Utility Infielders: Who you got?

A few months back, I found myself in favor of passing on offering any sense of a contract to Jimmy Rollins and moving on without the longest tenured member of the team. When his asking price seemed to drop into fewer years and fewer dollars than initial reports indicated, it became a no brainer to bring Jimmy back. But what then do you do with 22 year old Freddy Galvis and his (by most accounts) major league ready glove? Well, thankfully, someone in Phillies management has decided to put Galvis to use elsewhere around the infield.

First of all, the Phillies future at third base is a major question mark. Placido Polanco has a mutual option for $5.5M dollars but with declining production and health concerns, the $1M buyout seems to be a smarter idea. With no significant prospects in the pipeline, the Phillies will need to look towards free agency to fill that gap at the hot corner. Looking over the 2013 free agency class at third base, and the names are frightening. David Wright, a 34 year old Kevin Youkilis and a host of replacement level players. With the 2013 budget being tight before taking care of Cole Hamels or Shane Victorino, neither of those top third basemen are even possible. Getting Galvis some reps at third base is the perfect solution for both player and team. He has the arm strength to make the long throw from third and he had a much improved approach at the plate last season. Is Galvis the next Mike Schmidt? No, but for a guy who projects as a utility guy right now, he could be a 1-2 year stop gap at third until more talent is developed or salary can be added. 

But for the more immediate future, molding Galvis into a more flexible infield option gives you a utility option that you can fall back on not named Michael Martinez! A Rule 5 pick last season that the Phillies kept on the squad for the entire season to avoid having to offer him back to the Nationals, Martinez opened his spring with a two error game on Sunday. And while he does have some competition in Pete Orr and Kevin Frandsen, Martinez seems to be the favorite for the utility role. Quite frankly, though, the Phillies are foolish to keep him around as a de facto incumbent to the utility infield job. Martinez does not hit for contact, doesn't have speed on the base paths, and has proven to be little more than average defensively. While conventional wisdom and recent history tells us that sending Galvis down to AAA for every day playing time is the most likely scenario, the fact that all four infield positions are significant injury concerns lends itself to the utility man seeing near regular playing time as it is. Should any of Rollins, Polanco, or Utley miss significant time, I'd rather see the un-proven Galvis log the 300 or so ABs that have gone to guys like Wilson Valdez and Michael Martinez the last two years. The only value in a guy like Michael Martinez is his ability to play multiple positions, so working Galvis out around the infield just makes sense.

Is Michael Martinez Becoming a Serviceable Every Day Player?

Michael Martinez is a 28 year old utility type player who came to the Phillies this year via the Rule 5 Draft from the Washington Nationals. That alone should tell you everything you need to know about him. He's no spring chicken by baseball standards, and he wasn't even worthy enough to be protected by the basement dwelling Washington Nationals.

The Rule 5 Draft was created with guys like Michael Martinez in mind. It prevents a team from stock-piling too many fringe major league players that could otherwise find playing time with another team. It's a way for a lesser team to snipe top talent from a competitor that is reluctant to put them on their 40 man roster. 1% of the time you find yourself with the next Shane Victorino or Johan Santana (both former Rule 5 picks). 99% of the time, Rule 5 guys flame out. In fact, aside from the 2008 Phillies, no team in the past decade has won a World Series with a Rule 5 guy on their roster. The 2011 Phillies... well they currently have 3 former Rule 5ers.

Coming out of Spring Training, the Phillies had a conundrum on their hand: keep their Rule 5 guy Martinez, or move on with Delwyn Young. With one of the best pitching staffs in history, they had the luxury of giving the untested Martinez a shot. And as injuries piled up, his shot came. And he failed. Writers called for his head, fans booed mercilessly, and Charlie Manuel used him sparingly. And every one of you (read: both) that read this blog know that I hated him with the power of 10,000 suns when John Mayberry Jr was held in the minors while Martinez flopped like a fish.

So now that he's strung together a few solid games, I'm hearing it: "What do you think about Michael Martinez now?" one twitter message said following his first homerun. "Michael Martinez > Placido Polanco" said a text message following his 2nd homerun. I even heard the guys from the CBS Fantasy Sports podcast questioning whether Martinez was worth a free agent pickup in mixed league formats...

