Ghastly Dreams, Part 2

[Ghosts]

Niihama, Japan – 22 November, 2030

Vanessa reviewed the text for perhaps the 30th time:

To the Ghosts sole voice of reason,
We haven’t met, but Vanni is allowing me to return as Ghosts GM.
That means I have a lot of catching up to do and I need all hands on
deck to help me do so. I understand you’ve been the loud voice
opposing almost every move over the last four years. I’m
hoping that means you have better ideas. So, let’s start with
manager. I want your top three choices by the morning because

Robbie is on his way out.
-Dan Vail

No shorthand. No bullshit. A chance to earn respect. “All I need,” Vanessa whispered to herself. She stared out over the darkened seats of Oikake Maze. She’d only recently convinced Vanni to keep the lights of the dome off by default. He hated seeing the field in the dark during the day and often complained loudly about it. At over 40 yen per kilowatt hour, though, the lights were a significant expense to carry when the stadium wasn’t in use. Vanessa had tried to get Vanni to open the facility to more events like concerts and shows, but Vanni hated the idea of non-players trampling his perfectly manicured grass. He didn’t even let children walk the outfield before games as had become so popular in America. Take the wins as they come – her father’s voice resonated within her often.

Three names. No problem. What do we know? The team is going to be shit. We were shit last year, 5th place of 6 teams in the WIL. We’ve lost players. We have roughly one pitcher worth a damn at the moment. We’re a rebuilding team by WIL standards and oh, yeah, the next year we’ll be expected to compete with the fucking Shin Seiki Evas. We’ll need someone that can handle losing, and handle players of vastly different skill and experience levels. And cultures. And languages. And they’ll need to somehow convince these players that the losing is somehow worth a damn. That their effort is worth a damn. Then they’ll have to convince all these players that the losing must become winning. Easy.

Robby Fitzgerald, fired just 40 days after he was hired and he never managed a game. That must be a record of some sort. He led the Oilers to a miserable season, even worse than the Ghosts – just like the Ghosts to hire the only manager that out-sucked them. Fucking Kichida. Vail apparently has no patience for re-treads with losing records. Good to know.

Ok, three names. Why three? That just reeks of indecision. That doesn’t seem to match a guy that would trade with the regularity Vail did during his Bears tenure. It seemed like five times a year they were involved in some huge deal or another. Didn’t they just fire Kedsch, too? Who the hell did Vail hire before he.. left? Got fired? Gonna need the story there someday. Vanessa searched briefly on her phone before she found the story. The official press release read like any generic politically correct pseudo-thanks-but-fuck-off. A few interesting details in their though. They actually fired managers on several levels of the organization simultaneously. They also used a few key terms: “cohesive management structure” and “shared values”. What shared values? Reviewing the list of personnel currently employed throughout the Bears organization, she started noticing a trend. Lots of former players, including Ghosts legend Nobuhito Hasegawa. Damn, be nice to get him back in Niihama. The rest of the list read like a Bears Hall of Fame – Hancock, Lilly… hell Maese is managing for them.

Ok, so a former player. And not Nobuhito Hasegawa. The Ghosts don’t have the lore, or legends, that the Bears do, but there are plenty of great baseball minds that played their hearts out in Niihama-shi. One in particular that Vanessa couldn’t unthink. The Ghosts all-time saves leader and the man that managed to claw his way onto his first PEBA roster at the tender age of 32, and was able to buck the trend of transitioning to the bullpen as age steals your physical gifts by joining a PEBA rotation at age 35. Oh yeah, and turn in a 6.5 WAR performance that earned him his first all-star appearance at age 36. He fought through everything. He’s perfect. “And seeing as though I just spoke with him at the Ghosts annual Veterans Gala…” Vanessa muttered to herself as she unlocked her phone, “he’s perfectly available.”

Glad to have you aboard. I’ll do you one better and give you

one, right name: Roberto Ortega. He’s a Ghost, he’s a leader,

he’s a warrior, and he’s the right choice to lead a team that will

face a lot of adversity. We’ll also need a hitting coach at least,

may I recommend Kiyomitsu Kichikawa? Patient technician at

the plate and a Ghost eclipsed only by Hasegawa.