Where did September Go? – And I thought I was busy as an Assistant GM! It was amazing how fast September flew by. Meetings that I had scheduled for an hour, took two. A “quick” call with my owner took over an hour. And on, and on, and on! Before I knew it, September 30th was staring me in the face. And asking me, “Are you ready for this?”.
My Assistant GM and I were constantly looking at teams rosters, trying to get an idea of who might be available in the Expansion Draft, and who would be likely to test Free Agency? We both had our own lists, and our goal as we moved into mid to late October, was to have them as close to the same as possible. No need to panic yet, we still had time!
And even though I was so busy with GM duties, I never lost that “fan” in me. And daily, I would step back from my GM role, and look at this game as only a fan does. While the other divisions appeared to have a clear winner, both Central Divisions had tight races. The Tigers had a slim two game lead over the Indians and four over the Twins, while in the NL, the Cardinals had a three-game lead over the Cubs, and four over Brewers. And clearly at this point, the two best teams appear to be Billy Beane’s Oakland A’s, and the Diamondbacks. And there are no less than 8 teams that still have a shot at those wildcard spots.
The other thing about baseball, is the amount of activities that go on “behind the scenes”, and the number of people involved to make those activities happen! And so I met with our Promotions Director, Sara, who just wanted to bring me up to speed on Opening Day, and some unique promotions throughout the season. This is not something that I normally get involved in, but as GM, my owner felt it was important for me to meet everyone, and just have an idea of what to expect during the season!
So, here’s how some of that meeting went:
Sara - “Hi Mr. Lawrence, thanks for your time. Here’s a list of the promotions we currently have planned with more to follow.” I wanted to highlight a few of them.
Me - “Hi Sara, you can call me Randy, and sure that’s fine. I’m sure you’ve come up with some unique ideas”
Sara - “The first one is “Auction for an At-Bat”. A dozen times a year, a lucky fan, whose name was drawn a week before the planned event, will have a chance on their special night to bat against a professional pitcher, before the game starts of course”
Me – “Oh, uh huh. And have you figured out who the pitcher will be?”
Sara – “Oh, originally I thought it could be someone from the bullpen, but then realized they may pitch in the game, so how about the pitching coach?”
Me – “Well, you’d have to run that by the Manager, and I’m not sure what his response would be, but go for it”
Little did Sara know that with the starting pitching that I was probably going to have available in our first year, I would definitely need every warm body I could find in the pen. I’m not one to be pessimistic, just a realist!
As Sara continued to fill my head with all the promotions, some wackier than others, like “Star Wars Night”, “George Costanza Night”, “Christmas in July” night, and “Ride a Horse Night”, I could only think of how this team might really look like by the end of this year??
In the entire circle of the year there are no days so delightful as those of a fine October. My Assistant GM put this on my desk this morning as I guess a way for me to “Keep the Faith”. I was wondering if he saw anything in me that sent off a signal of panic. I certainly didn’t feel that way. More like anxious.
So just like September, October was flying by! Our Manager, Jay Bell, did an excellent job of putting together his staff. He coaxed long time Manager, Clint Hurdle out of retirement to be his Bench Coach, and got Dave Righetti to leave the Giants front office, to become our Pitching Coach. And he brought in John Vander Wal as his Hitting Coach. Vander Wal’s claim to fame, is that he still holds the MLB record for most pinch hits in a single season with 28. The great Ichiro Suzuki nearly broke it in 2017, but came up short with 27. In 1978, and at the age of 20, Hurdle was anointed by Sports Illustrated as the next baseball phenom! Hurdle never lived up to the billing, hitting only .259 over a ten year career, with just 32 homers. I always thought he did a nice job managing the Pirates, especially with the limited funds he had available to him.
As October moved on, I was able to fill all the coaching positions at our Minor League level. It was an exhausting task, but with the help of my Assistant GM, and our manager, it went about as smoothly as I could’ve hoped. Really no one that would raise eyebrows as someone the average fan would recognize, but for the Managers, all that were hired had reputations of being “teachers.” It is one of the traits, that I believe is so important at the minor league level.
So, October brought the end of another exciting baseball season! As I had felt all along(love it when I’m right), the A’s and the Diamondbacks were, by record, the two best teams in the league. Both won 101 games, and boasted a strong pitching staff, and were near the top in every hitting category. Here’s how things played out:
Wild Card:
Indians over the Twins
Rockies over the Dodgers
Division Series:
Boston over Detroit
Oakland swept the Indians
Diamondbacks over the Rockies in a tough series, 3 games to 2
Cardinals over the Marlins
League Championship Series:
In the LCS, the A’s had little problem with the Red Sox. Winning the series in 5 games, with only two games really being competitive.
In the NL LCS, once again the Diamondbacks struggled, and had to go seven games to put away the Cardinals. Every game was a cliff hanger, until the last game when the Diamondbacks woke up, and pounded the Cardinals 10-0. Carlos Hernandez went seven splendid innings, only giving up one hit, and striking out eleven!
World Series:
The A’s were shocked in the first game, losing 8-2, but that was the only highlight for the Diamondbacks, as they were swept the next four, and Billy Beane and his crew finally got a WS ring. After losing in the series last year to the Marlins, the A’s bounced back to claim the title!
Next Up – A list of some awards, and then the Big Days lie ahead,
Free Agency and the
EXPANSION DRAFT!!