A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 333

The Super Rookie of the Baseball Team is Too Good – Episode 333

Chapter 79. I’ll Give You Five Minutes (1)

After a meeting that felt like a storm, Jisub bowed deeply to his colleagues in the hallway.

He knew Americans didn’t usually greet each other this way, but Jisub didn’t care about such trivial customs at that moment.

He simply wanted to express his gratitude to his colleagues who had bravely stepped forward at the crucial moment to support him.

“Thank you.”

Jisub said.

“Thanks to your support, we were able to push forward with the trade for Vincent Hiyama. Thank you so much. It couldn’t have been an easy decision.”

“That’s right, it wasn’t easy! Of course, it wasn’t!”

It was pitching coach Thomas Culkin, feigning importance, who replied.

“Taking your side there means taking the blame together if we don’t win the championship, right? You don’t need me to tell you how much I agonized over it!”

“Coach…”

Jisub looked at him with an apologetic expression, and Coach Culkin chuckled, patting him on the shoulder.

“Hey, I’m just kidding! What agonizing? I was going to follow your opinion from the start. It’s just that this is the front office’s area, so I couldn’t easily step in, isn’t that right?”

“Yes, at least our coaching staff felt the same way.”

Coach Jose Cruz nodded.

“How much help have we received from the Future Strategy Planning Department so far? Even if we were just blindly aiming for the championship, we would have gritted our teeth and done it, but if you even bring Vincent, there’s no reason to refuse.”

With determined expressions, resolute expressions, or pleased expressions.

Looking at the coaching staff looking at him, Jisub felt gratitude, reassurance, and a bit of pressure.

“Anyway…”

As the expressions of gratitude for the day’s declaration of support were coming to an end, John Ramer spoke up.

“Kim, about what happened earlier.”

“Yes?”

“That thing Kim brought out, saying it was a recorder… was actually a USB memory stick?”

John Ramer continued.

“I overheard the owner saying something like the recorder looked like a USB memory stick… or something like that.”

It was at this moment that a strange smile appeared on Jisub’s face.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Jisub took out the object that everyone thought was a ‘recorder’ from his pocket.

“It was a memory stick. A 1TB one.”

“Wh-what?!”

Everyone was startled and widened their eyes, but Jisub simply let out a silly laugh, ‘Hehehe’.

“I guess I was quite nervous trying to do something I don’t usually do.”

Jisub twirled the USB memory stick with his finger.

“I thought I had brought a recorder, but when I got to the meeting room, I realized it was a USB. So, I had no choice…”

“So, you pretended to have a recorder when you didn’t? In front of the owner and the general manager?!”

Ha!

Haha,

Hahahaha!

Laughter erupted from among the people gathered around Jisub.

“Amazing, Kim! You’re really an unpredictable person.”

“Were you an Asura [a powerful, demigod-like being in Buddhist mythology] in your past life? Or a goose? No, how can a person be so bold?”

“Well, if a person wants to do great things, they need that kind of guts! I feel reassured!”

He had threatened to release a recording with just a USB memory stick.

Everyone was amazed by Jisub’s audacity, or rather, his boldness.

David Wilson interjected with a strange expression.

“Wait a minute, then… Director Romano Campisi was surprised when he saw the USB memory stick?”

“Is that so? When I said I was going to release the recording, his face was quite a sight to behold!”

“Then what should we do? Should we keep it a secret that it was actually a USB and not a recorder?”

“Hey, Coach! Let’s just reveal it! I’m curious to see how that nasty Campisi guy will react!”

“Should we? Reveal it? Should we just reveal it?! Hahahaha!”

As everyone’s cheerful laughter filled the hallway, someone’s voice was heard from behind them.

“Mr. Taylor, do you have a moment?”

“Yes? Ah, Robert!”

It was an employee from the general manager’s office.

The employee who usually delivered Brian Spann’s instructions to John Ramer.

He spoke a few words in a low voice, and John Ramer turned to Jisub.

“Kim, it looks like we’ll have to submit next week’s report a day late.”

“Yes? Why?”

“The general manager has called for us.”

John Ramer looked slightly nervous.

