The McGovern Manifesto- The Last Ride

[royals19]

"AND THAT'S IT FOLKS, THE CUBS WIN THE WORLD SERIES FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 107 YEARS!!!"


George McGovern clicked off his TV and took a long puff on his cigar.

"The Cubs win the World Series... The f'n CUBS for crying out loud!"

As McGovern sat in complete darkness in his living room he thought back to the Royals past season; the collapse, the Dutton piece, Joe Maddon retiring, the firing of Andrew Friedman. The public speculation would fly until the Royals won another title. McGovern had no choice but to let it. The press and the population couldn't handle the truth; they couldn't handle the corruption facing them.

They can never know that it was The Trust that prompted the collapse, that Joe Maddon retired because he was too embarrassed to show his face in baseball again and that it was Andrew Friedman who held that gun to his face at Frank White's house.

Then he thought back to his promises, the promise he made to Austin Meadows at the All Star Game, the promise he made to Joe Maddon and the promises he made to the fans...

All lies...

McGovern chuckled as he thought of how shady and convoluted it all was. The Trust had come within inches of ruining him but he somehow held on. Now it was his turn, it was McGovern's turn to get his revenge. McGovern was going to bring the heat and he was going to show these country club cadets who the boss was.

He turned back on the television and watched as the Cubs were presented the World Series trophy. Next year it would be his team holding up the trophy, with not a damn thing anyone could do about it...

[royals19]

Letter from the Editor

Before we kick this chindig off, I would like to announce that this is likely the final adventure that George McGovern will be undertaking. It's certainly been a fun ride with McGovern manning the Padres and Royals front offices. I decided that it was time to hang up the Colonel Sanders doppelganger due to the fact that I was running out of storylines for the old man and his knack for messing up baseball teams was starting to grind my gears as well as others.

I've also decided that this will likely be my last season with the Royals. If you get too deep into Franchise mode then the teams start to get real strange and messed up. I've found through rolling with the Padres and Royals that I don't exactly have the patience to roll through 6 or 7 seasons to complete a rebuild (nor do I have the patience to develop a storyline for said franchise). In turn, that has been reflected in massive trade acquisitions and big free agent signings. I haven't had a real opportunity to build through my Farm System nor have I had a real opportunity to let my players develop themselves at the major league level.

With all that being said, I've also found that I prefer National League baseball compared to American League baseball so the next franchise I do will be with a National League team (which I have already decided upon). The next Franchise will follow the journey of the young Willie Singleton as he rises through the ranks of a Baseball Operations department. As an aside, there will be no crazy McGovern style rebuilds and the team will be fed by it's Farm System rather than through the trade market and free agency. The team I open with should change very little over the course of the franchise.

Hopefully everyone who still follows this will follow me as I make the switch at the end of this season.

-Regards

royals19

[ML]

You get knocked out by the Mariners and the Cubs win the fall classic, proof is in the pudding that this season was a fluke!!!

On the other hand I'm real excited about Starling, he better not disappoint

[royals19]

Quote: Originally Posted by MLamm16

You get knocked out by the Mariners and the Cubs win the fall classic, proof is in the pudding that this season was a fluke!!! On the other hand I'm real excited about Starling, he better not disappoint

Last season was just awful all around, Jon Lester sucked, James Shields sucked... most of the hitters sucked. I figured we had it coming when we lost to the Mariners but when the Cubs won the World Series; that's when I flipped my boat. They finish under .500 every season then they win 93 games en route to a World Series win? I don't think so.

About Starling, I'm ready to finally give the hometown hero a shot. I've been waiting quite a while for this.

[royals19]

THE OFFSEASON

Heading into the offseason, we had plenty of clear cut needs that we needed to sort through.

• Find a reliable starting pitcher.
• Find protection for Eric Hosmer
• Bring in a manager
• Bring in 3 other new coaches
• Scour the market for a DH

Finding coaches was no problem,



We were looking for a 3rd base coach, 1st base coach, pitching coach and of course, a new manager. Here's the Cliff Notes version of our Coaching Staff hirees.



