Off Topic
July 28, 2055
As GM Ron Collins leaves the session with his development team, the phone chip he’s carrying buzzes. At first he doesn’t know what it is, because it’s a new system that Camacho has been training him on. With the assistant unavailable, it takes Collins several buzzes to make it happen. When he does, he finds Chicago GM Kevin Chmura on the line.
“How’s it going, kid?” Chmura says. “Getting your sea legs under ya?”
“Um, yeah. It’s going good.” Collins is happy to be clear-headed for a moment.
Or is he? Clearheaded, that is? Everything is such a blur these days, and the headaches come and go with such a fervor that he’s often weirded out just by being weirded out.
“I hear Aaron Anderson might be available?”
“Um, right. Yeah. I remember that.” He’s certain Camacho mentioned he’d been talking to some folks on the side.
“What do you need for him?”
A quick round of negotiations concludes, and next thing you know the Mad Popes are the new owner of an almost untarnished prospect in 19-year-old infielder Troy Manuel.
“Good doin’ business wid ya,” Chmura said in jovial tones.
As they sign off, Collins hears a voice from down the hall.
It’s Camacho. He’s racing his way, clearly anxious about something. “Don’t do it!” he screams.
“Don’t do what?”
“Trade Anderson for a shlunk minor leaguer!”
Camacho catches up, clearly out of breath.
“I’d say you’re not in playing shape anymore, but I know your work ethic wasn’t great even then,” Collins chides him.
“You can’t deal Anderson, yet. We haven’t finished the treatments.” Camacho suddenly shuts up.
“Treatments?”
“Never mind. Just don’t deal Anderson.”
“Too late.”
Camacho deflates. “Damn.”
“Don’t worry, Ass-Mann,” Collins says, using the cute nickname all the office workers have for Camacho. What a cute play on the man’s title. “I got someone good for him.”
Camacho is already scanning his system to look at the contract, and when he see’s the deats are signed formally, he sighs. “Well. What’s done is done. My fault, really. I should have known better than to leave you to your own devices for too long.”
Collins, rebuked, steps back and peers at old Ass Mann.
“How did you know I was making that deal?” he says.
Camacho waves a dismissive hand. “Don’t need to worry about that, Boss. We can talk about it later, maybe. Right now I gotta go meet a compatriot and see if we can move a schedule up.”
A moment later Camacho was gone.
Collins grimaced. He hadn’t even gotten to ask the assistant he thought of the idea of fiddling with the ballpark.
Well, as they say, tomorrow is another day.
| POS | Player Name | Age | B | T | OVR | POT | Con | Con P | Gap | Gap P | Pow | Pow P | Eye | Eye P | AvK | AvK P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2B | Troy Manuel | 19 | R | R | 20 | 45 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 6 |
| Source | Ht | Wt | SPD | STE | RUN | CAB | CAR | IFR | IFE | IFA | TDP | OFR | OFE | OFA | ||
| Trade | 6'4" | 190 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 |