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2018 Off-Season
During the 2017 season it became known that the Cleveland ownership group wanted out and was looking to sell the franchise. At seasons end there were a number of bids tabled but two stood out, an offer from a St Louis Consortium led by Charles B Dolan and one from Mexican businessman Edwin Colon. While the St Louis bid was for more money, it was the Mexican bid that was preferred as Colon promised to keep the Corsairs in Cleveland for at least the next ten years, and if viable would commit to a new stadium, while Dolan’s bid did not promise this, and in fact his preferred position was to move the team to St Louis. Both bids were presented to the league owners at the winter meetings and Colon’s bid was the clear winner, the commissioner’s office duly ratified the sale and on January 1st 2018 Edwin Colon became the new owner of the Cleveland Corsairs franchise. His first order of business was to have a clear out of what he termed the “dead wood”. Out went GM Jerry Collins, Scouting Direct Paul Klinger and Manager Evan Elders, Bench Coach Michael Bradshaw survived the cull and maintained the position he had held since 2017 (outlasting the last 3 managers) as a familiar face he would be the conduit between the players and the new management team. Colon appointed fellow Mexican, Miguel Megallas as his new GM and George Hitchings as his Scouting Director, then named former Chicago Bench Coach Paul Ladd as the new manager of the Cleveland Corsairs.
While the sale of the Corsairs dominated the headlines, star players were on the move. Former Phoenix Catcher Culley Clare became the first free agent to sign with Colon’s new look Cleveland when he put pen to paper on a four year $80M deal. Indianapolis, searching for a power hitter to replace Vicente Padilla who left after the 2016 season, pulled off the biggest coup of the offseason, luring Gabriel Mendez away from Atlanta on a four-year deal. Sanfrancisco Gold strengthened an already good rotation, signing David Rocha away from Miami for $141M over six years. Los Angeles followed suit signing ace pitcher Zander Pace away from New Orleans for $103M over five years, and Luis Manuel Quinones from San Diego for $75M over 5 years. Kansas City improved their infield by adding batting champion and former Denver 2B Marcus Witt on a 4 year $85M deal. Phoenix picked up 2014 Outstanding Pitcher Award winner Juan Delgado who had left Oklahoma City on not particularly good terms, they also added reclamation project Juan Sanchez, the former Cleveland pitcher who owned a 24-67 record with a 5.62 ERA was hoping a change of scenery would help turn his career around. Two-time Western League batting champion Warren Dyer, upped sticks and signed a deal with Tampa Bay to call Florida home for the next two years while 2B Jeff Miller left Tampa for the bright lights of Hollywood, signing a 2-year $37M deal with LA.
Going into the 2018 draft, most of the buzz was about two high school players, Outfielder Chandler Harrington and Catcher Kane McKenzie. Although both players were raw, if they developed and reached their potential, everyone agreed they would be future stars. On draft night it was Harrington who heard his name called first, going No1 overall to the Corsairs, becoming the first draft pick of Cleveland’s new brain trust of Megallas and Hitchings. San Jose went with local college product, San Jose State Pitcher Raul Pena, rated the best pitcher in the draft by many. Kane McKenzie was drafted third by New York and immediately installed as the NABL’s No1 rated prospect. San Diego took Colorado Christian first baseman 23-year-old Travis Gore fourth while Houston picked up intriguing high school pitching prospect, Marc Birstall with the 14th pick.
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