[JayW UK]

2042 Off-Season

With Boston’s fans basking in the glory of the Pilgrims World Series win, manager Terry Nelson dropped a bombshell when he announced that he was stepping down to take the reins at San Diego. Nelson, a San Diego native said he couldn’t resist the pull of managing his home-town team and hoped the Pilgrims loyal fans would understand his motives for leaving. To replace the outgoing Nelson, Boston promoted bench coach Leo MacGilchrist to the top job, MacGilchrist had big shoes to fill following in the footsteps of Christian Eberlein and Nelson who between them had led the Pilgrims to five World Series appearances and three titles. Boston’s division rivals Philadelphia and New York were also in the market for new managers after both incumbent skippers resigned, within days both teams had found their replacements, Philadelphia choosing Charlotte’s pitching coach Jose Pacheco while New York named LA bench coach and former big league pitcher Carlos Torres as their new manager. Los Angeles also needed a new manager after Kevin Carter received his marching orders for failing to build on 2040’s division crown, the Lynx eventually lured Seattle skipper Allen Richardson to town as Carter’s replacement. Former Las Vegas hitting coach Jose Castillo soon joined the Lynx as their new bench coach while Austin pitching coach Brian Walter accepted the vacant Seattle position for his first crack at management.
Sanfrancsico opened the 2042 free-agency frenzy with the additions of pitchers George Buchanan from Phoenix (4yr @ $71M) and Benton Hartman from Austin ($48M over 3yrs), the Gold then landed former Kansas City second baseman Tom Carter on a lucrative 7-year $124M deal. Sanfrancisco also waved goodbye to several key veterans, 3B Matt Romero left for Boston (3yrs @ $45M), C Sancho Guerra, who signed a lucrative five-year deal worth $96M with Philadelphia and pitcher Cristobal Chapa who landed with Tampa Bay, signing a 2-year $36M deal. Los Angeles pulled off a coup by signing the premier international free agent, star Korean closer Gwang-sam Pak on a three-year deal while Las Vegas spent lavishly on former Houston pitcher Jose Vazquez, bringing him on board for $22.5M per year over the next five seasons. Vazquez’s addition meant Adrian Knapp was allowed to leave the Gamblers, eventually joining Baltimore for $67M over four years. Chicago lured Chad Hammond away from division rivals Cleveland, signing the second baseman to a four-year $80M contract but the Zephyrs couldn’t persuade catcher Aaron Payton to re-sign, instead losing the star backstop to Minneapolis who signed him to a cool $72M four-year deal. Minneapolis then further bolstered their power offense by signing 1B Keith Fairchild to a 3-year $36M contract before adding to their rotation, bringing in former Philadelphia man Jonathan Albert on a three-year deal. Division rivals Denver also upgraded their power hitting by trading star LF Glenn McGhee to Kansas City for slugging outfielder Gary Davis and centerfield prospect Jose Reyes. After listening to multiple offers, including from Chicago and Sanfrancisco, former Minneapolis catcher Tom Walsh decided to chase money rather than championship rings, signing 4-year $66M deal with Charlotte. One veteran chasing a championship ring rather than money was LF Gregg Bambridge, who left Phoenix to join defending champions Boston on a one-year $1.5M contract. With speculation mounting that 46-year-old Dixon Bodean would return for one more season, the legendary player announced that he was signing a one-day contract with the team that drafted him Kansas City, so that he could retire a Tornado player, bringing the curtain down on the sure-fire first ballot Hall-of-Famer’s illustrious career.
Top of the prospect tree for the 2042 draft was high school catcher Dmitri Lott, already an excellent defensive player Lott possessed the potential to become a star offensively as well, another high school player tipped to be picked early was SS Justin Thomas, the son of former NABL outfielder Stephen Thomas. College pitchers made up the rest of the top prospects, Cameron Schwenke from Wisconsin-Milwaukee (who was picked second overall by Miami in 2041 before returning to school), potential ace Todd Dunn (Ohio State), power pitcher Matt Damone (Wichita State) and Steve Meyna (Arizona State) were all in the frame to be taken in the top five picks.
With the first overall selection, St. Louis wasted little time in calling the name of Dmitri Lott, providing the Reds with a future star. Seattle added pitcher Todd Dunn to their stable of young pitchers with the second pick before Miami used the first of their two top ten picks on Arizona State pitcher Steve Meyna who was said to be thrilled to be heading to Florida. The Everglades learnt from their mistake from the previous year when they drafted Cameron Schwenke even though he had made it abundantly clear he would not sign with them if picked. Denver drafted Wichita State pitcher Matt Damone fourth, before Dallas caused eyebrows to be raised when they picked High School LF Steve White fifth. Miami used their second top ten pick on shortstop Justin Thomas, banking on his untapped potential and hoping he had inherited his father’s genes, while Cameron Schwenke finally heard his name called seventh by Washington, a team he was more than happy to sign for.
With Spring Training in the books and opening day around the corner, BNN’s annual predictions were released. The Atlantic division was tipped to be a three-horse race between defending champions Boston, New York and Philadelphia and with all three teams bedding in new managers, who would come out on top was anyone’s guess and although Washington and Baltimore couldn’t be counted out entirely, they were not seen as serious contenders. In the Central division the usual suspects Chicago and Indianapolis were once again expected to vie for the division crown with St. Louis, who were looking to bounce back from their disastrous 2041 campaign, waiting in the wings for any slip ups. In the Southeast, big spending Tampa Bay were still the cream of the crop but Atlanta, Charlotte and New Orleans were all expected to push the Florida outfit all the way.
In the west BNN put Omaha and Oklahoma City as the teams to beat in the Midwest division with the improving Minneapolis and Denver as teams to watch. The two-time defending Western League champs Phoenix were expected to have their hands full with Las Vegas and Austin pushing them hard for the Southwest division crown while Sanfrancisco, owners of the league’s highest payroll, were favoured to hold off Los Angeles for the Pacific division title. At the other end of the spectrum in a seemingly yearly occurrence, Dallas, Detroit and Seattle were all once again being tipped to lead the race to the bottom of the standings and the right to pick at the top of the draft.