In the past few years, one of the accepted open-secret in the league was the connection of Globalport Batang Pier to SMC. They were basically anointed as the fourth SMC franchise.
That all begun with the Japeth Aguilar trade. On June, 2013, Japeth was sent to Ginebra in a 4-team trade that look very iffy.
This was the deal:
Globalport Sent: Jason Deutchman, 2016 2nd round pick, 2017 2nd round pick, Japeth Aguilar
Globalport Received: Yousef Taha, Jay Washington, 2013 TNT 1st
Ginebra Sent: Elmer Espiritu, Yousef Taha
Ginebra Received: Japeth Aguilar
Petron Sent: Jay Washington
Petron Received: Jason Deutchman, 2016 Globalport 2nd, 2017 Globalport 2nd
Barako Sent: 2013 TNT 1st
Barako Received: Elmer Espiritu
In that trade, Ginebra was no doubt the big winner. And of course, Barako made money in that deal. The fact that Globalport was part of that deal, strengthened the idea that they were the 4th team of SMC.
The moment Terrence Romeo started to produced highlight reel games, a lot of the fans assumed that he was due to be sent on one of the San Miguel teams.
He was supposed to be the replacement of the injury-prone and old James Yap. Fans of the three squads were waiting if their favorite team is the lucky one to be chosen by the higher ups as the home of Terrence.
Of course, that did not happen. And the most mind-boggling thing is, they sent him to the flagship franchise of the rival conglomerate of SMC, TNT Ka-Tropa.
For me, that puts a slash to the belief that Globalport is the farm team of SMC. They were never the farm team of SMC.
In the trade above, Globalport got a great return for a very potent Japeth Aguilar who struggling and looking like a bust during his year with Batang Pier.
Maybe, they incurred some debt to SMC and they paid for it with some of the deals that they made with them. But, they never acted as the farm squad.
And with the way they are building their team, I can see a franchise who is serious about winning a crown.
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