“All three of us, Kim, David, and me.”

* * *

Brian Spann’s summons.

Jisub felt that what was coming had finally arrived.

‘He’s been too quiet.’

From the moment he heard the ‘ingenious plan’ from Vice Chairman Park Hong-joo, Jisub had been concerned about General Manager Brian Spann.

The man who had led the Tampa Bay Rays for the past 20 years, described by General Manager Benjamin Oznovich as a ‘pathetic coward’.

He was said to never accept trades that involved giving up promising prospects, so Jisub thought that overcoming him was the top priority.

Unexpectedly, he hadn’t said a single word at the meeting that day.

‘If I could at least look him in the eye, I could have known what he was thinking…’

He didn’t even look at the person speaking. He had just been staring intently at some documents throughout the meeting.

Jisub, who was curious about what he was thinking, even welcomed the general manager’s summons.

‘What could he be thinking?’

What could be the reason?

In a situation where Vincent Hiyama’s trade was being decided, why didn’t he express any opinion?

Considering the influence he had within the Tampa Bay Rays, couldn’t he have reversed the entire situation with a single word?

In any case, Jisub thought that if he could just meet him, if he could just look into his eyes, he would know everything-

“……Hmm?”

When they arrived at the general manager’s office, it wasn’t Brian Spann who greeted Jisub and the Future Strategy Planning Department.

“Welcome. I’ve been waiting for you.”

It was Deputy General Manager Rebecca Carney.

The head of the Baseball R&D Team and Brian Spann’s right-hand woman.

She was sitting on the sofa in front of the office, diligently checking something.

“Deputy General Manager?”

John Ramer seemed a bit awkward with the situation.

“No, what brings you here, Deputy General Manager? We were summoned by the general manager…”

“Ah, a substitute, a substitute. Substitute Rebecca Carney.”

Her face was filled with a bitter smile, as if she had been suddenly assigned the task.

“The general manager had some urgent business to attend to and is away. I’m temporarily filling in.”

“You said urgent business?”

Jisub asked, looking into Carney’s eyes, but he didn’t gain much insight.

It seemed that Deputy General Manager Rebecca Carney didn’t know all of the general manager’s business.

Instead, he learned that Carney was in a great hurry.

“Everyone, sit down. Time is of the essence.”

She gestured.

“Sidney Malone posted on her SNS [Social Networking Service] three minutes ago. It said that our Tampa Bay Rays are pursuing the acquisition of Vincent Hiyama.”

Sidney Malone was one of the most recognized veteran reporters in Major League Baseball.

American reporters prefer to post the information they’ve gathered on their SNS channels before writing an article.

“Before that chatterbox messes things up with unnecessary words, we need to complete the trade for Vincent Hiyama. That’s why I called you all here.”

“Wait a minute, Deputy General Manager.”

It seemed that the deputy general manager’s explanation was a bit lacking for John Ramer to fully understand.

“Why us? Isn’t the trade negotiation something that the general manager directly handles?”

That was true.

Although the decision to acquire Vincent Hiyama had been made, negotiations with the Baltimore Orioles remained.

And it was customary for someone at least at the general manager level to take the lead in those negotiations.

But calling the Future Strategy Planning Department didn’t make sense in many ways.

“If the general manager is busy, there’s also the president of baseball operations, the general manager, and even you, Deputy General Manager, are here. So how can we…”

“I just said it, didn’t I? The reporters have caught the scent.”

Rebecca Carney said.

“Reporters will soon be swarming the key figures of Tampa Bay. Even if we handle it quietly, we can’t be sure if it will succeed, so how can we negotiate while dealing with reporters one by one?”

It seemed that the people who were chosen were from the Future Strategy Planning Department.

“Although it’s a small department. But Mr. Taylor, you’re the son of owner Jeffrey Taylor, so you have some connections. And most importantly…”

Carney looked at Jisub and smiled.

“The person who brought it up should clean up this mess… That’s also the general manager’s intention.”

“I feel somewhat sorry.”

“No, rather than that, would you read this document? It’s the negotiation strategy that the general manager created.”

Brian Spann’s negotiation strategy.

