[AgPete]

From: The Brady Brothers Agent
To: Mr. and Mrs. Brady
RE: 2003 Summary

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Brady,

I am happy to inform you that all four of your sons had impressive seasons in 2003 and two of them are even considered among baseball's rising stars! I am excited about next season and expect to grab some nice contracts through arbitration! Please allow me to tell you about each boy's season:

Bob - As you know, Bob had no problem winning a spot on the Kansas City rotation this spring. Poor Bob, he wants to win so bad but his team was 68-94 this year and 4th in the AL Central. Bob should be proud though of his accomplishments. Even though he was fifth in the rotation, he had better numbers than most of his peers. Bob went 12-10 with a 4.59 ERA. He still isn't much of a strikeout pitcher with only 107 but we're working on that! Bob has been lucky and seems to be injury free. With the exception of some minor shoulder problems that forced him to miss a start in August, he has been very healthy. Judging by his competition, Bob should be the ace of the Royals staff in no time at all. Especially if he has more games like the 2-hit shutout he pitched against the Dodgers. If Bob can get some star power I'm going to lobby Kansas City to get rid of their pitching coach who Bob complains about as being "very average."

Denny - Denny shocked the world and won a spot on Arizona's starting rotation this spring. I don't think the vets up there liked him though because he was demoted back to AAA even with an ERA close to 4.00. I think your son was a victim of talent saturation because Arizona promoted another promising young pitcher in his place. Luckily, the Cincinnati Reds decided to save Denny. If the Diamondbacks were too dumb to realize the kind of pitcher they had, the Reds sure weren't because they traded for him and immediately gave him back a spot on a pro team starting rotation. Denny pitched pretty good for someone who had just switched teams and it was fun having him in the same division as his brother Mickey on the Cubs. I don't know what Cincinnati's problem is though because they decided to trade Denny for a veteran pitcher on Cleveland and your son was once again sent packing. Considering it was a new league, Denny played pretty well for the Indians and Denny secretly confided in me that they have a 'good' pitching coach that will be able to help him more than the last two teams' coaches. It will be fun watching Bob and Denny pitching against each other in AL Central competition next year. Poor Denny, all three of his teams were in the basement this year but I don't know how much that bothers him. An inflamed bicep tendom has been bothering Denny at the end of the season and he hasn't been able to start on a regular basis but considering what he did on three teams (24 GS, 9-8, 4.39 ERA, 96 K's), I think I'll be able to tell Cleveland next year, "Money talks and," well, you get the idea.

Mickey - You should be very proud of Mickey. He is one of baseball's brighest stars! I knew that 'excellent' hitting coach on the Cubs would do him some good. The Mick led his team in batting average and RBIs this year, VERY impressive considering the limited major league experience he's had. Mickey finished the year with a .312 AVG, 28 HR and 106 RBI! The Cubs already have so much faith in the young lad, they usually bat him 3rd or 5th in the lineup. If everything goes right and Mickey remains as injury free as he is now, I'm going to get him some serious buckeroos in future contracts! Mickey even told me how excited he was that the Cubs got hot at the end of the year and managed to finish above .500 at 82-80. The future is bright for Mickey!

Roger - I tell you what, the press just loves this Brady Brother story. Roger helped add fuel to the fire in Baltimore because he came out on fire just like Mickey. After securing himself a spot in spring training, Roger matched Mickey in stats all year long and even won Player of the Month in September! Roger told me that his hitting coach leaves a lot ot be desired and maybe that's true because the team only finished 71-91 but no one faults Roger for the poor showing. He batted .310 with 23 HR, 96 RBI and 89 RUN. He even lead the team in RBIs this year! The Orioles have such high hopes for Roger they're already batting him cleanup against left-handed pitchers! Your son is good at giving me an "Aw Shucks" attitude about his new popularity but I know this boy will be signing some nice contracts in the future!