Right field moved past shortstop to become the most debatable position on the 2010 team. With the decision to give Desmond a crack at SS after his good spring and nice 2009, I think most just want to see if he can hold the job. Right field, from the decisions to cut Dukes, to go with the two Willies as a platoon, to send former major leaguers like Chris Duncan and Kevin Mench off the roster, and to pass over J-Max and Morse for Willie T, RF will be the position we are likely to have something to argue about all year. Toss in the Ben G's reporting on possible trades (Upton, Fukudome, and Hart), as well as watching 2 guys who have not played the position adjust to it on the fly, we probably ought to have a central thread to compile analysis, complaints, rumors, and we hope praise for the players in that position.
Along these lines, I've kind of made my thoughts clear on other threads:
1) I suppose you have to make a minor leaguer earn a roster spot to break with the team in the Spring, but I expect that J-Max will end up being a better option this season than Willie T for the RF vs. LHP. He has the glove the team is looking for, speed, more consistently draws walks, and has real pop.
2) Mike Morse had a good spring. Was the only way he would end up in a platoon by having a monster spring? Morse has not played a ton of right in the majors, but what he's played is about average defensively. He does not hit like Willingham, but he fields better. There's a lot of room between needing to hit like Willingham and being able to hit and field well enough to be a complementary player in a platoon.
3) Adding Taveras of course burned a roster spot. Is Taveras's defense that superior to Roger Bernardina or J-Max to lose the roster flexibility? (This is one on Rizzo, I/M/O). I don't know the final roster, but who gets squeezed? Bruntlett? Mench? who do we lose because of this?
4) Does anyone really think that Taveras's spring offense is sustainable, or any more sustainable than Austin Kearns's last year?
If this turns out to be just a flier for a few weeks, then I think it is poor roster management. If this is planned to be more, then how do you ignore longer term performance records?
