap 1 year deal would be a useful thing.

I’m also going to really look at probably a lefty OF bat again. We have several internal players who could fill that role like corner OF Ken Davis. Also RH OF Tom Stone could be an option as well, but we are losing some of those left handed bats that we acquired last year like C Sean White (L), OF Jose Gomez (S), 1B Miguel Toledo (S), and IF Simon Lefevre (S). Looking at that we will likely bring back OF Samuel Amsden (S) for another year.

That brings us to pitching, and even though we have a lot of arms, this is the area I’m most concerned about. The top 3 coming out of spring will be Jose Cedeno, Joe Johnson and Val Imbert. All 3 are RHSP’s which is why I think Simpson would be a big signing. We will have RHSP John Moore back but he’s missed parts of the last 2 seasons. I’m beginning to think a full year in the bullpen might be a good idea for him. Yale Hulburt will give us a 4th SP and a good one, but he would need a miracle to be ready for even early May. I was hoping that LHSP Curt Hopkins would be ready. He came up the same time as SS Cristo Sandoval and he struggled to a 7+ ERA against Milwaukee and Detroit in his 2 starts and 1 relief appearance. It's a small sample size but I don’t think he’s quite ready but like Sandoval we setup an off season workout program, and hope he can advance and be ready with a good spring. He will get a chance.

Middle RP we have several candidates in RHP Richard Hershel (who the scouts think can be a SP), LHP Ed Reddin but it would be a lot of pressure considering that we expect to contend again. I don’t want to sell short the bullpen as I have seen what that can do to a club before.

One pitcher that will likely be on the team one way or another is Stan Storey who was 3-0 with a 2.33 ERA in 4 big league outings after a very successful AAA season. He could be the bridge pitcher I’m looking for to get us to Yale Hulburt return.

We have some really talented pitcher prospects besides Curt Hopkins. There is Ruben Marin, Mike Hayes, Li-zhu Gauo,and Patrick Sellers. All are top 100 prospects, Marin and Hopkins are lefties. Hopkins is probably the only one near ready although we will push Hayes up the ladder to at least AA and maybe AAA as he is older than the rest. The only one I’d really consider trading in that group is Sellers. I won’t say untouchable, but it would take a superstar player that is sticking around to pry any to get any of them.

Addressing the pitching and perhaps looking for a good glove middle IF should be our top priorities. Anything thing else is just etc icing on the cake. There is one player though that I am chomping at the bit to grab and it would probably blow my budget for the upcoming season. It also wouldn't address any of the above needs.