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Young CF Ready?
August 11, 2043: Yellow Springs – The Yellow Springs front off ice made no real bones about the idea they’d like young Arvin Duggan to break camp with the parent team this spring. Alas, a rugged training camp resulted in him being sent to Indianapolis, instead, where he promptly began to show exactly why that decision was made.
Projected as a defensive star, Duggan only managed a .191/.252/.318 line with the Downforce in April, at which point hitting coach Emilio “Sunshine” Rodriguez began some intensive, prime-grade tutoring.
“I told him he’d better start hitting or he was going back to AA in Santa Clara,” Rodriguez said.
The cajoling helped, but not much. He ended May with a .629 OPS. June (.721 OPS) and July (.767), however, have seen that progression continue, and with that optimism comes conversation about whether it should be time to make the move. Duggan’s defense has been rock solid all year, and some suggest that the moment he’s installed into the Nine’s lineup, the club will have Zimmer winners at all four slots up the middle in Jesus Rodriguez 9paired with platoonmate Bruce McKinley), Luis Pena, Dong-po Thum, and, of course, Duggan himself.
“It’s a group that makes my heart sing,” said rotation ace and two-time Nebraska winner Carlos Valle.
SEDICKI TO MOVE ON?
Admittedly, it would be unusual for a team sitting in the dominating position the Nine find themselves in to make a deal that transported a member of its starting lineup out of Dodge, but rumor is that the club has approached teams about their interest in veteran center fielder Abdeljilill Sediki. Sediki has been with the team since being acquired prior to the 2039 season, and has notched 10.9 WAR during that time—most of it coming in those first three seasons.
“Abdeljillill is a strong player for us, and we’re happy to have him on our ball club right now,” said GM Ron Collins. “I don’t see we need to be in any hurry.”
That said, pundits point out that, while Sediki has still created value, at 26 he seems to have lost a step in the field, and pitchers seem to have found ways to exploit him over the past two seasons. As a result, he’s gone from a 3 WAR player to a 1WAR guy, as the baseball gurus say. Add this to the fact that the team has already traded Curt Phillips away this year, and that Sediki’s arbitration cash could be used for other purposes, well … you can feel free to make your own determination about his availability.
