Hitting .270/.340 with good power in the minors and a hundred billion strikeouts. He's not growing. He can't close the holes in his swing. Striking out in 25% of your plate appearances is almost impossible to overcome unless you walk a ton AND have fairly prodigious power (the Mark Reynolds and Ryan Howard way). Liddi struck out more in the minors than Reynolds, and has struck out at a higher percentage in the Majors as well. When you strike out more than the Strikout King of the World there's not a huge chance of success for you. He's not as bad as Peguero career-wise, but it isn't pretty.
Now, Alex might make it anyway in some fashion. I've called Tony Batista my comp for Liddi before (a few years ago) and a .250/.300/.450 line wouldn't blow the doors down at first base but would still be a sight better than what we're getting now. But how do you replace the .200/.300 batter you have now with the .220/.280 hitter you're suggesting? By saying he'll have more power, I suppose.
I don't expect us to go that way. I would think we would kick Ibanez and Bay to a DH platoon, demote Smoak to Tacoma and let Morales play first.
That lets us keep our "vet leadership," play Chavez for his D more (man is Ibanez scary out there at this point) and audition Morales for NL clubs at the deadline if such a trade scenario comes up. We'll get a chance to see soon if Smoak keeps looking like he has in Texas: dead man walking.
~G
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