Desmond's offense has been completely dependent on his contact and balls dropping in. Polanco and Ichiro made great livings doing that, but it is not very common to have sustained success at the top of the order playing that way.
Boz said that Desmond is one of those players that has a huge split of opinion among the "scout" types and the "stat" types in the organization. Scouts see a leader who has great range, speed, and think he will eventually be a good hitter. Stats guys see the .300 OBP, the fumbly hands, less spectacular range, at a position we have excess at.
I have a hunch that the middle infield will become a lot like, "who is your favorite Beatle?" Right now, Epsi and Desi are John and Paul, Lombo is George, the veteran is Ringo. Rendon? Eric Clapton?