Kenny Hates Prospects

What are your keys to success this season? Mine are: 1. 5th starter - As I see it, Colon and Contreras can only be counted on to combine for one spot for a whole season. Someone else, or some combination of others, has to step up and throw near .500 baseball. 2. Long relief - Because of #1, and because Danks had trouble working deep into games last year, we need someone to take the ball in the 5th and 6th innings more often and we need someone to keep the back end of the pen rested. We have a luxury with Richard and Thornton from the left side and Jenks, Linebrink, and Dotel from the right side, but none of that is going to matter if they're being overworked. If we don't have a capable LR then the whole pen is going to fail. 3. Defense in CF - If Anderson or an equally capable defender to be acquired later is not out there all the time then this team is in serious trouble. No more of this grinder bulls***. Put a guy out there that is going to catch the ball and keep runners from advancing. 4. Defense at 3B - Fields needs to make the basic plays, simple as that. He's not going to be Crede or Ventura who have kind of spoiled Sox fans over recent years with their great defense, but he needs to keep his head in the game at all times and take his time to glove the ball and make a good throw, especially against Minnesota and Kansas City who will both test him a LOT, the Twins especially. Don't think that Gardenhire isn't planning on giving Josh a good at workout at the hot corner. 5. Quentin - The lineup revolves around him now. He needs to be fully healthy and hit for power like last year in order to keep the rest of the sluggers as effective as possible. Thome goes into long slumps to open the season; Paulie is hopefully healthy, but is coming off of two bad years; Dye has been great but you never know with his age. While all three of Paulie, Dye, and Thome are great #3-4 hitters for parts of a season, Quentin is the only man that can fit that role from bell to bell and we need him to do it. If we check out in all 5 areas I think we win the division. Getz will be solid if he's healthy and Beckham and Nix both act as insurance. We're not going to have trouble scoring runs, the back end of our pen is very good on paper, and our top three starters are good enough plus Colon and Contreras should combine to pitch the innings of at least one solid fourth starter. The lead off issue is about as important to this team as the backup catcher issue so long as we have the right player in CF. Getz should lead off and do fine, and if not, someone else will. We won the division last year with OC up there and we don't need a megalithic OBP or tons of SB to win ballgames; we just need solid AB's day in and day out with the rest of the lineup producing. Besides, if Wise or Owens lead off then you know they're going to try to steal whenever they get on base in an attempt to please the organization and earn regular playing time, but that is a problem because that is a perfect example of selfish, me-first baseball and if it happens it will end up hurting the offense more by s***ty players running themselves out of scoring opportunities. So, those are my keys and feel free to add yours.

Voted for Fields, but I've come out of this ST in love with Brandon Allen and Lucas Harrell. If one of them makes the team because of an injury to Paulie/Thome or ineffectiveness on the part of the bullpen then that guy becomes my pick, because he'll be much more of a surprise than Fields who has already shown his power potential in the big leagues. I also think that if Egbert even gets a shot he'll be able to stick like Carrasco did last year, but I just don't see that happening. He'll be another version of Wassermann, who constantly put up numbers at every stop in the minors but yet ended up behind luminaries such as Ryan Bukvich and Brett Prinz and only got a chance after a completely miserable failure by just about every single person in the bullpen sans Bobby. And I still like Wassermann too, and I still don't think he should be facing lefties, and I still hope he gets traded elsewhere so that he can have a chance at success as a righty specialist.

