Miguel Barceló was not exactly heading to the hall of fame as his zero and six record this year was merely 3 wins shy of his 3 and 3 record this time last year. Lily took a little time this morning to figure out the pitcher who she noted has a “seriously nasty sinker ball” which Jack had conquered, and watching the tape she saw that the catcher that she appears to be replacing had hardly ever called it. “What was up with that? He so rarely called for a sinker pitch and Barceló could have thrown seventy percent sinker pitches and simply let the ground balls dominate the game, couldn’t he?”
Jack shook his head a bit and looked on at the tape before saying, “Well actually, it does not look like he pays any attention to the signals anyway. There is a fast ball up, and in comes a cutter down. Here is the signal for the sinker and it is a riding fast ball,” and then Jack looks back again and makes a strange “pffft” noise before stating, “You just do not know with those two, they really hated each other, and the language barrier really hurts …. Um … where are you going?” escaped his lips at the end as Lily stood up from the table in the film room and made her way to the door to the locker rooms.
Walking with a purpose she walks straight over to the first baseman, Jose Orasco who was sitting there in his underwear, and looked up at her, without even a look of surprise on his face. “Can you come with me for a minute, I need a Spanish translator?”
He gave her a bit of a grin before saying, “I am willing to try but I do not think that Barceló speaks Spanish. He speaks Portuguese,” and then let out a 280-pound chuckle that practically made the lockers rattle, “His old translator used to get pissed off because he can’t read any language,” and then another thunderous belly laugh came out of the huge first baseman.
“Do we have a Portuguese translator on the payroll, or had they just given up on him along the way?” which he didn’t even reply he just held up two fingers and nodded to her, “So do you think that he probably doesn’t even know what the signs are?” she said in a softer voice, which got a wink, a nod and a smile., and the three of those together means “Yes Definitely but I’m not involved,” to which Lily understood, as she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Lily knows exactly how to treat every person on the perfect social level, which is something that business and life teaches you, and baseball does not. Jose Orasco is her newest ally, and nobody else is any wiser.
“So, Jack, what are the channels I need to go through to get a Portuguese translator in here for Barceló, because I don’t think he understands any of the signals?” and then waited for Jack to answer her.
“It is up to the player to get a translator, and Barceló has never made any effort to do so. The team got him a translator last year and he spent most of his time berating the guy, so he ended up quitting of course. The team policy was that he would oversee his own translation. I think that he likes being deaf to everyone unfortunately,” which Jack then looked back and forth to see if anyone was in ear shot as he stood in the doorway to the video room and added, “He’s a total asshole Lily and the team couldn’t afford what was requested by the translators. His iron clad contract is still a problem that the team cannot get out from under from the last General Manager, and that is bad enough without factoring in how bad he pitches, and all the extra things he requires because he is a Diva.” Lily nodded at Jack before she got up again from the seat that she had just sat down at, and she walked out of the room.
“I’m looking for a Brazilian!” came echoing from Lily’s mouth for the third time as she walked amongst all the vendors that are starting to gather on Jersey street, out front of the ballpark. Most of them looking at her strange, “Come on I know one of you has got to be Brazilian!” she yells out as the vendors still look at her in a way that would be questioning her sanity.
“Ok lady, I’m a Brazilian, what the hell do you want?” one crass older man said to her as she was walking by. He was looking at her like she was crazy.
“Do you speak Portuguese?” she asked him rather off the cuff, as he laughed a bit and nodded at her, “How good are you at dealing with assholes?”
“Lady, look, I must deal with drunk Red Sox fans every damn day, I specialize in assholes. What I am not good at dealing with is people that are crazy, but fortunately for you I read a newspaper once in a while so I do know that you are Lily Franklin, so what’s you say you tell me what the hell you want and then I can tell you off, or whatever, ok?” the guy never took his eyes off of hers the whole time, and that was what Lily was looking for in his demeanor.
Lily never took her eyes from his, and then very slowly and distinctly stated “I’m here to offer you a job” … to be continued
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