Louisville's main off-season, free-agent signing, thirty-five year-old Colombian third baseman,
Diego Moreno, spent late February and early March making Louisville GM Hopkins look like, well...a Genius. Moreno went two for four against the mighty USA, he went two for four against eventual inaugural WBC Champions, Dominican, he went two for four against the plucky Canucks. Moreno outshone every third baseman at the WBC, including guys like, the USA's
Mark Dempsey, the Dominican's
Gerardo Guzman, the Canadian's
Jim Tremblett. He won the Platinum Stick at third base for the WBC.
Then the real games started. You know, the ones these bums actually get paid for.
"I figured Diego was shit in 2030 because he played in Vancouver's ridiculous park all season,"grimaced the Genius,"And his WBC performance seemed to confirm that belief. But sometimes, thirty-five year-old's just plain suck because they're just too damn old."
"We grabbed Moreno partly because he had the reputation of being quite the spark-plug, and all the fans around the league just love him. We thought he'd be just the thing to stave off the Championship hangover for the mighty Sluggers. And I thought that he'd fill in nicely for that third base disaster,
Baba Lue, (who self destructed for no apparent reason). But some where between March and April, Diego lost that spark and became just a plug."
Moreno was shipped off to Brooklyn with underwhelming Rule V selection, lefty
Larry Hernandez. Hernandez has a tantalizingly array of pitches that he throws at blinding speed. The big kid just couldn't put it all together for the Sluggers.
"If we were a Brooklyn level team, we'd love to have Hernandez,"frowned Genius,"But Louisville is in the business of winning, not in the business of developing wild left wing nuts."
In return, the mighty Sluggers received well-traveled, well-respected bullpen righty,
Toxin Durand.
"As a rule,"continued The Genius,"I just don't like Frenchmen...but I guess I can put up with another one for a couple of months, if it means another championship. Him and that damn
Garcia can go primp at each-other, now. 'Flex' and 'Toxin'...My God...who names these frogs?"