“Are you sure that you want to do this?” Joe Girardi asked as Brian Cashman peered through the large window of Yankee Stadium, looking down below.
“I am sure.” Brian narrowed his eyebrows. He was currently studying Brett Gardner, who was paged to come into Brian’s office. During the last couple of weeks, Joe and Brian had noticed that Brett had been a little distant from his teammates and was a little startled at everything. Joe remembered overhearing a conversation between Robinson Cano, Brett Gardner, Boone Logan & David Robertson while they were eating their lunch before practice. It had something to do with their worst fear. Joe was sitting at the table across from them trying to focus on his sandwich as he heard the conversation unfold. He remembered Robinson, David & Boone unleashing their fears but when it came to Brett, he sat there and continued to chew on his sandwich. Joe knew the face Brett was making. He wasn’t going to unleash anything about what was bothering him. What could it have been that made Brett so uncomfortable during that conversation? Joe was whipped out of his thoughts when he heard a knock at the door. Brian walked over to grab the door to see a nervous Brett standing before him.
Brett knew that it must not have been good when he was told by Alex Rodriguez downstairs that Brian Cashman wanted to see him. Brett turned to see Joe sitting down, pretending to look through a brochure. Brett was a little antsy about coming into the office. It wasn’t every day that a player was called into the office of Brian Cashman. Maybe Brett was in serious trouble. Maybe he did something that he shouldn’t have done. Maybe this was going to be the talk.
“Hey Brett. Thanks for stopping by.” Brian let out a small smile. Brett tried to respond with a smile, but right now he was feeling queasy. Joe stood up from the desk and gave a smile towards his left fielder.
“Hey Gardy.” Joe motioned to a big comfy chair. “Come and have a seat. There’s something we want to discuss with you.” Brett walked slowly to the chair and took a seat. He wasn’t sure if he was going to throw up, but he made one solid rule: He wasn’t going to throw up on Brian Cashman’s carpet.
“So, what did you call the meeting about?” Brett asked softly.
“I wanted to call you because I noticed that you were a little distracted on the field.” Brian said. He walked around to his chair and slowly sat down. He knew what Brett was thinking. He probably thought that he was going to get shipped off to a different team or something. Did Brian leave that mark with everyone? “Is something bothering you?” Brian now sounded a little concerned. Brett’s eyes lit up as he realized that he wasn’t in here because he was leaving the team, but it was because he wanted to talk.
“Um, everything is fine Brian. What makes you think something is bothering me?” Brett wondered.
“Because the other day when you were talking to Robbie, Boone & D-Rob I noticed that you were a little out of it.” Joe said. “They were talking about their fears and you were just sitting there as if you didn’t want to discuss.”
“Wait…” Brett tried to piece it all together. “Did you call me in here just to talk about my feelings?”
“I told you he was as sharp as a tack.” Joe motioned to Brian. Brett wasn’t sure whether he should feel outraged, but he knew if he had an outburst he could see Free Agency in his future.
“Come on, it will be fun. Besides it will give us something to do before the game starts.” Brian said. Brian pressed a button on one of the chairs as Brett reclined backwards. Oh great, Brett thought. Brett didn’t realize that he was sitting in a reclining chair that did what Brian asked with a touch of a button. Brett eyed Brian and Joe curiously before Joe rolled over with a pen and a piece of paper.
“So, Brett.” Joe said while writing something down.
“Are those real glasses?” Brett wondered. He reached out to touch them before Joe smacked his hand back.
“No, these are not real glasses.” Joe huffily said before he continued to write. “So Brett, what is your biggest fear?” Brett raised an eyebrow while thinking for a moment.
“My biggest fear?” Brett asked. Brian and Joe looked at one another, hoping that Brett was going to say something.
“Yes, your biggest fear.” Brian nodded. Brett let out a long sigh before sitting up in the chair.
“My biggest fear is…” Brett thought for a moment while dramatically putting his head down. “…is to be traded to the Red Sox.” Brian and Joe gave a small smile. Now we are getting somewhere, they thought.
“What about the Red Sox?” Brian asked. Brett twiddled his thumbs and tried to think.
“I remember the other night that I had a really odd dream that I was traded to the Red Sox and just how it was completely terrible.” Brett sighed. Joe and Brian leaned in, hoping to get more information from him.
“So, what was the dream like?” Brian asked.
“Well, for one thing we were in the middle of a game when I was called into your office. You guys had Andruw play for me in left field. You sat me down and told me that I was going to the Boston Red Sox in a 3 way trade with the Red Sox, the Yankees & the Phillies. The Red Sox got me, the Phillies got Marco Scutaro & the Yankees had Hunter Pence. I then remembered the first day of work, when I was scheduled to go to the stadium. My car broke down, I had to take the subway and people just started jeering me because I was on the Yankees before. I reach the stadium and the first one to greet me there is Bobby Valentine. I didn’t know what to expect since I was new there.
‘Glad to see you made it here.’ Bobby told me. He then looked at his watch and motioned that I was 3 hours late. ‘If you are going to be on this damn team then you need to get here on time! Now hit the showers and get to the field!’ And just like that Bobby was gone. I had to figure out a way on how to get to the clubhouse, let alone the showers so I started walking around Fenway. I noticed Dustin Pedroia & Adrian Gonzalez walking towards the garage and I thought it would have been a great idea to follow them.
‘Hey!’ I yelled to them. ‘I’m new here and I need to figure out how to get to the clubhouse. Can you help me?’ Adrian and Dustin took one look at me and started to laugh. I didn’t know if there was something funny in what I said, but I realized they were laughing at me.
