This was originally published in The Athletic.
Iâ donâtâ know much about whatâ weâll be doing inâ 2025. In fact, Iâ reallyâ donât evenâ wantâ toââ think about it.
2025, for a child of the â80s and â90s like me, still seems like more of a futuristic concept than a rapidly approaching quarter-pole of the 21st Century. I remember doing a school project in the third grade about what life would be like in 2025. It included flying cars, casual trips to faraway space colonies, time travel and baseball-playing robots. This was in 1985, which seems too much like it just happened last week for me to wrap my brain around what life will really be like when weâre midway through the next decade.
I do know, though, what Nick Senzel will be doing in 2025, or I can at least narrow down what heâll be doing six years from now. Heâll either be still playing for the Cincinnati Reds as part of a lucrative contract that heâd signed many years earlier or for any number of potential reasons, the Reds will have moved on from Senzel, meaning that will be doing something else, maybe playing for another team. Perhaps, I guess, possibly even watching the robot that replaced him.
It seems a little silly to be dwelling on what Senzel will be doing in 2025, but here we are anyway. It helps that the Reds, as interesting as they should be once the season begins, really donât have much in the way of major storylines to follow as spring training progresses. For a team thatâs expected at best to finish somewhere in the vicinity of average, there arenât that many things that need to be sorted out in Arizona. The starting rotation is set and we pretty much know which bodies the more frequently used arms in the bullpen will be attached to. Even if we donât know many specifics about David Bellâs ideal batting order or the way heâll handle playing time at the corner outfield positions, or who the clubâs complete list of reserves will be, there arenât that many macro items that need to be settled.
But the Nick Senzel Thing is a thing. Put him on the Opening Day roster, start Senzelâs service time clock and instantly begin inching toward things like arbitration and later, free agency. Or stash him in Louisville and maybe buy an extra year to delay his free agency, keeping him here â if heâs good â through 2025.
To read the entire piece, go to The Athletic.