So here's what happened...
We have a once-proud franchise, one that had been scuffling on the margins of irrelevance for more than a decade despite the presence on their playing roster of some truly outstanding players. All else having failed, team ownership decided to entrust the team to a hometown boy. It's an internal promotion - the new guy had been an assistant to the outgoing general manager. The new GM slowly assembles the talent required to make this team a contender. There are setbacks along the way - it took a few years to find the right manager, there were some trades that didn't work out, there were some unique issues with team ownership.