The Return

After a 6 year hiatus, where he disappeared in the middle of the night not to be heard from again, former commish zhawks has returned to Ripken Jr. this time to a bigger stage in LA. There were many rumors to his disappearance  although none were ever confirmed. 

Many believed he regretted being the third wheel in the Star Studded class of Season 9 when he gave aging SP  Oscar Baumann a max contract, where he averaged only 10 wins a season and saw his ERA balloon to an un-imaginable 8.23 in season 11. Asked at the press conference just 3 days ago, when zhawks put to rest the rumors of his return, his only response was, "I'll be voting for Oscar in the Hall of Fame balloting."

In what seemed like a sure playoff team and World Series Contender, the Wichita Black Lightning never made it out of the divisional round after Season 9 and not back to the playoffs until new GM aaronwayne won the division last year.

Oscar's tale is very similar, from being a highlight of a historic Free Agent class and a Perfect Game Pitcher, to being traded for a few spare parts and a load of financial savings. Oscar never came close to 250 wins, didn't surpass 3,000 IP or even 3000 strikeouts, all which once seemed like a forgone conclusion for a pitcher that was without a peer for many seasons, winning four straight Cy Young Awards. Baumann doesn't even rank in the top 5 winningest pitchers in the league by either total wins or winning percentage.

That brings us to today, where zhawks addressed the media after a flurry of trades many talking heads considered one-sided and salary dumping efforts. While he was asked specifically about tanking this season, zhawks say, "We'll see how this year plays out and go from there, Free Agency isn't even over yet."

That lead many to believe the GM may be in on yet another high profile sweepstakes. While he didn't deny making an offer to Pat Politte when asked sternly stating, "You've seen my record with aging pitchers haven't you?" Prompting one young reporter to ask if he'd "learned his lesson."

"Next question."

This led many to believe the club may be in for a younger star, namely Delino Rodriguez.

"I'm not making any comment on transactions that haven't occurred " was all zhawks had to say.

Rodriguez would fill a need for the team, albeit any current Free Agent could, it makes little sense for the club to pony up the money it would take to sign such a player since the rest of the roster resembles a Triple-A team.

Zhawks did mention that he felt in all of his clubs recent trades he got players that he see's helping out at the Major League level, pointing out that while many will be backup players he has acquired a solid group of young bullpen arms, something that he points to as a success in Wichita with players such as Peter Palmer, Marc Beverlin and the most decorated, Danny Brinkley. He said he feels the acquisition of Merkin Long and Dustin Kennedy (who's trade is still pending) give him two potential ML arms.

While none of this guarantee's anything, zhawks did say that he felt the club had enough talent in the minors, along with the next two season's drafts and free agency, to work back towards the playoffs. However, he did refrain from guaranteeing any such appearance.

"I'm happy to be moving the Los Angeles Tempermental Samurai in the right direction, while that might mean taking a few steps backwards to move forwards, we'll do whatever it takes to win for our fans."

For the fans sake, let's hope that doesn't including overpaying for another past his prime starting pitcher.