A Heavy Hand

[Ghosts]

Niihama, Japan – July 3, 2034

“So it’s this young Pen guy, eh? The best of the next?” Vanni continued to press. The typically unflappable Vanessa Chambers, assistant GM of the Ghosts, was starting to crack under the unexpected intensity of this meeting with the Ghosts owner. In all her years as his personal assistant, she’d never seen him act either so seriously towards front office decision making or so intense during a discussion with anyone, let alone her. He’d always treated her like something of a daughter, but today, out of the blue, she found herself on the receiving end of a pointed interrogation. She was officially flummoxed.

“Yes, Pin looks like an incredible talent – but like I said he’s only 19,” Vanessa was cutoff before she could continue explaining why he wasn’t in Niihama.

“But he’s in AAA! And he’s pitching il meglio, no? 1.64 ERA and he’s only 19! Only 19 you say, is a good thing not a bad thing to be so young. You judge him on the field, yes?” Vanni spoke with a rushed edge that gave Vanessa a deeply unsettled feeling. He’d never quoted statistics to her, not once, and the only time she’d ever heard him mention stats were off the cuff, made up stats that generally served to undermine his baseball credibility. Vanessa couldn’t immediately understand why it would disturb her so much that the owner of her baseball team would be able to accurately reference a statistic, but it simply wasn’t Vanni.

“Yes, Vanni, and that’s a great number. But what’s less great, and should temper enthusiasm for his production, is that his BABIP is .199 – much lower than his career average – and so he’s been a little lucky this season.” While contrarianism ran deep in Vanessa’s blood, her reaction to Vanni was not her typically advocacy for the dark one, but instead something of a defense mechanism. Her instinct told her she needed to throw oceans on this fire before it got out of hand – though it felt like perhaps that ship had sailed.

“Lucky? The boy is lucky, lucky to have a golden arm! You say he’s the best one minute and then not so good the next? What is your job? To get me the best. I just watched Toyoma beat us three times in a row! How can I fill all these seats when we can’t win one game against Toyoma? You tell me!” Vanni gulped a gulp of whiskey from his brim-filled tumbler. A disgraceful display, she thought, in a flash before her mind returned to the issue at hand.

“Of course, Vanni, you’re right, but we have to consider all aspects – what about his health? He’s been injured eight times in the last three seasons – and he’s missed almost 16 months during that stretch. How much good can one player do for his team, especially if he can’t play?” If nothing else would be, this had to be the throttle to Vanni’s new obsession. Vanni had insisted, wisely and at her behest, to invest heavily into medical management for the Ghosts to avoid chronic injury in players.

“Our doctors are the best! They will keep him healthy! No more arguments, Vanessa, make this happen! The young Pin must be a Ghost or I’ll have Vail’s job!” Vanni slammed the remainder of his glass down his throat and set it down on his bar tray. “And Vanessa, lest you think this is something I will forget because of the liquore, I have watched you and Vail spend my money for four years and still you have not given me a winning team. I drink this to stomach your excuses and delays, not to change my mind, comprendere?” Vanni stared at her with barely controlled contempt and Vanessa was, for the first time, truly scared of the man before her. He’d been many things to her – a gregarious spendthrift and man of wealth, a doting father figure, a fumbling baseball owner, but never in any of these personas did she detect a hint of the unfiltered meanness that he displayed now. Vanessa excused herself from the room with alacrity and headed straight for GM Vail’s office.

Without knocking or so much as looking to see if he was in, Vanessa ducked into GM Vail’s office and pressed herself against the door, as if holding a pursuer at bay.

Vail looked up from his spreadsheets with one brow raised well above the other. “You okay?”

Meeting his curious stare, she tried to collect herself, but only managed a moderately therapeutic swallow before responding, “We have what I think is a serious problem.”

Vanessa recapped the meeting with Vanni, doing her best to stress the intensity of the interaction.

Vail reclined deeply in his executive chair – the one piece of furniture that might be called a luxury in his otherwise bare-bones office – and tossed the pen he was holding at the window. “What the hell is it with owners and not understanding a five-year plan? I get three years – three playoff years, mind you, into a tenure at Bakersfield and the owner loses his damn mind. Now three and a half, if you count that year in the WIL, into the plan with Niihama and our previously toothless owner is threatening my job.”

Vail stared a moment, and added, “Don’t rush into the driver’s seat, Vanessa, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be, apparently.”

With nothing to add on that subject, Vanessa simply asked, “What are we going to do? Yuma has refused every offer, and we’ve made generous offers – as have countless others.”

“The kid is definitely a talent, but at the end of the day, even if he is healthy, he can only pitch every 4-5 games. If it comes down to a no-deal situation, either because they ask too much or simply because they outright refuse to trade him regardless of the offer, I’ll handle Vanni. I’m here at his discretion, and there’s no way around that simple fact,” Vail stated flatly. It was hard for Vannessa to accept the calm with which he was responding. For the first time in her young career, she was in a position she desperately did not want to lose, and it was affecting her in unexpected ways. She was off-balance, and while she was uncommonly hard to fluster, she was apparently not someone that responded well to being unbalanced.

“As for an offer, I’ll need to get a line with Bob Mayberry. He’s probably the only one that can make this deal. I know his understudy has been running the show, but I need to go find Bob. In the interim, I want you to reach out to Roberta Tippitina. I don’t know her, or what her current authority is in Yuma since that lunatic Slummings bought out the team, but we’ll make her an offer that beats anything we’ve offered before. Vail scribbled down the framework of an offer, stared at it, and then tapped it and said, “If being able to cherry pick players from the #1 farm in PEBA doesn’t tempt her, the other pieces have to.” With that, Vail stood and opened the locker in the corner of his office for the first time that Vanessa had seen. He pulled out a suitcase, checked the outside pocket for his passport, and moved to walk out of the office.

Before he got past his dazed assistant GM, she grabbed his arm, and asked, “Wait, where the hell are you going to find Mayberry? He’s either locked up out of reach like he has been for years, or he’s hiding where the police can’t find him.”

“He’s not in the hospital, or if he is, he’s in a very specific spot. As to the police, of course they can’t find Bob: they have no idea how to think like him.” Before she could ask him what that meant, Vail was out the door.

[DrewV]

Really enjoyed this piece. Hard not to like Vanessa, and what an intriguing quest for Dan.

Without knocking or so much as looking to see if he was in, Vanessa ducked into GM Vail’s office and pressed herself against the door, as if holding a pursuer at bay.

What a great line--visceral and personal.

Well done, Dan. I'm a huge fan of PEBA storyline crossover and certainly motivated to search around the site and read more.