Who Dares, Wins (A Trip to the IL)
05/19/2052
We take a look at another possible Pope in the making, Rich Dares. Louisville brought Canadian Dares into their fold back in 2044 as an international scouting discovery. So he was essentially found money for the Sluggers.
A naturally right-handed switch hitter, Dares had a future value of 45 as a shortstop in the earliest scouting report we have access to (from September, 2044). With potential ratings of 7/2/5 at the time he was drafted. The kind of scouting discovery that makes the whole international complex thing worthwhile.
Dares has been around. Louisville moved him Las Vegas in the Otto Altaner trade in February of 2045. The Hustlers later traded him to Nashville in April of '46, part of a bushel-full of players swapped for Kidane Ata. Nashville then passed him on to Charlotte in December of that same year in exchange for a pretty nice haul of Marvin Isworth, Gamal bin Badr, and Jon Brown. The Cougars had him for two full seasons before shipping Dares to Sacramento in November of '48 for Arthur Daniel.
This is what his official scouting report currently has to say about him as a second base prospect:
Not much to quibble with here. Speed is certainly plus (this despite frequent lower body injury), and his 10.8 ZR at second base last year in AAA is promising. Hit tool has kept his average above .300 at that level last season as well. He turns 24 later this summer and looks to be largely a finished product. It does seem like the Popes might want to make a move of some kind (either up, or out via trade) sooner rather than later. Dares did get an audition with the big club last season, and unfortunately completely wilted at the plate, slashing .095/.189/.127 in 75 plate appearances, a -12 OPS+.[Dares] provides elite defensive value. His pure speed grades out as plus. He has a good swing. He won't likely set records, but could become a solid contact hitter. Dares should be an average big leaguer.
Scouting reports for Dares haven't really moved much, never wavering from that 7/2/5 potential at the plate. Future value peaked at 55 as late as last August. Current future value is a 50. He cracked the Top 100 last season, and is currently ranked as the #99 prospect, though he'll likely fall out of the Top 100 when this year's draftees are added to the mix.
The biggest obstacle to trading Dares again may be his health. He is currently on the IL with a sprained knee. Dares's knees are in bad shape. He has sprained the right knee four times since '48 (twice this year), and the left knee three times. The patterns are not very promising, and this season his IL time can be counted in months rather than days or weeks. Injury history would not appear to augur a long career and his injury proneness is currently reckoned as 'Fragile', which may be generous.
And I guess we should talk about the gout, which I thought was a condition that afflicted fifty-somethings with especially rich diets, not twenty-something elite athletes, but Dares did in fact miss 3 days in '49 with gout, at the ripe old age of 21. He hasn't had a flare-up since, but that is darned peculiar.