Free Agency Continues
Rule 5 – Past and Present
By Khepri Quraishi, Egypt Today Sports
January 1, 2049
Hope you had a Merry Christmas or whatever you celebrate. And Happy New Year!
Cairo signed a couple of minor league free agents. Nothing really worth reporting here.
2049 Rule 5 Draft
Cairo was a minor player in the Rule 5 Draft this year. No players were lost to other teams. No surprise there. The Pharaohs did draft relief pitcher Carlos Campos from Bucharest. Campos has great stuff and decent enough control although his movement is barely adequate if that. He has never played above AA and pitching in the UMEBA may be a challenge for him. But Cairo is desperate for good relievers, so nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Rule 5 History
Here’s how Cairo has done with the Rule 5 Draft. “It’s not my thing”, says GM Joe Geoghegan. “But you can’t knock success.”
In 2047 former GM Woody Donahue was still in charge at Rule 5 Draft day. As I recall, he drafted eight guys. Yikes! But it worked out well. Six were returned to their former team, but Cairo ended up with two winners:
- Eliseu Satino was drafted from Baghdad where he was languishing in the minors. He last played major league ball in the BBA with Charm City in 2044. With Cairo he played left field in 2047 where he was a defensive liability. But he hit .299, knocked in 94 runs, and led the league in doubles with 60, a fairly phenomenal number. It was no fluke. In 2048 he upped his game: .315 with 96 RBIs and 64 doubles. And he moved to DH where his fielding ceased to be a liability. BIG WIN!
- Quintin Trewartha was drafted from Bucharest where he hit .252 in AAA in 2046. He was plugged in at shortstop for Cairo, and after a slow start, he ended up hitting .263 (2.0 WAR) and won the Bancroft Great Glove at shortstop with a brilliant 16.3 zone rating. In 2048 he missed three weeks with an injury, but he improved his offense to .294 and his WAR to 2.8 as he continued to field brilliantly despite not repeating for the Great Glove award. BIG WIN AGAIN!
- Russian émigré German Evdakov was drafted from Beirut despite just having ten games experience in AA after four season in A ball. Evdakov was in the pen for awhile, but made the rotation and did OK. He was 2-1 out of the pen and 5-3 as a starter. He had a WAR of 2.0. He’s still just 23, so he might just improve some more. SOLID PICKUP!
- Ugandan Fassil Maundu
was drafted from Jerusalem despite never appearing above AA ball. He finished 6-3, but with a disappointing 6.87 ERA. He’ll have to improve to keep his job, but he’s only 24. Mon Dieu! JURY STILL OUT!
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