QUOTE (daa84 @ Mar 25, 2009 -> 12:18 PM) I would say the roster is set at all but 3 spots Locks.... Getz 2b Ramirez SS Quentin LF Thome DH Dye RF Konerko 1b AJ C Fields 3b Anderson CF Bench: Miller, Betemit, Lillibridge (useless at the plate, has some value as D replacement and PR late in games, versatility and D i think has won him a spot on team) Rotation: Buerhle, Danks, Floyd, Jose, Colon Pen: Jenks, Thornton, Linebrink, Dotel, Richard That leaves the 4th OFer, and two pen spots (assuming we go 12 pitchers). 4th OF - Frankly, any guy that makes it (of Kroeger, Wise, Owens) I am ok with, as long as it is purely as a 4th OFer. My concern with Owens is that Ozzie would be tempted to play him in a platoon. Ditto Wise. I actually really like Kroeger here as he can provide some pop and will have better on base capability than the other two. Bullpen: MacDougal will probably make it, which I'm fine with. I still believe in the guy if can throw strikes (a big IF). I want Marquez in AAA starting, and would rather see either Carasco or Broadway make the team. I gotta believe Egbert is headed back to AAA, but who knows. If colon starts on DL, that opens up another spot for one of those young righties, or could open a spot for Randy Williams should Clayton be pitching in the rotation. If Anderson is the everyday guy in CF with Lillibridge as the backup CF then it would be great to see Kroeger make the team. I doubt that happens though. Options left probably doesn't have anything to do with it because what team is going to give up a 25-man spot to Wise or Owens anyway? They'd just clear waivers and head down to Charlotte, if one or both of them are not released. I just don't think Ozzie is going to head into the season without a fast guy in CF. I think it'll be a Wise-Anderson platoon in CF unfortunately. I agree on Marquez. I haven't seen much of him, but I haven't seen anything that says he could stick as a short reliever and come out of the pen sporadically. Johnny Nunez is probably better for that role IMO if we're talking about inexperienced relievers, but he's already been reassigned. MacDougal and Carrasco should both make it, and I agree that if Colon does start the season on the DL that will mean a spot for Randy Williams. The Sox have 38 players on the 40-man now. One of Wise/Owens isn't going to make it and will be removed from the roster, dropping it to 37. Corky Miller will take one spot, MacDougal probably another. Colon, even if he does go down briefly, isn't going to be on the 60-day DL so there will still be only one usable spot left even if he is down. Williams probably takes that if Colon goes down, and if not, they have an extra spot to work with should they need to bring someone else in.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Mar 25, 2009 -> 10:12 AM) Since he spent a large portion of last season in the minors he'll be arbitration eligible next season. The Sox have an option for $3.5M on him next year with a $350K buyout. If MacDougal can just make the team and pitch well for one month there's going to be a GM who will make a deal for him. We'll be able to dump his salary, dump the buyout in 2010, and maybe even get a mid-level prospect for him too since he has that kind of arm and EVERYBODY needs pitching. Of course the catch is that if he's pitching well a month into the season then we're probably not going to move him.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Mar 25, 2009 -> 08:45 AM) That's why I've been tooting Josh Anderson's horn. That kinda sounds dirty Not a bad idea. The media types keep talking about the most nonsensical of all scenarios, namely GMJ and Juan Pierre. There's not a chance of that happening. Mike Cameron was also rumored to be on the block, but again, too much money, even though he'd be a great option as a CF. Realistically, if we're talking about players with low salaries who may be available and wouldn't cost us Gordon Beckham, the list probably goes something like this: Atlanta: Josh Anderson, Gregor Blanco St. Louis: Rick Ankiel, Skip Schumaker Boston: Mark Kotsay when he's eligible to be traded, ditto Rocco Baldelli Cincinnati: Chris Dickerson, Willy Taveras when he's eligible to be moved Texas: Marlon Byrd, David Murphy (don't like