The Final Roster Spot
Update: The Mariners have signed 1B Tommy Everidge to a major league contract. Everidge occupies the last spot on the 40 man roster. With conceivable spots left to fill, you’ve got to think JackZ has a couple more moves up his sleeve in the next month or so
Much speculation has been made regarding what the Mariners are going to do with that final roster spot they have available. FoxSports.com recently indicated the M’s have inquired about the services of Fernando Tatis. Jeff at Lookout Landing recently put up a nice post about this last roster spot, and what Fernando Tatis could potentially offer to the M’s. Griffin Cooper and the guys at SodoMojo also have explored the idea of bringing in Xavier Nady to fill this void, as well as their fondness for Michael Saunders.
With that being said, I don’t necessarily think any of the aforementioned players should be the primary solution for the Mariners. Like the guys at SodoMojo, I don’t think Nady is the answer here but I’m also very high on Michael Saunders, and think he certainly could (and should be) the Mariners left fielder of the future. However, I think Saunders might need a little more time in AAA to further hone his skills until he is ready to take over the gig full-time sometime this year, or in 2011. As Jeff pointed out, Tatis is no stud, but he would give the Mariners some versatility coming off the bench as a right-handed hitter who can play just about any position on the field. An acquisition of Tatis would represent another solid (but not flashy) move by the Mariners. However. there happens to be one other name Jeff mentions in his post that I think would represent a better move by the M’s.
The guy I’m talking about is Jerry Hariston Jr. Like Tatis, Hariston is a right-handed bat that is not going to drastically impact the M’s in one way or the other. Nevertheless, Hariston is a solid player who has played every position on the field other than Catcher. Not only has Hariston played all these positions, he has actually played them all fairly well. Since the inception of UZR, Hariston has never posted a UZR below -0.5, and has been right around +2 or so the past 3 years. Quite miraculously, Hariston has actually posted a UZR of 27.5 in about 1800 innings of work in the outfield. At 33, Hariston is also about 2 years younger than Tatis, and has seen more than his fair share of playing time in the AL.
On the other hand, despite his superior defensive skills, Hariston doesn’t quite offer the same kind of bat that Tatis possesses. Tatis posted a .338 wOBA last year for the Mets and is probably something like a .280/.340/.780 guy going forward. In comparison, Hariston posted a .312 wOBA this past year for the Reds/Yankees, and is more like a .270/.320/.710 type of guy going forward. In addition, over the past 2 seasons, Tatis has been worth 3.1 WAR, or about 1.5 WAR per season. In comparison, Hariston has been worth 3.5 WAR, or about 1.75 per season. Obviously, the differences are rather minimal, and which player you prefer is probably a name recognition type of thing. However, given his versatility and superior defensive skillset, my prefernce is with Hariston.
Why even bother getting Hairston or Tatis? We have already picked up guys similar to that such as Woodward, Josh Wilson, or Corey Patterson in the minors. What we really need is another big bat with some power. Hannahan can play 3rd, Short, and 1st then Figgins can also switch around to give guys like Lopez a day off. Why not pursue a big hitting righty outfielder like Dye if we can get him for cheap, this would mean Griffey would probably play less but we could get both Bradley and Dye into the lineup. I could see how Tatis would give us more flexibility, but i think we should be more worried about producing runs at this point. As it stands, we are looking at LOPEZ as one of our possible 4 hitters. Why not add one more big name guy, I think Dye would be a good fit IMHO. Either way I think the M’s have a lot of options and we will definitely have this position filled by opening day..I know we will not get Dye but it would be nice to have a big proven bat to really anchor this lineup.
Woodward, Wilson, and Patterson are replacement level players who will continue to bounce around in AAA. Hariston and Tatis are very capable bench players who compare VERY favorably to the aforementioned players.
Many people have suggested that Dye may be a good fit for the Mariners. To keep it brief, at this point in his career, I would adamantly suggest otherwise…