No mention of the new king of low leverage, Jeff Bennett.

What does everyone think about the concept of Aybar becoming a regular 1B?

Just a quick recap, I’ve began beginning to think that if the team needs to dump payroll during the offseason, instead of trading away CC, they can trade Pena instead. Pena is making just as much as CC (more or less) next year, but has less production. He’s a slightly-above-average prototypical 1B. Lots of power, good OBP, but low batting avereage and high strikeouts.

There were those here who speculated on having Aybar take over for Aki at 2nd base, but with Zobrist breaking out this year and showing acceptable defense at 2nd, and Aybar basically pissing all over himself at 2B after given first crack at the job, it’s likely he’s not going to get that. Aybar isn’t a completely prototypical 1B in the fact that he’s shorter then average, but in a position where glovework is more important then any other defensive ability, I would think Aybar should be no worse then a little below average defensively. Take into affect that he’s got corner-infield power and his salary which upon arbitration should rise to somewhere in the 1.6-2m range, and he looks like he could be a cheap replacement fit.

For the moment, disregard any tradeoff of getting little in return for Pena versus lots of return for CC, or the fact that the OF has more depth and MLB ready players then 1B; after all, the Rays may take some initiative and trade both, freeing up a ton of payroll and getting a nice haul in return while replacing these all-stars with perfectly capable bodies and just ask yourself, “Can Aybar replace Pena at 1B?”

also, because of the constant rain… no Timmy Becks for me today. I would’ve gone friday night when Moore was pitching but it was raining then too and figured it’d be postponed… well after a 2-hour delay they did play, but i doubt i would’ve waited around for that.

this sucks

Kap played Ok, but your right. We were at the game, that single for a run would have been caught by BJ, and Kap made routine flys look tough compared to BJ. That being said, the team looked better on offense, and JB looked good at leadoff for a day. Maddon seems open to making changes, so it might be interesting to see JB at leadoff for a few games, and slide BJ down in the order. No way do I want to see BJ’s glove on the bench. Kapler’s failed bunts and slap into a DP didn’t go over well either. Hernandez played well today, but he is clearly a backup catcher in my opinion. Kaz did look good again, and Aybar had a great game. Would be nice to see Aybar get some AB’s for Burrell, maybe even for Pena for a few games to see if it helps out.

Will never happen again.

Ben Zobrist 0.41
Jason Bartlett 0.391
Carl Crawford 0.383
Carlos Pena 0.379
Evan Longoria 0.366
Willy Aybar 0.361
Gabe Gross 0.357
Akinori Iwamura 0.338
B.J. Upton 0.331
Dioner Navarro 0.277