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THREE
SAWYER
MY PLANE IS DELAYED and I feel as if I’ve been sitting in this terminal all day.
Which is completely true.
There's a monsoon alert at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix which is preventing the flight my plane is supposed to start from, to arrive- as it’s still sitting on the tarmac.
My phone vibrates with a text from my boss, Mr. Lyons.
Lyons: we're canceling your flight and a car is coming to pick you up.
Me: ugh. I hate driving that far by myself.
Lyons: you don’t have to. I need to get to AZ for a last-minute family thing, so lucky u
Me: Lucky me
I groan and put my laptop away as my phone buzzes again.While my boss is a nice guy, I’m not too excited to be stuck in the car with him for six hours.
Him: pulling into the terminal right now.
I grab my stuff and head down to the roadside pick-up and wait for my boss to arrive with my chariot.
Halfway thru the trip, we stop in Dateland and grab milkshakes and a pizza from the new addition to the location of Pizza Hut.
As we are enjoying our meal, I note that my boss is looking at me strangely.
“What? Do I have something on my face?" I ask.
"I heard some chatter, not sure how true it is, but news just broke out this morning. You’re not acting as if you know it already, so I’m contemplating whether or not I should say anything,” he says dryly.
"What is it?" I ask hesitantly suddenly nervous.
"Has Gunnar mentioned anything about a potential trade?"
That catches my attention.
I finish chewing the bit of my pizza and set down the rest of it.
"I'm sorry, what?" I lean in after a moment to make sure that I heard him right.
"Shit." he says.
"Yeah, shit. Please fill me in." I plead.
"It’s just chatter, but Gun is a free agent, right? He only signed on for a three-year contract - his contract is reviewed annually - so basically, he can go anywhere. Some big teams want him, so management is quietly discussing his options. He’s a type-A free agent, so he’s likely going to get some good offers.”
“Apparently not quite enough. Wouldn’t he be involved in these conversations?” I ask.
“He’s currently on the 40-man roster for the team, and he can request to be released at any time or at the end of the season.” Mr. Lyons continues.
“Wouldn’t that mean he would go down to the minors if traded in the rule 5 draft?” I ask, remembering reading up on baseball when I first started working with the agency.
“That’s a rule for the minor league mainly. But since Gun is on the 40-man roster, the team has to keep him abreast of these kinds of conversations.”
“So, then why is this chatter without confirmation?” I ask.
