The owner, the GM and the coach were delighted last year with the first ABL title, but the message was clear, it was so much fun, that when we sat down together with a bottle of champagn, we all said that we want to repeat.
We went back to the board and start working on building "the winning team" and today we can yell out load that we succeed. Wow what a great feeling.
What a season, 105 wins, best record in the ABL, and a wonderful run in the playoff, beating Carolina, Seattle and Eureka.
The owner congratulates the GM, "I know he asked me to open my wallet" but when I see the results now it was well worth. The acquisition of waivers of Eric Ware, the signing of free agent McGuicken (10-3 this season, and very good in the postseason), the trade for Guerrero, Clay, and more importantly Rudyard (8-0 with Montreal, and 3-0 in postseason) and Reece (.317 in postseason).
The owner also have strong words for the manager Dave Harris. He didn't have an easy task. The pressure was on him all year. When you defend your title, every teams want to beat you. But he managed his team perfectly, bringing back the last win of the season.
Finally, the owner was extremely thankful to all the Bandits. They played great, with heart and devotion all season. What a team. When asked about "Horseface" Becker. He said, you know this is his right to test the free agent market. The only regret we have, it that we didn't have the possibility to negociate with him. We save some money aside to sign him, but we didn't have any chance to talk. This guy will be the highest paid players in ABL next season, no doubt. I want to thank him for the 2 great seasons, he had in Montreal. I wish him to win the Silver Slugger and the MVP because he deserves it. He was great during the season (.417, 45HR) and in Post season (.383, 7HR). With 2 rings he should be rewarded.
Now what, you have win it all twice, what is next. The owner said we like to win in Montreal, we have important decision to take with few players. The lost of Becker will hurt us. But will we see what we can do to replace him. We will see, we will try to enjoy this one, it really feels good to have the bragging rights....
No comments:
Post a Comment