him), Andruw Jones, Greg Golson, and Julio Borbon in my and probably Ozzie's dreams too Astros: Michael Bourne (apparently can't hit much, but fast and a plus defender) Tampa Bay: Please don't mention that guy (and I'm obviously not talking about Upton or Crawford here) Yankees: Melky Cabrera Angels: Reggie Willits Royals: Coco Crisp, David DeJesus Oakland: Ryan Sweeney once again, Chris Denorfia Giants: Fred Lewis Pirates: Nate MacLouth (signed an extension, but McCutchen is close) I'm drawing a blank, maybe there are others though. Some of these guys would cost a pretty penny, but I think they could all be had without giving up Beckham or Viciedo. Many of these guys would cost us a top prospect though, and most of them wouldn't be worth their asking price IMO. Not sure if Texas would even part with Borbon, but they've got Engel Beltre who they appear to love, but he's probably a year away at least, most likely 2+. The issue becomes, do you give up the talent necessary in an attempt to fill the position for a couple years at least, or do you go with a cheaper stopgap option and try to not give much up in the process? There is also Randy Winn who could play CF and be a nice option at leadoff, but he is making $8.25M this year. Now if the Sox had the relief depth to cover for Dotel, I'd definitely do a MacDougal + Dotel ($8.75M) for Winn or Dotel ($6M) for Winn and cash deal, but I doubt the Sox could cover a loss to the pen that big. The Sox should have known from the get-go that both Wise and Owens suck and Anderson is not exactly a fantastic hitter. Why they waited this long is anyone's guess.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 23, 2009 -> 04:08 PM) I tend to agree. As a middle infielder, a guy who draws walks as often or more than he strikes out most of the time, has a reputation of solid defense at skill positions, has played SS (natural position), 2B and 3B, high 300's OBP in all but that 1.5 month first stint at W-S, OPS in the mid to high 700's with a batter's eye that could add power later, switch hitter, and still relatively young... for a middle infielder, seems like he at least deserves a continued look. The middle infield in the mid minors is very crowded now, so, they probably were willing to take offers on whomever they could get value for that wasn't Beckham. Whatever the "future consideration" is from MIL might be the best offer they got. I wouldn't call him Top 10 in the system, but, I think he could sneak into the top 25, or close to it. I guess they thought otherwise. Yeah I agree, but the Brewers site you linked to here says just cash. I mean he must have a decent arm, and he must be able to make the basic plays, and control his bat, and like you said with a good eye... that doesn't scream world beater, but it does sound like a guy we'd at least want to let fail before we move him out, and Miranda didn't exactly fail in his stint here. He struggled but then adjusted later, and that came at the beginning of the season. And as any baseball fan knows, hitters often get off to slow starts as it is, and from his experience and the numbers he put up in Rookie ball and Kanny I highly doubt he was terribly overmatched by the pitching in W-S. So, it may have just been a bad start and nothing more, or a dumb little injury, or him pressing, or something relatively small like that that really isn't an indicator of future success or failure, but I guess if you're a minor leaguer and you're not a top prospect then you've got to hit right out of the gate in order to keep from being sent down. Anyway, I hope we got something aside from just a small amount of cash. Hopefully we'll get a chance to pick someone from a group of longshots later on, maybe like the Aardsma deal type where we picked up a supposedly good arm in Socolovich who I believe was a converted infielder. Something like that would do. I don't expect a lot obviously, but at least someone interesting would be nice because we don't exactly have the type of awesome all-around depth in our system that would force us to pass on developing bench players. Even if they don't break in with us, they're still good to have around if you need to trade for a halfway decent middle reliever or a bench bat or what have you.

