|
Mr. Shelby then moved on to his vision. He wanted to build a successful ballclub, a perennial playoff team, and a profit machine for him and his shareholders. Sounds rather ambitious, right? He made it clear that all transactions, roster or personnel, needed approval from himself or Evan, and had 7 goals to lay out for me for this upcoming year. They were:
Play .500 ball
Acquire a Power hitter
Have a final total balance of $27,000,000
Bring in a manager with a better reputation
Improve Team Chemistry
Increase fan interest
Keep building your team up, in order to reach the playoffs in the next 5 seasons
Some of these goals I agreed to no problem: play .500 ball, acquire a power hitter, improve team chemistry, increase fan interest, and build the team up for the playoffs. The other two seemed a little harder. I knew we had some money tied up in some not great players and knew it would be hard to show a total balance of 27 million. However, it’s a part of the business, and I accepted. The main issue I had was the goal regarding our manager. No reputable manager wants to come to an organization that is known for losing and therefore has a short leash on its skippers. I made it clear that I wanted to stick with Bordoun for at least this upcoming season. Mr. Shelby gave me a puzzling look, as if he had never been disagreed with before in his life. Evan gave him a stern look, and Mr Shelby’s face changed to a more encouraging one.
“Okay, I’ll trust your intuition on Bordoun. How about you work on improving our team's defensive efficiency next year?” I happily agreed.
As the meeting concluded and all parties departed the conference room, Evan pulled me aside.
“Don’t worry too much about my dad; he’s a stubborn old man with little patience, but I’m helping him grow out of that. Just keep me in the loop of any moves you make, and you’ll be fine.” I nodded and smiled at him and made my way back to my office, taking that as a verbal stamp of approval to change up the roster as I see fit.
|