1st Base- Larry Rothschild- The long time Yankee who got his *** handed to him by Pedro Martinez will join the staff as the first base coach on a 3 year deal.

3rd Base- John Farrell- After enjoying limited success as Manager of the Red Sox, Farrell will join the Royals as third base coach with the potential to eventually manage in KC.

Pitching Coach- Derek Lilliquist- The long time Cardinal pitching coach will join the Royals after the firing of Dave Eiland. As a student of the great Dave Duncan, Lilliquest will hopefully be able to get the Royals pitching staff back on track.

Manager- Jim Hickey




Jim Hickey joins the Royals after 2 seasons as the Astros hitting coach. Hickey was part of Joe Maddon's staff in Tampa as his pitching coach. With pitching being a big part of our game here in KC, we figured that it would be in our best interest to bring in someone very familiar with that part of the game.


Huh... that was easy... On to the Free Agents!

When George McGovern arrived in Orlando for the Winter Baseball meetings, this is what he was met with:


A stellar free agent class led by the best hitter on the planet. With Miguel Cabrera demanding 30 million annually, there was zero chance that we could sign him.

A little further down the list, actually just under Miguel Cabrera was the 5 tool star fresh out of Atlanta, Justin Upton. McGovern recognized that there was a prime opportunity here, while everyone was distracted with Miguel Cabrera, McGovern could real in a cost effective talent on the right side of 30... It was almost too easy.

[royals19]

Left Field

Nearly as soon as Free Agency began, McGovern resigned Alex Gordon to a 3 year deal locking down left field.


What he meant to our organization and his irreplaceable defense made this a no brainier. Had his defense not been in decline, we would have looked at a 5 year deal but at this point with prospects readily available and Gordon and the decline, we figured that 3 more years of plus production was probably the most we were going to get out of Gordon.

Center Field

Later on in the offseason, we dealt Lorenzo Cain to Texas for Luis Sardinas (this years projected shortstop) in order to open up a roster spot for the one and only Bubba Starling.



Essentially from day one, it was a given that Bubba Starling was going to be rocking Carlos Beltran's old number 15 out in Center Field. The debut of Bubba Starling might be the most anticipated debut since Bo Jackson's, the kid hasn't even played an inning of big league ball so its unfair to compare him to Bo right now but at this point, one can't help but make those comparisons...

Right Field

Alright, here's where it gets juicy. After Colby Rasmus hit .215 with 28 homeruns, there was no way we were going to be able to put up with another season of that. One can only take so many strikeouts and so many roll over groundballs.

By letting the lefthanded Rasmus walk, we opened up right field to bring in someone who could protect Eric Hosmer. And as noted above, Justin Upton was our first choice. McGovern submitted an offer 4 years 23 million and sat back and waited...

We practically had Upton in the bag... or so we thought.

Then one day we decided to check and found that Upton was getting a 103 million dollar deal from the Blue Jays. !?!?!?

Then McGovern expanded his offer to 5 years 38 million which was the best we could do with so many players hitting arbitration. We got the vibe that he probably wasn't going to accept our low ball offer so we went to plan B and threw some quarters at Shane Victorino.



So we finally had right field locked down with Victorino. He wouldn't protect Hosmer much but still could upgrade the position defensively at a cheap cost.

So we were prepared to move on when we got a phone call from J-Up's agent.



He accepted our offer... ****

So that leaves us with the following bunch at the big league level

Quote:

Alex Gordon Bubba Starling Domonic Brown Shane Victorino Justin Upton

As for what the Blue Jays did with the money, they threw it into a 9 year deal for Johnny Venters... just because they could.

Heck, looks like we're gonna have 5 outfielders on the roster this year. Crap.

[KBLover]

Wow...he turned down 100 mil for $38 M?

Guess Venters should send J-Up a thank you card.

[AC]

Quote: Originally Posted by KBLover

Wow...he turned down 100 mil for $38 M?

How long was the offer for, though? If it was super long term I kind of get it, Upton's only 28.