Sodo Oh No

You know, I can go along with Aurilia deal to some degree. Cracking "The Safe" made some good points about the move being more than a wash, especially the performance against lefties. The problem I have is moving Guillen.

We all know that the 2004 M's bench could be one of the worst ever - especially for a team the imagines it will contend. I haven't run any numbers yet but it seems like the starting nine will be slightly better offensively than last years (but will it make up for the defensive drop off). But, the moment you put any of the current subs into that lineup there is a huge drop off. I don't think that Melvin is a complete idiot and he is going to see that his bench stinks too. The only way to win will be to overuse the regulars and we know what will happen then. The 2002 and 2003 pattern will repeat as the team goes down the drain.

Instead of this imagine Guillen on the bench. Now we have a guy who can pinch hit, and start anywhere in the infield. Remember Javier and MaClemore on the bench. Those guys were useful and you did not groan when you went to a game and one of them was starting. Guillen has been slowly progressing as a hitter and is entering the prime of his hitting career. That sounds like a well spent $2.5M.

Guillen is clearly a dead man to this front office. The only baseball reason that makes sense is that he is fragile. Being on the bench could nullify this weakness. Instead it looks like we'll get some cast offs from Detroit of all places, or worse their shortstop. Like everything else this off-season it just doesn't make sense.

Update: Oops...to late.

posted by Mike @ 4:17 PM