August 18, 2053
by Banjo Jackson
Nashville, TN
The Bluebirds starting pitchers have a 4.91 ERA this season – good for 12th in the Frick League. With the trade deadline approaching, the logical course of action would be shoring up the rotation with some sort of improvement. Instead the Bluebirds added another left-handed power hitter without a ton of range to man the outfield. The Birds received slugger Felipe Vega from the Twin Cities River Monsters in exchange for minor leaguer Devayana Koganti. The Monsters will also retain half of the salary owed to Vega through 2055 and the Bluebirds will be responsible for his 2056 team option.
LF Felipe Vega
“While our pitching needs to be addressed, we didn’t see any viable options after missing out on Bernie,” said GM Chad Nason. “But we have the utmost faith in our staff and know they’re capable of much more. Vega is a former Zimmer award winner and should be an upgrade defensively, helping the staff in the process. But aside from his talent on the field, he has great intangibles and we hope he can light a fire under our team’s butt. His leadership is undervalued and we hope we can help him get the only thing missing from his resume – a Monty.”
Vega will likely plug into left field at the end of the month when he is recovered from a fractured finger, leaving Jorge Gutiérrez and rookie Roger Kidd. Vega is a career .941 OPS hitter and continues to play well through his age 34 season slashing .295/.361./.504. While Gutiérrez began the season on fire, he has slowed down the past couple months while The Kidd has been ripping the cover off the ball since he call-up. Kidd is slashing .318/.356/.643 this season and was named FL Rookie of the Month is July, but is not much more than a warm body in the outfield. Martin Hemming could also be a starting lineup casualty, though he is a better fielder than Kidd and is hitting .332 vs RHP this season.
Koganti shows tremendous power, but is mediocre at everything else he does. If he can show improvement in one or two areas then he will become one of the league’s best hitters. The Bluebirds acquired him from El Paso in exchange for RP Robinson Valdez in 2050 and was ranked as high as the #63 BBA prospect last year.
The Bluebirds lineup looks to be stronger regardless of who gets relegated to the bench. Whether or not the strategy nets the team more wins remains to be seen, but at least there is some activity after a stale season of mediocrity. Hopefully more moves are on the way as the Bluebirds are barely clinging onto the final wildcard spot despite being predicted to win 100 games.
