Even though not much attention is paid to bench players, they are often an important cog in a team’s success. Right now, the Red Sox’s bench is looking terrible.
We have no backup catcher and the one with the greatest chance of returning hasn’t hit over .230 in three years and over .202 in two years. Doug Mirabelli’s career line is .231/.278/.360 and would most likely have been out of a big-league job long ago if not for a gift of catching Tim Wakefield.
Kevin Cash filled in admirably behind the plate but was horrific with the bat, hitting .111/.242/.148 and his career line is .167/.223/.265.
If the idea is for the backup catcher to be able to catch Wakefield admirably, Mirabelli is probably the choice because he’s not a cancer with the bat like Cash is, but it means that there’s one spot on the bench we can punt for offense.
We can pretty much punt the bat with our middle infielder, too. Alex is a great guy. I’m sure his wife (if he has one) loves him. He’s widely considered to be a future manager. He’s got a slick glove and can inexplicably bust out a string of triples from time to time. But he can’t hit. Cora hit .246/.298/.386 in 207 AB for the Sox in 2007 and that line is heavily weighted to the first half. How weighted? .198/.253/.296 in the second half. Yikes.
We then turn to the outfield. There’s no way they allow Coco Crisp to be the fourth outfielder because that would erase any positive trade value Coco has for the big-league club and also leave Coco an unhappy camper… and with all that’s been said and done so far, it’s really hard to believe the Red Sox would ask Jacoby to be a fourth outfielder. We’re going to be getting a new fourth outfielder.
This means that we need a replacement, and that very well could be Bobby Kielty. Kielty who is batting 1.000 in his World Series career would be welcomed back with open arms. He would be average defensively in center but could handle the corners. He’d offer protection in case J.D. Drew flounders against lefties again allowing Kielty to seamlessly step in as a platoon partner.
What can’t he do?
Hit. Against righties. He hit .162/.220/.270 this past year against them (.260/.333/.300 against lefties, .228/.329/.348 career against righties).
That’s three bench spots filled and one to go. The one that filled the resident “stick-swinger” last year was Eric Hinske who really didn’t do that bad in that role. He possessed a fine eye and had some pop, but saw his career .255 average tumble to .204 (hanging out with Mirabelli too much, maybe?) for a total line of .204/.317/.398. I wouldn’t be against him returning… however, he earned $5.6 million and while he won’t get even close to that in free agency, is highly likely to go where he can get the most at-bats, and that won’t be in Boston.
So what to do?
Complaining that we don’t have Wily Mo Pena anymore won’t rectify the situation. What to do? How can we put a bat on the bench?
Well, we may not have Wily Mo anymore, but we do have Chris Carter. For a closer look at Chris Carter, click here. Carter disappointed after the trade, hitting only .234/.308/.319 but granted, that was only in 12 games. For Arizona’s Triple-A team, he hit .324/.383/.521 in his second trip around the league and has been tearing the cover off the ball in the Venezuelan Winter League. At age 25, he’s ready.
He’s not great with the glove (shades of Wily Mo) but can play first base and left field. As an added bonus, he’s a lefty.
But wait, don’t forget about Brandon Moss. He can play all outfield positions and is trying to learn first base although he’s spending the bulk of his time in the outfield. He hit .282/.363/.472 for AAA Pawtucket in 493 AB and then made his big-league debut. He totaled 25 AB at the major league level, hitting .280/.379/.440 so we know we can hit at the big league level, but how confident are we in someone who’s only had minimal time playing first base?
Right now, the in-house options plus the clear candidates are Doug Mirabelli, Alex Cora, Bobby Kielty, Chris Carter and Brandon Moss.
If I had to pick, I’d go with Mirabelli, Cora, Carter and Moss. We need Carter for the threat of the bat and the ability to play first, and Moss is a more cost-effective and balanced solution than Kielty.
It’s not an inspiring bunch.
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Well lets hope The Bench is on Theo’s to do list…
Yea, Theo needs to get on this. There was a rumor going around the Bay Area a few days ago that the Sox requested medical information from the A’s on Dan Johnson and Bobby Crosby, but that never went anywhere.
BTW, the Rangers non-tendered Akinori Otsuka. He could be a solid addition to the Sox’s bullpen as a righty setup man. Otsuka is 35, but he’s been very solid, and should be healthy by Spring Training despite having elbow soreness this fall. Thoughts?
@Dan
MLBTR is stating reports out of Texas seem to indicate Otsuka may need Tommy John surgery after all and more than likely that’s why they didn’t tender him for the $3.5MM he wanted/was worth.
Interesting non-tenders yesterday though that would be some solid non-roster invitee invites for Fort Myers:
Mark Prior – low risk, high reward kind of guy. Has something to prove. Possibly a great pick-up for the Sox, especially if they do end up dealing Julian (please!).
Johnny Estrada – honestly a horrible hitter, but then again – so is Mirabelli. Honestly this is a bit of a wash for me. I doubt Estrada is looking for a back-up position, but at this point I’m going to be looking at anyone long and hard before calling ole Dougy back up.
Dallas McPherson – hasn’t panned out to his projections but still only 27. Plays 3B but he could be looking for (and get) a full-time gig.
Some other interesting non-tenders: Morgan Ensburg, Jason Lane and Kevin Mench.
I feel like its round 19 in a 12-team fantasy baseball league draft.
I like the idea of Moss being the 4th out fielder. He seems the most versatile.
I asked this in a comment thread that died: What are the chances that Kottaras is the backup this season? I haven’t heard too much about him after he came to the Sox organization. I got to see him when the Pawsox played the Durham Bulls, but I wasn’t left with an impression either way.
I like Moss but I think he would be better used as a trading chip in August. At 24, another go-around in Triple-A would not kill him, his obp is very good, good fielder, and gap power/good pop that I still think could increase…if you look at his doubles in the minors he has always been a candidate to break out home-run wise. I wouldn’t mind having a Kielty type and/or a pinch runner/back-up center fielder…Nook Logan kind of guy (I agree he is fairly useless outside of running) as a 5th outfielder that never really plays…more pinch running duty then anything. If any injuries occur call up Moss and let him get most of the playing time. Moss seems to make strides every year and I would hate to see him play every 5th or 6th day…being left-handed he is not going totake at-bats from Drew, Manny and Youk should be in there every day.
Kotteras sucked for the first half of last year but hit over .300 in the second half. I imagine he would be back in Pawtucket…I think Dusty Brown may be a more likely candidate for back-up duty…I like Dusty and he is better behind the plate…and I think back-up MLB catcher is his ceiling anyways. They may not mind him not developing the bat as much and his catching skills are pretty solid. Kotteras could be pretty good hititng wise…I am not that excited about him but I think since his ceiling is higher nad he needs work on his bat, release and defense he will be in Pawtucket
lol, Hynes. It’s sounding like it with the shallow-ness of the remaining FAs. It does make sense if Otsuka needs Tommy John, but earlier reports indicated that he was fine…
Otsuka has to be more injured than first thought, he did too well for the Ranger to let him go for what isn’t that much money.
I’ve done some thinking about my post above…just bored at 2:01pm on a Thursday, and uh, I don;t think Nook Logan is such a good idea anymore as a 5th outfielder.
If Kielty came back and Ellsbury needed a breather, they would shift Drew to CF and Kielty RF for the day.
Yeah…I just mentioned Logan as someone who never plays but can get from 1st to third in late innings on any ball hit…but then an hour later he was mentioned in the Mitchell Report.
I think someone needs to show Nook how a needle works because clearly he was doing something wrong.