This is a series where I will evaluate the options in each position leading into Spring Training. This is the fifth of eleven parts. I will be taking a look into the shortstop position in this post.
Sure fire locks: Pepe Espinosa
Trying to get in the door: Joey Nethersole, Miguel Pacheco
Biggest change out of them all this season as touched on in the second base post. Without Robert Menzies this season, Edmonton is moving definitively to Espinosa as their SS of the future. Espinosa's rookie campaign last season saw a .279/.319/.508 batting line with 47 doubles, 14 triples and 17 homeruns for a 3.9 WAR. He's fully developed now too, so we could see him perform even better this season. He has the defensive chops too with a +10.5 ZR at second in 102 games and a +2.0 ZR in 35 games last season. He's an 11 rated defensive SS with 7/8/7/4/8 ratings that don't have a big split variance so it's easy to see why I would feel comfortable with moving to Espinosa.
Acquired in a trade with Valencia in 2040, Nethersole is a designated defensive specialist and a damn good one with a 12 rating at second and an 11 rating at short. He's also a leader with great intangibles. He's rated 4/5/2/6/5 at the plate which is why he can't really start for a high number of games, but he'll be battling it out with many other options on the bench this season and those spots seem pretty slim since the team looks to have a really deep bullpen like they did last season.
We've seen Pacheco before. He's a lot more balanced than Nethersole and he's not terrible at any one thing, but he's not all that good at anything. He's a 9 rated defensive shortstop with 5/6/2/4/6 ratings without huge splits. There's nothing exciting about Pacheco, but he's not terrible which I suppose in itself is exciting.
This will be an important position this season and it will really tell the story of whether Edmonton should have traded Menzies. There's probably a good argument that they did not get enough solid talent that could help them get to the Landis this season. If Espinosa goes down for any significant time like he did last season, the loss of Menzies will be immediately felt and probably in a huge way.
43.9 Checking the Locks: Shortstop
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