[JayW UK]

2037 Off-Season

After entering 2036 with lofty expectations of a playoff push, Washington endured possibly the club’s single most disappointing season, slumping to a disastrous 61-win campaign and after the failure of the “veteran playmaker experiment” (an underperforming Jamie Boden shipped out to San Diego halfway through the season, Pedro Escoriaza landing on the disabled list in July and Richie Rambeaux struggling through a dismal injury hit campaign, playing in only 82 games and producing a career worst .194, 3 HR, 21 RBI stat line) manager Ramon Ortega chose to jump rather than be pushed, resigning his position as field manager as soon as the book closed on their forgettable season. Division rivals New York also found themselves in the market for a new manager but for an altogether different reason when Leonard Miller announced his retirement from the dugout, the Senators job would be one of the more sought after in the NABL with New York boasting a roster full of young talent. Two-time manager of the year Francisco Cerda also called time on his managerial career at the end of the season, leaving Denver to begin the search for his replacement, while two other clubs joining the search for new managers were Baltimore and Detroit who both fired their incumbent skippers after disappointing seasons. Baltimore removing Sergio Vasquez after he failed to take the team forward despite significant investment and Detroit, who fired Juan Vasquez (no relation) after the club dropped from 87 wins in 2035 to just 64 leading to his exit. Baltimore were the first to act, promoting bench coach Allen Long to the top job and giving him the unenviable task of toppling Boston and Philadelphia at the top of the Atlantic division, Detroit acted quickly as well, poaching Baltimore’s hitting coach Cisco Rivera to be their new manager. Washington announced that former St. Louis pitching coach Dave Wildridge would take the reins for the upcoming season, the hope in D.C being that Wildridge would be able to stabilise the rotation and build a contender from there. Denver named former AAA Boise Roughriders manager Arnold Spencer as their new skipper while New York chose to go in a completely different direction, naming former Indianapolis and Denver Scout Kendrick Britton as the man to take the team forward.
In a relatively quiet off-season for star free agent signings, only a few teams opened the chequebook and spent big. First to make a splash were Indianapolis, who brought former Minneapolis and Tampa Bay pitcher Ramon Schoof to town on a six year $108M deal, Baltimore owner John Rockwell was once again free with his money, signing former St. Louis speedster Adam Bailey for six years at $95M before persuading NABL legend Dixon Bodean to stay put for another year, handing him $18.5M for his services. Houston lost pitcher Darrell Haney to free agency, who ended up signing with St. Louis for 6-years at $88M while Washington, after missing out on Haney, lured New Orleans star Jose Ibanez to town on a bargain 7-year $75M contract. Several of the league's top closers were also on the move, Indianapolis nabbed former Chicago man Harvey Widdowes on a 2-year deal, adding him to a bullpen that already included 37-year-old veteran Greg Gray giving the Racers a pair of capable closers. Denver lured former Tampa Bay and Charlotte star Josh Renshaw on board with a one year $8.1M deal while Omaha chose to send franchise leader in saves Uram Park, to St.Louis in a trade for four prospects. With the perceived lack of top end talent on the move several teams chose to spend on keeping their own stars, chief amongst them were the Reds, who after adding Darrell Haney to an already stacked pitching staff made a deal with star pitcher McKenzie Ransford, buying out his last year of arbitration and keeping him in St. Louis for another six years. Another team spending on keeping their own young talent was Houston who signed 24-year-old star shortstop Hector Soto to a 7-year $105M deal while former Houston man Steve Blanton, now in Tampa Bay, signed a lucrative extension that would keep him in Florida for another seven years. With the dust settling on the big money signings and extensions OKC set about upgrading their pitching by swinging a couple of trades, first the Outlaws sent 2B Andres Montoya to Minneapolis for SP Arnold Silver before, in a surprise move, sending power hitting LF Jesus Alarcon along with 1B prospect Ben Marshall to St. Louis for starter Robert Warwick. Las Vegas swung a trade for another veteran pitcher to take the load off Holden Willis, sending 1B Jorge Rodriguez, SS Tomas Alonso and infield prospect Luis Nunez to Phoenix for 35-year-old 2-time Pitcher of the Year Angel Castro.
The 2037 draft class was stacked with college talent, leading the way were outfielders David Moulin from Central Florida, Adrian Ramirez from Oklahoma State and Alex Bayley from Mississippi state, infielder Brandon Buck from Alabama and possibly the best of all, Arizona State’s catcher Santiago Melendarez who combined NABL ready defense behind the plate with a power bat. Although somewhat overshadowed by his more polished college rivals, high school star LF Jim Hopkins was tipped by many experts as having the highest ceiling of any player in the draft and would certainly be in the conversation for first overall pick. This draft class did not however have much in the way of top end pitching, with NC State’s Allan Albano the top college prospect and Edgar Dillar the lone high school pitcher being talked about as a high first round pick.
New Orleans, owners of the first pick and with holes all over their roster went for the player with the highest upside, drafting high school LF Jim Hopkins #1 overall, San Diego with almost as many holes chose Central Florida LF David Moulin. With the #3 pick Washington called the name of catcher Santiago Melendarez with the aim of him being the long-term replacement for Aaron Harris, Cleveland chose outfielder Alex Bayley fourth before Detroit rounded out the top five by taking NC State pitcher Allan Albano. Phoenix owners of two top ten picks went with a pair of college stars, Alabama’s Brandon Buck 8th overall and Oklahoma State’s Adrian Ramirez tenth, while Seattle with two high picks of their own went for a pair of high school pitchers, tabbing Garry Jackson (7th) and Edgar Dillar (12th).
Heading into the 2037 season BNN had the Atlantic division as a four-horse race, Philadelphia who had returned most of their key contributors for another run at the division along with a young talented New York team and Baltimore, who boasted the NABL’s highest payroll and the evergreen Dixon Bodean, would all challenge defending champions Boston and make the Atlantic division the one to watch. In the Central, St. Louis were expected to emerge from the pack and supplant Chicago as the biggest rivals to Indianapolis for the division crown while the Southeast would once again be a two-horse race between Charlotte and Tampa Bay.
In the west Denver was expected to join Oklahoma City and Minneapolis in a three-way tussle for the Midwest division title, the Southwest division was Las Vegas’ to lose, with Houston waiting in the wings to pounce on any mistakes, but realistically the Stars were chasing the WL Wildcard spot. The Pacific division was once again expected to be a tight battle with defending champs San Jose, the expensively assembled Los Angeles Lynx and offensive powerhouse San Francisco all expected to be in the hunt, while both Seattle and San Diego (despite winning 80 games the previous year) were both being touted as good bets for the #1 overall pick in the 2038 draft.