Roster Expansion Season is upon us. It's kinda like the Holiday Season, except way warmer and totally non-denominational and you don't have to buy dumb presents for all the people you "love."
In any case, the Season does affect baseball's depth charts - which, below you'll find 10 depth-chart situations of particular note.
Here they be, sorted from AL East to NL West:
Team: New York Yankees
Position: Designated Hitter
Players: Andruw Jones, Jesus Montero, Jorge Posada
Notes: Jesus Montero has now started three of the last four
games at DH for the Yankees. It's important to note, however, that
the Yankees have faced lefty starters in three of their last four
(i.e. the very same) games. As of this moment, Montero probably
isn't a better option against right-handers than Jorge Posada. He
may not even be better against lefties than Andruw Jones (slashing
.252/.358/.503, .297 BABIP, in 176 plate appearances this season,
most of them against lefties). Still, with their playoff spot all
but clinched, the Yankees have the freedom to give their prized
prospects some major-league plate appearances over the course of
September.
Team: Tampa Bay Rays
Position: Outfield
Players: Brandon Guyer et al.
Notes: It's getting difficult to conceive of a scenario in
which Brandon Guyer, part of the return from last offseason's Matt
Garza trade, isn't an average major leaguer (or fantasy player)
given playing time. His plate-discipline numbers are passable, he
can handle all three outfield positions, and he has a power/speed
combination (14 HR, 16 SB this season) that you generally find only
with much more highly touted prospects. Guyer was recalled from
Durham when rosters expanded and has started three of the Rays'
last four games as of press time. Not even accounting for Sam Fuld,
Guyer still has considerable outfield competition between Desmond
Jennings, Matt Joyce, B.J. Upton, and Ben Zobrist. He's someone to
monitor in the event that a full-time role comes around.
Team: Cleveland Indians
Position: Left Field
Players: Jerad Head
Notes: The Indians' hypothetical starting outfield - Michael
Brantley, Grady Sizemore, and Shin-Soo Choo, from left to right -
is hypothetically excellent. The Indians' actual starting lineup,
on Sept. 4, at least - Jerad Head, Ezequiel Carrera, and Kosuke
Fukudome - is something less than that. The 28-year-old Head showed
good power this season (28 HR in 463 PA) at Triple-A Columbus, but
had almost exactly four times as many strikeouts as walks (25:99).
With Michael Brantley out for the season and both Choo and Sizemore
injured, Head could make quite a few appearances in left for the
duration of the season, but he's unlikely to provide much in
return.
Team: Washington Nationals
Position: Center Field
Players: Jayson Werth
Notes: Werth started in center field for the Nats on Sunday
- the fifth time he'd done so (a) all season and (b) in the team's
last eight games. In the latter two of those games, Roger Bernadina
and Rick Ankiel started in right field, respectively, suggesting
that manager Davey Johnson, and the organization as a whole, is
giving him a real look there. Expect the experiment to continue for
much of September.
Team: Chicago Cubs
Position: First Base / Left Field
Players: Bryan LaHair, Carlos Pena, Alfonso Soriano
Notes: Bryan LaHair got hit first major-league start Sunday
since 2008, playing left field (with Alfonso Soriano on the bench)
and going 2-for-4 with two singles and a strikeout. LaHair had 38
home runs at Triple-A Iowa this season, his third consecutive
minor-league season with 25 or more homers. He's unlikely to usurp
Soriano, signed through 2014, in left field, but might be a
candidate for first base, which Carlos Pena will vacate when he
leaves for free agency after the season.
Team: Cincinnati Reds
Position: Catcher
Players: Yasmani Grandal, Ryan Hanigan, Ramon Hernandez,
Devin Mesoraco
Notes: Between the four guys listed above, the Reds have
four guys who could probably handle a starting catcher role in the
majors. Hernandez is a free agent after the season, but Hanigan is
signed (rather cheaply) through 2013, and Grandal and Mesoraco have
as yet to start a major-league game. That will change on Monday, as
Mesoraco is slated to make his first start in the bigs. He could
get decent playing time down the stretch, as the Reds will be
looking forward to 2012.
Team: Cincinnati Reds
Position: Third Base
Players: Juan Francisco, Todd Frazier, Scott Rolen
Notes: It's not necessarily that taking walks is an
important skill in and of itself - although it's certainly not a
bad thing - but rather that it's generally a sign that a player
knows what's happening in the strike zone. That will help the
reader understand why Francisco's 99:591 BB:K in the minor leagues
represents some cause for concern. Be that as it may, Francisco has
excellent power and has posted decent averages throughout his
minor-league career on the basis of his home run-hitting and high
BABIPs. He'd have gotten more time in the oft-injured Scott Rolen's
place if it weren't for some poorly timed injuries of his own.
Team: Milwaukee Brewers
Position: Third Base
Players: Taylor Green, Casey McGehee
Notes: Last Monday, during my weekly radio spot on
RotoWire's Sirius XM radio show, Chris Liss had the temerity -
that's right, I said temerity! - to refer to the present column as
In Too Much Depth, suggesting that I was digging too deeply.
Clearly determined to defend my honor, Taylor Green - i.e. a player
about whose future I'm particularly optimistic - began his career
with three consecutive hits and enters the week 5-for-8 as a
major-leaguer. Playing time is the issue, as Casey McGehee has
rounded into form over the last month or two, but Green's long-term
outlook is excellent - especially with the dearth of third-base
fantasy talent.
Team: Los Angeles Dodgers
Position: Middle Infield
Players: Dee Gordon, Justin Sellers
Notes: After the Dodgers sent Rafael Furcal to St. Louis at
the trade deadline, it appeared as though shortstop prospect Dee
Gordon would slide right into Furcal's starting role. In fact,
Gordon imitated Furcal too well: within days, he'd injured himself
and was placed on the DL. Justin Sellers was promoted from Triple-A
Las Vegas to take over short in Gordon's absence. Having posted
decent numbers in Las Vegas - even after accounting for the home
field's inflated park factors - Sellers has also posted decent
numbers in his first 80 major-league plate appearances. To his
credit, manager Don Mattingly has handled the situation well,
having given Sellers two of the last three starts at second base.
Sellers has shortstop eligibility by a number of formats already,
though, giving him more value.
Team: San Diego Padres
Position: Various Corners
Players: Kyle Blanks, James Darnell, Jesus Guzman, Anthony
Rizzo
Notes: James Darnell is probably a corner outfielder or
first baseman who's stretched at third base; Kyle Blanks and Jesus
Guzman are probably first basemen who are stretched in an outfield
corner; and Anthony Rizzo is merely a first baseman - yet all four
have interesting offensive profiles. Though the least likely to get
playing time, Darnell is actually my favorite of the group, having
shown excellent power (17 HR in 346 PA) and excellent, excellent
control of the strike zone (52:48 BB:K) this year at Double-A. Look
for the quadrumvirate to all steal time from each other.
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