Off Topic
Molina Unpacks
April 4, 2060: Pasco – True as rain, 38-year-old pitcher Iván Molina completed the Rule 5 spring migration cycle today, stepping off the bus (because Sacramento is a cheap-assed outfit if ever there was one) and depositing his suitcase back at AAA Pasco’s clubhouse where he will watch the club take on the Havana Pelicans this week. Molina was one of three players selected from the club (the others being Roger Sommerville by Calgary, and Tomas Franco by Valencia), but is the first to come back.
“Oh, they’ll all be here right along,” said Platypus clubhouse manager Horace McGree as he rubbed his balding pate. “If I seen it once I seen it a hundret times. Guys leave thinking they’s gonna get a real chance, then come back to find their place here is gone, too. It’s right sad. ‘Specially for the older guys trying to chase the dream that one more time.”
One Down
Two to GoMolina thinks he still has it, though. And the numbers almost back that up. He threw 19 innings of 3.32 ERA baseball at Bikini’s AAA club in 2060, striking out 14 hitters. He won three, lost one, and recorded a save.
“I gotta be able to help someone,” he mumbled as he watched the guys warming up.
The problem, of course, is once Molina’s spot was gone in Pasco, they filled in around him. Now the veteran is left sitting on the DFA list and wishing harm on a fellow pitcher in hopes a roster spot opens up. It’s not a place anyone wants to be. Molina, sitting in the stands, waves at fans and signs cards and programs for a steady stream of autograph seekers. But he’s feeling the pain. And as he sits here and scans the field he feels the presence of the two empty lockers by his, too. Franco’s and Sommerville’s. Neither of whom has yet pitched for their “new” teams, though both are still on the Stars and Pioneer’s rosters.
For how long, though?
Probably not long. Molina shakes his sullen head. “I’m praying for them,” he whispers when asked. “Don’t want no one to go through this.”
And yet, it’s almost a certainty they will. This is what Rule 5 is, after all. Sure, a few bits of sea glass wind up clinging to the beach, but the tide that goes out has a strong tendency to some back in.
Right as dirt. True as rain.
April 4, 2060: Pasco – True as rain, 38-year-old pitcher Iván Molina completed the Rule 5 spring migration cycle today, stepping off the bus (because Sacramento is a cheap-assed outfit if ever there was one) and depositing his suitcase back at AAA Pasco’s clubhouse where he will watch the club take on the Havana Pelicans this week. Molina was one of three players selected from the club (the others being Roger Sommerville by Calgary, and Tomas Franco by Valencia), but is the first to come back.
“Oh, they’ll all be here right along,” said Platypus clubhouse manager Horace McGree as he rubbed his balding pate. “If I seen it once I seen it a hundret times. Guys leave thinking they’s gonna get a real chance, then come back to find their place here is gone, too. It’s right sad. ‘Specially for the older guys trying to chase the dream that one more time.”
One Down
Two to Go
“I gotta be able to help someone,” he mumbled as he watched the guys warming up.
The problem, of course, is once Molina’s spot was gone in Pasco, they filled in around him. Now the veteran is left sitting on the DFA list and wishing harm on a fellow pitcher in hopes a roster spot opens up. It’s not a place anyone wants to be. Molina, sitting in the stands, waves at fans and signs cards and programs for a steady stream of autograph seekers. But he’s feeling the pain. And as he sits here and scans the field he feels the presence of the two empty lockers by his, too. Franco’s and Sommerville’s. Neither of whom has yet pitched for their “new” teams, though both are still on the Stars and Pioneer’s rosters.
For how long, though?
Probably not long. Molina shakes his sullen head. “I’m praying for them,” he whispers when asked. “Don’t want no one to go through this.”
And yet, it’s almost a certainty they will. This is what Rule 5 is, after all. Sure, a few bits of sea glass wind up clinging to the beach, but the tide that goes out has a strong tendency to some back in.
Right as dirt. True as rain.