Jisub picked up the document on the table with anticipation and excitement.

And how much did he read through the densely written sentences?

“D-Deputy General Manager?”

Jisub was greatly embarrassed.

“A-Are you really planning to proceed with the trade under these conditions? This is completely…”

“Hey, why are you so surprised? Did you suggest acquiring Vincent Hiyama without this much resolve?”

Rebecca Carney elegantly picked up her teacup.

“Proceed as is.”

A word spoken while drinking tea.

“The general manager will take all responsibility.”

* * *

Several hours later.

Nicholas Weiner II, the assistant general manager of the New York Yankees, was visiting the Baltimore Orioles’ home stadium with his colleagues.

To be precise, it was the team’s headquarters located inside the home stadium, and even there, it was a meeting room located in a corner.

In this dark and gloomy meeting room without a single window, Nicholas was continuing a long negotiation with the Baltimore front office.

“Are you really going to keep insisting? We think we’ve paid a sufficient price.”

It was a statement from the Yankees side.

“Okay, then at least tell us exactly how many prospects you want! That’s the only way the discussion can proceed, isn’t it?”

“Hmm, well…”

Sitting across from him was the general manager of the Baltimore Orioles.

Hanging a pair of half-moon-shaped magnifying glasses, he looked at his fingernails with a suspicious expression.

“We are also people who know how to respect players? How can we divide a single individual into grades? Especially when we consider the infinite potential they possess…”

“G-General Manager!!!”

The people on the Yankees side looked like they wanted to punch that suspicious face, but they didn’t reveal their emotions.

The Baltimore general manager’s intention in acting like that was obvious.

‘There’s no set line.’

That was Nicholas’s thought.

‘There’s no such thing as a set line. He’s just thinking of taking as many prospects as possible in exchange for sending Vincent.’

Nicholas, who had steadily built his front office career, had never had such a frustrating negotiation.

Baltimore, with Vincent, was the complete boss (甲) [in Korean business culture, ‘甲’ signifies the dominant party in a relationship], and the teams that wanted him were also completely subordinate (乙) [the subservient party].

In this situation, all the Yankees front office could do was raise the stakes one step at a time until the other party was satisfied.

‘But there’s a limit to that… Damn it, what am I supposed to do?’

It felt like a huge wall was in front of him.

It felt like he had to climb that wall with his bare hands without any equipment.

As Nicholas was messing up his neatly combed hair with pomade, the Baltimore general manager checked his phone and said.

“Oh my, this is…”

He looked at the people on the Yankees side.

“I’m sorry to say this. I heard that the Tampa Bay Rays front office has arrived downstairs.”

“T-Tampa Bay?!”

The news that Tampa Bay had jumped into the Vincent Hiyama acquisition battle had also been conveyed to them.

“What should we do? Should I go and meet them separately for a moment? Or would you like to meet them together here?”

As a matter of custom, it was right to meet separately.

Having multiple teams discuss in one place was practically an auction.

But if they sent the Baltimore general manager out like this, they might lose Vincent.

“Hah, let’s meet together.”

The Yankees’ chief negotiator was forcing a smile with great difficulty.

“Oh, it’s been a while since friends from the American League East Division have gathered together… Wouldn’t it be nice to talk about baseball? Hahaha!”

As the chief negotiator agreed with an awkward smile, the Baltimore general manager picked up his phone with a satisfied expression.

“Oh, yeah! Tell them to come up! Yeah, to Conference Room 6 here.”

Listening to the Baltimore general manager’s story, Nicholas was inwardly filled with anticipation.

‘If it’s Tampa Bay… will General Manager Brian Spann come himself?’

Nicholas was also well aware of Brian Spann’s reputation.

He had even thought about Tampa Bay because he wanted to work under him.

He was going to meet the man with that great reputation, and he was excited as he looked at the entrance door-Knock, knock.

“Come in!”

The moment the Tampa Bay Rays’ negotiation representative appeared with the Baltimore general manager’s voice, Nicholas widened his eyes.

‘No, that guy is…’

An unexpected person was shaking hands with the Baltimore general manager.

The Tampa Bay Rays’ assistant director.