[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2081, The Plot Thickens
Antonio Battle, gone.

Ellis McAlister, hold out ended. Gone in 2082.

Walt Blair, unwilling to sign a better deal than requesting (when will these football players get rid of these incompetent player agents who are too blind to see that a $39M contract with a $20M bonus is significantly better than a $39M contract with a $9M bonus?)

We've signed a bunch of undrafted rookies (QB Frank Graul, TE Gavin Stern, P Roosevelt Shaw, DE Ezekiel Wylie, CB Frankie Youngblood, S Phil Harvey), of whom some might not survive the roster cut waves.

Training camp report is in. Rookies FB Cochrane, C Kasowski, DE Wylie, LB Stokes, CB K. Hitchcock, CB Poloski, S Harvey, as well as second-year pro's C Pearson, K Arnold, DE Kemp and DT Shrader, these 11 guys all received "good progress" grades by my staff. We'll have to see where they stand in two days, when they'll be asked to re-grade the guys after the first couple of exhibition games.

All in all, the loss of Battle was a bummer, but seemed inevitable. The quickly ended hold out by McAlister was sad, but so be it. A starting quality quarterback, he deserves that money. We've actually attempted to trade McAlister for another team's holding out quarterback, but that opportunity fell when Merchantmen management (me) decided to stay away from the laptop for a bunch of hours.

Otherwise, I remain far from optimistic about the upcoming season.