Of bodies that can help patch the hole until Guti comes back.
"Casper Wells has played out there, Michael Saunders has looked very good, Figgy got his feet wet out there today as well," he said. "It is way too early, we see encouraging things but you do have to caution yourself to realize that this is just spring training and we are going to let things work before our eyes and see what our best option is as we begin to play games and see these kids in game competition."
First name off his lips was Casper's. Trayvon is not mentioned - they obviously didn't think he was ready at the time of the injury. Not sure if his terrific play since has changed any minds, but I don't think it has to immediately. Casper can play center, and now Saunders is almost certainly gonna make the team as a 4th OF while Guti's unable to go.
I'm still skeptical on what's going on in Saunders's head, but I will be until he's in a pressure situation a few times. His swing looks miles better - he got back his power from his original swing. That'll help if he's got to play CF...but we'll see where Wells plays the rest of Spring Training and whether Jack goes with him in center on Opening Day. If so, then that tells me all I need to know about his emergency plan for Guti.
I still wouldn't have traded Fister for an emergency plan + some bullpen pieces, but we've all found out how devastating black holes can be to lineup production and the chutzpah of a team.
At least we seem to be getting to a point where losing one player to injury for a couple of weeks won't doom our season. That's a nice improvement.
~G