‘You want to find the clubhouse?’ Dustin sneered.
‘Follow us.’ Adrian chided. I followed them down the long hallway that looked as if it led to the dugout, but when we were at the door it turned out to be where the trash came in. Next thing I knew I was pushed inside the trash room and smelled like old 2 day old meatloaf. I was finally able to find the clubhouse but when I reached it, I first noticed that a lot of the guys were taller than me, and I mean huge. When I walked over to the locker which was next to David Ortiz, he turned to me and let out a long laugh.
‘Hey guys, check out the short fry!’ Everyone soon turned to laugh at me. Jacoby Ellsbury came behind me and he started to spray some of his cologne spray on me to indicate how I smelt like trash. It also didn’t help when they called me washed up New York trash either.
It was a couple of hours later and we were soon at the game. The game was against the Yankees and when I took one long look at the people in the dugout, I knew that I missed Yankee Stadium, I missed being managed under Joe and I missed my friends. I took a look at the Red Sox dugout and everyone was crammed on one side of the dugout with me all by myself at the other end. No one spoke to me, they all jeered me and they told me that I should go back to New York because there was no room for me on the team. All of the teasing had gotten to be enough, so for the first time since I had got there, I began to cry. I thought I was going to be able to win them over with my personality and my speed but I just realized that the Red Sox weren’t exactly as nice as I had hoped it would be.” Brett finally finished his story and looked as if there were tears streaming down his face. Brian and Joe didn’t know what to say about the story. It was certainly a little sad that Brett was treated like dirt, but they soon realized that maybe they shouldn’t have tried to pressure Brett into saying what was on his mind. Brian took a napkin from the table and handed it over to Brett so that he could dry his eyes.
“Brett, that did seem a little traumatic…even for a dream.” Brian tried to sound as sympathetic as he could.
“Could I just ask a simple question?” Joe wondered.
“What?” Brett and Brian quietly asked.
“Did they make fun of your head?” Joe wondered. Brett’s eyes turned wide and he was no longer crying. He was just now in complete shock.
“What?!” Brett exclaimed.
“Have you seen your head?” Joe said. “It took me a while to find a batting helmet for your head.”
“Joe.” Brian said sternly. Joe sat quiet and didn’t say much. Brian turned his attention to Brett as he sighed. “Just remember that it was just a dream. We all have things that we are afraid of. I’m afraid of losing my job and Joe is afraid that the world might end in 2012.”
“I didn’t say it would, I said it could happen.” Joe emphasized. “If it’s not going to happen then why is there no 2013 on the Mayan calendar.”
“Anyway.” Brian turned back to Brett, ignoring Joe. “I won’t trade you to the Red Sox if it makes you uncomfortable. Being a part of a team is like being a part of a family and I don’t want you to be a part of a family that will shun you in the dugout or throw you in the garbage.” Brett’s face turned into a relaxed smile as Brian gave him a small pep talk. “Was that all that was bothering you?” Brett nodded his head quickly as he got up from the chair. “All right, get back to work now.” Brian gave Brett a soft smile as Brett opened the door.
“Hey Brian.” Brett turned back around. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” Brian said. Brett closed the door leaving Brian to his thoughts. Brian realized that Joe was still there contemplating whether there would be a 2013 which gave Brian the perfect time to send Joe to get him some coffee. Having Joe as the manager had to be a good perk, didn’t it?
Downstairs, Brett entered the clubhouse to find all of his teammates starring back at him. Brett let out a wide smile as he walked to his locker whistling.
“Is everything okay dude?” Mark Teixeira asked with an amused smile on his face.
“Yeah, you seem too happy.” David smiled playfully at his friend.
“I’m good. I just had a good talk with Brian and Joe.” Brett shrugged his shoulders while getting a towel.
“What did you talk about?” Alex asked.
“Yeah, what was it?” Robinson wondered. Brett looked at his teammates with a smile as he sat down at one of the clubhouse seats.
“I just told Brian and Joe a story.” Brett smiled.
“Was it the one about how you didn’t want to be traded to the Red Sox?” Boone wondered. Brett nodded his head while the other Yankees laughed.
“Now all you have to do is come up with a sob story of how not to get traded to the other 29 teams in the league.” Robinson smiled.
“Yep, I do now. And the water works really helped.” Brett smiled. The team turned to one another with a smile as they started heading out of the room. Brett turned his head to Robinson & Mark as they were about to leave the room. “Hey guys?” Robinson and Mark turned right around as soon as they heard Brett calling them. “You wouldn’t really throw me in the garbage or make me sit by myself in the dugout would you?” Brett wondered. Robinson and Mark gave Brett a small smile while shaking their heads.
“No way dude!” Robinson laughed.
“You’re our friend. Now come on, let’s go practice.” Mark threw Brett the glove from across the room as Brett smiled.
“All right then.” Brett said with a laugh. As Brett started to head up the clubhouse stairs, Robinson and Mark were a little curious as to what Brett’s next story was going to be.
“So what is going to happen in your next story?” Robinson wondered.
“Is it going to be about the Blue Jays and how Jose Bautista threatens to hit you 400ft into right field?” Mark asked with excitement.
“Or maybe the Philadelphia Phillies where Cliff Lee threatens to use you as a baseball during the next game?” Robinson asked.
“I guess we’ll find out when I have to tell Brian the next story.” Brett shrugged. The two teammates hurried up the stairs behind him while whispering new ideas. They couldn’t let Brian hear the new ideas before Brett had a chance to tell a sob story, now could they?