Nice to see we got Rodriguez back. What is Charlotte's pen going to look like? Rodriguez, Link, Wassermann, Russell, Torres should all be there with Nunez possibly coming up later. I guess Jimenez too, maybe others. It's nice to know we'll have a few guys to choose from, including Egbert and Poreda out of the rotation, should we need some help.

I'm surprised we didn't get anything for Miranda. I thought he was a pretty decent UT prospect? I liked him anyway.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Mar 23, 2009 -> 12:56 PM) Let me also say that I'd join most in wanting Getz leading off and then wanting the CF in the 9th hole. But this thread's about the possibility that BA will be getting regular playing time in the leadoff slot. To me we give up more than we get with that. I agree that Getz should lead off. And he will. Ozzie isn't going to let a guy hitting under .250 with an OBP under .300 lead off his baseball team. He's just too damn stubborn to accept that right now, and he'll make his offense suffer until he forces himself to make a change that everyone in the world saw necessary long before it became a problem. The only hope is that he actually sticks with Anderson in CF after the fact. With Alexei and Getz being brand new to each other, and with Fields being Fields, the pitching is going to need all the help it can get.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Mar 23, 2009 -> 12:41 PM) I guess I just dont share this view at all. How many opportunities are there for a guy like Anderson to impact a game with his ability to cover more ground? The .300 hitter gets several opportunities per game. You're looking at one small area. It's not just about "extra ground," it's about also covering the ground you're expected to cover because you read the ball well off the bat. And over the course of a season, there are going to be a HELL of a lot more times Anderson will catch a ball than Wise will get a hit. The difference between a .230 average and a .250 average is about 10 hits per season, which is less than 2 hits per month. 2 freaking hits per month! Anderson is going to make a HELL of a lot more than 2 extra defensive plays over the span of a month than Wise will.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Mar 23, 2009 -> 12:46 PM) To me a 21 point increase in OBP matters if youre talking about the hitter who bats most per game. Then once he's on base one guy is better suited to making a pitcher lose his focus. If your OBP is under .300 then the opposing pitcher probably doesn't care very much. When you come to the plate and the opposition goes, "Phew, thank God that's not Joey Gathright up there" then you know the last thing you should be doing is leading off for a Major League baseball team.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Mar 23, 2009 -> 12:37 PM) In that same postseason when they were teammates, Uribe was .167 av, .167 OBP. Far below Wise's #s. Obviously these are tiny sample sizes. It's just my view that the BA side of this overvalues defensive CF. We're going to be the type of team that needs to hit. I think Wise's .248/.293 from last year made a difference over BA's .232/.272. He's more of a 'when he hits em' type. With guys like Thome and Fields, I just feel we need an extra batter who can hit in situations. It is virtually impossible to overvalue defense. Pitching = defense and defense = pitching because if you have one but not the other then they both look like s***. Arguing against Brian's D in favor of a 16 point increase in batting average, a 21 point increase in OBP, and a mistake pitch Wise hit for a home run off a young pitcher in his first playoff game that we also happened to lose is about the weakest argument that can ever be made.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Mar 23, 2009 -> 11:34 AM) I still haven't seen a convincing argument as to why this is the case. It's because he had a couple big hits last year and nothing more. The guy is a career .259/.309/.422 hitter throughout his minor league career, which spans 12 seasons, 935 games, and 3,555 AB. To put it in perspective, Joe Borchard was a .275/.351/.481 hitter over 8 minor league seasons covering 664 games and 2,482 AB. Joe Borchard has hit .205/.284/.352 over the course of his MLB career, which is very similar to Wise's .214/.254/.385 MLB career line. In fact, a good debate - if anyone cared enough - would be who would be the better full-time Major League hitter over a full season, Joe Borchard or Dewayne Wise? To put it in perspective, Warren Newson was a career .301/.425/.482 hitter over 13 minor league seasons covering 902 games and 2,912 AB. Warren Newsom's .250/.374/.401 MLB line blows Wise's .214/.254/.385 MLB career line out of the water, and it is even better than Wise's minor league career line. To put it in perspective, Dewayne Wise is 5 seasons away from equaling Ernie Young's minor league career in terms of length (17 seasons, 1712 games, 5,999 AB), and Ernie Young was a better hitter: .279 AVG, .502 SLG (OBP missing from Baseball Cube's site, but from a quick glance he would appear to average out into the .360+ range). Wise is a veteran that brings some things like speed and a little bit of pop to the table when we're talking about well-managed, VERY LIMITED playing time. There is a mountain of evidence that shows he shouldn't even be leading off for the Charlotte Knights, let alone the Chicago White Sox. Off the bench as a pinch hitter and a pinch runner I'm fine with it. Are there better options out there? Yes, but I'd rather see extra money go to the draft and international free agency, not the bench, so I'm happy. That should pretty much end the conversation though. Anderson is not in any way a great hitter, or even a good hitter, but he does play some great defense. While Brian will hurt you at the plate, if he's batting 9th then he'll get the fewest number of AB on any given night. Brian's defense combined with a .220 average will help this team a lot more than even a .300+ hitting s***ty outfielder would, and aside from the "s***ty outfielder" part, that is nothing that either Wise or Owens can accomplish. The only team in baseball that would consider guys like Owens and Wise starting CFers is this one. The only managers in baseball that would consider guys like Owens and Wise starting CFers are Ozzie and Dusty Baker. Anderson should be the everyday guy until he either shows he can hit enough to stick there longterm or someone better is brought in to replace him. He should NEVER lead off however. That's just ridiculously f***ing stupid.

Very nice! Hope this means they're in discussions with Danks and Quentin too.

Per MLB Trade Rumors: Josh Anderson was mentioned on here by someone recently as a CF candidate.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Mar 22, 2009 -> 02:11 PM) That's actually pretty funny since I can't think of anything more disappointing than Juan Pierre. Zito??? Yeah, that's hard to do.

Damnit, I come here to check if there's a game on today and I see the Sox announcing news, and I get excited thinking maybe we've got someone. It's not even one page into this thread and I'm already told I'll be disappointed. f***. At least it isn't Pierre though.

