December 7th, 2035
Offen Sichtlich der Kunstgriff
This gentleman's name is Rich Ayers. If you've never heard of him, well, he's been playing in Hawaii. So .. um .. look, let's just not go there. He had a really nice 2032 season, when he was an all-star and won a Crickett! He's been kind of tending down since though. Last year, eh .. okay. This is hard to get excited about, even for us Offies. Last year is probably why Ayers took a contract that only guarantees him 1.7 million, with a couple team options after that.
I'd imagine the team expects to use Ayers in a platoon role. Which is kind of neat! Because this potentially gives the Crusaders TWO separate outfields. Robson, Cuervo, and Flynn versus righties, and Fernandez, Ayers, and Kazarov versus lefties. Neat! The Crusaders have to replace some of the production from the right side of the plate they lost when Watson retired, and Ayers should help with that. Good deal. Okay, getting excited again.
On the other hand, I haven't seen a thing about acquiring a left handed reliever. There doesn't seem to be much available after the elite, expensive guys. And we still need a right handed infielder, unless we're going to see more out of Rodrigo Estrada and Mark Rich than anyone should want to .. well, except maybe their loved ones ... ahem .. I'm sure they're fine ballplayers. Moving on! I'd have to think a right handed middle infielder is pretty high on the Crusaders list at this point. To be continued!
