There has been a line of thought that says that Hank Blalock's presence at first base will prohibit the Rangers from bringing up Chris Davis, which makes moving Blalock to first base a mistake.
Now, personally, I'd just as soon see Davis spend a little more time in AAA. Assuming he plays this evening, tonight's game will be his 100th game above A ball. He's only 22 years old. He's been working on plate control issues and cutting down his strikeouts. I don't think him spending another 4-6 weeks in AAA refining his approach at the plate would be a bad thing.
That being said...if the Rangers want to jump him to the majors right now, Blalock wouldn't necessarily be an impediment.
Let's say on Monday, the Rangers decide they want to activate Blalock from the d.l. and call up Davis. They could make room on the 25 man roster by DFA'ing Chris Shelton and sending Brandon Boggs back to AAA.
Your everyday lineup would look something like this:
- Kinsler -- 2B
- Young -- SS
- Hamilton -- CF
- Bradley -- RF
- Blalock -- 1B/DH
- Murphy/Byrd -- LF
- Salty/Laird -- C
- Davis -- DH/1B
- Vazquez -- 3B
You have a bench of Cat, Duran, and whichever of Murphy/Byrd and Salty/Laird aren't starting.
Now...that's an extremely lefty-centric lineup, and there's almost no playing time for Cat. But that's also not a long-term lineup...it is the lineup you'd be running out there until you deal Blalock or Bradley. And it allows you to get Chris Davis pretty regular major league playing time until one of those guys is moved.