So let's set the record straight once and for all:
.237 BA, .281 OBP, .339 SLG
2 HR, 2 doubles, 2 triples, 1 GIDP, 3 SB ( I offered to eat my sandal if he had more than 2 SBs so technically I still need to chew on my reefs, but I'm still underwhelmed.)
He's played 5 positions with only 1 error and only makes $414K.

If that's better than Placido Polanco, then I'll wash down my flip flop by sticking my hat in a blender and drinking it. He's had a cute little 7 game hitting streak (only 2 of which were multi-hit games). He's raised his BA almost 50 points this month, but that's not really that impressive when you start around .180. For the better part of the season his OBP outpaced his SLG%. Take a second to think about just how sad that statement is... Truth be told, you can shake a tree in any Midwestern baseball junior college and find a guy that can replicate what Michael Martinez does. He's Wilson Valdez 5 years younger. He has no power. He can't hit gaps (only 6 XBH). He's not particularly quick. He plays admirable defense with a plus arm from a number of positions on the diamond. Name me one other major league team that has two Wilson Valdez-es. Michael Martinez IS a lesser player than Tadahito Iguchi, Miguel Cairo, Eric Bruntlett, and the whole host of utility guys the Phillies have rode to 4 straight division championships. All of them have been reliable defenders, all of them cost pennies on the dollar, and all of them had their moments. But none of them held a roster position that was as heavily contested as Martinez's. His place on this team is protected only by injuries to infielders. Should Placido Polanco come back and the infield remain healthy, Martinez will go back to being the 4th or 5th option off the bench. And that's a perfect job for him... on another team.

Michael Martinez is a great role player, but we already have a Wilson Valdez and he can when in a bind. What can you do Mini-Mart?

Victorino up, ______ down?

After a handful of rehab appearances and a Reading Phillies game in which he went 0-4, Shane Victorino was scratched from this morning's AA Game and appears to be en-route to Pittsburgh to meet up with the big club. As much as a give Victorino a hard time (dude takes the worst routes to fly balls of any CF I've ever seen win a Gold Glove), he offers a set of skills that no one else on this team is really capable of replicating. 20HR/40SB isn't really out of the question for him, and unlike a lot of guys in that category, he can mix in a .285+ AVG. He was arguably on that pace to start the season. And more importantly, the Phillies are 26-13 with him and only 8-9 without.

But less we forget that Victorino's stint on the DL is what resulted in the surprise call up of Domonic Brown. So who loses their job when Victorino comes back?

• Domonic Brown: He's the obvious choice because he has the most options left and Charlie really wanted to see him get more ABs in the minors before coming up in the first place. But he's been hitting the ball well, even some hard hit balls against lefties. Were it not for what could possibly be the play of the year by Laynce Nix in yesterday's game, Brown would have been a hero.

• John Mayberry Jr: Another guy with options in the minors, but he's really your best bench option at the moment and plays a pretty solid defensive outfield. The long legs really get him moving to the ball. His OPS is a bit low for a guy his size, which have kept his speed numbers down, but with Gload nursing a hip, Mayberry is also one of your only options to spell Ryan Howard at 1B.Which brings me to...

• Ross Gload hits the DL: This is a solution that saves everyone's job. Gload has been limited as of late due to a tear in his right hip which is manageable, but will likely require surgery in the offseason. Chase Utley played through a similar injury... but he's Chase Utley. They do not need Gload to play through an injury like this and quite frankly, his doing so takes a spot away from a player who could probably do more to help the team. He's said in interviews that the pain won't land him on the DL, but it probably should. Give him a few weeks off, maybe the hip feels a little better, and he's useful around the AS Break.

• Mike Zagurski: The Phillies currently carry 3 LHP on the active roster which is a little strange. My best guess is that Zagurski was called up temporarily for the last series and will be sent down shortly anyway. But it's doubtful that the Phillies go with only 11 pitchers right now so the Zagurski spot will be filled by a guy like Scott Mathieson once again. 

