[Griever20]

Autumn. The beginning of October. Arlington. The Texas Rangers. Ten years ago, if someone would've told me I would apply for a GM job in MLB, I just would've laughed. What a ride.

Max Gerlach. Born in Germany, Hamburg to exact. A soccer fan. Number cruncher. Mathematician. Wrote a master thesis about the right way to use the Premier League television money as a club. Then got snagged up by West Ham United as Assistant Director of Sports. Became a young star on the front office side... until he was fired for having an affair with the owner's daughter. of course, that one never got public.

Offers from Borussia Dortmund to replace Sven Mislintat, Chelsea, and even the AC Milan... as Director of Sports... were let go by Gerlach... as he moved to the US... to work for a big television station as sports analyst... first for European Soccer and the MLS, and after a years time, he was a lead analyst for MLB's major trades, developing some crude, but effective metrics for trade efficiency and expected future returns.

In that role, Gerlach covered the 2018 season as one of the lead analysts... and once again gave some controversial analysis on trade deadline deals like the Wisler deal, Jose Abreu, Bour, Plawecki for Eovaldi... Sparking discussions about an outsider talking about MLB trades once again...

64-98. Two years after a 95 win season, the Rangers are in free fall. Aging stars, injuries (Mazara for 5 months, lat strain), bad pitching, subpar defense, bad hitting. They have it all... despite some high potential players on the roster. At the end of the day... GM and manager were fired hours after the last out of the regular season...

And then, a simple Twitter post started a rally. "Will the backseat GM Gerlach apply for that Rangers job?" - MRanger88. Brought up in our newsreel... I became cocky and said yes and applied... and little did I know... I was invited for an interview by owner Ray C. Davis. I did not make it easy for them. I paid the flight myself, paid my hotel room, and denied their limo and walked to the ballpark.

What was planned as a two hour interview became a 4 1/2 hour one... which of course was leaked to the public... Investing millions into free agents won't help you short and long-term... talent is here, just add some more young talent on the bounce... using the money wisely, something I learned in the Premier League... flip for prospects... What do you rather want, a Aaron Judge like talent at age 21 or 22 for a $20M buy-in + 6 years of salary, or Harper for $500M?... Long-term contracts, for kids like Mazara under market value...

I don't know if they just wanted to find out what kind of lunatic I was, or if they were really interested... and for a week after the interview... nothing happened apart from my colleagues asking me fruitless questions about the interview... no comment on that.

Until the phone rang on a Monday evening... Ray C. Davis "So Max, how fast can you be here?" - "Are you serious? Like, really serious?" - "I'll take the chance. Either you fail horribly, or you haul in something big. I'll take that risk." - "And the money? - "$180M from the start of the season, $200M if I like what I see in January. Personally, I would still like you to resign Beltre, but that is a pill I'm willing to swallow..."

And so, the voyage into the unknown began... GM of the Texas Rangers.