Willy Aybar, 3B, Tampa Bay We've talked Aybar earlier this winter, but he still remains the best reserve player in baseball. A 25-year-old switch-hitting infielder who has accumulated +3.9 wins in 745 career PA shouldn't be looking at a job where he only plays a couple of times per week. Aybar is an everyday major league player, and only Tampa's loaded organizational depth chart prevents him from laying hold of a full time job. The question in his case, though, is what motivation would the Rays have to deal him? What else do they need? In many ways, Aybar is being punished for the fact that the Rays have done such a great job of building a roster around him. Not only do they not have a regular job for him, but they don't have any glaring needs that they should be trying to fill via trade. Their weakest link is in the bullpen, but as they showed last year, you don't have to give up talented players to build a success relief corps. Realistically, Aybar's going to have to hope for an injury to get any real playing time. For his sake, let's hope he gets an opportunity before the reserve infielder label sticks.
Players who would have more value elsewhere.
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