This off-season I talked about how we were paper thin at all the offensive positions so much that even I thought I sounded like a broken record. Now that we have Hill, Nix, Davis, Encarnacion and Posednik injured we are getting a good look just how thin we are.
What really gets me is that, with all these guys injured, one would imagine that we might use this time to look at some of our young prospects. But no, what do we do? We give playing time to guys like Jayson Nix (28 and with his 5th major league team, hasn't hit with any of them), Corey Patterson (31, 7 teams, hasn't shown any reason why he should be getting at bats in the majors), Mike McCoy (30, ok I sort of like him but still), Chris Woodward (35, 5 teams, .215 career batting average) and John McDonald (36, love you John).
Now, pick any of these guys, I wouldn't mind having them on the bench. Pinch hit, pinch run, pinch in, defensive sub, nice clubhouse presence, they are all fine for that. But playing then every day for a stretch is, well, a stretch. Sure, the small sample gods might smile on them for a bit. After a few games, you see why they are bench players.
Rajai Davis goes down with an injury. We could use Corey Patterson. We all know that he has had a bunch of chances in the majors and we know he hasn't succeeded. Now we have Darin Mastroianni in Vegas. Yeah he isn't hitting much there, but why not try him. Maybe we'll catch lightening in a bottle for a couple of weeks, like the Rays have with Sam Fuld. He is on the 40 man, so we have already burnt an option. We aren't expecting him to be with the team for long, so we aren't worried about super-two status. Would he be good? I doubt it, but you never know. Would he be much worse than Patterson? I doubt it.
Jayson Nix (who the small sample gods have really blesed), Aaron Hill and, at least for a couple of days, Edwin Encarnacion are out. So, we get treated to Mike McCoy and John McDonald out there each day. I love them both, but having both in the lineup is definitely not a recipe for success. I know all the reasons not to bring Lawrie up. I agree with all of the reasons. I know Alex has said he doesn't want to bounce Lawrie up and down, but really, what would be the cost of bringing him up for two weeks (the length of Aaron's time on the DL), make it clear to him that he is going down again after, even if he say hits two home runs in his first game and then do it. I mean, they did that with JP last year (even though I wasn't thrilled that he didn't play much while up) and it doesn't seem to have hurt him.
Anyway, it is just a thought. We know what our bench guys can give us, they are fine for filling in for a game or two. But for longer stretches, why not see what one of the young guys can do for a could of week.