Alexei should start 155+ games at SS next year if he's healthy. I'd be more than willing to take a hit at the backup position for a couple games if it meant both insurance on Getz and a chance of Nix building up his trade value. I still think 2B is targeted for Beckham long-term, and when you look at all the contracts coming off the books for the Sox after this year, plus the financial state other teams are in, plus the abundance of talent the Sox will have in the high minors this year, plus the logjams in the IF, I think it's the perfect storm for a big acquisition by KW either this season or over the offseason. Ideally for me, we hang on to Nix and both he and Getz look like everyday 2B. Then the Sox have two chips to deal instead of one, and more possibilities as well. For example, if we wanted to keep one of the two and start that player while moving Fields in a trade and pushing Beckham to 3B, or even moving Beckham to SS with Alexei sliding over to 3B in order to move Viciedo to the OF/1B/DH, then we'd be able to do it. If Nix wasn't ever a good prospect it wouldn't be worth it, but I think if we hang on to him and he shows something at the big league level we'll be able to get something for him. Some teams that may need a 2B at some point this season: Angels if Kendrick is hurt again and Aybar still can't hit, making Izturis a starter at SS Pirates Cardinals Marlins if they deal Uggla Mets if Castillo doesn't ever find it again Padres Nats Giants So, I don't see any harm in hanging on to a talented player. If he doesn't do the job then send him down and let him get claimed if that happens. And from seeing Betemit at SS this spring, I'm about convinced he'd be a slight upgrade over Paul Konerko at the position. There's almost no way Nix could be worse than him because at least Nix has the hands.

QUOTE (Disco72 @ Mar 22, 2009 -> 08:34 AM) Only elimination? Or clinching games too? No clinching game, just when facing elimination. How embarrassing it would it be to see the Sox go 0-3 during blackouts in a late September series against the Indians where we were supposed to clinch. Ugh. Just do it for the elimination games. That way if we win it makes the blackout look good, and if we lose, we look like asses for one game instead of an entire series. Just think about the Braves chop chop "oooooo OOOOO oooOOOOooooo OOOOOoooooOOOO OOOO ooooOOOO OOOOO OOOO oooooo OOOOO OOoo oooooo" thing that went on far too long. If they had done it selectively instead of every damn meaningful game then it would still be cool.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 21, 2009 -> 10:53 PM) So if you are Washington, is it worth it to pony up $50 million for what could be the face to rescue your franchise, or the face that sinks it if he either is the next Brien Taylor or Mark Prior? Is it like $50M in a contract? Because 6 years @ $6.5M/year from 2010-2015 with an $8M signing bonus and a TO for say $18M in 2016 with a $3M buyout would altogether be $50M guaranteed. A deal like that could work out wonderfully for any team, but true, if he snaps his arm off or something then it could be devasting on the Nats. I say they should do it though. I don't see any reason they shouldn't. That team is dead in the water and the risk at this stage would definitely be worth it because they're going to need a LOT of help if they want to draw fans. They've got a beautiful new park, but the combination of s***ty baseball team + s***ty economy + new team without a local fanbase raised on Nats baseball = uh oh. I'll say this about Borass: he's probably the worst agent in the game when it comes to negotiating a fair or better contract for a player who is decent or worse, and of all the agents out there he has to be the biggest douchebag cocksucker of them all, but when it comes to his superstars, he's got that rape choke down pat.

