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2027 Off-Season
December 1st 2026 was a monumental day in the history of the NABL, it was the day that two new franchises arrived in the Eastern League, the St. Louis Reds would join the Central Division while the Charlotte Express would call the Southeast Division home. St. Louis named Daniel Donnelly as their first manager, enticing him to leave his successful College career to lead the fledgling franchise while Charlotte in somewhat of a coup hired 2024 Manager of the Year Hector Guerra away from Chicago to be their inaugural manager. Both teams participated in the first expansion draft in NABL history getting to pick over all of the existing teams 40-man rosters once they had “protected” their top 20 players. The Reds got the festivities going with the first pick taking Chicago pitcher Robin Bishop while the Express took Houston pitcher Pedro Sanchez with their first selection. St. Louis raided Dallas for Shortstop John Gentry and veteran pitcher Ron Henderson they also swiped 3B David Ballard and pitcher William Lane from Boston while New Orleans provided them with pitcher Imre Ingvaldsen. Catcher Luis Agguire came over from Houston and another pitcher, Matt Healy arrived from world Champions Las Vegas. While the Reds concentrated on pitching early, the Express went in the other direction calling the names of C Antonio Vera (NY) 1B Russell Brown (LV) 2B Javier Saldana (AUS) SS Orlando Maros (MIN) Outfielders Kevin Perkins (DAL), Freddie Holden (DEN) and John Barnett (SF) before collecting a pair of savvy veteran pitchers Duane Barker (PHI) and Adam Reid (NY). Both teams would have Free Agency and the draft to continue to build their initial rosters, as for who “won” the expansion draft, that question was still open to debate with both teams picking up some intriguing players, the Reds landing World Series veterans David Ballard and William Lane from Boston and Ron Henderson (a veteran of four, appearing twice each for Atlanta and Denver) while the Express boasted 2024 WL Rookie of the Year Kevin Perkins from Dallas and one of the world champion Gamblers top prospects in 1B Russell Brown.
While league expansion was dominating the headlines Denver quietly announced that Tom Heitman was once again to be their manager, he had finished 2026 as interim skipper after the controversial departure of Yoshizaku Tanaka. San Jose also stayed with their manager to the surprise of many, Al Ewing had appeared out of his depth at times during 2026 and with the Spartans slumping to only 57 wins on the season it was widely expected he would be gone, but GM Brian Halliday chose to be patient and persevere with Ewing. San Diego found themselves needing to replace outgoing manager Leonard Miller after his sudden announcement that he was leaving the NABL to move into the college ranks taking over at Stanford, the Mariner’s decided to promote from within naming Bench Coach Roberto Rodriguez as their new manager. With Hector Guerra leaving town to manage the Express, Chicago turned to former Seattle and New Orleans manager Luis Martinez rewarding him with a five-year deal. Julio Tovar left Houston to take up the reins at Kansas City and for his replacement the Stars elected to raid the Sanfrancisco coaching tree, luring Hitting Coach Gustavo Martinez on board. Indianapolis chose to scour the college ranks for their next skipper, eventually settling on Ron Edwards hoping he could arrest their recent slide and deliver playoff baseball once more.
Free agency started with a bang when Tampa Bay lured former Cleveland pitcher Claudio Gonzalez to town on a 7 year $129M deal, then days later enticed two-time pitcher of the year Larry de Meza to leave Atlanta for Florida on a six year $146M deal. The Flames also lost pitcher Will Christopher, who opted out of the last year of his deal to join Indianapolis on a 6 year $105M deal, Indianapolis chose to pursue Christopher after the departure of their own ace pitcher Eric Parker (who jumped at the chance to join Pedro Garcia’s project in Cleveland signing for $112M over the next five years) and mid-rotation stalwart, Robinson Castro who left town to sign with Boston for $56M over three years. The Racers had not finished dealing though, doubling down on pitching by luring former Dallas pitcher Earl Stone to town for 4 years at $16M per year and then enticing NABL legend and three-time Outstanding Hitter Gabriel Mendez away from Tampa Bay for two years at a cool $50M. Shortstop Kevin Jones went the other way leaving the Racers for Florida to join the Hurricanes on a 2 year $38.8M deal. While Jones arrived in Tampa two more players were on their way out, Pitcher Hunter Thomas packed his bags and joined Minneapolis for 2 years and Outfielder Marshall Ayersome (one of the league’s best at drawing walks) joined Oklahoma City for $90M over 4 years. Shortstop Alejandro Pichardo’s decision to back himself by accepting a one year prove it deal from Minneapolis worked in his favour when he turned his solid, injury free season into a two year $36M deal with Los Angeles while RF Claude Cummins also left Minneapolis for pastures new, signing a one year $7M deal with Cleveland. Centerfielder Wes Lauderdale left Phoenix to become the face of expansion franchise Charlotte Express when he accepted their 3-year $64M offer. World Champions Las Vegas lost a couple of key performers, star shortstop Eduardo Ruiz turned down all of the Gamblers contract offers and instead chose to join Phoenix for $73M over the next four years while, after an injury hit season, veteran Pitcher Anthony Barrett was allowed to test free agency, eventually settling on a two year $24M offer from Detroit, the Giants also announced that veteran reliever Alfonso Vargas (now 41) had turned his back on retirement and would be returning to the team for another season.
The 2027 draft was a little light on star talent, the only players receiving top billing were college pitchers Brandon Stanton from Florida State, Seton Hall’s Greg Bailey and while Coppin State’s Harvey Widdowes was expected to be drafted in the first round his future likely lay as an elite closer. None of the top college position players, 3B Matt Romero (UAB) and outfielders Willie Ingle (Rice) and Danny Wheeler (Wisconsin-Milwaukee) or Highschool SS Travis Rutherford were expected to be in the mix for the first overall pick.
On draft night St. Louis raised eyebrows when with the first overall pick they passed over both top pitchers to take speedster Willie Ingle, Charlotte tabbed pitcher Greg Bailey with their pick while San Jose wasted little time calling the name of pitcher Brandon Stanton when their turn came. Travis Rutherford was the first High School player picked when Miami took him fourth, Indianapolis nabbed 3B Matt Romero with the sixth pick while San Diego drafted their probable closer of the future 17th when they took Harvey Widdowes. In a surprising turn of events Outfielder Danny Wheeler slipped out of the first round and into the supplemental round where world champions Las Vegas ended his fall.
After their 104-win season there was no reason Boston couldn’t repeat as Atlantic division winners although both New York and Philadelphia would be waiting in the wings for any Boston slip up. With new managers in Chicago and Indianapolis and a resurgent Cleveland in the mix the Central division was wide open, while the Southeast was once again expected to be fought over by New Orleans and Tampa Bay.
In the west, Kansas City were looking to build on their successful 2026 and win the Midwest division once again, while in the Pacific, San Diego looked strong with Los Angeles aiming to close the gap with them and compete for the playoffs after a two-year absence. After losing key players to free agency and with both Houston and Phoenix breathing down their necks, the world champion Las Vegas Gamblers would have their work cut out for them if they were to repeat as champions.
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