And he's planning for it too.
Seth Smith, 1st half of the season: 830 OPS career.
2nd half? .738. It's not a BABIP thing, or a small sample thing with over 3000 ABs in the sample. Smith gets tired, or hates travel as the season goes on, or for whatever unknown reason slips in his production as the calendar winds on.
But Jerry has an OF spot to fill for a few months until he's willing to call up Tank O'Neill, which as we all know he won't do til the last week of May at the earliest. Gotta keep that extra year of service time. So he's spending 7 million betting that Smith can hold down a corner OF spot with that .830 OPS for the first few months, and then once Tank is comfortable Smith can be traded - hopefully to someone who believes this is the year that Smith will avoid the swandive after the All-Star Break.
I expect to get a glove man to help out in the OF (or if you believe in Gamel then I guess that would be his role) but Smith is the placeholder for O'Neill. No need to go try to find somebody on a one-year make-good contract for that if you have a guy in house and the Ms did.
Works for me.