Botts, Cat, Cruz, and Wilk

by jrams33 on Jan 5, 2007 9:48 AM CST

I am curious to see how Washington uses this group to fill his OF spots and DH. That there will be no fall off if one of these guyus get injured is encouraging. However, it is also discouraging that the guys filling these spots are mediocre enought that any of them could step in in the case of injury and there would not be a significant drop in production.

My questions are:

How will those guys be utilized versus RH/LH pitching? Who will play when in other words.

Which is the most valuable in a package for a more productive bat?

Which one are we most inclined to give up?

How many ABs this season can we expect from each one?

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Botts

I am torn on the issue of Botts next year. The fear of losing Botts like we lost Hafner haunts me. Botts needs steady major league at bats this coming season if he is ever going to be good major leaguer. So what do you do with a guy that everyone says should be good enough to be on a major league roster but has no experience and a decent chance of flopping and hurting your team. Is it a 50/50 chance that he hurts or helps the team? Is bringing in a FA really giving us better odds? My opinion is if we don't start him at DH this year we lose him. I don't want to lose another guy with potential because every year the rangers say they are building a team to win it all and it ends up sucking.

by shallrelicme on Jan 5, 2007 10:03 AM CST reply actions

Yeah, These guys make me nervous...

I think we know what we are going to get with Cat. Less than 500 AB's and a solid OPS while he splits time at DH and OF.

Then we have 3 huge question marks.

Your description of Botts is about right. I think he'll produce enough to stay in the line-up but I don't exactly expect big things. He has to get his chance this year or we'll never know what might have been untill he's in another jersey.

Wilkerson was so bad last season that I refuse to be optimistic about this season. If we get 2004 B-Rad then that's money in the bank. At this point I would even take his 2005 numbers.

And then there's Cruz. Total wild card. Great AAA stats, great tools, big bat, + defense, big arm, some wheels. But with Sickels ranking him so low in our organizational prospects it makes me wonder if I've been too optimistic about Cruz.

Really that leaves 3 big question marks in 4 outfield/DH spots. The odds of this working out to be anything other than the team's weakness are very slim.

"I feel like I have an idea about what we can do to keep the A's from beating us so much." Ron Washington

by hubcityraider on Jan 5, 2007 10:41 AM CST up reply actions

I think you have to add

another question mark when talking about the OF.

All 40+ year old players, almost by definition, are question marks. So you might as well add Lofton to the list.

by DJCahill on Jan 5, 2007 10:46 AM CST up reply actions

Which is why...

I think that if this team flops, that you have to have a giant firesale leading up to the deadline by trading Tex, Young, Otsuka (if he's still here) and Gagne and get AA/AAA, near major league ready prospects in return.

"Chip" first person on LSB to be berated by someone on the 25-man roster. - RangerMoto

by ortonius on Jan 5, 2007 10:55 AM CST up reply actions

the only thing I would amend to that

is if you can't get a good deal at the trade deadline, you can still trade them off next offseason. Other than that caveat, and the obvious caveat if Young or Teixeira decide to do a longterm deal, I agree with you entirely.

by DJCahill on Jan 5, 2007 10:57 AM CST up reply actions