by Francis Ferry, NLN beat writer

November 1, 2013: Aurora, Colorado – The 2013 Aurora Borealis entered the post-season winner of a PEBA record 126 games, with a pitching staff that had a combined 3.02 ERA and .227 OAVG and an offense that hit .315 for the season.  This was a team that was primed to win the championship.  Instead, they seemed to channel the 1954 Cleveland Indians of the old MLB, losing to Tempe in the first round of the playoffs, 3-1, sending the Borealis to their fourth straight disappointing finish despite having the top record in the league for the fourth straight year.

The Borealis brass met the press at Northern Lights Park to discuss the 2013 season, the failed playoff run and a look ahead to 2014.  Team owner Michael Topham approached the podium first.  His look was somber; his tone flat.  “I want to first and foremost thank you all for coming here today and thank the fans for their support.  This was the greatest attendance year in Borealis history.  We averaged a near sellout for the entire season and those fans supported us most vociferously.  Ultimately, it is the fan we play for, and it is the fan whom we are disappointed for with the failure of the season.”

Topham stood tall and scanned the crowd as has become his custom.  “I know it is weird to refer to a season that sees you win 126 games a failure, but this is the third season for us here in Aurora, and all three seasons we’ve had the top record in the PEBA, yet we seem to be moving backwards in the post-season.  We lost to Florida in Game 7 of the PEC our freshman season.  Last year we lost to Tempe in the Sovereign League Alliance Tournament, and this year in the first round.”  He shifted his jaw as if chewing on something before he continued.  “This team has been a playoff team for six straight seasons and we have one title.  We do not want to be known as the Atlanta Braves of the PEBA!

“We are in an odd position.  We have a strong, young team and an enviable financial position.  How do we make changes to a team that has seemingly won everything but the final prize?  Did we lose because of pitching?  Hardly.  Our staff was arguably the best in the league this season.  Did we lose because of offense?  Not when the team set the highest team average in history.”  Topham took a sip of water, then continued.  “We lost the past two years to a team that has two of the most dominant pitchers in the league’s short history, and I’m not sure that’s something to be embarrassed by or to get your dauber down about.”  There was a murmur of acknowledgement in the crowd as the Borealis owner looked down at his notes.

“So we will see some changes in the coming year as we strive to do two things – maintain our competitiveness and keep our core young, flexible and fiscally sound.  I’m going to ask Will to come up and talk about the plans for 2014 and beyond.  Thank you.”  With that, the senior Topham turned as the junior Topham, dubbed the “Boy Wonder GM” by George Crocker early on in the Topham regime, took the stage.

“Yeah… total bummer the way the year ended.  But what can you say?”  The younger Topham stood and scanned the crowd much as his father would, with an air of confidence that he lacked three years earlier as a very green 17-year-old.  “Changes.  Well, for starters, we have nearly $17 million dollars coming off the books with the pending free agency of Augusto and Pexego.  I’ve always liked Pexego and that was part of my motivation in acquiring him, but in retrospect, maybe Conan was the man to have targeted.  Dad calls it my ‘youthful, callow error’.  We’ve had frank, open conversations with both guys.  El Chupacabra will not be returning to Aurora next season.  We had some early discussions back in April and May, but with the anticipation of Ken Coleman being ready to go next year, we feel we can afford to let him go.  Augusto is a different story.  We’d like to keep him around for another year or two, but at the moment, his agent is asking way too much.  His demands are greater than Pexego’s!”  He spread his arms out in disbelief, then brought them together.  “We’ll see what the market bears.  We’ll talk contract with his agent, but we will not sign him for much more than what he’s made this year.”

Will Topham look upward slightly, pursed his lips then said, “We like Quiñones.  He’s been an invaluable member of the Borealis, but at 34, we feel we can put our resources to better use.

