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April 9th
The team just arrived in Pittsburgh, going to take the field against the Hardhats in about eight hours. I'm going to go back over these notes I have on our infield guys. Need to start coming up with options here... I hate to start already panicking, but I have no experience and I'm in way over my head... sounds like a good time to panic to me....
Starting infield
1B Michael "No Nickname" Jackson / 26 years old
Under contract for 1 year @ $715k, arbitration eligible (est $1.0m)
Originally drafted by Richmond, the Riptide organization gave up on Jacko after only one season. We snatched him up and he has developed into an All-Star at 1B. He has average .300 and 30HR the last three seasons and will likely demand a decent amount of money to lock him long term.
2B Edmund Warren / 33 years old
Under contract for 3 years @ $760k, $900k, $1.04m
Another bad contract that Foster handed out towards the end. I can't imagine paying this guy $1m when he's 36. He might end up being passable for this season, but we might have to try and get something for him while he still has some value. We have some younger and/or cheaper guys on the bench that won't be much of a drop off in production.
SS Alberto Vazquez / 28 years old
Under contract for 4 years @ $350k, $700k, $1.00m, $1.30m
Continuing on with the bad contract theme... Neither Lerma or Foster ever listened to me... I told them this guy was never going to be worth one million bucks per season. He had one good season at the plate in a contract year and totally cashed in. Defensively, he's awful at SS and slightly better than awful at 2B. Another guy that should not fit into our long term plans, assuming we aren't stuck with this albatross of a contract.
3B Don "Tricky" Nixon / 27 years old
Under contract for 1 year @ $595k
The absolute gold standard for consistency... In five seasons, Don has never batted above .247 and he's never batted below .239... Not great, but at least you know what you're getting with him. He's also won three of the last four Allstate You're In Good Hands Outstanding Fielder of the Year presented by Old Spice Awards at 3B. (Don't worry, I'll call it the Gold Glove from now on, no freaking way I'm going to bother with an acronym for that hot mess!). Most likely will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. Played primarily SS in the minors, will never be a gold glove guy in the middle infield, but probably still has good enough tools to convert back if required.
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