Dropped Third Strike (Portland Pioneers #1) by Micah K Chaplin Page A

future.
    After a lap through the Fan Fest stations, Kate returned to her office. The upper level offices were silent, except for the humming from the heat vents as she sat back down at her desk. She decided to keep the silence and left her iPod off as she opened the trade wire web site and her notes. She began to peruse the listings for catchers who might be available to split duties with Ramirez. There were a few free agents with potential, and with camp starting in a few weeks, they might be willing to take lower dollars just to have work. It was a workable option, but Kate would prefer to work out some sort of trade for a catcher. The Pioneers had some decent chips in the farm system that might be attractive enough to another club. She wrote down a few names as well as their key stats and began assigning numbers to prioritize the list. After looking over the list, she picked up the phone to call Ed Sampson, the GM in possession of her first choice. Even though it was Saturday, GMs were never really off-duty. He answered on the third ring, and while he didn’t laugh at her initial offer, he didn’t accept it either.
    “You’ll have to do better than that if you want Jamison,” Ed said.
    He named two minor leaguers and it was Kate’s turn to scoff. He wanted two of the top prospects in the game. She had labeled the two as untouchable, which basically meant they were staying put unless she could swap them for a big fish. The catcher she was asking about was a medium-sized fish at best.
    “You and I both know that’s not happening,” she said.
    “Well, I had to try,” Ed said.
    “Same here,” Kate said. “I knew prying Jamison away would be a long shot, but I had to at least make an attempt.”
    “Yep, I get it, and I appreciate the interest,” he said. “Good luck finding a catcher. There aren’t a lot of great options out there. Some good defense, but shaky offense. Then again, maybe your new hitting coach can find a gem in there somewhere.”
    “Yeah, maybe,” Kate said.
    “That was a good pick-up, by the way,” he said. “The guy’s had it rough lately, but I think he’s still got some good in him.”
    “I do too, obviously,” Kate said. “Thanks for the vote of confidence though.”
    She hung up with Ed and made a few more calls, but no one else was willing to deal with her at the moment either. Each of them made a comment on her hire of Reid Benjamin, which wasn’t surprising but was definitely encouraging. Maybe the Mets had given up on Reid, but it was clear other GMs still saw him as somewhat of a threat. She was anxious to see how that would pan out in the weeks and months ahead.
    As she hung up with the fourth GM she’d called, her stomach growled. She looked at the clock and realized it was almost two. She still didn’t have an answer to their catching dilemma, but she needed to get something to eat. She should probably check in on Fan Fest as well.
    She shut down her computer and locked up her office before heading down to the main concourse, which was alive with people decked out in Pioneers gear milling between stations, chatting about the players they’d just seen and those they hoped to see. Kate had tried to convince all players to attend Fan Fest, but it wasn’t required, and some of them had other off-season obligations. Fortunately, many of the players in her organization understood the importance of interacting with fans, and they genuinely seemed to enjoy it. She bought a sandwich at a concession stand and ate it while she continued her rounds. As she passed an autograph table, she caught a glimpse of Ian Davis posing for a playful photo with a teenage boy. The youngster’s grin could not have been bigger, and the fans right behind him in line were laughing and enjoying the moment as well. At the next table, Justin Tanner was talking to a young girl who declared very loudly that she wanted to play baseball like him instead of softball. Kate continued on, eventually making