I was introduced to my players. I'm beside the tired guy at the bottom.
“Hello, this is the General Manager of Pulilan” said Punay.
“Good morning, I am Pat Garde,” Pat said.
“We have a dilemma. We are over the salary cap of $1,000,000. What I’m thinking is, how about dealing a similar type of players; the difference should be settled by cash.”
“That’s all good. Who’s your best player?”
“Well, my first round pick is first baseman Jilenko Saranillo”
“I’m interested in him even though I haven’t seen him personally.”
“You might have seen him in the camp.”
“Probably, but I can’t remember. That’s why I picked Ysmael Aragon.”
“Saranillo has a nickname of “Nine Fingers”, during the last New Year’s Eve, his one finger got blown by firecrackers.”
“I don’t care, as long as he can hit. I have my own first baseman, Jelexiz Diputado but he’s already 32.”
“’Nine Fingers’ is just 28.”
“I thought we could settle the difference by cash?”
“Yeah, how much are we talking about?”
“Well, the owner gave me the go signal to spend to win. I can do $500,000.”
“Not even close. I’ll just hang up if you do not increase it to $1,000,000.”
“Dang. That’s a lot.”
“Come on, we are just a town in a province and your team is a big-time city in the Metro Manila. That’s not a lot.”
“48 million pesos is not a lot? You must be out of your mind.”
“I may be out of my mind but I just wanted to help the team and the town.”
Pat’s soft-heart was touch and all he could do was whisper, “Alright, let’s do the deal.”
*****
Pat arrived early at the stadium where the scheduled 7 AM practice is about to take place. He set foot at the entrance and saw a good number of players scattered in groups. Wow, this is my team, he thought.
The manager recognized the familiar face and made a “come here” gesture with his fingers.
“Welcome Pat,” said
Artemio Ojeda.
“So, this is the team, huh?” he replied.
“Sure does. I want you to meet them personally.”
“Why don’t we gather round here?” Pat suggested.
“Okay. Boys, circle up here and there is someone you have to meet.”
The guys started walking in their direction and quickly round up the spot.
“This is our general manager
Pat Garde.”
“Hello, sir,” in chorus the players said.
“Don’t call me sir, my name is Pat.”
“Okay, Pat,” again, in chorus they uttered.
“That’s better. So, who’s who?”
“I’ll introduce them to you,” said the manager.
“This is our first round pick,
Ysmael Aragon,” he continued.
(8/9/9/9/6) *based on my head scout
“Next in line is our ace,
Reomel Laput.”
(6/6/9)
“
Herson Macarandang will roam around the centerfield.”
(6/4/6/6/10)
“Shortstop
Indergabriell Ignis will be in the middle of the infield.”
(7/6/1/6/9)
“Slated at #2 in the rotation, he is
Ninfa Aguila.”
(6/7/4)
“
Edilberto Pecson will be Ignis’ partner.”
(7/7/6/7/8)
“
Jaypee Bernardo adds another arm in our staff.”
(6/1/7)
“The guy you just traded for,
Jilenko Saranillo.”
(7/10/9/9/4)
“Nice to finally meet you,” Pat ecstatically said. "There's only one thing I wanted to instill in your minds. We have a motto, a principle or whatever it is called in your region. And that is, united we stand, divided we fall. I'll say the first line and you'll answer with the second.
"United we stand!"
"Divided we fall!" all the players shouted with excitement.
"That's all."
The manager introduced all the players and Pat went back to the office – smiling. We have a shot at the title, a thought playing in his mind. He close the door and sat at his chair daydreaming. His dream of winning a championship could be happening soon.