Again, a hot Ichiro isn't hitting homers, nor is Chone or Jack Wilson. Jack is going to have a bad bat. Counting on rookie and 2nd-year catchers to fill offensive holes is not going to happen.
I don't blame Kotchman for the offense, but Bradley is gonna be in LF a bunch which leaves 1B and C as the two offensive upgrades for a power hitter. Griffey is not a moveable part. The FO isn't going to cut the legend. If he can't hit, he might retire, but we won't know that for a while. The ONLY roster spots with decent flexibility at this point are SS (because Wilson is injury-prone and Tui might not be atrocious there) and 1B.
I dislike Jack Wilson. I think he's gonna Cirillo his way out of here. But whatever replacement we get isn't gonna hit 30+ HRs, and Tui DEFINITELY won't in his first big league experience.
Kotchman occupies the roster spot that we can - and actually MIGHT - add power at. It's not his fault that he's blocking off the corner, but a 101-103 OPS+ from him would still be a hideous performance for the position. If he could post that 119, THEN we might have something. That makes him more like David Segui when he played here, and David Segui with his glove added to his bat was not a bad 1B to have.
But Casey won't post a 119. I don't think he'll post a 103 or a 101 either.
Would I prefer in a perfect world to be contemplating replacing miscellaneous aged vet Ben Kriffey's 95 2009 OPS+ with Jack Cust's 105? Yeah, that's an upgrade, though not as much as you might think looking at their ages, even if Jack is more likely to return to some former larger numbers than Ben Kriffey.
But we're NOT ditching Junior. So in the realm of available power upgrades, with KGJ at DH and MB in LF, Kotchman's it.
And he's BEEN it since the day we signed him. Hence the carping about it.
~G
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