“Which brings us to the subject of free agency and this year’s class.”  He gazed at his notes then returned his look to the crowd.  “During our first three years, we have changed the look of the team through internal moves – Pierce, Edwards, En-guo, Marable, to name a few – and through trades – Reyes, Garza and of course Pexego.  It wasn’t until this year that we even signed a major league-caliber free agent in Cliche.  We expect that to change this off-season.”

Topham paused as a rumble rose from the crowd.  Reporters blurted out the names of Barrón and McCullough in the forms of questions.  “Please,” Topham said, seeking calm from the crowd.  “I’m not here to discuss whom we will pursue, but with the salaries coming off the books and the increased revenue, we plan on being an active participant in the free agent sweepstakes.  Dad’s even upped the ante, giving us more to work with this season.  Fear not – Aurora will be atop the Desert Hills again in 2014.”

With a sip of water and another glance at his notes, Topham continued.  “As for changes internally, a lot depends on Quiñones.  Assuming he leaves, we are likely to bring up Orlando López to fill his shoes.  We love Orlando’s bat, but we’ll miss Augusto’s versatility.  We believe that with Rivera, Ice Cold and Edwards, we have enough versatility to make up for it.”  Will shoved his hands into his pockets and looked lost in thought for a moment.  “The other question concerns the outfield.  We played most of this past season with four outfielders, and I think we’d really like a little more balance on the roster.  We could re-sign Cliche.  We could promote Burton for good, but that limits us as far as centerfield is concerned.  We could move Cain up.  These moves would preclude bringing up López.  So it’s a complex situation for that last roster spot.”

The junior Topham cleared his throat and continued.  “We have a couple of coaching vacancies that are going to need filling.  First off, we were unhappy with the work of our pitching coach at Mokule’ia and decided to make a move there, which became far more difficult than we thought.  We ran through a number of candidates who took positions elsewhere, including one who sought employment in the LRS.  We’ve settled on Tekkan Yamamoto.  He comes to us from Japan and… we’ll see.  Negotiations for this position were more challenging than we thought.”

“We also lost Jorge Morales, our manager at San Luis Río Colorado, to retirement, and the search for his replacement has begun.  We also have a number of coaches throughout the organization whose contracts expire after the 2014 season, including the entire staff at Thornton.  Our top priority is to have them all signed to extensions before the start of the free agent period.”

“Now, I’d like to bring Juan Toro up to give you his thoughts on the 2013 season.  Juan…”

The 66-year-old manager slowly rose and approached the podium.  His grizzled face looked grimmer than usual.  He looked older than he had earlier in the year.  He spoke with a slower cadence.  “I-a think that-a we played with a lotta heart dis season.  Guys, dey came to-a spring with-a resolve that showed in der play.  Me, I’m-a proud of des guys.  Juan Knight.  Cory.  Kojima.  Till-a-mon.  Working with dem dis season and por de last-a six years has been-a dream.  I will miss dem all.”

There was a deeper silence than the low din of a typical press conference.  No one was speaking it, but the question was running through everyone’s mind: “What is Toro saying?”

“De armadillo in de desert,” Toro continued, “he live in a shell all-a his life.  De coyote, he-a try to-a eat da armadillo, but his-a shell keep-a him alive.  Soon, dey armadillo, he-a die anyway.”  The crowd of reporters looked at each other with quizzical expressions.  The young GM and his owner father also glanced at each other.  They were used to Toro’s odd commentary, but this didn’t seem to make much sense to them.

“So, like-a de armadillo, it has-a come time-a for me to go.  We-a had a good time here-a in Aurora, but it-a time to go.”  With that, the long-time Aurora manager waved a frail wave, turned and walked off the stage and out the side door leading into the Aurora locker room.  Jaws hung as the Boy Wonder GM – only after a firm nudging back to attention from his father – ran off after Toro.

Michael Topham rose, paused and cleared his throat before approaching the podium a second time.  “Well now…” he looked at the crowd of shocked reporters, “was that a retirement speech?  Why, I think it was.”  He looked down the hallway towards where Toro vanished “Looks like we’re looking for a new manager here, as well.”