• Michael Martinez: This is the solution that makes the most sense to me. He's a Rule5 guy and in order to get rid of him, the Phillies would have to offer him back to the Nationals. But the Nationals have a pretty crowded outfield of their own and there's still a chance they wouldn't be interested in him. Martinez's only saving grace is that he's capable of playing the infield as well as the outfield. But quite frankly, I think Charlie can manage resting players just fine with one utility infielder in Valdez, and by plugging guys like Gload and Mayberry on the corners. If you bounced a ping pong ball around a SEPTA bus, chances are you would hit a guy with the kind of skills of Michael Martinez. Zero power and zero speed aren't good attributes to mix with a down offense. 

I don't get it... Again

Seems like only yesterday I was scratching my head wondering why the Phillies picked up Luis Castillo in the first place... now I'm wondering why they dropped him.

First, I don't understand the sudden love affair people have with Wilson Valdez. He started 88 games for the Phillies last season and performed admirably as a defensive replacement for Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, and Placido Polanco. But that's where his usefulness ends. He's a 32 year old AAAA player who held his own on defense, but grounded into 20 double plays into in 333 ABs. How bad is that? Once every 16 at bats he was responsible for 2 outs. Take into account the 86 times he was lucky enough to get a hit, and once every 12 at bats where he recorded an out, he actually created two outs! And how bad is that? Pablo Sandoval led the league with 26 GIDPs, but in 563 ABs. Once every 21 ABs for those without a calculator. Give Valdez that many ABs and he grounds into 34 double plays. THIRTY FOUR! That would be #3 on the All Time Single season list... (not that he'll ever get 500+ ABs) What I'm trying to say is he's not a good every day player. The value of having a Wilson Valdez on your team is in being able to use him a couple times a week at 2nd, 3rd and Short. He has the defensive range and can spell someone for a day. But he offers nothing else.

And why not Luis Castillo? Aside from no-showing his 1st day, he did nothing wrong. He was 0 for his first 8, but then started to string together hits. His fielding was never tested, and he was 1 for 1 on steal attempts. He's 34 (only two years older than the golden boy above), and has shown the ability to hit for average AND swipe a few bags. It seems to me as though the Phillies completely wasted his time this spring. To bring the guy in on a minor league contract that was only guaranteed if he made the roster, and then cut him loose for seemingly no reason is a slap in the face. It's almost as if Ruben Amaro, in his ultimate smugness, snagged him off the waiver wire just so no one else could have him for a few weeks. The only other reasonable explanation is that Ruben knows something we don't (trade? Utley is feeling much better?)

As for the other dishrags that will be spending time plugging the hole as 2nd Base, Pete Orr and Michael Martinez aren't exactly names that make one do a double take. Martinez is a Rule 5 guy that the Phillies swiped from the Nationals in the draft. He's hit for decent average in the minors the past few years but done little otherwise. To keep him, naturally, he has to stay on the 25 Man Roster. So either they see something I don't or he has pictures of Charlie Manuel in a compromising position. Pete Orr is a 2B/OF type much in the same mold. I could throw a rock from my front porch and hit two guys in the neighborhood with the same skills as Pete Orr. But both of these guys are now going to make the squad over Delwyn Young and Josh Barfield; two of the hottest hitters of the spring and both young guys with substantial major league playing time. Again, a head scratcher...

It doesn't get much better with pitching... Michael Stutes has been amazing this pre-season, and both Mike Zagurski and Scott Mathieson were impressive early. The three of them will be sent down in favor of Danys Baez, David Herndon, and Antonio Bastardo. Baez is about as useful as a paperweight, Herndon is a mop up guy, and Bastardo make me yawn and say "meh." Guys like those three fall out of trees in the majors anymore. But Stutes, Zagurski, and Mathieson are young fireballers who have each had something to overcome and worked their tails off for spots. Who has more fire that can help propel the Phillies to another World Series? Danys Baez and his career $40M worth of stolen paychecks, or Scott Mathieson and his two Tommy John surgeries and desperate attempt to sniff big league glory?

I'm not as down on the squad as this post seems, but I sure would like to be a fly on the wall when these decisions are made. Still looking at 97 wins and a division title.