September 1, 2039

Life In the Big Easy-It is no secret that the foundation and future of the New Orleans Trendsetters is still a few years off. The Trendies with the future talent are all at Level A Ensenada and points South, development-wise. As a result, this years September call-ups are less of a “Let’s see what the future holds” and more of a “I wonder if he can plug this hole?”. Only two call ups were made; SP Nathan Gallard made two rehab starts in AAA Fayetteville before returning to the Trendie rotation after 3 months on the IL with right rotator cuff inflammation. The other call up will be making his major league debut. 24-year-old catcher Kang Goo-Yi will get some time behind the plate to spell Freddie Morales. The thinking is that Morales has a player option this year and if he opts out, maybe Goo-Yi can be an inexpensive replacement. Don’t look now but the Trendsetters are the hottest team in the league! Winners of four straight and 11 of their last 12. Good pitching from David Saenz (who picked up Rookie of the Month in the Imperial League) and some timely hitting from players such as IF Tenshin Kudo have vaulted the team past Charleston and into 3^rd place. The team finished with just their second winning month in two years going 17-11 in August. Keep it up boys!

A Block Off Bourbon Street – New Orleans has spent the last two years dealing away useful pieces at the major league level such as Hideo Miura who was dealt for a second and third round pick in 2038. Or Jefery Owen who was dealt to Hartford in a similar deal. The process was the same, dealing players who were not performing or who’s skills would be more valuable to a winning team in exchange for draft capital. GM Chuck Valenches was pretty happy with his haul. In 2038 the team had six picks in the first three rounds and in 2039 New Orleans made seven picks in the first three rounds. This helped to revamp a previously barren minor league system. Wheras the Trendsetters had a farm system ranked 25^th in the league at the beginning of the 2038 season is now 16th with more talent and hope for the future The additions and development of players such as Hyung-On Che, Gabriel Santos (2038 1^st rounder) Marco Jimenez (2039 1^st rounder, Lhi-zhu Ho (2037 1^st rounder under the previous GM, Reg LeBlanc) and others such as SP, Weston Harris, 1B Henry Cole and 2B Takafumi Samurakami have led Trendie fans to keep an eye on the box scores in Anchorage, Ensenaada and Bridgeport. Samurakami has developed nicely and has made a strong debut in Rookie Ball hitting .288 with 31 HR and showing quite a bit of polish at 2B. The 2^nd round pick is still just 18, so he is still a few years away. Other news from the bus leagues saw Rookie League OF, William Fairlie go 16-30 with 5 HR and 12 RBI to be named the Player of the Week in the IBC. Both Bridgeport (R) and Anchorage (SS-A) lead their divisions and are hoping to punch their tickets to their respective postseasons soon.

Trendie Town Talks – Todays Trendie Town Talks sectionasks a question of Mal Sheehan, the Ensenada Hitting Coach. We asked Mal what was one of the strangest things he ever saw on a baseball field. [WARNING: OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE ON THE WAY]

“Well, it would have to have been when I was playing in Single-A Ball in the Orioles organization. The High Desert Mavericks of the California League. We were horrible that year and we were playing the only team worse than us, the San Bernadino Spirit. They had a DH, big guy, all roided out, named Jeff Grotewald. This guy was all anger and acne and you never knew when he was going to go off. One game he’s at the plate and he takes the first pitch for a strike. Jeff didn’t like the call so he backed out of the box and starts barking at the home plate umpire! The next pitch he crushes over the RF wall for a home run. He goes into his home run trot and as soon as he rounds first base the 1B umpire starts running alongside him all the way around the bases! As soon as Jeff steps on home plate, the 1B umpire tosses him out of the game! Gives him the heave-ho! Nobody knew what the hell happened. The next day they are taking batting practice on the field and I go up to Jeff, a little scared because he had a reputation for losing his temper. I asked him, “What happened on that home run? Why did the ump toss you?” With a gigantic shit-eating grin he turns and tells me, “I wasn’t real happy about the first strike so I chirped a little bit and when I hit the next pitch out I started jogging around the bases and when I rounded first I told Phillips (the 1B umpire), “Fuck you and your cocksucking penguin friend too!” Can you believe they threw me out of the game for that?”

Crawfish Future – With attendance slightly below last year and fan interest waning, Owner Jack Cobb has been tinkering with some special ticket packages. For a short time, Trendsetters tickets dropped to $17,00. Fans must have liked the discount as the weekend series vs. Charleston saw the attendance close to a sell out with 48-49,000 fans each game.

And once again we leave you with one of my favorite baseball quotes:
“I’ve found out that you don’t need to wear a necktie if you can hit” – [i]Ted Williams[/i]