Roster spots, options, and that would be Eldred playing over "Johnson, Young, Willingham, Dunn, and Belliard"...
now how about Milledge still being the starting Cfer? if we are going with who is hot, then he should be benched as well.
or Cabrera being on this team at all? don't think I need to say anything further here.
my whole point is, Kearns over Dukes isn't being done for the good of the team or because it gives us the best chance of winning. it's being done for the good of Kearns, because Kearns makes 8m (thanks Jimbo), and because Manny likes him and doesn't necessarily like Dukes.
it's going to play out almost exactly like it did in 2006 when we demoted Church, who was clearly the better player, and everyone was anxious to see what he could do over a full season of starting, in favor of Brandon Watson, based on "who was hot at the time" spring training stats.
Kearns is going to go back to being himself, and we'll have wasted a good month or two hoping for that miracle breakout season. again.
and Manny's playing favorites is going to end up putting us in another hole where "the fork is in the Nats by the end of April".
