37.12 Checking the Locks: Final Thoughts

[crobillard]

This is a series where I will evaluate the options in each position leading into Spring Training. This is the eleventh of twelve parts. I will be compiling the results of all the previous posts here

Sure fire locks: Eric Fabre, Dusty Rhodes, George Bluth, Mike Gilbert, William Wood, Luis Costello, Mitch Dalrymple, Declan Crauen, Bobby Lynch, Chet Parrish, Jesus Ramos, Jorge Huerta, Arturo Lopez

Near locks: Juan Rodriguez, Luis Soto, Felix Arrojo, Masaharu Suzuki, Maxime Manceau, Wen Huang, John Jefferson

Trying to get in the door: Larry Ledezma, Miguel Valencia, Leonardo Martinez, Qian Tse, Nakao Honma, Steven Collins III, Les Fawcett, Gordon Burkett, Santiago Gonzalez, Justin Sproule, Derrick Terry, Taisuke Suzuki, Ed Guis, Martin Bacardi, Ricardo Valera, Fernando Ambrogiani, Pjotr Eland, Jorge Elizondo

So that puts us at 13 players are sure-fire locks. Half of the active roster positions are up for grabs. Assuming no roster changes and everything goes as planned, the near locks should be able to make the team if they don't have a breakdown in the spring. The seven near locks put us at 20 and seven spots on the active roster are available. If all the sure-fire and near locks make the active roster, here is where we stand:

Catcher - 1
Infield - 5
Outfield - 6
Rotation - 4
Bullpen - 4

From the trying to get in the door group, we will definitely need a catcher, a starter for the rotation and at least maybe three more bullpen guys at least. The last two could be anyone we deem worthy or fill in some niche role like a pinch hitter, defensive assistance, another bullpen addition or an emergency starter. As it stands right now, there's no great backup defense guy in the outfield, so that's a spot that could be filled by Burkett. Martinez was a Rule V draft pickup so if we can't keep him on the active roster then he's going back to Boise. However, he's probably a DH only as even his defense at first is pretty terrible. As I mentioned in the third base post, Collins playing in the majors is certainly worthy of consideration this season. There are plenty of options to go with for the last several spots on the roster and this is all assuming someone trying to get in the door doesn't knock off one of the near lock players. This spring has been very contentious for the Jackrabbits team. I wonder at some positions if we're just replacing players for the smallest increase in perceived production and perhaps it doesn't matter as much. At that level of thought, I think let's just prioritize defense and hopefully a small ball style of play will better suit us and defense can help our pitchers keep balls in front of us.