Yeah, the blackout was cool last year but I prefer the Sox steer clear of as many gimmicks as possible. Let's keep the blackouts only for when we're facing playoff elimination.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Mar 21, 2009 -> 11:16 PM) yep. I'm thinking he can make the team as a bench player though, especially if Anderson becomes a starter. We could use a right handed power bat off the bench, considering Betemit is very similar to Jose Valentin in that he's a switch hitter but really can't hit right handed. I'm curious as to what our bench will look like. Part of it will depend on how many pitchers we carry. For now, I'll assume we'll keep 12 pitchers. -I'm pretty sure Corky has the backup catcher spot locked up. -Anderson seems as a lock to make the team, and sadly it looks like one of Wise or Owens is as well. CF will likely be a platoon. -Betemit will make the team as the utility infielder. -This spot will be tough. Do you go with another infielder in Lillibridge or Nix, or do you go with perhaps Kroeger, who has really shown an ability to hit this spring. Personally, I want Kroeger, but you can make a strong case for Lillibridge to backup the MI and most importantly SS. Nix as well wouldn't be a bad choice. Perhaps with his health in question, we can sneak him down to Charlotte. The extra IF and hopefully both of them. It sounds like Nix should start the season on the DL. Opening day bench: Miller C Lillibridge 2B, SS, CF, PR Betemit 1B, 3B, LF, PH Wise 4th OF, PH, PR Anderson in CF as the starter, Owens = who cares? Then when Nix comes back you send Lillibridge to Charlotte to get regular playing time. Nix is the backup SS (hopefully Alexei won't miss too many days) and the backup 2B, plus insurance on Getz as well as a PH. That way we get to keep him. Meanwhile, Kroeger should stick in Triple A. Wise has shown he can be useful in limited playing time and is the veteran, so I think you stick with him. Also he gives us a PR when Lilli would go down. If Wise happens to suck in his role then you don't have to worry about losing him, you just send him through waivers and back down to Charlotte again, and call up either Kroeger or David Cook depending on what the needs are and who is hitting. If Ozzie wants Wise later for something he'll be there.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 20, 2009 -> 12:58 PM) I disagree. BA is leading off today. The White Sox lead off man might not have a .300 OBP this year. Meh, no matter what they say they're not going to lead off with Brian. Maybe that's why the writer thinks the Sox are close to making a deal, because they're just faking a competition at this point. From the looks of it, a quick guess would be that Owens was their guy and Anderson was their 4th OF. Wise was brought in as a challenge, but wasn't expected to make the roster. Now that they've moved from Tucson to Glendale there's not as much sand blowing into their eyes during baseball games, which would partially blind them during ST as they tried to evaluate players such as Mike Jackson, Rick White, Scott Schoenweis, and Jerry Owens. Seeing clearly now, they all realize Owens blows and are now going to get a fast guy that can at least play defense and hit the ball halfway to the warning track. By the time they see that the player they will acquire cannot lead off, it'll be about time to start the "Junior back to Sox???" speculation threads.

Someone on here kept suggesting Gregor Blanco before, but I thought that to be pretty unlikely. I just checked the Braves site though, and Schaffer is killing the ball in ST. Of course it's just ST, but Schaffer is legitimately in the CF mix there and could get the starting job. I don't know how wise it would be for the Braves to trade a player like Blanco and count on a rookie, especially when you've got Francouer and Garrett Anderson/Matt Diaz around him, but if there's any chance I'd love that. But, I still think that would be unlikely because it's not out of the realm of possibility that Garrett Anderson gets hurt, Schaffer struggles as a rookie, and Francouer continues to play like a bust. With Gorkys and Heyward far away, and with Brandon Jones being a sucky player, they'd risk trading all their depth. Plus Blanco wouldn't come cheap at all if he even were to be put on the block. There's not a whole lot out there and I'd rather stick with Anderson if we're not going to come up with a real solution. The lead-off issue is going to be a much bigger problem to figure out in ST than it will be during the regular season, because if whoever is in that spot is not hitting when it matters, the Sox will put somebody else in that role regardless of that player's best spot in the order. The Sox would probably rather call up The Pussy Slayer and throw him in CF than let Jerry Oh No!wens hit .150 for a month at the top of the lineup. My guess would be Getz getting the nod though.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Mar 20, 2009 -> 09:14 AM) People on this board? Virtually the whole board is in unanimous agreement about that although there are a handful that still think Wise's little hot streak last year wasn't a fluke. Actually I know why Wise hasn't been doing anything - because I haven't been ripping on him and I'm quiet about his lack of skill lately. Last year it was like clockwork, I'd b**** loudly and he'd hit a triple or something immediately after. I went on like a 3 minute rant at a game against Oakland and he hit a leadoff HR, making me look stupid. Awesome. I actually think Wise has some good things going for him as a 4th OF. He's got some speed as a pinch runner and he's a veteran who is pretty calm in big situations and is a good mistake hitter, plus he's got a little bit of pop. He's not a good player overall, but as a bench bat and with no more than 2-3 starts a month tops in CF I think he's fine - and worlds more useful in PH situations than Owens would be as a backup. The problem is that if he's on this team he'll see way too much playing time one way or another.