Marlins Sign Doug Mientkiewicz

[Swifty]

Helms is the best defensive 3B on the team, so I fail to see how it's an issue.

Mientkiewicz immediately becomes the best defensive 1B in the system. Any upgrade you can make helps.
--------------------
And, yes, when your infield is as bad defensively as ours is, 1B defense is very important.

[Bobbob1313]

What I'm saying is if we have a 3B we like defensively already in Helms for replacements, and Barden is also better than Cantu defensively, there's no need to add a good defensive 1B unless we really think making two defensive infield replacements to get two of our best bats out of the lineup is a good idea.

Yeah, depth is fine, but I would be surprised if he was on the major league team for any amount of time.

[Swifty]

But it's not about Barden, it's about Lamb. Lamb doesn't really serve a purpose. He cannot hit, his defensive purposes are basically irrelevant so he's just a lefty bat that, for all intents and purposes, might as well be Josh Johnson.

Even collectively amalgamate Barden and Lamb and I think Bonifacio and Mientkiewicz are more valuable. Bonifacio is a fine middle infielder if needed, you're not going to pull Hanley and Uggla anyway, and a better pinch runner option than anything we've got. In the box, they're all positively worthless, so if you can say that you have the two "best" in the system (Bonifacio speed; Doug 1B glove) isn't it better than two guys who are kinda sorta versatile but don't really do anything well, and in the case of Barden, nothing well that you really need.

[Bobbob1313]

I agree, I think Bonifacio should be on the bench over Barden, but I barely see any value in getting a good gloved 1B. I don't think he's any better than Lamb offensively, and I don't see us ever playing him at 1B. That'd be very odd if we did.

[Swifty]

Gload came in a fair amount for defense last year before the Nick Johnson era (and certainly more than your designated left handed masher), I could see Mientkiewicz fill that roll.

[Bobbob1313]

I think most of Gload's games at 1B were games he started. I don't remember him really coming in for defense.

I can't find information on games vs games started at different positions, but he averaged 4+ plate appearances per game played at 1B, so I would assume most of his games at 1B were starts. I really don't remember him coming much at all for defensive purposes.


But either way, if you've got Wes Helms as your best defensive 3rd baseman and you want to upgrade the infield defense, you are going to go with Helms at 3rd and Cantu at 1st late in a game. You aren't going to take Cantu's bat out of the lineup, and improving only first base defense isn't really that big of a deal.

He might be a better option than Lamb because Lamb stinks, but I don't think he's going to get too much time in. He's here to play AAA until Morrison is healthy, mostly.

[Swifty]

If he's a better option than Lamb, why the apprehension?

[Bobbob1313]

I said he might be, that's the apprehension.

But looking at his numbers, he could probably do a better Ross Gload impersonation than Lamb. He has almost no power, but he's also known what to do at the plate.