Offseason- Saving the Bench
So after this season, our bench is practically in shambles. While yes, we have some nice in house candidates like Justin Maxwell Rico Noel Greg Milcot, Josh Vitters, Junior Lake but Nick Swisher is probably looking to cash in and David Ross retired. So basically, we're left with looking for players to fill the void that these guys have left or potentially left.
Now your probably wondering, why do you care so much about the bench? We care because it has played a major role in every single one of our playoff runs. It was crucial in the success of our 2012 run and it payed massive dividends in 2013. In 2014 however, most of our bench players garnered at least 200 ABs which helped to our success. But with so much dependence put on the bench in previous years, we can't afford to just ignore it so our solution is simple.
We go after J.J. Hardy and use him as our utility infielder. Oppenheimer hopes to get him signed before his market heats up, but that is going to be a major challenge. Now I guess this is the time to bring up the fact that Eric Chavez will not be returning. He has been cheep and affordable but at the same time, his ability is regressing by an extreme amount. His defense was not very helpful last year and neither was his bat.
But after Hardy, we may also want to delve into the market for an outfielder in case Swisher doesn't resign.
There's some good names out there but the one that we like is Denard Span. He won't cost a draft pick and he has wheels which is something we desperately need. He has all the tools of a starter but could be more effective off the bench.
However as the market progressed, Swisher accepted arbitration and is back on the roster. Then to solve the catching issue, we traded for Tony Sanchez who wasn't getting anywhere with Pittsburgh.
There were absolutely 0 serviceable options in the free agent market at catcher and there were no experienced backup catchers so Sanchez became our guy because of his defensive skills and relative experience.
Maybe Oppy will do a good job this season after all!