Entering the 2041 season the Palm Springs Codgers were riding high. GM Rob Sullivan had assembled a playoff caliber team through aggressive trading and a few free agent signings. Sure, they lost in the Wild Card round of the playoffs, but spirits were high as it was their first playoff appearance in a decade.

At the start of the 2041 season Sullivan believed they had a playoff team and was searching for ways to take the next step. Then it happened. The team started slowing out of the gate but management didn’t panic. The famed manager Sparky Anderson had always said you needed 40 games to know what type of team you had. 40 games came and went, and the team was still struggling as they approached the trade deadline.

Sullivan had gambled big in 2040 and 2041 pushing in all his assets to build around a young pitching core. It paid off in 2041 with the playoff appearance but now it was blowing up in his face. He had to make a decision. Ride it out and shuffle the team a bit to take another shot at 2042 or jettison some the veterans in an attempt to build a young core and rebuild a depleted minors.

Looking at those veterans he had to weigh their impact on the team, contract and the window in which they could return assets.  He also had to look at the win window of his young players to determine if they should be part of the future or would be better served as trade pieces to add more assets.

Sullivan decided riding it out was not an option. If he wasn’t confident about a return to the playoffs he had to move the veterans to collect assets before it was too late. Not using those veterans to acquire assets would lead to a lengthy rebuilding process, something the fans in Palm Springs would not accept after tasting success.

He set his plan in motion first by trading off veterans to lower the payroll and collect assets. He traded some of his bad salaries for other bad salaries that could potentially be moved or would be free agents in the next year or two. As he did this, he looked to acquire PEBA ready prospects and young players to fill every position.

The results were dramatic. The pool of players who will enter Spring Training vying for a spot on the roster are decidedly young, of the 40 players only four are 30 years old or above. In addition, Sullivan added three extra first round picks along with an extra third and fourth round pick in this years draft. He acquired four other draft picks along the way that have been flipped into young players to add to the mix.

Sullivan decided this was not enough. If the team couldn’t find sustained success after the moves he made there had to be something deeper wrong with the organization and he turned his attention to the coaching staff. Not just at the major league level but at every level. The result was a significant turnover of the coaching staff with 10 new coaches added to the mix.

Rookie Ball Bench Coach Chris Cochran was promoted to the Codgers in the same role. He also brought in Pitching Coach Willie Thompson, a legendary teacher and developer of pitchers to work with his young staff. Shunsen Kakuta from Japan was named Hitting Coach. He retained Assistant GM Jayson Anderson, Scouting Director Jose Franco and Team Trainer Ray Jarrold.

At the AAA level Provo Missionaries Manager Kumanosuke Kawano was retained but given two new coaches in Pitching Coach Katsunan Sato and Hitting Coach Kosami Sakei.

The Edmonton Mall Ratz (AA) retained Manager Ramon Arroyo and brought in new Pitching Coach Junior Castillo and Hitting Coach Yong-zhan Hu was also a holdover having been with the Mall Ratz since the 2033 season.

The National City Bankers (A) staff remained unchanged as Sullivan retained Manager Dominic Belanger, Pitching Coach Fergus Hadley and Hitting Coach Edward Buckner.

The Lana’I City Pineapples saw a complete turnover in staff with Sullivan hiring Manager Dale Orcutt, Pitching Coach Terry Clark and Hitting Coach Shosuke Tanaka. Both Clark and Tanaka are new coaches to the PEBA universe.

Katsuhiko Ikarashi was brought in to replace Chris Cochran as the Asmara Modernists Manager while Pitching Coach Charlie McJannet and Hitting Coach Yaichiro Kitakawa were retained.

Sullivan has largely been unavailable for comment to the press but insiders in the organization said the mandate has been clear. Win or there will be consequences. “It’s been very uncomfortable for front office personnel,” commented one anonymous source. “Rob has had Arthur Fleck running the front office as his de facto consigliere. You can not get a meeting with him, all communication runs through Art,” said the source. “The last thing you want is to be summoned by Art, it comes with a feeling of dread. Two scouts and the owners assistant have just disappeared. Our owner, Harold Reginald Bunner, has hired extra security. Following a disappointing season teams usually operate with a scalpel to make changes, Rob has been operating with a sledgehammer.”

ESPN was able to get a comment from the usually tight lipped Fleck, “The boss is pissed and he is just getting started – nothing is off the table.”