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2046 Off-Season
The 2046 offseason saw an unprecedented number of manager changes, thirteen of the NABL’s thirty teams were in the market for new skippers headlined by World Champions Philadelphia and WL champs Sanfrancisco. The first domino to fall was in San Diego where manager Tomas Mendez left his post after one season to take the vacant job in Sanfrancisco much to the disappointment of team owner Bill Brunstone, the Mariners moved swiftly to replace Mendez, naming former Chicago Pitching Coach Manuel Colon as manager for 2046. The first of the big names to find a new home was former Philly boss and current EL manager-of-the-year Jose Pacheco, who chose Austin over several other top opportunities, Pacheco’s replacement in the city of brotherly love was former New York manager Will Thompson. Three-time manager-of-the-year and former Houston and Sanfrancisco skipper Cipriano Gonzalez landed in Cleveland replacing the retiring Jose Diaz while New York named former Houston skipper Matt Tate as field manager for the upcoming season. Midwest division foes Oklahoma City and Denver both said goodbye to their managers, with Christian Eberlein (DEN) and Steffen Hurtado (OKC) leaving to pursue new challenges, Eberlein accepted the Dallas job while Hurtado interviewed for both Indianapolis and Los Angeles before choosing to replace Eberlein in Denver. Charlotte chose Portland Foresters manager Corey Jordan (who had just led the Foresters to the AAA championship) as the man to replace Judd Murray who left to take over in Houston. With the retirement of Allen Richardson in Los Angeles the Lynx found themselves looking for a new manager and with many of the top candidates already in new homes their options were dwindling fast, in a move that split opinion down the middle they named former Boston manager Leo MacGilchrist as Fullerton’s successor. Although MacGilchrist had been absolved of any blame in the Mendoza scandal the previous year, there were still plenty of fans who subscribed to the view of “where there’s smoke there must be fire”. Indianapolis found their new manager in former Austin skipper Ephriam Bonekamp while OKC enticed ex-Miami boss Andrew Simpson back into management after he had spent a year out of the game and in the commentary booth.
Free agency was no less hectic with the biggest contract handed out by Los Angeles for Miami pitcher Jonathan Furze (6-year $115M), fellow Pacific division rivals Sanfrancisco were also in the market for pitching, signing veteran hurler Cristobal Chapa to a two-year $37M deal to replace pitcher George Buchanan who left town for Phoenix and a 3-year $50M contract. Phoenix also landed former Denver pitcher Bartolo Garcia on a five-year $80M deal but did lose former ace Nick Ford, who became the latest in a long line of star pitchers to sign with St. Louis, joining the Reds for $48M over three years. St. Louis then added veteran RF Glenn McGhee, who turned his excellent 2045 season with Cleveland, into a four-year $70M pact after the Corsairs baulked at offering him a multi-year deal. Fellow Central division foes Indianapolis were also busy, adding pitcher Steve Gream (2-yr, $37.5M) from Charlotte and 3B Xavier Cisneros (3-yr, $56M) from OKC, while Chicago picked up catcher Santiago Melendarez from Tampa Bay on a four-year deal after the Hurricanes decided against meeting his contract demands. Tampa Bay chose instead to spend their meagre cash reserves pursuing former Chicago 2B Chad Hammond, eventually landing the two-time batting champion on a four-year $71M deal. Another high-priced veteran to be cut loose by Tampa Bay was former Outstanding Hitter award winner Joe Scott who eventually found a new home in Baltimore, signing a four-year deal at $16.5M annually to be the Bulls new leftfielder, Baltimore also landed a pair of wily veterans in 37-year-old 1B Rick Flynn (2yr $30M) and 38-year-old relief pitcher Steve Berg (2yr $10M), whilst the last deal of substance to be announced before attention turned to the draft was New York’s signing of star 2B Pancho Sousa to a two-year $38M deal.
The top of the 2046 draft class was seen as a relatively weak group when compared to some of the more recent classes, never-the-less there was still talent to be found, all of the top prospects were from College ball, headlined by pitchers Martin Montgomery (Arizona), Matthew Monson (Miami) and Radcliffe McCauley (St. Boneventure) along with outfielders Dave Jackson (Seton Hall) and Raul Enciarte (Colorado State). Top of the tree when it came to High School talent were power pitcher Andy Kuhn and all-American LF Manuel Punyed.
Washington, owners of the first overall selection for the third year running, chose Colorado State CF Raul Enciarte as their pick, Los Angles took high upside pitcher Matthew Monson second before Houston claimed Arizona pitcher Martin Montgomery with the third pick. Charlotte took St. Boneventure pitcher Radcliffe McCauley fourth, despite McCauley indicating his desire to return to school, Oklahoma City tabbed Seton Hall’s slugging centerfielder Dave Jackson fifth before Atlanta made Andy Kuhn the first High-School prospect taken in the draft. The top High-School position player LF Manuel Punyed, had to wait until the 17th pick to be drafted where Minneapolis ended his fall.
With spring training in the books BNN released their annual predictions, and as expected Philadelphia were hotly tipped to repeat as Atlantic division champions with New York expected to push for the Wildcard spot, the only unknown in that prediction was the fact that both clubs had new managers at the helm. In the Central things were expected to be tighter with Indianapolis predicted to come under pressure from both St. Louis and Cleveland but ultimately the Racers were favoured to claim their fourth straight division crown. In the Southeast the Florida teams (MIA and TB) were once again expected to be head and shoulders ahead of their rivals with opinions split as to which of the two would go on to win the division.
In the Midwest Division Omaha looked likely to continue their streak of division crowns but were expected to come under increasing pressure from both Denver and Minneapolis, the Southwest division was less clear with Phoenix and their re-made pitching rotation given the edge over Las Vegas and an Austin squad that appeared to have got their act together (based on the addition of manager Jose Pacheco and their phenomenal 20-4 Spring Training performance). In the Pacific, Sanfrancisco were poised to once again rule the roost, with LA with their new manager Leo MacGilchrist and relevant again Seattle expected to be front runners in the WL Wildcard race.
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